Welcoming Nara Park and Ellington Robinson to the Collection

On Thursday, August 23, the Phillips welcomed Nara Park and Ellington Robinson to discuss their artworks which were recently acquired by the museum through the Contemporaries Acquisition Fund. The artworks were selected for acquisition by the Contemporaries Steering Committee, with the guidance of Senior Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art Vesela Sretenović and the approval of the Director. 

The Contemporaries Acquisition Fund was established in 1996 as a way to create deeper engagement with young professionals with philanthropic aspirations and interest in contemporary art and collecting. By participating first-hand in the museum acquisition process, young patrons gain experience in collecting practices while also helping expand the Phillips’s permanent holdings. Active through 2008, the Fund amassed more than 20 works of art—mostly photography—that date from the early to mid-20th century. The Fund was reinstated in 2017 with an aim to further grow the collection with contemporary artworks. 

Visit the Phillips to see the new works along with photographs acquired by the Contemporaries over the years. For information about the Contemporaries—the Phillips’s young professionals group—visit PhillipsCollection.org/contemporaries or contact membership@phillipscollection.org.