In Oscar Wilde’s novel The Image of Dorian Grey (1890), Lord Henry, upon assembly the novel’s namesake character, exclaims, “You are too charming to go in for philanthropy, Mr. Gray — far too charming.” That assertion, with which Lord Henry flatters Mr. Grey, denotes a poisonous relationship between charity and allure. If one fails within the latter, the previous helps treatment the scenario.
Visiting the newly renovated mansion of Henry Clay Frick on Fifth Avenue is like strolling by way of the robber baron’s personal image of Dorian Grey. Whereas Wilde’s portrait absorbed the sins of its sitter, the museum is Frick’s concerted try to artwash his away.
Frick was principally profitable in his mission, since his title as we speak, like that of his enterprise associate, Andrew Carnegie, nonetheless denotes wealth and its related philanthropy. Between 1883 and 1929, Carnegie, for example, funded the development of over 2,500 libraries worldwide (1,795 in the US). These buildings, together with 67 in New York Metropolis alone, are nonetheless usually known as Carnegie libraries and assist gloss over the cruelty of the richest man on the planet on the time, who exploited his staff whereas making certain they didn’t unionize. However what is commonly ignored about his largesse is that roughly 225 cities and cities rejected Carnegie’s charity due to his enterprise practices. Talking concerning the libraries, Carnegie is quoted as saying, “Free libraries maintained by the people are cradles of democracy, and their spread can never fail to extend and strengthen the democratic idea, the equality of the citizen, the royalty of man.” The rich, notably these with oligarchic tendencies, like Carnegie and Frick, usually discover methods to rewrite historical past.
Giovanni Bellini’s “St. Francis in the Desert” (c. 1475–80) is flanked by different work within the newly reopened Frick Assortment
The Frick Assortment, for its half, is a real treasure trove by most any calculation. Its three Vermeers account for roughly 10% of all of the work by the Dutch Outdated Grasp, whereas its Boucher room, Fragonard’s The Progress of Love sequence (1771–73), and different French Royal work rival collections anyplace exterior Europe and even upstage the extra encyclopedic Metropolitan Museum of Artwork additional up Fifth Avenue. Its Rembrandt self-portrait (amongst different works by the beloved artist), its Bellinis, its van Dycks, its Gainsboroughs, Goyas, Hals, Turners, and El Grecos would all be superstars in much less rich establishments, however right here they huddle collectively within the opulent earthly courtroom common by Frick himself.
This week, the museum opens its doorways after a years-long renovation and growth, which was led by Selldorf Architects below govt architect Beyer Blinder Belle. A lot of the $220 million was spent on conservation and refurbishment, making the house look refreshed fairly than remodeled. Selldorf Architects are recognized for his or her giant artwork world initiatives, together with the Neue Galerie, Smithsonian American Artwork Museum, Artwork Gallery of Ontario, and the Rubell Museum. Right here, the agency has supplied a conservative however modern tackle conventional types, providing up little however the company aesthetic they’re recognized for. Certain, it’s not offensive — however neither is it impressed. Its best present of talent is that it stays out of the best way of the actual stars: the artworks themselves.
Thomas Gainsborough’s “The Mall in St. James’s Park” (c. 1783) hangs above a mantle in a second-floor gallery
Essentially the most noticeable additions are the brand new reception space, an enlarged bookshop and cafe, newly constructed short-term galleries, a brand new theater, and the opening of the Frick household quarters on the second flooring, which for the previous few many years served as employees workplaces. The reception space is underwhelming, resembling a staid wedding ceremony venue, whereas the bookshop and cafe are actually welcome however equally unadventurous. Whereas the short-term exhibition house is but to open, I think about something could be higher than that surprisingly cramped and tucked-away basement house that preceded it. The theater is good and roomy, although its type is incongruous with the remainder of the museum and would’ve been extra suited to the natural modernism of the Guggenheim additional uptown. Nonetheless, it’s a snug house, and an appreciated addition.
It was good to have the ability to see the work once more. Many of those works are taught to artwork college students the world over; it’s onerous to not really feel one thing when encountering the identical artworks that grace highschool textbooks or beloved artwork books. Greater than half the works within the museum and 30% of the work have been acquired after Frick shuffled off the mortal coil — numbering 700 on the time of the bequest and reaching 1,800 as we speak.
Gentile Bellini’s “Doge Giovanni Mocenigo” (1478−85) hangs prominently within the new medals gallery on the second flooring
A few of the latest painterly additions, together with a Sixteenth-century portrait by Giovanni Battista Moroni — the primary portrait of a girl from the period to enter the museum’s assortment — and a small panorama by Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot are at present on show. The museum factors out that the small Moroni work is a very powerful Italian Renaissance portray to enter its assortment in half a century.
The curators have paid nice consideration to recreating some rooms to evoke Frick’s personal time. A cluster of Barbizon College works within the upstairs “Breakfast Room” are offered precisely as they have been when Frick lived in the home. They play a particular function within the assortment since that faculty of artwork was Frick’s gateway to amassing. Additionally on the second flooring, a Fifteenth-century profile portrait by Bellini that has lengthy been confined to restricted employees areas is now prominently on show within the new medals rooms, alongside dozens of medallions the museum has acquired in the previous few years.
A view of the staircase, which is now open to the general public and permits you entry to the second flooring galleries
The Frick has at all times been notoriously conservative. Even again in 2014, it briefly allowed after which shortly re-banned images within the galleries, a coverage they nonetheless insist on, and youngsters below the age of 10 are barred from coming into. The establishment as an entire seems like a time capsule, but additionally an aesthetic orgy of wealth and extra. American philanthropy usually has a distinctly individualistic really feel, echoing bigger tendencies within the tradition, and this museum makes clear that it’s Frick himself, greater than the artwork, that’s being celebrated. When collectors purchase such distinguished works with well-known pedigrees, aren’t they buying their auras as nicely? We merely don’t discuss sufficient about why the rich construct establishments like this, ones clearly designed to distort the realities of their lives.
If museums are ideally locations for schooling (the truth is, their nonprofit standing hinges on this) then what will we do if the fictions spun by the benefactors and their legacy initiatives impede that mission? Shouldn’t the Frick Assortment on the very least mount a everlasting show that contextualizes the pot of gold he had accrued by the point of his loss of life in 1919 ($145 million, roughly equal to $2.9 billion as we speak) and the way he amassed such extraordinary wealth? Frick’s philanthropy usually dismisses the identical folks his charity was purportedly designed to assist, and as we speak, with a $30 price ticket for entry (pay-what-you-wish hours are on the very inconvenient Wednesday afternoon slot), it’s unlikely that anybody however rich and upper-middle-class guests will have the ability to usually benefit from the assortment.
Paolo Veronese’s “Wisdom and Strength”
A museum just like the Frick Assortment can train us quite a bit about our personal historic second, as as we speak’s oligarchs hope to return to the world that the robber barons solely dreamed of. However that’s to not say we shouldn’t proceed to attempt to reinvent museums. Extra lately, the analysis of students like Eunsong Kim is difficult us to rethink the connection between museums, artwork, and patronage. In her guide The Politics of Amassing (2024), Kim writes about arts establishments,
Moderately than a progressive narrative of latest world tradition, it’s the wealth dispossessed within the new colonial world that upholds the traditions and artifacts of the previous world order; the US is entrusted with the function of world chief due to its dedication to the continuum of colonial rule. It’s by design that this continuum is duly prolonged by way of the composition of up to date museum boards and prize committees.
That buttressing of the previous world order is nowhere extra obvious than on the Frick, the place the novelty of its accomplishment is cloaked in previous world garb.
The dying Andrew Carnegie proposed a last assembly with Frick after twenty years aside, maybe to ease his conscience after the fallout of the notorious Homestead Strike of 1892, which resulted within the loss of life of seven strikers and the harm of 11 extra. Frick, clearly nonetheless indignant, replied: “Tell him that I’ll meet him in hell.”
The newly donated “Portrait of a Woman” (c. 1575) by Giovanni Battista Moroni hangs within the renovated galleries
Whereas it might be attractive to consider the 2 satans of America’s Gilded Age capital bathing collectively within the fires of the netherworld, many people will be grateful that one in all them left this little patch of Eden behind. However just like the fabled backyard, planted inside is a treasured apple, and guests must determine whether or not or to not style it.
Strolling by way of the museum, I dream that maybe at some point it would reject the overarching nostalgia that a lot of the establishment represents, and it’ll embrace one thing actually new. Maybe at some point we’ll arrive at its entrance gates to see that it has renamed itself after George W. Rutter, the Civil Struggle veteran who died as the results of accidents he sustained through the 1892 Battle of Homestead. The Rutter Assortment could not have the identical ring at current, however it could be a extra correct solution to heal the wound that Frick helped to make, which an artwork museum by no means may. Perhaps that day, what Frick left behind will characterize the brand new tradition of which we are able to all lastly be proud.
A view of 1 the second flooring galleries
The Frick Assortment (1 East seventieth Road, Higher East Aspect, Manhattan) will reopen to the general public on April 17, and admission is $30 for adults, $22 for senior and guests with disabilities, $17 for college kids, whereas these 10–17 are admitted free when accompanied by an grownup. Youth below 10 are usually not admitted, whereas the museum is pay-what-you-wish admission on Wednesdays from 2–6 pm.
