George Stubbs (1724 – 1806): A Celebration

This winter, The Frick Collection presents the first museum exhibition of paintings by George Stubbs ever to be held in New York City, marking the bicentenary of this British artist widely esteemed for his depictions of animals and scenes of country life in late eighteenth-century England.  The Frick is the exclusive North American venue for the show, which opened to acclaim in 2006 at the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, the artist’s birthplace, before moving in the autumn to Tate Britain, London, the city where Stubbs lived and achieved his greatest success.  While Stubbs’s work is represented in many American collections, the exhibition at the Frick draws on British-owned examples, many of which have not crossed the Atlantic Ocean in more than twenty years, presenting an important viewing opportunity.  The seventeen pictures include almost the full range of Stubbs’s subjects, and the exhibition’s intimate scale emphasizes his gifts as a painter whose acute powers of observation, gracefully choreographed compositions, brilliant palette, and meticulous technique transform subjects, no matter how mundane or exotic, into timeless statements celebrating the relationship between nature and art.  Major local funding for George Stubbs (1724–1806): A Celebration has been provided by The Peter Jay Sharp Foundation.  Corporate support has been provided by Fiduciary Trust Company International.  Generous funding has also been provided by Francis Finlay, Melvin R. Seiden in honor of Colin B. Bailey, and by the Fellows of The Frick Collection.  The exhibition is supported by an indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and Humanities.