Past Exhibition: Schiava Turca
The Poetry of Parmigianino’s “Schiava Turca”
May 13, 2014 to July 20, 2014
Aimee Ng
Curator Aimee Ng is a Research Associate at The Frick Collection. More »
Where in the World? Lacquer
Marie-Laure Buku Pongo, Assistant Curator of Decorative Arts, joins Curator Aimee Ng to investigate two cross-cultural cabinets from the 1760s. The pair of cabinets combines French materials and craft with elements made a century earlier and oceans away—eight sumptuous black-and-gold lacquer panels taken from imported Japanese objects. A traditional Asian art form, lacquerware was made through a time-consuming and dangerous process, and the mysteries that Japan held in Europe enhanced the material’s popularity in fashionable French furniture.
Curators Reflect: Constable’s “Study for ‘The Leaping Horse’”
Reflecting on the only oil painting in The Eveillard Gift—on view at Frick Madison through February 26—Curator Aimee Ng analyzes John Constable’s deft brushwork and how, in this small oil sketch, the artist evokes the richness and vitality of the larger painting to come.
John Constable (1776–1837)
Study for "The Leaping Horse," ca. 1824–25
Curators Reflect: Sargent’s “Virginie Amélie Avegno, Madame Gautreau (Madame X)”
Curator Aimee Ng explores why she views this newly acquired study for John Singer Sargent’s infamous painting Madame X as “one of the most human of his many renderings of Madame Gautreau.” The expressive drawing is currently on display at Frick Madison in The Eveillard Gift, through February 26, 2023.
John Singer Sargent (1856–1925)
Virginie Amélie Avegno, Madame Gautreau (Madame X), ca. 1884
Cocktails with a Curator: From Series to Publication
You asked and we listened! Based on The Frick Collection’s acclaimed video series of the same name, the Cocktails with a Curator book is now available. Here, watch as curators Xavier F. Salomon, Aimee Ng, and Giulio Dalvit reflect on the unexpected popularity of the series and their excitement to share engaging histories of Frick artworks, paired with themed drinks, with readers around the world. Cheers!
Where in the World? Pearl
In this episode of Where in the World?, Curator Aimee Ng dives deep into the history of pearls and their appearance in paintings by Vermeer. In seventeenth-century Holland, pearls signified a wearer’s ability to purchase the expensive natural gems, which skilled divers in the Dutch colonies harvested from the Indian Ocean under dangerous conditions.
Where in the World? Cochineal
Assistant Curator of Sculpture Giulio Dalvit joins Curator Aimee Ng to investigate the history of the vibrant red pigment in El Greco’s sixteenth-century painting of Saint Jerome. The pigment is derived from crushed cochineal insects, sourced from the Central and South American colonies then under the control of El Greco’s adopted Spain.
Living Histories: In Conversation with Doron Langberg
Curator Aimee Ng sits down for a conversation with Doron Langberg, one of the four contemporary artists participating in Living Histories: Queer Views and Old Masters. Doron describes developing his artistic sensibility from a young age, finding his footing in New York City, and delving into the painterly language of the Old Masters from a queer perspective to produce his painting Lover—on view at Frick Madison adjacent to Hans Holbein the Younger’s Sir Thomas More into January 2022.
Where in the World? Gold
In this episode of "Where in the World?," Curator Aimee Ng discusses the use of gold in a rare painting by Duccio. Signifying both a sacred realm and material riches, the precious metal has a history intertwined with trade, conquest, and colonization in West Africa and beyond.
Duccio's Temptation of Christ on the Mountain
To learn more: