The Frick Collection is an art museum located in the Henry Clay Frick House on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, New York at 1st East 70th Street, at the northeast corner with Fifth Avenue. It houses the collection of industrialist Henry Clay Frick (1849-1919). The Frick Collection. Known as an international research museum, the Frick is known for its outstanding Old Master paintings and outstanding examples of European sculpture and decorative arts.
The Frick Collection was founded by Henry Clay Frick (1849-1919), a Pittsburgh cocktail artist and industrialist of steel. After his death, Mr. Frick bequeathed his residence in New York City and the most outstanding of his many works to establish a public gallery for the purpose of “encouraging and promoting the study of fine art.” Chief among his bequests, including sculpture, drawings, prints, and decorative arts such as furniture, porcelain, enamel, rugs, and silver, were one hundred and thirty-one paintings. The Frick’s collection now contains a permanent collection of more than 1,100 works of art from the Era.
Renaissance to the late nineteenth century
The collection was assembled by Pittsburgh industrialist Henry Clay Frick (1849-1919) and housed in his former residence on Fifth Avenue. One of the few remaining gilded-era mansions in New York City, it provides a tranquil atmosphere for visitors to experience masterpieces by such artists as Bellini, Rembrandt, Vermeer, Gainsborough, Goya and Whistler. The museum opened in 1935 and has continued to acquire works of art since Frick’s death.
Next door to the museum is the Frick Art Reference Library, founded in 1920 by Helen Clay Frick as a memorial to her father. Today it is one of the leading institutions for research in art history and collecting.
Along with special exhibitions and a renowned concert series, the Frick offers a wide range of lectures, symposia, and educational programs that foster a deeper understanding of its permanent collection.
Frick’s collection includes superb examples of Italian paintings and bronzes, seventeenth-century Dutch works of art, Limoges enamels, eighteenth-century English portraits, eighteenth-century French paintings and furniture, nineteenth-century paintings, and Chinese porcelains. Artists featured in the collection include Rembrandt van Rijn, Giovanni Bellini, El Greco, Frans Gals, Johannes Vermeer, Francis Boucher, Thomas Gainsborough, Joshua Reynolds, Joseph Mallord William Turner, James MacNeil Whistler, Francesco Laurent, Jean-Antoine Goudon, and Severo Calzetta da Ravenna.
Mission
The mission of the Frick Collection is to: preserve and display for the public the collection and increase its holdings in the fields established by Henry Clay Frick, reflecting the uncompromising levels of quality he embraced and maintaining the historic serenity of Mr. Frick’s home.
To provide access, understanding and enjoyment of the Collection to the public through special exhibitions, publications, education, research and public programs of the highest caliber.
To offer a unique and unforgettable experience for the visiting public, providing an appealing glimpse into life in the Gilded Age.
To serve as a center for research and stimulate scholarship in the history of art and the history of art collecting in the Western tradition, from the fourth to the mid-twentieth century.
Library
The Frick Collection oversees the nearby Frick Art Library. The collections held in the library focus on art in the Western tradition from the fourth century to the mid-twentieth century and primarily include information on paintings, drawings, sculptures, prints, and illuminated manuscripts. Archival materials complement the research collections. The library, opened in 1920, quickly became a major resource for students.