The Fricks Collect

“Before his New York home became a museum, Henry Clay Frick engaged some of the most important art dealers and decorators of his time to build a renowned collection and create suitable Gilded Age interiors to accommodate it. In this new book, Ian Wardropper, the Frick’s Anna-Maria and Stephen Kellen Director, traces the journey that led to the creation of one of America’s finest art collections. With a focus on Henry and his daughter Helen, Wardropper weaves a fascinating tale of ambition, wealth, and cultural patronage, complemented by rich imagery showcasing the family’s masterpieces and sumptuous interiors in Pittsburgh; Prides Crossing, Massachusetts; and New York City. Julian Fellowes—actor, writer, director, and producer known for creating Downton Abbey and The Gilded Age—contributes a foreword to this engaging narrative.” — ART DAILY

“A tale of power and patronage in America’s Gilded Age, it focuses on industrialist Henry Clay Frick, and how with his newly coined fortune — as well as guidance from his trusted decorators and dealers White, Allom Co., Elsie de Wolfe, Joseph Duveen and Charles Carstairs of M. Knoedler Co. — he was able to prise many masterpieces from the walls of bankrupt European aristocrats. Following Frick’s death in 1919, his Beaux-Arts Manhattan mansion was turned into a public museum to display 1,500 of his works of art, which span the Renaissance to the 19th century. Among them are some of the finest paintings by Bellini, Fragonard, Gainsborough, Goya, Holbein, Rembrandt, Titian, Turner, Velázquez and Vermeer. The 160-page book is richly illustrated with photographs of art and interiors, and has a foreword by Julian Fellowes, the English actor, novelist and screenwriter best known for creating Downton Abbey.” — CHRISTIE’S

“The Frick Collection is one of New York’s gems, now more than ever, as it prepares to reopen its Fifth Avenue mansion after an extensive and acclaimed renovation. The story of how Henry Clay Frick and his daughter accumulated such European treasures is compellingly told in The Fricks Collect, a handsome volume with a foreword written by Downton Abbey creator Julian Fellowes. Coal and steel made the robber baron his fortune, but they also brought fatal labor strife and an attempt on his life. Nonetheless, as Fellowes points out, Frick succeeded in ‘making America one of the main custodians of high culture in the modern world.’ Congratulations to recently retired director Ian Wardropper and editor Michaelyn Mitchell for producing a book beautiful enough to rest atop the fireplace mantel in the Fragonard Room.” — AIR MAIL

“As Wardropper noted, Frick eventually realized that “to complete his vision for this house, he needed furnishings and decorative arts of the same level of quality. And he sought out to get it. In that he was aided by decorators.” The result was a holistic vision, where architecture, furniture and painting formed a unified environment—a lesson as relevant to today’s collectors as it was a century ago.” — OBSERVER

Ian Wardropper is the Anna-Maria and Stephen Kellen Director of The Frick Collection.

Julian Fellowes is an English novelist, director, and screenwriter, best known as the creator and head writer of the popular TV series Downton Abbey.

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