| Center for the History of Collecting in America
In the spring of 2006, Anne Poulet, Director of The Frick Collection announced a new initiative, to establish a Center for research dedicated to the History of Collecting in America at the Frick Art Reference Library. In doing so, the Frick builds on the strengths of the Library’s collections, whose photoarchive, catalogues for auctions, exhibitions, and public and private collections and archives have historically served scholars intent on object-oriented research. The Library’s location in New York City has long contributed to making it a hub of research focused directly on art collecting and the art market.
The concept of a Center for the history of art collecting in America began to take shape at a colloquium held at the Frick in May 2005, when thirteen participants reached a clear consensus that such a center should exist to serve this new and growing field of inquiry, in which social-, cultural- and art historians, as well as interested laymen share a keen and mutually beneficial interest. Since the Colloquium, dozens of additional meetings with potential advisors and collaborators have taken place and spurred development of the Center’s mission and programming.
The Mission of the Frick Center for the History of Collecting in America is to stimulate awareness of and study of the formation of fine- and decorative-arts collections, public and private, from colonial times to the present, while asserting the relevance of this subject to art- and cultural history.
Objectives:
- Through fellowships, the Center will support scholarship in the history of art collecting in America.
- Utilizing the strengths of the Frick Art Reference Library’s resources, it will provide service to scholars through development of research tools and by facilitating access to primary sources.
- Through symposia and conferences, it will foster academic and public awareness of the significance of art collecting to American cultural and social history.
- It will actively encourage related academic programming for graduate students and seek the cooperation of museums, universities, and other research centers in the accomplishment of its goals.
In keeping with these objectives, programming for the first year has been defined and has included:
- In fall 2006, a Seminar on “Henry Clay Frick as Collector,” was offered by Professor Jonathan Brown, Institute of Fine Art, NYU
- A symposium “Turning Points in Old Master Collecting, 1830-1940” co-sponsored by the Frick and Kress Foundation will take place on May 19, 2007
- A Directory of Dealers’ and Collectors’ Archives has been developed, and numerous collaborators contacted and initial data-entry accomplished
- An oral history program
- The Scholar’s Program, to be phased in, with both short-term and long-term fellowships.
For additional information contact Inge Reist, Chief of Research Collections and Programs by e-mail to center@frick.org; or by calling 212-547-0647.
For information about a a future publication related to this project, see A Directory of Archives Relating to the History of Collecting in America in Publications.
|
