The Frick's Renovation Is a Subtle Revelation
New York
Some aspects of architecture are noticed only if done badly. If a building's system of circulation—its paths of movement—is handled poorly, it becomes painfully obvious in the form of physical obstacles, such as confusing forks and dead ends. But when well handled, it is invisible. And so it must vex Annabelle Selldorf that the best part of her remodeling of the Frick Collection, and the most imaginative, will go unrecognized.
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Epoch Times
06-05-2025
- Epoch Times
Fantastical Porcelain Florals at The Frick Collection
The Frick Collection's reopening after a five-year renovation has been heralded as a triumph. One of the wondrous things about visiting the museum right now is its special exhibition 'Porcelain Garden: Vladimir Kanevsky at The Frick Collection,' on view through Oct. 6, 2025. Installed throughout the museum's premises, including galleries on both the first and second floor and the Garden Court, are 19 breathtakingly intricate floral installations by the Ukrainian-born Kanevsky. Cohesively installed alongside diverse fine and decorative arts from the institution's permanent collection, these sculptures range in scale, form, and color. Each one enchants the viewer with its special blend of botanical accuracy and artistry. Kanevky's Floral Displays "Lemon Tree," 2024–2025, by Vladimir Kanevsky is installed in the Garden Court. Soft-paste porcelain, parian body, glazes, and copper. The Frick Collection, New York City. (Joseph Coscia Jr.) Kanevsky was born in 1951 in Kharkiv, Ukraine, then part of the Soviet Union, but now lives and works in Fort Lee, New Jersey. While living in Russia, he studied architecture and sculpture, which proved to be integral foundations for his later porcelain practice. In 1989, he immigrated to New York—he had only $100 and spoke no English. Kanevsky took another leap of faith when he responded to a job ad for an artist who could produce an 18th-century porcelain tureen in the shape of a melon. He attempted the commission, which came from a prominent interior designer with a shop on Manhattan's Upper East Side. The piece was a success. Then, Kanevsky explored porcelain flowers, as he had been fascinated by botany since childhood. Detail of Vladimir Kanevsky's "Lemon Tree," 2024–2025, in the Frick's Garden Court. (Joseph Coscia Jr.) He compares floral structures to architecture, and he enjoys the technical challenges inherent in his work, which has been exhibited internationally, from Saint Petersburg's State Hermitage Museum to Washington's Hillwood Estate, Museum & Gardens. Tastemakers and style icons, including Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Oscar de la Renta, Valentino, and Martha Stewart have collected his work. Kanevsky says that 'Flowers are arguably the most prevalent topic in the history of art and architecture. Their cultural and symbolic significance offered infinite possibilities for artists.' His work is greatly inspired by traditional European porcelain dating to the 18th century, of which the Frick has a superb collection. The museum possesses examples from the leading French, German, and Viennese makers. An exquisite tableau in the exhibition inserts three Kanevsky tulips with delicate petals into a Du Paquier Manufactory vase. Each flower the artist makes is meticulously sculpted and hand-painted. Related Stories 4/30/2025 4/20/2025 "Tulip Stems," 2024–2025, by Vladimir Kanevsky is installed in the Du Paquier Passage. Soft-paste porcelain, glazes, overglaze, and copper. The Frick Collection, New York City. (Joseph Coscia Jr.) A Tribute to Helen Frick The exhibition, the culmination of a three-year collaboration between the artist and the Frick's curatorial team, is an homage to the museum's floral displays from its original 1935 opening. At that time, Henry Clay Frick's daughter, Helen, chose each room's fresh floral arrangement. "Lilies of the Valley," 2024–2025, by Vladimir Kanevsky are installed in the Boucher Room. Soft-paste porcelain, parian body, and copper. The Frick Collection, New York City. (Joseph Coscia Jr.) Xavier F. Salomon, the Frick's Deputy Director and Peter Jay Sharp Chief Curator, commends Kanevsky's tribute to the museum's 1935 inaugural floral displays. He says that the Contemporary artist's 'porcelain creations allow us to honor this tradition—along with the museum's important collections of historic porcelain and ceramics. His artistry bridges past and present, echoing the museum's longstanding dedication to beauty and innovation.' In two of the galleries, Kanevsky has repeated Helen's selections with his installation of camellias in the Library and lilies of the valley in the Boucher Room, part of the newly opened second-floor family rooms. "Lilies of the Valley," 2024–2025, by Vladimir Kanevsky are installed in the Boucher Room. Soft-paste porcelain, parian body, and copper. The Frick Collection, New York City. Joseph Coscia Jr. The other porcelain works honor Helen's intentions while juxtaposing different plants and flowers with the displayed art, inspiring reflection and conversation among viewers. One poignant tribute is the vibrant and ripe 'Pomegranate Plant' in the Gold-Grounds Room. After her father's death, Helen pursued acquiring religious Early Italian Renaissance paintings with gold leaf surfaces to add to t he Frick's holdings. Post-renovation, these works have been assembled together for display in her former bedroom. "Pomegranate Plant," 2024–2025, by Vladimir Kanevsky is installed in the Gold-Grounds Room. Soft-paste porcelain, glazes, copper, and terracotta. The Frick Collection, New York City. Joseph Coscia Jr. 'Pomegranate Plant' is dramatically situated in front of the room's mantle. The Frick writes that the sculpture 'is a tribute to a plant whose fruits are frequently represented in early Italian paintings and would have been well known by the artists represented in this gallery.' Above the mantle is a small but sumptuous picture by Gentile da Fabriano (circa 1370– 1427), who is considered among the greatest painters of his era. Born in the Marches region, he worked throughout Italy, from Milan and Rome to Venice and Tuscany. Patrons included the pope and the doge. His lyrical, highly detailed paintings are characterized by delicate brushwork, rich colors, and elaborate textile patterns. Additionally, Gentile was highly skilled in the application and tooling of gold leaf backgrounds. The Frick's ' ' dates from 1423 to 1425 and may have been made for a private patron's family chapel. At its center is the Madonna with the Christ Child, rendered in elegant, flowing lines. Gentile's advanced interest in naturalism is visible in the realistic, portrait-like heads of Saint Lawrence at left and Saint Julian the Hospitaler at right. Fragonard Room The Fragonard Room on the museum's first floor displays 14 panels by the French artist Jean-Honoré Fragonard. Joseph Coscia Jr. In contrast to the Gold-Grounds Room, the first floor Fragonard Room was assembled during Henry Clay Frick's lifetime and has been a visitor favorite at the museum since its opening. Initially, Mr. and Mrs. Frick used the space as their Drawing Room. A year after their mansion was finished in 1914, they acquired a set of lovely panels by the French artist Jean-Honoré Fragonard (1732–1806), which required the reconfiguration of the room. These panels are considered among the most romantic explorations of love in all of art history. Specifically selected furniture and objets d'art were subsequently added to enhance Fragonard's artworks. The Rococo artist Fragonard was born in Grasse, located in southern France. He trained in Paris under the distinguished painters Je an-S iméon Chardin and François Boucher and became one of the most important French artists of the second half of the 18th century. Fragonard produced a large body of work that included easel paintings and large-scale decorative panels often of genre scenes. "The Progress of Love: Love Letters," 1771–1772, by Jean-Honoré Fragonard. Oil on canvas; 124 7/8 inches by 85 3/8 inches. The Frick Collection, New York City. Joseph Coscia Jr. The Frick's Fragonard Room collection features 14 pictures, with the series referred to as 'The Progress of Love.' The four principal scenes—'The Pursuit,' 'The Meeting,' 'The Lover Crowned,' and 'Love Letters'—date to a 1771 to 1772 commission. The patroness was the infamous Madame du Barry, King Louis XV of France's last mistress, and the intended setting for the works was the music pavilion of her château west of Paris. However, perhaps due to society's changing artistic tastes, she declined the finished works. Instead, they were kept, probably rolled up, by Fragonard in Paris for 20 years. Upon his move to a cousin's villa in Grasse, the canvases were finally installed. Fragonard created an additional 10 pictures to fill the house's main salon. Over 100 years later, the series passed through the hands of English dealers before selling to American financier J.P. Morgan. After his death, the powerful art dealer Joseph Duveen purchased them for $1.25 million (over $31 million today) and sold them in turn to Henry Clay Frick at cost. Kanevsky has created a lush assemblage of cascading roses for this room, as well as displays of white hyacinths. "Cascading Roses," 2024–2025, by Vladimir Kanevsky are installed in the Fragonard Room. Parian body, copper, and terracotta. The Frick Collection, New York City. Joseph Coscia Jr. The sculptures in 'Porcelain Garden: Vladimir Kanevsky at The Frick Collection' induce awe and wonder. They help physically define the museum's spaces, both old and new, and enhance communication with the permanent collection. The flowers are so lifelike that one can almost smell the bouquets, and careful examination reveals imitation insect holes on some of the leaves. Kanevsky says, 'There is everything in flowers—history, drama, structure, beauty, and fragrance.' The same can be said about the Frick Collection and its special exhibition. "Cherry Blossoms," 2024–2025, by Vladimir Kanevsky are displayed in the Oval Room alongside James McNeill Whistler's 1871–1874 Joseph Coscia Jr. 'Porcelain Garden: Vladimir Kanevsky at The Frick Collection' exhibition runs through Oct. 6, 2025 in New York City. To find out more, visit What arts and culture topics would you like us to cover? Please email ideas or feedback to
Wall Street Journal
09-04-2025
- Wall Street Journal
The Frick's Renovation Is a Subtle Revelation
New York Some aspects of architecture are noticed only if done badly. If a building's system of circulation—its paths of movement—is handled poorly, it becomes painfully obvious in the form of physical obstacles, such as confusing forks and dead ends. But when well handled, it is invisible. And so it must vex Annabelle Selldorf that the best part of her remodeling of the Frick Collection, and the most imaginative, will go unrecognized.
New York Times
15-03-2025
- New York Times
The Frick Glows With a Poetic, $220 Million Renovation
A corner of New York hasn't seemed quite itself since the Frick Collection shuttered during Covid for the architectural equivalent of a full-body spa treatment. For a while the museum that luxuriates in Henry Clay Frick's Beaux-Arts mansion on Fifth Avenue decamped with its old masters and other art to Marcel Breuer's former Whitney Museum a few blocks away. Seeing Bellini's 'St. Francis in the Desert' in a Brutalist building felt like coming across your high school chemistry teacher on spring break in Cocoa Beach. Next month the Frick reopens after its $220 million expansion and refurbishment. Fretful preservationists have been pinging my inbox for years, venting their anxieties about tampering with one of the city's architectural treasures. I bear good tidings. The expansion is about as sensitive and deft as one could hope for. At moments, as in a voluptuous new marble staircase and airy auditorium, it approximates poetry. It probably won't quiet all the critics. Grumblers will be grumblers. But it does what was intended. It moves the Frick squarely into the 21st century and seamlessly solves multifarious problems. And where it counts, it leaves well enough alone. The architect is the German-born, New York-based Annabelle Selldorf. She and her colleagues at Selldorf Architects paired with Beyer Blinder Belle, another New York firm, and with the garden designer Lynden B. Miller. These days, Selldorf is a go-to architect for thorny projects like this. In London she is updating a hotly contested wing of the National Gallery designed in the 1990s by Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown. Frick's mansion, completed in 1914, was designed by the firm of Carrère and Hastings, which gave New York the 42nd Street Library. In 2001, Selldorf made her bones converting another Carrère and Hastings landmark from 1914, the onetime Vanderbilt mansion, further up Fifth Avenue. With care and creativity, she morphed it into Ronald Lauder's state-of-the-art Neue Galerie. Expanding the Frick was a trickier task. It necessitated sacrifice. For starters, Selldorf has demolished the Frick's beloved music room that John Russell Pope, the august architect for the Jefferson Memorial, added when he oversaw the Frick's mansion-to-museum transformation during the 1930s. Pope doubled the building's footprint. Like others, I'm sad to lose the music room. Over the years, as opponents of its loss have taken to pointing out, it had become New York's version of a 19th-century salon. Truth be told, with 149 seats it was too small for many events, and its acoustics were mediocre. It also occupied the ideal spot to put new galleries for temporary exhibitions, which the Frick needed and were crucial to Selldorf's plan. So that's what has happened. Selldorf installed three new galleries. To replace the music room she excavated underneath the Frick's 70th Street garden, designing a technologically up-to-date, 218-seat auditorium, shaped a little like the inside of a clamshell. Past the new lobby, through a low vestibule, around a curved wood wall made of fluted walnut, you suddenly enter a surprisingly light and roomy hall, as white as an operating theater, mildly erotic with its curvaceous plaster walls. She then turned to the Frick's reception hall from the 1970s, which never quite worked. On crowded days, gaining entry to the museum could put you in mind of LaGuardia Airport on Thanksgiving eve. A convoluted ticket and coat check arrangement created logjams and funneled visitors into dead ends. Like a cardiologist, Selldorf has unclogged passageways, invented cunning lines of circulation and improved the reception hall. Its centerpiece is a showstopper: a new, cantilevered stairway, voluptuous and clad in veined, Breccia Aurora marble, decadent in a dolce vita sort of way. It nods to the grand staircase in the mansion. And it leads to a new second floor that Selldorf has surgically inserted above the hall to fit in a new connection with the mansion, a shop and a 60-seat cafe (the Frick may be the last museum on earth that lacked one) overlooking the gated, 70th Street garden. In 2014, the museum floated an earlier expansion proposal by a different architecture firm that imagined a blocky extension replacing the garden, which the British landscape architect Russell Page designed when the reception hall was built during the 1970s. The Frick assumed at the time that the garden would only be temporary, replaced when the museum needed to grow again. But with its reflecting pool, shaded pea gravel paths and wisteria, it was a Zenlike pause along the street and came to be prized by New Yorkers as one of those pocket-size serendipities of life in the city. Preservationists were aghast about the proposal to destroy it. The Frick backed off. Two years later it hired Selldorf and committed to keeping the garden. That proved easier said than done. Building the underground auditorium required ripping the garden up, then replanting it. It's still growing back. Selldorf treats the garden with deference, organizing her biggest, bulkiest addition — two new floors above where the music room used to be, adjoining an extension of Pope's nine-floor library at 71st Street — to carefully skirt the garden's north end. The addition repurposes a narrow yard, formerly hidden behind a garden wall, where the Frick stashed its lawn mowers and air conditioning units. A new education center (another first for the museum) occupies that space today, with the cafe above. Selldorf has then clad the whole puzzle-like addition in Indiana limestone, to match the mansion's exterior and unify an ultimately anodyne facade. The addition steps a couple of feet back where the cafe overlooks the garden, finessing room for a row of hornbeams. I was among those who urged the Frick back in 2014 to ditch the plan to demolish the garden, and I wrote a column that passed along some alternative ideas then making the rounds among New York architects. These included swapping Pope's music room for temporary exhibition spaces, excavating beneath the garden to construct another auditorium and redoing the reception hall by adding another floor. Sharing vague thoughts from the peanut gallery in the end resolves none of the challenges of redesigning 87,000 square feet of intricate space. Ideas can be realized differently and badly. Architecture happens in the trenches. Getting the Frick expansion right demanded a million complex decisions, as mundane but meaningful as choosing which varieties of marble, among the 138 different types already in the building, should tile the reception hall, and in which precise block pattern. And it is felt in gestures like that ledge for the hornbeams, whose subtle depth lends the garden a crucial whisper of breathing room. It entails connoisseurship, in other words, the stock in trade of the Frick. Buying art is one thing. Building a collection like the Frick's is another. Credit also goes to Ian Wardropper, the Frick director who oversaw the whole expansion and just retired last month. He was a steady hand at the heart of the museum. I mentioned earlier that the renovation knows when to leave well enough alone. The joy of visiting the Frick remains intact. The frisson of prowling around a robber baron's stuffy house is unchanged. Nothing is altered in the great rooms of Titians and Fragonards, save for wall coverings of hand-woven French silk damask and velvet, which have been scrupulously, and at formidable cost, replaced. The Garden Court is the same but with cleaned skylights and a fountain that now works as Pope intended for the first time in living memory. What's new is that visitors can, for the first time, wander up the mansion's grand staircase to the second floor and nose around the Frick family's former bedrooms, repurposed as galleries for Chinese porcelain, Renaissance medals, Bouchers and Constables. What used to be a bathroom is hung with French Rococo pictures. The number of objects on view from the permanent collection has doubled. I look forward to when the garden blooms. Good news is in short supply these days. The Frick reopens in mid-April. The city already feels lighter.
