Isla Phillips

Isla graduated with a first class BA in Classics from the University of Cambridge in 2018. Her specialisms were Art, Archaeology and the Roman poet Ovid. After graduation she spent a year in Japan, where she interned as a curatorial assistant at the Fukuoka Asian Arts Museum. Currently, Isla is studying for a History of Art MA in London (part-time). Professionally (full-time) Isla is based in Kent as a director of an educational charity and a teacher.

Stories By Isla Phillips

Baroque

18th Century Aristocratic Marriage Like in the Bridgerton Series
By Isla PhillipsFebruary 18, 2021
Three Ladies Adorning a Term of Hymen is a huge triple portrait of the Montgomery sisters by Sir Joshua Reynolds. It thematizes aristocratic marriage and uses classical elements to allegorize the portrait. Exactly this type of...
Ancient Greece

Unique Greek Geometric Art to See in Florida: Exhibition and Interview
By Isla PhillipsFebruary 5, 2021
In conversation with Dr. Michael Bennett, MFA Senior Curator of Early Western Art at the Museum of Fine Arts St. Petersburg, we explore the world of the Greek Geometric period and the Homeric epics. From Chaos...
Artist

Circus and Jazz of Henri Matisse
By Isla PhillipsDecember 30, 2020
Henri Matisse (1869–1954) was a French artist famous for his use of colour. The Circus (below) is a colour stencil piece from Matisse’s book Jazz. Only 350 copies were made of the book so you might not...
dailyart

The 12 Days of Christmas
By Isla PhillipsDecember 25, 2020
In the spirit of the festive season, our gift to you is the 12 days of Christmas retold in artworks. The Twelve Days of Christmas is a carol with roots in 18th-century England, heavy with symbolism...
21st century

The Pros and Cons of Maggie Hambling’s Mary Wollstonecraft
By Isla PhillipsDecember 21, 2020
Maggie Hambling CBE (b. 1945) is a British artist who is rarely seen without a cigarette. She paints beautiful land and seascapes, has several fascinating portraits at the National Gallery (where she was the first artist...
dailyart

Art Advent Calendar of Nativities
By Isla PhillipsDecember 1, 2020
Today December starts and that means it is the countdown until Christmas Day. To celebrate, here is an art advent calendar of nativity scenes, arranged in chronological order. 1. Domenico di Ghirlandaio Domenico Ghirlandaio was an...
Art State of Mind

The Art of Ekphrasis: 5 Novels that Deftly Describe Art
By Isla PhillipsNovember 2, 2020
Describing works of art is an essential part of art history and even as a research method in itself. And yet, description is also often dismissed as tendentious. The technical term for describing a work of art...
dailyart

Stepping into the South of France with Picasso at BASTIAN
By Isla PhillipsOctober 7, 2020
BASTIAN’s exhibition Atelier Picasso in London (3rd September – 31st October 2020) evokes the mood and heat of Picasso’s later years in the South of France. The exhibition sheds a fascinating light on the creative universe...
21st century

The Louvre Pyramid and 5 Other Art Museums Designed by Ieoh Ming Pei
By Isla PhillipsSeptember 21, 2020
Ioh Ming Pei (貝聿銘) (1917-2019) was a Chinese American modernist architect with international acclaim. Exciting for art history fans, many of Pei’s buildings are art museums. This means you can visit the architecture and the artworks all in one...
21st century

Artist Interview: Anita Yan Wong and Lingnan Painting
By Isla PhillipsAugust 19, 2020
Lingnan style guo hua is an early 19th century style of Chinese painting, from Lingnan in the Southern region of China. Its origins are a revolutionary mix of new knowledge from both Japanese painting and Western art....