Acquisitions

Over the course of fifty years—from the 1950s until his death in 2010 at the age of eighty-one—former Frick Collection Director Charles A. Ryskamp (1928–2010) assembled an extraordinary personal trove of European drawings. Reflecting on his pursuits in 2009, Dr. Ryskamp remarked, “I have always believed that giving, as much as acquiring, is the principle of my collecting.” This spirit of sharing is embodied in a group of ten superb drawings that he bequeathed to the Frick, selected from among his large and varied collection by Anne L. Poulet, Director Emerita, and curators Colin B. Bailey and Susan Grace Galassi. Other sheets were donated to The Morgan Library & Museum, where Dr. Ryskamp served as Director from 1969 to 1987, or auctioned at Sotheby’s for the benefit of Princeton University, where he began his career as a professor of literature. The works bequeathed to the Frick transform the museum’s holdings in drawings, enlarging them by nearly a third, while complementing the permanent collection’s focus on landscape and figural subjects. MORE »