Frick Art Reference Library: Difference between revisions

[[Helen Clay Frick]] founded the Librarylibrary in 1920 as a memorial to her father, [[Henry Clay Frick]], who died in 1919. Its first home was the bowling alley of the Frick residence, which is now The Frick Collection. In 1924, the library was relocated from the bowling alley to a one-story building at 6 East 71st Street, designed by the architecture firm, [[Carrère and Hastings]]. The library opened to the public in its current building on January 14, 1935.

The collections held at the Frick Art Reference Library focus on art of the Western tradition from the fourth century (A.D.) to the mid twentieth century (A.D.), and chiefly include information about paintings, drawings, sculpture, prints, and illuminated manuscripts. Archival materials augment its research collections.<ref>[http://www.frick.org/research/archives Archival materials]</ref> The Librarylibrary holds more than 228,000 monograph and 3,300 periodical titles. The collection includes several highlights: an auction catalog collection that contains approximately 90,000 items; the [[Frick Art Reference Library Photoarchive]] which holds more than 1.2 million images including photographs and clippings of works of art; and the electronic resources collection which consists of more than 2,000 subscription databases and e-journals, as well as e-books.

The Centercenter supports a broad range of intellectual initiatives;<ref>{{cite news|last=Muchnic|first=Suzanne|date=18 July 2010|title=American art collectors ripe for study|newspaper=LA Times|url=http://articles.latimes.com/2010/jul/18/entertainment/la-ca-collectors-20100718}}</ref> it organizes and hosts a regular calendar of symposia, specialist lectures, and study days, and it contributes to undergraduate and graduate seminars taught in collaboration with local colleges. It also offers long and short term fellowships in the history of collecting, which attract scholars researching diverse aspects of cultural history. In addition, the center created and continues to expand a major digital archive of art collectors and dealers, and it is collaborating on the creation of software that will aid in the study of visual history. The Centercenter has an active publications program and awards a biennial book prize for excellent contributions to the History of Collecting in America.

From its inception under the leadership of founding director Inge Reist, the Centercenter has had an advisory committee consisting of academics, collectors, librarians, archivists, and curators. In 2014, a Fellows Committee was introduced to garner financial support and to gather a dedicated community of individuals interested in engaging with collecting practices, especially through visits to the homes of private collectors.

Between 2007- 2015, the Centercenter organized the following symposia on the history of collecting:<ref>{{cite web|author=James Tarmy|date=19 May 2014|title=Frick Experts: Key to Understanding Current Art Bubble Lies in the Past|url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2014-05-19/frick-experts-key-to-understanding-current-art-bubble-lies-in-the-past|work=Bloomberg.com}}</ref>

* May 2015 – Seen through the Collector’sCollector's Lens: 150 Years of Photography<ref>Video recording: [http://www.frick.org/interact/video/photography "Seen through the Collector's Lens: 150 Years of Photography"]</ref>

* March 2010 – The Collector’sCollector's Choice: Art on Display in American Private Collections

* May 2009 – Holland’sHolland's Golden Age in America: Collecting the Art of Rembrandt, Vermeer and Hals

* November 2008 – Collecting Spanish Art: Spain’sSpain's Golden Age and America’sAmerica's Gilded Age<ref>{{cite web|title=Collecting Spanish Art: Spain's Golden Age and America's Gilded Age|url=http://www.ceeh.es/en/activity/collecting-spanish-art-spains-golden-age-and-americas-gilded-age/|work=ceeh.es}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|author=Instituto Cervantes|title=CVC. Coleccionismo norteamericano de arte y cultura españolas.|url=http://cvc.cervantes.es/artes/coleccionismo_eeuu/|work=cervantes.es}}</ref>

The Centercenter has an active publication program, issuing books that draw on the scholarship presented in the symposia. Many of these have been published in association with Pennsylvania State University Press as volumes of The Frick Collection Studies on the History of Art Collecting in America. Titles include:

The Centercenter also organizes special events such as movie showings and lectures by important scholars, artists, and collectors. For instance, in 2013, the center presented a lecture by artist and author [[Edmund de Waal]], and in 2014, it hosted a conversation between Sir David Cannadine, Lord Rothschild, and Duke of Devonshire.<ref>{{cite web|title=Edmund de Waal: "Start Again: Collections and Memory"|url=http://www.frick.org/interact/edmund_de_waal|work=frick.org}}</ref>

The Centercenter regularly collaborates with academic institutions, including Barnard College, Columbia University, and New York University's Institute of Fine Arts, to offer graduate and undergraduate seminars and graduate workshops on the history of collecting. Alongside local museums, it also organizes and participates in study days that contextualize major museum exhibitions within the history of collecting.<ref>Video recordings are available for the study days on: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=121GxfHULN0 The Philippe de Montebello Years: Curators Celebrate Three Decades of Acquisitions at The Metropolitan Museum of Art] and [https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL50D4D05A7522D62D Collecting Byzantine and Islamic Art].</ref> In addition, it facilitates oral and video histories of dealers and collectors who have helped to shape American collecting through the twentieth century.<ref>{{cite web|title=PRIVATE EYE|url=http://artillerymag.com/private-eye-4/|work=Artillery Magazine|date=4 March 2015 }}</ref> In this effort, it has partnered with the Archives of American Art on a two-year project to produce a series of oral histories of collectors.<ref>{{cite web|author=Archives of American Art|title=Oral history interview with Tony Ganz, 2014 December 6|url=http://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/interviews/oral-history-interview-tony-ganz-16213|work=si.edu}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|author=Archives of American Art|title=Oral history interview with Robert E. Meyerhoff, 2014 December 11-12|url=http://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/interviews/oral-history-interview-robert-e-meyerhoff-16212|work=si.edu}}</ref>

The Centercenter maintains an archives directory,<ref>[https://research.frick.org/directory Archives Directory for the Centercenter for the History of Collecting]</ref> which is a growing index of collectors, dealers, auction houses and galleries, presented with historical notes and with the locations of their archival materials.<ref>{{cite web|date=23 February 2015|title=The Frick Art Reference Library Opens Two New Online Databases|url=http://www.collegeart.org/news/2010/02/23/the-frick-art-reference-library-opens-two-new-online-databases/|publisher=College Art Association|accessdate=24 July 2015}}</ref> In 2011, the [[Art Libraries Society of North America]] awarded the Archives Directory its annual Worldwide Books Award for Electronic Resources, which recognizes achievements in digital librarianship or in curating visual resources.<ref>{{cite web|title=Worldwide Books Award for Electronic Resources|url=https://www.arlisna.org/about/awards-honors/awards-history/227-worldwide-books-award-for-electronic-resources-past-winners|work=ARLIS/NA}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Worldwide Books Award for Electronic Resources: Past Winners|url=https://www.arlisna.org/about/awards-honors/73-worldwide-books-electronic-resources|work=ARLIS/NA}}</ref> The center is also currently collaborating with scholars at the NYU Polytechnic School of Engineering to develop a digital platform that will facilitate the storage, comparison, and manipulation of digital images.

Each year, the Centercenter grants a total of six short-term and long-term fellowships to pre- and post-doctoral scholars focusing on the history of collecting. It also awards a biennial book prize for a distinguished publication on the history of collecting in America.<ref>{{cite web|author=Ignacio Villarreal|title=Frick's Center for the History of Collecting in America to Award New $25,000 Biennial Book Prize|url=http://artdaily.com/news/29436/Frick-s-Center-for-the-History-of-Collecting-in-America-to-Award-New--25-000-Biennial-Book-Prize#.VZKvHRtVhHw|work=artdaily.com}}</ref> The book prize honorees include: