Critically Acclaimed Gallery Renovations Continue with Two Major Fall Projects; Boucher Room Reopens Fully Refurbished; West Gallery—home to masterpieces by Rembrandt, Hals, Turner, Vermeer—Substantially Relit with a Custom System

photo of west gallery facing a wall of paintings

 

Over the past four years, The Frick Collection has renovated its galleries and public spaces through a succession of critically acclaimed initiatives.  Availing itself of advances in lighting technology, the Frick has improved dramatically the illumination of its paintings, sculpture, and decorative arts.  Following a three-month closure, the Boucher Room recently reopened to the public, having been refurbished and relit, the first such extensivetreatment ofthis jewelbox of a gallery in almost thirty years.  The long West Gallery—home to masterpieces by Rembrandt, Hals, Turner, and Vermeer, as well as Renaissance bronzes and furniture and considered by many to be the centerpiece of the museum—is undergoing the first substantial relighting since the Frick opened to the public seventy-five years ago.  While an upgrade of existing auxiliary lights occurred more than twenty years ago in this gallery, the 2010 project relies on a new custom system and represents a major rethinking of the illumination of the room and the collectionsshown there.  The first stage of the West Gallery relighting was implemented over the past four weeks.  It focused on the paintings around the room and was presented to guests on the night of the annual Autumn Dinner onOctober 18.  The second stage—the lighting of sculpture and other objects in the room—will be completed in late November.  Funded by Trustee Stephen A. Schwarzman, the project was coordinated by Conservator Joseph Godla, whose team included members of the curatorial andengineering departments of the Frick and lighting designer Anita Jorgensen.
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