East Gallery Refurbishment to be Undertaken Summer 2009

The movement of the full-length Whistler portraits into the Oval Room this summer has been arranged in connection with a project to refurbish the East Gallery, where they customarily hang. In August and September, the floors there will be refinished and the paneling will be treated and waxed. A new rose-colored velvet mohair wall covering will be installed, through the generosity of Mr. and Mrs. Jeremiah M. Bogert. The East Gallery, which has not been renovated in more than twenty years, will reopen on September 8, 2009.

Beginning Tuesday, November 25, visitors to the Frick Collection will be able to view the newly restored masterpiece Village among Trees, 1665, by the renowned Dutch master Meyndert Hobbema (1638–1709). After undergoing a year-long conservation treatment, the panel returns to the South Hall, and rejoins the Collection’s other major work by the artist, Village with Water Mill among Trees, currently on view in the West Gallery.

	Meyndert Hobbema, Village among Trees, 1665, The Frick Collection photo: Michael Bodycomb

This painting was acquired by Henry Clay Frick in the early 1900s, as his preference for collecting shifted toward eighteenth-century English portraiture and seventeenth- century Dutch works. Village among Trees, painted during a very active period for the artist, is a fine example of his most prolific subject: the landscape. Hobbema’s work is composed of elements the artist employed repeatedly throughout his career: large trees with variegated foliage, picturesque cottages, a winding road, and a sky with windswept clouds. Although his repertoire of motifs observed in nature was limited, Hobbema invested his paintings with considerable freshness and variety. The sensitive conservation treatment, which has brought renewed clarity to the sky and clouds, renders these naturalistic details legible once again.

	Gabriel de Saint-Aubin, The Private Academy, c.1755, oil on panel, 13 1/2 x 15 in. (34.29 x 38.1 cm), The Frick Collection, gift of Irene Roosevelt Aitken, photo: Michael Bodycomb

Gabriel de Saint-Aubin’s Private Academy (c. 1755) now hangs in the North Hall of The Frick Collection, the recent gift of Irene Roosevelt Aitken, a longtime supporter of the institution. During his long, prolific career, Saint-Aubin worked primarily as a draftsman, and this painting — one of only a few executed by the artist — is the first to enter a New York museum. Saint-Aubin was the subject of a critically acclaimed special exhibition in 2007, organized by the Frick in collaboration with the Musée du Louvre.

Nicolas Poussin’s Hannibal Crossing the Alps, c. 1625–27, is now hanging in the West Gallery on extended loan from a private collection, and will remain on view through much of the summer of 2010. The presence of this work fills a noted gap in the Frick’s holdings, in which the French School of the seventeenth century is represented principally by one magnificent landscape by Claude Lorrain. This canvas has never before been on public view in New York, making it a special opportunity.

	Nicolas Poussin (1594–1665), Hannibal Crossing the Alps, c. 1625–27, oil on canvas, 39 x 52 in. (100 x 133 cm), private collection, photo: Michael Bodycomb

Nicolas Poussin spent most of his active years in Italy, absorbing the riches of classical art and architecture, while developing his own idiom. His approach to history painting — wherein the challenge rests in depicting multiple-figure compositions in an exciting and legible fashion — was so striking and successful that he set the standard against which other artists’ works in this genre have been judged. This early history painting depicts the Carthaginian general’s invasion of Italy on war elephants — a rarely illustrated episode of Ancient Roman history — and reflects Poussin’s interests in antiquity and the natural sciences.

View of the Giudecca Canal and the Zattere, Venice, c. 1765, by Francesco Guardi (1712–1793) is on longterm loan from a private collection and can also be seen in the West Gallery, once the private picture gallery of Henry Clay Frick. Measuring over 47 by 80 inches, this painting is notable in Guardi’s oeuvre for its ample dimensions, matched only by two other vedute of Venice at Waddesdon Manor (Waddesdon, Aylesbury, England). The work, which was until 1959 one of the jewels of the De Ganay collection, appeared at the exhibitions Le Cabinet de l’Amateur in 1956 and Venise au dixhuitième siècle in 1971, both held at the Orangerie, Paris.

	Francesco Guardi (1712–1793), View of the Giudecca and the Zattere, c. 1765, oil on canvas, 47 1/4 x 80 3/4 in. (120 x 205 cm), private collection, photo: Michael Bodycomb

In this painting, the Fondamenta delle Zattere, located on the south bank of Venice, is depicted at right, while the island of Giudecca can be glimpsed at left. Such views of Venice were popular souvenirs of the Grand Tour during the latter half of the eighteenth century and have remained in favor with collectors ever since.

Interestingly, although Henry Clay Frick's collection is celebrated for its focus on portraits and landscapes— among them dramatic harbor views by Turner of Dieppe and Cologne — he did not include any such paintings of Venice in the provisions to create the museum of his collection. Henry Clay Frick enjoyed the work of Guardi and purchased three smaller paintings by the artist: two in 1913, which were only given to the institution in 1984 by his daughter, Helen Clay Frick (they are now installed in the Reading Room of the Frick Art Reference Library, on East 71st Street, and are mostly known to art historians using that research facility), and another in 1918, which now hangs in the Frick Art & Historical Center in Pittsburgh and has not traveled to the New York institution. The grand-scale Guardi currently on loan, therefore returns a sense of Henry Clay Frick's taste for the artist to the mansion's permanent collection galleries, where it will remain on view into the summer of 2010.

Chief Curator Colin B. Bailey discusses the Fragonard Room on Channel Thirteen's Sunday Arts program, originally broadcast in 2008. For more information, see the Channel Thirteen Web site.

Andrew W. Mellon Predoctoral Curatorial Fellowship at The Frick Collection

The Frick Collection is pleased to announce the availability of a two-year predoctoral fellowship funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation for an outstanding doctoral candidate who wishes to pursue a curatorial career in an art museum. The fellowship will offer invaluable curatorial training and will provide the scholarly and financial resources required for completing the doctoral dissertation. For more information see Career Opportunities.

	Director Anne L. Poulet, photograph by Christine Butler

Director Anne L. Poulet was recently elected to the membership of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, Cambridge, MA, which was founded in 1780 by John Adams, James Bowdoin, and others. The class of 2006 includes 195 scholars, scientists, artists, and civic, corporate, and philanthropic leaders from 24 states and 13 countries, representing museums, universities, corporations, research institutes, media outlets, and foundations. We’re pleased to join the Academy in recognizing Anne for her contributions as a scholar and museum professional.

Volunteer Opportunities

The Frick Collection offers volunteer opportunities to qualified applicants in the Education Department, Membership Office, Museum Shop, Membership/Information Desk, and in the Frick Art Reference Library. In many of these positions a background in art, art history, or education and conversational skill in a foreign language is preferred. Reliability is very important. For more information, see Volunteers.