Phillips Collection

Richard A. Herman lived in the Watergate for more than 40 years and was a longtime patron of the arts, but the shy railroad heir was virtually unknown in Washington social circles for much of his long life. Until this week. Family Matters of Greater Washington is set to hold a splashy news conference Wednesday at the National Press Club to announce that Herman, who died in November at 100, left the organization 60 percent of his vast estate — $28 million, which the group says is...

In the most recent Got Plans? chat, the Going Out Guide staff offered an itinerary for a date night focused on what's new in the District, as well as alternatives to schlepping to a winery. Check out the highlights below, and search the boldface terms at www.goingoutguide.com for more information. Museums I [missed last] weekend's museum day where selected museums have free admission or reduced admission. Is there a similar event in the fall? Lavanya Ramanathan: I don't believe there...

What would happen if you took the music of three rather different composers and played it all like Rachmaninoff? This was apparently the goal of a recital by Konstantin Soukhovetski , heard Sunday afternoon at the Phillips Collection. The Russian pianist, in his 30s and fresh out of Juilliard, played with flair and plenty of rubato, but his performance lacked interpretative seasoning. Soukhovetski also studied acting and has performed in a couple of short films. The sense of the melodramatic was palpable, as Soukhovetski...

Two thousand museums across the country will offer free admission to the active duty military personnel and their families, the National Endowment for the Arts announced Tuesday. The NEA, in cooperation with the Department of Defense and Blue Star Families, a nonprofit for military families, is supporting the annual initiative, which provides free admission to participating museums from Memorial Day to Labor Day. The groups made the announcement in Washington on Tuesday at the Smithsonian American...

You'd think the composer Matthias Pintscher — who had a concert devoted to his work at the Phillips Collection on Thursday night — might be familiar to Washington music lovers by now. Christoph Eschenbach opened the first subscription concert of his National Symphony tenure, in 2010, with a major work by Pintscher , the "Herodiade-Fragmente. " And Pintscher himself conducted a concert that included one of his own works at the National Orchestral Institute in 2011. But there's a disconnect...

Visitors to the Phillips Collection in Dupont Circle can now down a fresh cup of java after taking in a Georgia O'Keeffe or Paul Cezanne painting. Starting this week, the museum will open a cafe run by Tryst Coffeehouse , an Adams Morgan haunt known for its artisan roasts. Tryst Phillips, the new cafe's moniker, will feature a handful of the sandwiches and pastries found at the original location. The 40-seat cafe opens out to an enclosed courtyard that can seat 30 guests.

DON'T MISS Janine Antoni is known for making art that references her own body — part performance, part sculpture, part high concept. On Wednesday at 6 p.m. the Phillips Collection will present a lecture by the artist, whose career highlights include a 1993-94 series of classical self-portrait busts sculpted out of chocolate and soap — then partly licked and lathered away by Antoni — along with more recent photographs (such as...

For decades, the Phillips Collection in Washington has been known as one of the world's great places for the profound contemplation of art -- part of an exclusive club that includes such other "mansion museums" as the Frick Collection in New York, the Wallace Collection in London and the Musée Jacquemart-André in Paris. In recent times, we may have lost sight of that side of the Phillips's identity. Several splashy expansions and a busy exhibition schedule have pulled us away from the kind of intense ...

The Verdehr Trio made one of its regular semiyearly visits to the Phillips Collection on Sunday bringing with it two of the almost 200 pieces for violin, clarinet and piano it's commissioned over the years, one, a world's premiere, and both, attractive, coherent and entertaining. The premiere was of Russell Platt's "Parlor Music" Op. 22, a three-movement set of fantasies with a first movement "Outdoor Overture" full of contrasting musical ideas, a lyrical second-movement "Song Without Words" and a playful finale...

I learned something from Zuill Bailey this weekend. Bailey, a cellist who played a recital at the Phillips Collection on Sunday, is a master at talking to the audience; but what I learned was less about what he said than the way he said it. Many artists — and critics, mea culpa — set out to teach their audiences, and many audiences, quite understandably, find this patronizing. Bailey doesn't do that at all. He addressed his listeners as if speaking to a roomful of equals who were going to be just as amused as he was by an...

I learned something from Zuill Bailey this weekend. Bailey, a cellist who played a recital at the Phillips Collection on Sunday, is a master at talking to the audience; but what I learned was less about what he said than the way he said it. Many artists — and critics, mea culpa — set out to teach their audiences, and many audiences, quite understandably, find this patronizing. Bailey doesn't do that at all. He addressed his listeners as if speaking to a roomful of equals who were going to be just as amused as he was by an...

Violinist Stefani Collins is still a grad student at Juilliard, but as she showed at her recital at the Phillips Collection on Sunday, she is a nearly finished concert artist. From the opening phrases of the Beethoven A-minor Sonata, one heard temperament and clear musical purpose. Her mechanics are exemplary as well; a natural posture, precise intonation (but for a few forgivable slips in the most acrobatic spots), scrupulous attention to dynamics, an effortless flying staccato and great digital...

Correction: A previous version of this article misstated the location of the exhibition in the headline. It is on view at the Phillips Collection, not the Corcoran Gallery of Art. In addition, the article twice misspelled the artist's last name. This version has been corrected. Since 2009, the Phillips Collection 's ongoing series of "Intersections" installations has opened a dialogue between works by contemporary artists and older works from the museum's collection.

With blue tape outlining the corridor, the installation of the Laib Wax Room seems akin to a messy home renovation, not the creation of permanent art at the Phillips Collection . German artist Wolfgang Laib , known for his use of natural, life-giving elements such as milk, pollen, and in this case, beeswax, often creates works that evoke oneness with nature through solitude, ritual and methodical workmanship. His latest project, the installation of a small room coated in beeswax, opened Saturday at the...

The opening to what was once a small storage closet has been narrowed to better frame views of Wolfgang Laib's " Wax Room ," a new and permanent installation at the Phillips Collection . The old door has been removed, as well, so as visitors pass by, they see directly into an enigmatic space, with glowing amber-colored walls and a single, naked light bulb hanging from the ceiling. The Phillips doesn't have a lot of room even for temporary exhibitions, so the...

Concerts at the Phillips Collection are far from ideal. This storied venue, which has offered regular concerts since 1941 and where Glenn Gould made his U.S. debut, has many drawbacks. There is no platform for the artists, so not many patrons can actually see. Like with the airlines, the imperative of getting as many people into as small of a space as possible forces the audience into cramped seats where listeners have to keep their knees and elbows close their bodies. The...

THU 14 Romance the Evening: Cocktails in the Conservatory Wine, champagne and chocolate-covered strawberries are served with live music and a display of antique Valentine's Day cards. 5 p.m. Tudor Place, 1644 31st St. NW. 202-965-0400. www.tudorplace.org . $12. "Angels, Demons, and Savages: A Valentine's Day Dance Trilogy" A tour of the new exhibit of abstract paintings by Jackson Pollock, Alfonso Ossorio and Jean Dubuffet is followed by a dance performance of vignettes about the parts people play...

1. Bruce and Mareen Hughes view a Jackson Pollock painting. 2. Toni Ritzenberg and Elsa Smithgall, curator for the Phillips Collection. 3. Elizabeth Sabol-Jones, a student at Georgetown, with artist Alfonso Ossorio's grandnephew, Kane Ossorio. 4. Juanita Hardy, the new executive director of CulturalDC. 5. Trish Vradenburg, wife of chairman of the board of trustees of the Phillips Collection, George Vradenburg. 6. Klaus Ottmann, director of the center for the study of modern art and curator at large of the...