Raeburn’s The Rev. Walker Skating on Duddingston Loch, from the National Gallery of Scotland
December 5, 2000 through February 4, 2001
In another of its ongoing series of single-picture exhibitions, The Frick Collection presented Raeburn’s celebrated skating minister on loan from the National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh. Completed by Sir Henry Raeburn (1756-1823) around 1784, this image of the Rev. Robert Walker — minister of the Canongate Kirk and an avid member of the Skating Society — is one of the Gallery’s most beloved works. The graceful figure elegantly clad in black and silhouetted against a luminescent, late afternoon sky effectively conveys the subject’s sense of pleasure and ease in his solitary activity. The painting was displayed in the Library with other examples of Raeburn’s work from The Frick Collection.
The Draftsman’s Art: Master Drawings from the National Gallery of Scotland
December 12, 2000 through February 25, 2001
A survey of five centuries of draftsmanship by Italian, Flemish, Dutch, British, French, and German artists, this exhibition brought together seventy three works on paper culled from the National Gallery of Scotland’s premier collection of some fourteen thousand sheets. Spanning the fifteenth to the nineteenth centuries, The Draftsman’s Art included examples by masters such as Leonardo, Raphael, Rubens, Boucher, Blake, Ingres, and Seurat. Guest Curator Michael Clarke’s selection featured drawings little known in the United States, providing a rare viewing opportunity. Accompanying the exhibition is a fully-illustrated catalogue with an introductory essay by the guest curator and entries on individual works written by him and other staff members. The exhibition is organized by the American Federation of Arts and the National Gallery of Scotland.
Paintings by Vermeer Installed Together in Honor of Major Exhibition at The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Through May 27, 2001
In honor of the spring 2001 exhibition at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Vermeer and the Delft School, The Frick Collection has installed its three paintings by the artist in a special manner. For the first time in over fifty years, the works by Johannes Vermeer (1632-1675) Mistress and Maid, Officer and Laughing Girl, and Girl Interrupted at her Music were hung together in one gallery at the Collection, the South Hall, offering visitors an opportunity to consider these treasures side by side. This special installation was accompanied by a text panel written by Chief Curator Colin B. Bailey, explaining how Henry Clay Frick acquired each work.
Two Exceptional Candelabra: An Intimate Glimpse
March 5, 2001 through June 3, 2001
In the spring of 2001, visitors had the opportunity to view at close range two recently restored candelabra dating to the reign of Louis XVI. These extraordinary examples of French craftsmanship and design incorporate white marble, lapis lazuli, patinated bronze, and gilt bronze and brass. While it is difficult to attribute such multifaceted works to one creator, these pieces may fall within the oeuvre of Pierre-Philippe Thomire (1751-1843), who executed several similarly inventive works. Displayed since 1935 at considerable distance from the public — beyond ropes on the Staircase landing — the candelabra were on view without barriers in the Cabinet gallery of the Collection. They were presented with information on the treatment they received this winter from the Frick's new Conservator of Objects, Barbara Roberts. In the future — as part of an educational approach to conversation efforts at the Frick — other works from the Collection will be highlighted in a similar manner and accompanied by information about conservation treatments and history.
El Greco: Themes and Variations
May 15 through July 29, 2001
The Frick Collection’s St. Jerome and Purification of the Temple comprise the core of this special exhibition, which was shown in the Oval Room. Together with five loan paintings — all replicas or versions of the two Frick canvases these works revealed different aspects of the master’s recycling of his own compositions. Although El Greco was a highly original painter, he frequently made replicas or related versions of his works, at a time when few if any other major artists did so. This exhibition, organized by The Frick Collection with guest curator Jonathan Brown, provided viewers with the rare opportunity to explore two instances of this unusual practice. Accompanied by a booklet written by Dr. Brown and Susan Grace Galassi.
El Greco: Themes and Variations has been made possible through the support of Melvin R. Seiden, Lladró USA Inc., and the Fellows of The Frick Collection.
Master Drawings from the Smith College Museum of Art
June 19 through August 12, 2001
Master Drawings from the Smith College Museum of Art opened at The Frick Collection on June 19, 2001. The exhibition, organized by Ann H. Sievers, Associate Curator of Prints, Drawings and Photographs at the Smith College Museum of Art, featured 68 drawings — all examples of superior draftsmanship — and allowed visitors to view drawings ranging in time from Old Master pieces to the most recent work, Mark Tobey’s Echo of 1954. Among those masterpieces included were drawings by Bartolommeo, Boucher, Cezanne, Degas, De Kooning, Fragonard, Gainsborough, Grünewald, Ingres, Matisse, Tiepolo, and van Gogh. The show was on view at The Frick Collection through August 12, before traveling to the Uffizi, Florence where it opened in October 2001. A scholarly catalogue featuring all works in color accompanied the exhibition and was published by Hudson Hill Press.
Two Rediscovered Tapestries
Through September 9, 2001
This summer, visitors have been enjoying two eighteenth-century tapestries woven by the Brussels workshop of Peter van den Hecke (c. 1752). On display in the Music Room, these rare hangings are important for their state of preservation, the significance of their design, their royal provenance, and the evidence regarding the identity of their maker and manufacture. They depict scenes from Cervantes’ novel Don Quixote de la Mancha, which proved to be an important literary source in the fields of fine and decorative arts for over two hundred years.
Each tapestry retains a separate linen rectangle sewn to its reverse and inscribed with an inventory number corresponding to the French royal registry. That registry reveals that these were two of several hangings of this subject belonging to Louis XV. Henry Clay Frick bought them in Spain in 1909 and later gave them to Childs Frick, his son, who bequeathed them in 1965 to The Frick Collection. The tapestries remained in storage at the Frick until 1999 when they were cleaned and treated at the Textile Conservation Laboratory of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in Manhattan.
|
