Marisa, Nick, Katie, Isabelle

The Frick Collection is a one-of-a-kind personal collection that has become a public museum in Manhattan. Henry Clay Frick was an industrialist and art collector who devoted his last dying wish to sustain his collection in a way that was public and intentional. This has become a museum that is esteemed and sensational. Our central theme surrounding this collection revolves around the extravagance of it all. This ties into various aspects of the Frick: the extravagance of the home itself, the uncanny nature of the contents of the collection, and how although many of the pieces in this collection are vastly different, they share a common thread of being over-the-top in their own respect. This is a very unconventional situation; art collections are extremely personal. An art connoisseur putting their entire collection—all of the fanciful objects compiled with millions and millions of dollars—on display in a public museum after they died to allow the public to experience it is exceedingly extravagant.

Henry Clay Frick was involved in what some describe as “dirty” industries; oil, coke and steel. His desire for collecting art stemmed from a desire for greater respectability. Frick began collecting Old Masters before he left Pittsburgh behind in pursuit of New York in 1905. A large sum of his wealth came from a court settlement which was a result of his inability to work or see eye to eye with Andrew Carnegie. This settlement allotted him $30 million in securities, a great sum to further pursue the collection of fine art. Acquisitions of pieces by renowned artists such as Rembrandt and Vermeer defined Frick’s exceptional taste and established him as a major collector. Some of these pieces such as Rembrandt’s Self-Portrait (1906) and Vermeer’s The Officer and Laughing Girl (1911) are among the highlights of Frick’s collection present day.

The Frick home was no cheap investment, and the details of the interior overwhelmingly prove it. Many individuals in New York find their way to The Frick Collection to experience the lavish personal collection left behind by Henry Clay Frick. The Roger New York on Twitter suggests to visit the “tranquil environment” where “masterpieces by artists such as Bellini, Rembrandt, Vermeer, and more!” are housed. If you were to visit this collection, we would suggest looking at the home as an object the same way you’d look at the art as an object. If the home were stripped of the precious art collection, it itself could stand alone as a testament to Henry Clay Frick’s indulgence in his affluent taste and desires. The house, on its own, is an awe-inspiring construction, clearly announcing Frick’s wealth and status.

 

 

Ultimately, the home is what provides accommodation for this extraordinary collection of art; it is only fitting that it matches the nature of the pieces, contributing to the fabulous and ornate qualities of the paintings, sculptures, furniture, and other fascinating objects.

Daniel Weber’s 1653 table clock stands in the South Hall as a pretentious tour de force. Made to display his skill, rather than for functionality, it features an array of dials containing information ranging from the location of the stars at one’s local latitude on to the present astrological sign, to the time, month and day (Berman). Gilded in fine brass and ornamented with flowers and angels clad in silver, it dominates its surroundings, as triumphant as the woman at its apex, a monument to man’s mastery over the material world.

Refurbished by the Frick collection in 2013 for an exhibition on clocks, Weber’s masterpiece has since remained as a permanent part of the collection on display.

The painting of Lady Selina Skipwith was done in May of 1787 by Sir Joshua Reynolds, an English painter who specialized in portraits and promoted the “Grand Style,” an approach that idealized the imperfect. The depiction of the woman in Reynolds’ painting contains obvious signifiers of wealth—the puffy tulle dress, the satin gloves, the powdered hair, the white face makeup. In late 18th century England, paleness was a sign that one lived in prosperity and idleness, and did not have to labor in the sun. However, the face makeup used during this time usually contained lead; many women applied it regardless, some suffering illness or even death from lead poisoning. The painting itself, and the sacrifices made by the woman in it to attain a certain beauty ideal, demonstrate a common thread of extravagance and refinement, which connects all of the art and objects in the Frick Collection.

 

The overarching theme of the Frick collection is its extravagance. The pieces on display reminisce on a long history of vanity, amalgamating fine art, architecture, and craftsmanship from throughout the centuries. The objects selected for this presentation exemplify this opulence, each a window into the pursuit of material excess.

 

 

Bibliography

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“Annual Fund.” The Dutch Golden Age | The Frick Collection, www.frick.org/support/annual_fund.

Bailey, Colin B. Building the Frick Collection: an Introduction to the House and Its Collections. The Frick Collection, 2016.

Berman, Ann E. “The Gallery: Beautiful Relics of Timekeeping’s Past — an Eccentric Collector’s Clocks Reveal an Age when Art and Precision Conjoined.” Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition ed., Jan 02 2002, p. A15. ProQuest. Web. 4 Mar. 2019 .

Collection, The Frick. “David Weber, Gilt-Brass and Silver Table Clock.” YouTube, Frick Collection, 04 Jan. 2014, www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6lDnHeGFLA.

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Engel, Laura. Fashioning Celebrity: Eighteenth-Century British Actresses and Strategies for Image Making. Ohio State Univ Press, 2011.

“Garden Court.” Garden Court | The Frick Collection, http://www.frick.org/about/gardens/garden_court.

Gunzburg, Darrelyn. “Collecting a Vision: Henry Clay Frick and the Frick Collection, New York.” Art Book, vol. 16, no. 3, Aug. 2009, pp. 19–21. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1111/j.1467-8357.2009.01041.x.

Hipple, Walter J. “General and Particular in the Discourses of Sir Joshua Reynolds: A Study in Method.” The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, vol. 11, no. 3, 1953, pp. 231–247. JSTOR, doi: 10.2307/426762.

Miller, Daniel. Stuff. Polity Press, 2010.

Reynolds, Joshua. A Selection from the Discourses Delivered to the Students of the Royal Academy. Edited by J. J. Findlay, Blackie, 1906.

Reynolds, Joshua. “Selina, Lady Skipwith.” – Works – Collections.frick.org, The Frick Collection, collections.frick.org/objects/127/selina-lady-skipwith#showAudios.

Roark, Elisabeth. “Pittsburgh.” Grove Art Online.  May 28, 2015. Oxford University Press,. Date of access 11 Mar. 2019, http://www.oxfordartonline.com/groveart/view/10.1093/gao/9781884446054.001.0001/oao-9781884446054-e-7000067991.

“Roman Domestic Architecture (Domus).” Khan Academy, Khan Academy, http://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/ancient-art-civilizations/roman/beginners-guide-rome/a/roman-domestic-architecture-domus.

Scherer, Barrymore L. “Horology: What’s Ticking at the Frick.” Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition ed., Aug 28 2013, ProQuest. Web. 4 Mar. 2019 .

Siple, Ella S. “The Opening of the Frick Collection.” The Burlington Magazine for Connoisseurs, vol. 68, no. 395, 1936, pp. 102–103. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/866463.

The Frick Collection: An Illustrated Catalogue. Vol. 1, The Frick Collection, 1968.

“The Garden Court.” The Garden Court | The Frick Collection, http://www.frick.org/support/garden_court.

@therogerny. “Step out of the cold and into the tranquil environment of the @frickcollection. You’ll be able to discover masterpieces by artists such as Bellini, Rembrandt, Vermeer, and more!” Twitter 06 March 2019, 1:15 p.m., https://twitter.com/therogerny/status/1103358336169402371

Weber, David. “Table Clock with Astronomical and Calendrical Dials.” – Works – Collections.frick.org, 2018, collections.frick.org/objects/1555/table-clock-with-astronomical-and-calendrical-dials?ctx=bfa60384-de7c-4176-af67-4b2e5b2c8b7d&idx=41#showImages.