New Publication Celebrates Frick Madison With Stunning Photography And Fresh Insights
During Renovation, Frick Collection’s New Home Is On Madison Avenue
January 07, 2022
One of the most distinctive and keenly awaited events of New Yorks cultural recovery this year was the opening of Frick Madison, the temporary residence of The Frick Collection in the Marcel Breuerdesigned building (formerly occupied by the Whitney and the Met Breuer). With its home under renovation, the Frick has taken advantage of this strikingly different, unlikely setting to present a fresh take on its holdings. The Frick Madison installation, which received rave reviews upon debuting in March, is the subject of a newly released book, Frick Madison: The Frick Collection at the Breuer Building. The lavishly illustrated volume commemorates this singular moment in the museums history through texts and stunning photography. Included are more than 130 images by the museums photographer, Joseph Coscia Jr., who captures the reframing of paintings, sculptures, and decorative arts (by Bellini, Bronzino, Clodion, Fragonard, Gainsborough, Goya, Holbein, Houdon, Ingres, Piero della Francesca, Rembrandt, Titian, Turner, Velzquez, Vermeer, Whistler, and many others) in this iconic space. The book features a reflective and absorbing foreword by author, social commentator, and contributing opinion writer for The New York Times Roxane Gay, who writes that the rehanging of the collection is an opportunity to consider the work as exemplars of the times in which they were created, as well as an opportunity to consider the work in a modern context. Also included in the book are a preface by Ian Wardropper, Anna-Maria and Stephen Kellen director, and an essay by Xavier F. Salomon, deputy director and Peter Jay Sharp chief curator, who discusses the vision behind presenting Frick holdings in a building that is also a work of art, as well as the process of reimagining the Frick in this way, against a backdrop of stone, concrete, and notable Marcel Breuer features. The temporary installation at Frick Madison marks the first time that a substantial number of works in the collection have been presented outside of their customary residential context. In a departure from the Fricks usual presentation style, works are organized at Frick Madison loosely by chronology, geographic region, and media, offering opportunities for new insights and perspectives of beloved objects. The book demonstrates how comfortably and elegantly the museums treasures appear in this modernist space. Readers will enjoy the documentation of unprecedented displays, among them the placement of Bellinis St. Francis in the Desert, considered by many to be the greatest Renaissance painting in America, in a chapel-like room of its own adjacent to one of Breuers trapezoidal windows. Fragonards Progress of Love series is now shown in its entirety and in its original sequence for the first time in more than 100 years. The book also illustrates the installation of lesser known but significant strengths in the Frick holdings, among these a room featuring 18th-century French royal furniture and a gallery of rarely seen 17th-century Indian carpets. Photography also captures the current presentation of porcelain, shown arranged by color. The Frick Madison is at 945 Madison Ave., New York City. For further press information, visit www.frick.org.
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