In conjunction with the New York Cultural Showcase Festival, a small exhibition devoted to studies for works of art in the Frick Collection was held.
As part of a series of exhibitions devoted to drawings and prints in its collection, The Frick Collection presented one focused on the work of James Abbott McNeill Whistler (1834–1903), including three pastels and eight etchings. In addition, four paintings by this artist were on view in the galleries. All twelve etchings exhibited belong to the "Venice Set," commissioned by the London Fine Art Society in 1878.
In commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the birth of the American artist James Abbott McNeill Whistler (1834–1903), The Frick Collection exhibited all of its Whistler holdings. Whistler's The Ocean (left), three pastels of Venice, twelve etchings from his famous "Venice Set," a lithograph of Robert, Comte de Montesquiou-Fezensac, and two letters written to Montesquiou and R.A. Canfield were on view in the lower-level gallery. The four full-length portraits by Whistler of Miss Rosa Corder, Mrs. Frederick R.
An exhibition focusing on the cities of Venice and Paris as depicted in paintings, drawings, and prints in The Frick Collection. The exhibition included two canvases depicting scenes of Venice by Francesco Guardi that are normally displayed in the main reading room of the Frick Art Reference Library; three pastels of Venetian subjects by J.A.M. Whistler; the twelve etchings that comprised Whistler’s First Venice Set; and thirteen etchings by Charles Meryon providing vivid images of Paris as it appeared in the mid-nineteenth century.
Another in-depth exhibition devoted to a single painting in The Frick Collection, this one focused on Whistler's celebrated portrait Arrangement in Black and Gold: Comte Robert de Montesquiou-Fezensac, first exhibited in 1894.
Marking the centenary of the death of James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903), The Frick Collection presented Whistler, Women, and Fashion — the first in-depth exploration of the artist's lifelong involvement in fashion as an essential aspect of his work.
Between 1914 and 1919, Henry Clay Frick acquired twenty works by James McNeill Whistler: five paintings, three pastels, and twelve prints, a remarkable ensemble that represents the breadth of Whistler’s artistic activity and testifies to Frick’s taste as a collector.
Alex Gordon Lecture in the History of Art
"Whistler’s Art: 'An Arrangement in Line, Form & Colour'"
by Margaret F. MacDonald, Professor of History of Art, University of Glasgow
A skillful draftsman, a master printmaker, and a controversial painter, James McNeill Whistler created strikingly perceptive and atmospheric masterpieces. His art and writings reveal his strong response to color and how this conflicted with his belief in the central importance of drawing. This lecture focuses on works on paper that illustrate the development of his art from 1855 to 1903.
The interiors of Danish painter Vilhelm Hammershøi reveal an understanding of light and its play in space comparable to that of Vermeer and Whistler, while his methods relate to those of Van Gogh. This lecture illustrates the surprising methodological approaches and techniques used by these artists in creating spatial illusions in seemingly unrelated artistic expressions.
Joanna Sheers discusses Whistler's "Harmony in Pink and Grey: Portrait of Lady Meux" from the exhibition Portraits, Pastels, Prints: Whistler in The Frick Collection, June 2 through August 23, 2009.
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