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.
Reviews
The Frick Collection is habitually called a gem by its many admirers. It's easy to see why: many of its galleries, while hardly mean, are more intimate than most American museums, and most of its collection is of brilliant quality. For the past 30 or so years, the collection has been catalogued in eight volumes of The Frick Collection: An Illustrated Catalogue (the ninth and final volume is in preparation). In Art in the Frick Collection, the museum's director, Charles Ryskamp, and others draw on this immense work to present over 140 of the museum's greatest paintings, sculpture and decorative arts. One famous work follows another, including Giovanni Bellini's St. Francis in the Desert, Hans Holbein's St. Thomas More, Rembrandt's The Polish Rider, Vermeer's Officer and Laughing Girl and Ingres's Comtesse D'Haussonville, not to mention sculptures by Antonio del Pollaiuolo, Allesandro Algardi and Jean-Antoine Houdon. Includes 198 illustrations, 178 in color.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
The opening view here into the serene garden court invites the reader to enter and experience the remarkable Frick Collection in New York City. From the first chapter, about its history, to the double-page photographs of the galleries, readers will feel as if director Ryskamp is giving them a private tour. Photographers di Liberto and Taylor highlight the stunning integration of the 14th- through 19th-century paintings, furniture, sculpture, and other art objects with the rooms; other photographs present individual pieces. Curators Davidson, Galassi, Munhall, and Tscherny explain the background of the artists as well as their works. The director and staff's previously published Paintings from the Frick Collection (Abrams, 1990) and the eight-volume set, The Frick Collection: An Illustrated Catalogue (Princeton Univ., 1968-92), form the basis for many of the entries in this one-volume update and overview of highlights. The folio size and 178 color plates should have immediate appeal to general readers and art lovers, while the detailed descriptions of each piece in the collection should satisfy scholars. Highly recommended.?Anne Marie Lane, Univ. of Wyoming, Laramie
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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