12/1/13 – The Frick Collection

Well if seeing Picasso yesterday was enjoyable then viewing the Frick Collection today was exulting! Henry Clay Frick’s quest for artistic perfection is to be commended as his collection is stunning and much appreciated by even those with an imperfect eye – such as me.

I found the most delightful aspect of this collection is that it is set in his home and that the works are all displayed there in the places and the manner that Mr Frick had chosen for them. One therefore gets a real sense of the pleasure he must have felt as he wandered past these works each day and especially each night before he retired to bed – a ritual he repeated routinely every night. It seems a shame that he only lived for 5 years after the house was finally completed and his collection fully installed.

After his death his daughter continued collecting and these later additions to the collection make a visit to the Frick a ‘must see’ in and of themselves. But wait, there’s more. In addition to the Frick Collection the Museum is currently hosting two magnificent special exhibitions. Firstly, Van Gogh’s  ‘Portrait of a Peasant (Patience Escalier)’, on loan from the Norman Simon Gallery in Pasadena, is rich and full of Vincent’s determination to paint what comes from within him rather than to cater to the artistic tastes of his time.  But the second of the exhibitions is even more impressive.  

‘Mantegna to Matisse: Master Drawings from the Courtauld Gallery’ is almost obscene in its scope and quality. In keeping with its tradition of exhibiting masterworks from collections outside of New York, the Frick has assembled in this collection some fifty-eight drawings drawn from the massive resources of the Courtauld Gallery, London. This exhibition marks the first time that so many of the principal drawings in the Courtauld's renowned collection have been made available for loan. It was almost painful having to keep moving past so many master works by names like Rembrandt, Rubens, the Buonarroti, Bruegel (the elder), Veronese, Tintoretto, Bernini, da Vinci, Durer, Goya, Seurat, Degas, Matisse, Cezanne, Picasso, Toulouse-Lautrec and Manet and equally painful to read that many of the works were collected by the British government from private owners who offered them up to the State in restitution for unpaid (and unpayable) inheritance tax! Viewing these special exhibitions left only a small time to view the rest of the home. Luckily we have membership now and can return as often as we desire.      

After the Museum closed we met up with Jenny and Richard we caught the subway to Greenwich Village where we strolled through the streets for an hour or so. The East Village in particular is one of THE places to be (and to be seen to be) in NYC and after just one hour picking through the narrow winding streets (so different from the neatly ordered wide avenues and streets of the Upper East Side) wandering past interesting little shops, pubs, restaurants and galleries of all kinds it was obvious

to us why this is so. We paused to take in some really excellent Indian food on Bleecker Street but that was just the entrée … unbeknown to the boys Jenny and I had agreed that the main purpose of this outing was not to be seen or eat great Indian, but instead to secure some velvet cake from the famous Magnolia Bakery (see Sex in the City for the location).

With that mission achieved (with bonus caramel, lemon and peppermint choc chip cakes tied up in those sweet little boxes) we travelled home to devour them over a pot or two of tea (since we find getting a decent cup of tea in a restaurant is something Americans still struggle with). Ohhh no…despite all of the hype they were a major disappointment.  Like a lot of food here in the USA, they looked great but they had no taste. Guess I’ll just have to stick to Bob’s bagels!