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Table of Contents

Summary Information

Historical Note

Scope and Content Note

Arrangement

Administrative Information

Controlled Access Headings

Collection Inventory

Series I: Italian Sculpture, circa 1920-1933, undated

Series II: Italian Painting, 1925-1930, undated

Series III: Artists Bibliographies, undated

Summary Information

Repository

The Frick Collection/Frick Art Reference Library Archives10 East 71st Street
New York, NY, 10021
archives@frick.org
 © 2010 The Frick Collection. All rights reserved.

Creator

Frick Art Reference Library.

Title

Helen Clay Frick Research Files on Italian Art

ID

FARL.0100.020.02

Date

1920-1933

Extent

2.5 Linear feet  (5 boxes)

Abstract

Helen Clay Frick (1888-1984), daughter of industrialist and art collector Henry Clay Frick, founded the Frick Art Reference Library in 1920 and served as its director until 1983. These files were produced through her research on Italian sculpture and painting, primarily to annotate photo mounts in the Frick Art Reference Library Photoarchive. The Research Files span the years 1920-1933, and contain typed and handwritten research notes, black and white photographs, printed material, some correspondence, and extensive artist bibliographies.

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Historical Note

Helen Clay Frick (1888-1984), daughter of industrialist and art collector Henry Clay Frick, founded the Frick Art Reference Library in 1920 and served as its director until 1983. Miss Frick developed a special interest in Italian art during the 1920s, making four trips to Italy during the winter of 1923-24, and in 1925, 1927 and 1928. According to The Story of the Frick Art Reference Library: The Early Years by Katharine McCook Knox, the "four comprehensive field trips" during the 1920s were made to discover early Italian paintings and frescos, take careful notes on the works, and either purchase photographs when available, or have the works photographed when they were not. In 1925, Miss Frick contracted Mario Sansoni (then of Sansoni & Nesti) to photograph works of art in Italy, as well as acquire commercial photographs for the Library. In addition, photographs of Italian art were acquired for the Library in the 1920s through the services of Count Umberto Gnoli, Dr. Richard Offner, and F. Mason Perkins.

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Scope and Content Note

This collection contains documents produced by Helen Clay Frick and the Frick Art Reference Library staff circa 1920-1933 during their research on Italian sculpture and painting, with the bulk of the documents in the collection dating from 1925-1933. The files contain typed and handwritten research notes, black and white photographs, printed material, some correspondence, and extensive artist bibliographies. The primary purpose of Miss Frick's research was to annotate photographic reproductions of artworks for the Library's photograph collection, now known as the Photoarchive. The documents in this collection are both preliminary and completed research notes for these annotations. The photographs in this collection are mainly duplicates of those in the Photoarchive, though some are described by Miss Frick or other Library researchers as unidentified.

Miss Frick's research notes follow the structure of the Frick Art Reference Library Photoarchive annotations, listing underneath a mounted reproduction of each painting or sculpture the title of work, name of artist, location of work, approximate date, known reproductions, owner, description, and bibliographic information.

In addition to research notes for the Photoarchive, there is also extensive bibliographic information for several Italian sculptors and painters. The majority of the bibliographic references were published circa 1923-1927 in periodicals such as The Burlington Magazine.

The collection also includes Miss Frick's notes and brief correspondence with librarians at the Frick Art Reference Library and other brief correspondence related to the purchase of photographic reproductions from well-known early 20th century photographic firms such as Alinari.

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Arrangement

The materials are organized in three series:

Series I: Italian Sculpture

Series II: Italian Painting

Series III: Artist Bibliographies

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Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

These records are open for research under the conditions of The Frick Collection/Frick Art Reference Library Archives access policy. Contact the Archives Department for further information at archives@frick.org.

Processing Information

Arranged and described by Caroline Caviness, 2008.

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Controlled Access Headings

Genre(s)

• Correspondence.
• Photographs.
• Research notes.

Personal Name(s)

• Frick, Helen Clay, 1888-1984.

Subject(s)

• Art, Italian.

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Collection Inventory