The Frick Collection - 2/13/09

The Frick, as it is commonly referred, is a mansion-turned-museum on Museum Mile (5th Ave.) in Manhattan, New York. Henry Clay Frick (1849-1919) was a wealthy industrialist who collected all manner of art. Paintings, murals, bronze and marble sculpture fill Frick’s collection and the mansion that holds it is just a beautiful. Facing out on Central Park, the Frick mansion is a library on the left side…



…and a museum on the right...



This picture is one of the only ones I was able to take as no photographs are allowed to be taken inside of the museum.


When entering the front door you are immediately ushered into a side room which holds the coat check and the admission desk. All I can say is “Thank God for coat check rooms!” They come in very handy allowing one to stash their winter garb instead of walking around the museum with it. One of our first stops was to pick up an audio guide – a small device that allows the user to type in the number of an art piece and listen to the description and history of the art piece in question. Our self-guided tour first led us through a gorgeous cloister or garden room called the Garden court, complete with a fountain and a skylight, surrounded by bronze and marble statuary. Upon review of the web site I found out that this room is supposed to be the last stop on the tour, but with my horticultural-driven fiancé with me, we couldn’t help but be drawn to the soothing sound of water and soft light that drew of the beaten path.


There are a total eight rooms and two hallways in the mansion that are used as galleries to showcase the collection, all of which harken back to the museum’s original use as a personal residence. Built in 1913-14, the mansion was originally designed by the American architect Thomas Hastings to replicate the European style. Additions were made to the building in 1977 to better accommodate the growing collection and growing crowds.


I found my artist of choice in the East Gallery: James Abbott McNeill Whistler (1834-1903). Whistler was an American born painter who spent the majority of his life in Europe. His art education began in Russia at the age of nine and ended in Paris, where Whistler lived for many years until he took up residence in London and eventually married Beatrix Godwin in 1888. I know right away why I like Whistler’s paintings so much – it is because of my affinity for Aestheticism. Whistler was influenced by the Realism, Orientalism, and Pre-Raphaelite art movements and was later connected to the Impressionism movement. I can definitely see the Impressionism aspect of his work as he uses broad strokes and color to express the subject and mood of his paintings.

I have to say that it is also Whistler’s fascination with and incorporation of Asian art in his work that really caught my eye. In Whistler’s six by three and a half foot oil on canvas entitled Symphony in Flesh Colour and Pink: Portrait of Mrs. Frances Leyland, one can easily detect the influence of Asian art in the way that Whistler painted what look to be bamboo leaves on the mid-right hand side of the painting. Another Asian-inspired element is his signature which is nothing more than Whistler’s initials in the form of a butterfly that is painted in the style of a Japanese ukiyo-e woodblock print.




The woman in the painting is obviously a love interest of Whistler’s given the romantic way in which the woman is painted. When looking at the area of Whistler’s initials, one can not help but see the closeness of the subject’s hands to butterfly image. Is this a coincidence or the artist’s subtle way of telling the viewer that Mrs. Leyland held something for the artist or vice versa? The title also denotes an air of romance using the specific terms “flesh” and “pink” to describe the colors used in the painting – pink is the color of love, don’t ya know! Regardless of my theories, for me this painting is the height of romance. , this painting is powerful. With its soft colors and the woman’s flowing gown, how could anyone see anything other?


The Frick is a fantastic place to spend a few hours and is just one of New York’s many hidden treasures. I urge you to visit it on your next visit to Museum Mile!


Some other pics, courtesy of the Frick Collection web site:



James Abbott McNeill Whistler (1834 - 1903)
The Ocean, 1866
oil on canvas



James Abbott McNeill Whistler (1834 - 1903)
Arrangement in Brown and Black: Portrait of Miss Rosa Corder, 1876-1878
oil on canvas (lined)




James Abbott McNeill Whistler (1834 - 1903)
Arrangement in Black and Gold: Comte Robert de Montesquiou-Fezensac, 1891-1892
oil on canvas



Riccio (Andrea Briosco) (1470 - 1532) (Style of)
Satyr with Inkstand and Candlestick, late 15th century
bronze




Johannes Vermeer (1632 - 1675)
Mistress and Maid, 1666-1667
oil on canvas



Hans Holbein, the Younger (1497/1498 - 1543)
Thomas Cromwell, 1532-1533
oil on oak panel (cradled)



Hans Holbein, the Younger (1497/1498 - 1543)
Sir Thomas More, 1527
oil on oak panel



Works Cited:
http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/whistler/
http://www.frick.org/virtual/index.htm