“Phyllis Fugue” Painting
date: label: Date made
content: 2003
name: label: maker
content: Diller, Phyllis
notes: label: Description
content: <p>
label: Description
content: This painting by Phyllis Diller depicts the “Phyllis Fugue” that she composed in 1937. Diller, while known for her stand-up comedy, was also an accomplished pianist. After graduating high school, Diller studied piano for three years at the Sherwood Conservatory of Music (at Columbia College Chicago), but eventually decided against a career in music. From 1971 to 1982 Diller performed with over 100 symphony orchestras across the United States and Canada in a show called <i>The Symphonic Phyllis Diller</i>. During these performances she would seriously perform pieces by Beethoven, Bach, and others as a solo pianist with an orchestra while integrating comedic elements.
label: Description
content: </p>
label: Description
content: <p>
label: Description
content: Diller began painting for pleasure in the mid-1980s. During this time, she was staying in a large suite at Harrah’s in Reno, NV where she had enough space to set up several easels and canvases. She described her style as painting quickly and without too much thought about each individual painting. This quick style allowed her to complete anywhere from ten to twenty-five paintings per day.
label: Description
content: </p>
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: California, Los Angeles
topic: label: Subject
content: Music
label: Subject
content: Humor
label: Subject
content: Comedians
setName: label: See more items in
content: Culture and the Arts: Entertainment
label: See more items in
content: Popular Entertainment
label: See more items in
content: Phyllis Diller
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Phyllis Diller
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 2003.0289.19
label: accession number
content: 2003.0289
label: catalog number
content: 2003.0289.19
objectType: label: Object Name
content: painting
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: acrylic paint (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: canvas (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: wood (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 29 1/4 in x 25 1/4 in x 3/4 in; 74.295 cm x 64.135 cm x 1.905 cm