Frick Collection, new york art museums
In Manhattan on October 13, 2009 at 1:41 pm
Just like any other home, historic houses and house museums require a bit of updating, home improvement, or remodeling every now and then. New York City’s Frick Collection recently completed a tedious refurbishment process for the Living Hall…which inevitably led to adjustments in the spaces around the Living Hall.
From The New York Times:
The first challenge was deciding where to hang those 1487 panels — “The Departure of the Argonauts” by Pietro del Donzello and “The Argonauts in Colchis” by Bartolomeo di Giovanni, scenes depicting the myth of Jason’s quest for the golden fleece. “It’s like a domino effect,” said Colin B. Bailey, the Frick’s chief curator, describing how he and Denise Allen, a Frick curator, moved two paintings to make room for the panels and then rethought the collection’s installation.
(…)
And that problem led to the reinstallation of works in the East Gallery, which has just undergone a gentle face-lift for the first time since 1945. Using a swatch of the room’s original wall fabric retrieved from the Frick’s archive as a reference point, researchers found a mohair wall covering that was close to the original shade of coral…
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art, Frick Collection, museums, new york city art, nyc art museum, Old Masters
In Uncategorized on July 1, 2009 at 12:16 pm
The Frick Collection, Fifth Avenue (at 70th Street), New York
One of the many illustrious mansions on Fifth Avenue is the Frick mansion at 70th street, which houses the extensive collection of Henry Clay Frick (1849-1919), a Pittsburgh coke and steel magnate. Upon his death, Frick bequeathed his impressive collection–which includes Old Masters, 17th century Dutch art, Italian Renaissance works, Chinese porcelains, and Eighteen-century furniture and painting–to establish a public gallery. To this day, the Frick is still one of the most outstanding private collections to feature works by such artists as Rembrandt van Rijn, Giovanni Bellini, El Greco, Johannes Vermeer, Francois Boucher, Sir Joshua Reynolds, and J.M.W. Turner, to name a few. Also of note for you art history scholars out there, the Frick also has one of the largest art history libraries in the country, open to scholars affiliated with a credited institution.
In addition to the permanent collection (which is slowly expanding), the museum also puts on special exhibitions: the 2009 summer show is Portraits, Pastels, Prints: Whistler in The Frick Collection (June 2 through August 23). While it seems to be a small show, given Mr. Frick’s good taste, I am sure the Whistlers will be worth seeing.
