One longstanding misperception about The Frick Collection is that works of art cannot be moved around by its present-day staff. The flexibility with which the curators do juxtapose Frick-owned works within the mansion is the cornerstone of its thriving program of acclaimed special exhibitions, large and small.
One gallery in particular, however, the Living Hall, has seen very few changes †even temporarily †since Henry Clay Frick moved into the mansion 93 years ago. Most of the paintings he installed there in 1915, among masterpieces by Bellini, Holbein, Titian and El Greco, have seldom †if ever †left the room or been presented to the public in any other manner. As such, the Living Hall always offered visitors the closest representation of the mansion and display of art during the family’s period of residence.
From August 12 to 28, while the Living Hall is briefly closed for refurbishing, the Frick’s curatorial team will take the opportunity to install six of the museum’s most beloved paintings in the Oval Room, where they will be seen in a fresh context and in dramatically different lighting. As was the case last summer when the principal panels of Fragonard’s great masterpiece, the “Pursuit of Love,” were moved to the East Gallery during another refurbishment project, this temporary change is expected to attract interest in paintings already greatly enjoyed by visitors.
Giovanni Bellini’s landscape, “St Francis in the Desert,” painted about 1480, will hang on the center back wall of the Oval Room. The Bellini will be framed by two works by Titian, his “Portrait of a Man in a Red Cap,” of about 1516, and “Pietro Aretino,” painted several decades later. On the opposite wall visitors will find two captivating portraits by Hans Holbein the Younger, “Sir Thomas More” of 1527 and “Thomas Cromwell,” as well as El Greco’s “St Jerome.”
“One of the wonderful constants about The Frick is the character of display in the Living Hall, which is faithfully evocative of its original appearance,” said director Anne Poulet. “Some of our greatest holdings are in the room, and we are eager to maintain the original high quality of display, so we are pleased to embark on a brief, much needed, refurbishment.”
Conservator Joseph Godla will supervise the project, which involves a treatment of the elaborate early Eighteenth Century-inspired wood paneling, as well as maintenance of the floors and installation of a new carpet that replicates one now decades old and threadbare.
The education department’s new head, Rika Burnham, is planning conversations in the Oval Room at noon on Sunday, August 17 and 25. The programs are free but reservations are required as each program is limited to 20 people. To request a reservation, galleryconversations@frick.org.
The Frick Collection is at 1 East 70th Street; pay what you wish is available on Sundays from 11 am to 1 pm. For more information, www.frick.org or 212-288-0700.
