Art in the Frick Collection : Paintings, Sculpture, Decorative Arts - Hardcover

Frick Collection; Davidson, Bernice; Galassi, Susan; Ryskamp, Charles; Munhall, Edgar

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0810919729 ISBN 13: 9780810919723

Publisher: Abrams, 1996

Synopsis

Overwhelmingly, visitors agree that The Frick Collection in New York City is one of their favorite museums in the world. The elegant Fifth Avenue mansion, built in 1914 for Mr. and Mrs. Henry Clay Frick, houses a unique assemblage of some of the choicest art to be found anywhere.
In this book, Charles Ryskamp - the Director of The Frick Collection - introduces the reader to the world of Henry Clay Frick, to the evolution of his collection, as well as to the historical and aesthetic framework within which The Frick Collection attained its eminence.
Then, in separate sections devoted to paintings, sculpture, and the decorative arts, written by the curatorial staff, the pages of Art in The Frick Collection offer vibrant reproductions of the famous works, with information on every piece illustrated and magnificent views of the richly furnished room where they are installed. As Sir John Pope-Hennessy has observed: "In The Frick Collection, alone of the great museums of the world, paintings and sculpture of comparable quality are shown side by side."
Paintings by Rembrandt, Vermeer, Memling, Velazquez, Constable, and Renoir hang next to some of the finest of Renaissance bronzes, marble portrait busts by such sculptors as Verrocchio and Houdon, and eighteenth-century terracotta figures. Furniture of wood and marble, gilt bronze and porcelain - including pieces made for Marie-Antoinette - match these in importance. Readers will enjoy browsing through this selection of the treasures to be seen in the house built by Mr. Frick, offered here in the most extensive one-volume survey to be published on the renowned Collection.

About this title

Review:

In Art in the Frick Collection, museum director Charles Ryskamp takes readers on a tour of the Frick's permanent collection, including paintings by Rembrandt and Vermeer as well as Renaissance sculpture and 18th-century French furnishings. Ryskamp begins with a biography of Henry Clay Frick, detailing his development as an art collector, and then guides us through the evolution of the museum, which is housed in the Fifth Avenue mansion Frick himself helped design and in which he lived until his death. Large (in some cases full-page) photographs of art are naturally the focus here, but the accompanying text, written by the museum's curators, elucidates both the work and the artists who rendered it. Illustrating why Frick's collection is a model for many other notable American art collections, this graceful book is worth the price of admission.

About the Author:

Charles Ryskamp is a renowned scholar, collector and former director of The Pierpont Morgan Library (1969 - 1987) and The Frick Collection (1987 - 1997). He lives in New York City and Princeton, New Jersey.

About this edition

• Publisher: Abrams
• Publication date: 1996
• ISBN 10: 0810919729
• ISBN 13: 9780810919723
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 208