A Tribute to Anita Reiner
Special Installation
This exhibition pays tribute to Anita Reiner, one of Washington’s most passionate contemporary art collectors, who passed away on August 15, 2013. A serendipitous encounter at The Phillips Collection in the early years of her quest to learn about modern art was instrumental in shaping the open-minded attitude that ultimately guided her collecting philosophy. Following a visit to the newly installed paintings by Mark Rothko, she replied indifferently to an elderly gentleman’s inquiry about her response to the work. The stranger—who she subsequently learned was museum founder Duncan Phillips—countered, “Young lady, you always have to meet new art half way.” She never forgot those words.
Anselm Kiefer, Dein blondes Haar, Margarete (1981)
At the center of the exhibition is Anselm Kiefer’s Dein blondes Haar, Margarete (Your golden Hair, Marguerite) (1981), a recent gift to The Phillips Collection from the family of Anita Reiner in her memory. The painting is part of Kiefer’s powerful series based on the famous 1945 poem by Jewish Romanian poet Paul Celan, Death Fugue, written in response to his time in a labor camp. This gift constitutes a significant contribution to the museum’s collection of postwar German art and provides an anchor for ongoing efforts to build a core group of works in this area.