Phillips Collection • June 1 - September 15, 1974

My dear friends Eugenia and Charles Zadoc invited me to a friendly meeting in their New York apartment filled with beautiful works of Art by Matisse, Cezanne and many of the Impressionists. Some of the furnitures were by the brother of Giacometti. This meeting was attended by many curators and directors of various museums. Some of them expressed the interest in visiting my studio at 414 East 75^th.

In this studio in New York, I could only show my work, make sketches on paper, produce collages and work on projects. Noise and dust were not allowed. I managed to carve very small stone sculptures and started wearing them. I called them “sculptures to wear”. They soon became the rave of America and were purchased and shown worldwide, also by the Allbright Knox Museum, in Chicago by the Benjamin Gallery, Claude de Muzac in Paris, Gimpel in New York, Moos in Montreal, the Minneapolis Institute of Art and several other museums. Everyone copied the term I had coined.

The curator of the Phillips Collection, I regret not remembering his name, was interested in coming to my studio. He made an appointment to come few days later. When he arrived and walked in, he very much admired the work and decided to exhibit it in the courtyard of the Phillips Collection from June 1 to September 15, 1974. Movers in white gloves came to pick up the sculptures and delivered them to Washington in perfect conditions.

After the exhibition had been announced in the local paper, I received a telephone call from the secretary of H.E. Egidio Ortona, the Italian Ambassador in Washington. The Ambassador and his wife wished to have me as their guest at their home in Washington for they were very proud to welcome such a young artist showing at the Phillips Collection, the first most prestigious museum of Art in America.

Also, Laughlin Phillips and his mother Marjorie were most welcoming while presents at the opening of the exhibit.  Everyone thought that the exhibit in the courtyard was most impressive and meaningful. In the space indoor, they were having an exhibition of Rothko.

The Phillips acquired “Gingko Biloba” for their collection. Laughlin Phillips asked me to donate my triptych “Maps of Light” to the museum. Probably the new curator is not aware of his request.

H.E. Ambassador Ortona and his wife were very generous of their time, gave several receptions for me and took me to all major political gatherings in town.

It was a great experience that has remained in my heart and it was a lesson of how wonderful things can happen in a very easy way. Maybe in those days, there was less rejection.