HEMPHILL is pleased to share James Phillips' inclusion in With Passion and Purpose: Gifts from the Collection of Larry D. and Brenda A. Thompson at the NGA.
With Passion and Purpose: Gifts from the Collection of Larry D. and Brenda A. Thompson features a selection of some 60 works from more than 170 that the Thompsons have donated or pledged as gifts to the National Gallery of Art. For more than four decades, Larry D. and Brenda A. Thompson have collected exceptional works of art predominantly made by Black American artists. Through their patronage and support of exhibitions and scholarship, the Thompsons have contributed both to the visibility and appreciation of emerging artists and to the reassessment of established but previously underrecognized artists. Representing a wide array of media, subject matter, and styles, from figurative and abstract to conceptual approaches, the exhibition showcases the work of 57 artists, including Benny Andrews, Radcliffe Bailey, John Thomas Biggers, Elizabeth Catlett, David Driskell, and Kara Walker. Artists such as Camille Billops, Vivian Browne, Hughie Lee-Smith, Sam Middleton, and Mavis Pusey, whose work is receiving increasing recognition in museums and art historical scholarship, are also featured. The exhibition is on view from June 7 to October 5, 2025, in the East Building of the National Gallery.
James Phillips
Visual Choir of Light, 1970
acrylic on canvas
overall: 243.84 x 121.92 cm (96 x 48 in.)
National Gallery of Art, Gift of Larry D. and Brenda A. Thompson
2023.145.7