Untruthfully Immersed into Fine Art at “The Frick Collection”
The critically acclaimed “The Frick Collection” located on the Upper East Side, is a beautifully preserved site and a magnificent building, filled with many impressive pieces of art. Henry Clay Frick, the former owner and resident of the estate, and his family had an undying passion for fine art and therefore laid the foundation for a sumptous collection in their home that would later be modified into a museum in the years of 1913 to 1914. Among these awe-inspiring paintings and sculptures were Joseph Mallord William Turner’s “The Harbor of Dieppe” and “Cologne: The Arrival of Packet Boat: Evening” hung on opposite sides of the West Gallery, because of their tremendous detail and endowment to inspire the observer to see and feel the movement in these paintings themselves. Jeans Barbet’s sculpture “Angel”, held entirely in black and located in the garden, which is an artistic, spiritual site in itself, caught my attention the most because of the defined features and striking pose of the angel. Though, the artistic value and beauty of all the pieces displayed in “The Frick Collection” is undeniable, I got the impression that most of the pieces didn’t seem to get the full appreciation they deserved. While the building has all potential to be an enjoyable, sophisticated museum, many of the galleries felt crammed and the arrangement of the pieces was rather imperfect. Even though I took advantage of the Art Phone Audio Guide, provided for no extra fee, I was not fully able to immerse in the depth and focus these pieces required of me as the observer. “The Frick Collection” is a museum that requires one to have preparation, maybe even do research, before hand, I believe, to fully appreciate every piece of art and in order for one to know what to look for in the numerous galleries.
September 26th, 2007 at 10:20 am
You make some interesting observations. Is part of the “crammed” quality you are observing due to the inclusion of furniture, textiles, etc. in the space? One underlying idea at the Frick Museum is the preservation of the house itself in the way that the Fricks kept it – to keep the feel of a private house. By visiting the Frick you are not only seeing the art but also seeing how these people lived (or how they want you to think they lived). One question might be, what is the Frick a museum of?
September 26th, 2007 at 12:17 pm
Overall, I found the visit to the Frick very interesting because of the fact that they preserved the home of the Frick’s so beautifully. The crammed quality however was particularly in the West Gallery – beautiful pictures and sculptures were displayed but it was difficult to fully immerse in the depth and beauty of a single piece because they were very close together. Only this room held about 25 different piece of art which seemed a little bit overwhelming. In museums such as the Guggenheim, I found that every painting had its “own place” in the museum with its own lightning which made it much easier to appreciate and focus on the pieces individually. As I mentioned, the Frick has such great potential and the building is artistic and capturing in itself, however , the way they incorporated the numerous paintings and sculptures into the space isn’t quite successful, in my opinion.