"Cocktails and Travels With a Curator"
Since the end of March, when the period of quarantine began, museums, art galleries, and festivals all over the world were forced to close and have been seeking and investigating other ways in which they can promote and showcase their work to the rest of the world. The Frick Collection, specifically, in New York, has created online programs to better engage with the public called “Cocktails With a Curator” and “Travels With a Curator” They are both mainly led by the Frick’s chief curator, Xavier Salomon, and curator Aimee Ng.
In “Cocktails,” Salomon focuses on individual pieces of art in the collection at the Frick. He discusses and describes the details of the work by including close-ups of the art while also comparing it to other pieces. His professional opinion and that of his fellow curator offer a lot of information about the individual works and their artists. For example, with “The Polish Rider,” a seventeenth-century painting of a man traveling on horseback, he described it being “haunting, beautiful, poetic,” while also noting how there is not much known about the painting’s history or meaning as it was acquired by a Polish nobleman at the end of the 18th century and then sold to the King of Poland.
Not only is there discussion of the art at the Frick, but of the Frick itself and its history. In regards to its founder, Henry Clay Frick, information is given about how he bought many of the Frick’s pieces from J.P. Morgan and his son. While most of the early Italian paintings were obtained by his daughter, Helen Clay Frick, and some pieces, such as Jean-Antoine Watteau’s “The Portal of Valenciennes” (c. 1710-11) with its militaristic scene of soldiers was a recent addition.
In another episode of “Cocktails,” Ms. Ng focuses on Thomas Gainsborough’s portrait of Grace Dalrymple Elliot (c. 1782). A painting of a striking and expressive woman wearing an imposing corsage. Installed in the Frick’s former dining room, the painting is overwhelmed and surpassed by the luxurious, full-length portraits of Gainsborough and his colleagues. Though there is an interesting backstory and history to Mrs. Elliot as she had a rather scandalous career in England and France, having been associated romantically with the Prince of Wales and the Duc d’Orleans.
Having been to the Frick on numerous occasions and always enjoy seeing its collection and works of art, I have to say that these online videos and programs are a great way to still be in touch with their galleries. Though they are very informative of art history, they are also entertaining and engaging, drawing the viewer into the world of art and the Frick’s impressive collection. All of the episodes are available on the Fricks website and YouTube channel. “Cocktails” premiere their episodes at 5 p.m. on Fridays and “Travels” releases to the museum members at 5 p.m. on Wednesday and the general public after the first showing.
These are two other pieces of art that are featured in Mr. Salomon’s discussions of the Frick Collection.
Giovanni Bellini’s “St. Francis in the Desert” (c. 1476-78)
John Constable’s “The White Horse” (1819)
