Category Archives: History

Cocktails With A Curator: ‘Fragonard’s Progress Of Love’ (The Frick Video)

In this week’s episode of “Cocktails with a Curator,” join Deputy Director and Peter Jay Sharp Chief Curator Xavier F. Salomon as he discusses Jean-Honoré Fragonard’s Progress of Love paintings and the capricious countess who commissioned the series, Madame du Barry, mistress of Louis XV. Delve into the tumultuous life of Du Barry, who was born in poverty and clashed with Marie-Antoinette at Versailles. Tune in next week to discover how the Progress of Love series made its way from eighteenth-century France to the Frick’s beloved Fragonard Room.

To view these objects in detail, please visit our website: https://www.frick.org/progress_love

Art Video: ‘The Mystery Of Van Gogh’s Sunflowers’

The eventful history of Vincent van Gogh’s Sunflowers, which have changed hands many times since they were painted for Paul Gauguin’s arrival in Arles.

Van Gogh’s paintings of Sunflowers are among his most famous. He did them in Arles, in the south of France, in 1888 and 1889. Vincent painted a total of five large canvases with sunflowers in a vase, with three shades of yellow ‘and nothing else’.

Film Business: ‘The Rise And Fall Of Kodak’ (WSJ Video)

At its peak, Kodak was the early 20th century equivalent of Google or Apple, possessing a near monopoly in the film business. But those days are long gone. Here’s why the company’s glossy image failed to withstand the test of time.

Photo Illustration: Carter McCall/WSJ

Art: “Three Musicians, 1921” By Pablo Picasso (Video)

Three Musicians, 1921 by Pablo Picasso Three Musicians is a large painting measuring more than 2 meters wide and high. It is painted in the style of Synthetic Cubism and gives the appearance of cut paper. Picasso paints three musicians made of flat, brightly colored, abstract shapes in a shallow, boxlike room.

Art History Video: ‘The Ordrupgaard Museum Impressionist Collection’

Our latest exhibition, Gauguin and the Impressionists: Masterpieces of the Ordrupgaard Collection, has humble roots in the home of Wilhelm and Henny Hansen.

In this video produced by Ordrupgaard, discover how the Hansens transformed their private home into a jewel in the crown of the Danish art scene.

The Ordrupgaard museum in Denmark is the permanent home of important works by French Impressionists as well as Danish art from the Golden Age. Learn about the lives of Wilhelm and Henny Hansen, and what circumstances led them to begin this exceptional, methodically acquired collection – part of which is now featured at the Royal Academy.

Website

Cocktails With A Curator: Beechey’s ‘Elizabeth Sophia Baillie’ (Video)

In this week’s episode of “Cocktails with a Curator,” Deputy Director and Peter Jay Sharp Chief Curator Xavier F. Salomon enjoys a Great Maiden’s Blush cocktail while discussing a 1795 portrait of Elizabeth Sophia Baillie (née de Vismes) by Sir William Beechey. A work of mysterious origin—and thought for a century to be by the English portraitist John Hoppner—it was only recently attributed to Beechey by Eloise Owens during her time as a curatorial assistant at the Frick.

To view this painting in detail, please visit our website: https://collections.frick.org/objects…SHOW LESS

History: “Mass Extinctions Paved Way For Human Evolution” (NatGeo Video)

Everybody thinks mass extinctions are a bad thing. As much as they eliminate life, they also helped trigger the creation of new species. By studying fossils from the Big Five mass extinctions, we can learn how life was able to bounce back and see what this could mean for humans in future mass extinctions.

History: “The Unchained Art Of The Renaissance”

Waldemar Januszczak challenges the traditional notion of the Renaissance having fixed origins in Italy and showcases the ingenuity in both technique and ideas behind great artists such as Van Eyck, Memling, Van der Weyden, Cranach, Riemenschneider and Durer.

Giorgio Vasari, (born July 30, 1511, Arezzo [Italy]—died June 27, 1574, Florence), Italian painter, architect, and writer who is best known for his important biographies of Italian Renaissance artists.

Travels With A Curator: “Pittsburgh” (Frick Video)

In the final episode of “Travels with a Curator,” journey just 370 miles west of New York to explore The Frick Pittsburgh with Deputy Director and Peter Jay Sharp Chief Curator Xavier F. Salomon. A beautiful property where visitors may enjoy both modern galleries and the Frick family home, The Frick Pittsburgh houses works of art and personal objects that provide an intimate look at the lives of the Frick family, from bedrooms with house slippers to children’s rooms with toys. The Frick Pittsburgh is in many ways a testament to the vision of Henry Clay Frick’s daughter, Helen, who always considered Pittsburgh to be her home and established the complex as a legacy to her hometown.