The Frick Collection presented a temporary installation of sculptures by acclaimed author and ceramist Edmund de Waal. Site-specific works made of porcelain, steel, gold, marble, and glass were displayed in the museum's main galleries alongside works from the permanent collection.
De Waal is known for his installations of porcelain vessels housed in minimal structures, often created in response to collections and archives or the history of a specific place. Past sites have included Waddesdon Manor and Chatsworth House — this project marked his first such installation in the United States.
The presentation, curated by Charlotte Vignon, Curator of Decorative Arts, was the latest in a series of collaborations with de Waal and The Frick Collection. He was a coauthor, with Vignon, of the third volume in the Frick Diptych series, which focuses on a pair of porcelain candelabras with gilt-bronze mounts by Pierre Gouthière, the great French eighteenth-century chaser-gilder. In 2013, in conjunction with the Frick Art Reference Library’s Center for the History of Collecting, de Waal lectured about his award-winning family memoir, The Hare with Amber Eyes (2010). A fully illustrated catalogue, featuring installation views and essays by Vignon and de Waal, is available.
Major support for the installation was provided by the David Berg Foundation, Agnes Gund, Mr. and Mrs. Michael J. Horvitz, Margot and Jerry Bogert, the Arnhold Family, Kathleen and †Martin Feldstein, the Eugene M. Lang Foundation, Ambassador and Mrs. John L. Loeb Jr., Lynda and Stewart Resnick, Louisa Stude Sarofim, Mr. and Mrs. Andrew Saul, and by Jane Richards in honor of Elizabeth Eveillard.