The Frick Collection Annual Report January 1, 2004, through June 30, 2005 The Frick Collection Council of Young Fellows Board of Trustees The Frick Collection Steering Committee As of June 30, 2005 As of June 30, 2005 As of June 30, 2005 Helen Clay Chace W. Mark Brady Nathalie Kaplan President Chairman Chairman Howard Phipps Jr. Jonathan Brown Martha Loring Vice President Vice Chairman Secretary L. F. Boker Doyle Julian Agnew Amy Mazzola Flynn Treasurer Irene Roosevelt Aitken Lisa Rossi Gorrivan Jean A. Bonna Philip C. Gorrivan I. Townsend Burden III Vivien R. Clark Julian Iragorri Secretary Anthony Crichton-Stuart Robert Lindgren Hester Diamond Victoria Lindgren John P. Birkelund Peter Duchin Jennifer Nilles Peter P. Blanchard III Nicholas H. J. Hall Victoria Rotenstreich Margot C. Bogert Jon Landau Marianna Sabater W. Mark Brady Martha Loring, ex officio Louise Schliemann Walter A. Eberstadt Thierry Millerand Catherine Shepard Emily T. Frick Diane Allen Nixon Andrew Thomas Juan Sabater Richard E. Oldenburg Genevieve Wheeler Brown Stephen A. Schwarzman Charles Ryskamp Melvin R. Seiden Stephen K. Scher Deirdre C. Stam Henry Clay Frick II Beatrice Stern Chairman Emeritus George Wachter Isabel S. Wilcox Walter Joseph Patrick Curley Nina Zilkha Trustee Emeritus Paul G. Pennoyer Jr. Trustee Emeritus Contents Report of the President 6 Report of the Director 8 Report of the Chief Curator 10 Lectures 13 Report of the Andrew W. Mellon Librarian 14 Notable Library Acquisitions 16 Concerts 18 Gifts & Grants 19 Director’s Circle 20 Fellows of The Frick Collection 20 Corporate Members & Grants 26 Matching Gift Companies 26 2004 Annual Fund 27 Autumn Dinner 27 International Fine Art Fair 28 Financial Statements 30 Staff 43 report of the president Helen Clay Chace On behalf of the Board of Trustees, I am pleased to revenue from gifts, grants, and memberships. It elimi- report that The Frick Collection and Art Reference nates our considerable expense for excise taxes and Library continue to thrive under the inspired leadership makes available to us significant new sources of funding of their director, Anne L. Poulet, through the efforts of as we prepare to intensify our fundraising efforts in her dedicated staff, and with the loyal support of many the coming years. We are profoundly grateful to our friends. We are especially appreciative of the consider- supporters whose generosity helped us reach this status. able efforts of the Council and the Young Fellows In July 2004 we implemented a July 1–June 30 Steering Committee. Together, we continue to carry out fiscal year, as opposed to a calendar fiscal year. This the mission of the institution’s founders, Henry Clay accounting change was made to improve our financial Frick and his daughter Helen, to promote the study and planning capability relative to the typical year-end enjoyment of the fine arts and kindred subjects. We charitable giving cycle and to make our statements are committed to careful management of the Frick’s more readily comparable with the majority of our peers. existing resources, while concurrently developing a During this transition, we did not publish a six-month vision for an exciting future. Please see Anne Poulet’s Annual Report (although we did publish six-month letter on page 8 for an account of the achievements of “stub”-year financial statements in our Winter 2005 the past eighteen months. Members’ Magazine). This publication therefore reports on During the period of this report, we have made the institution’s activities during the eighteen months significant additions to the Board of Trustees, with the between January 1, 2004, and June 30, 2005. election of John P. Birkelund, W. Mark Brady, Walter Under the stewardship of generations of dedicated A. Eberstadt, and Stephen A. Schwarzman. We welcome Trustees, directors, and staff, The Frick Collection has our new colleagues, each of whom brings us a breadth become one of the most highly regarded art institutions and depth of experience. At the same time, Anne Poulet in the world. The superb quality of its Old Master has attracted several members to our Council, expanding paintings, Renaissance bronzes, furniture, porcelains, the expertise of this advisory committee. silver, enamels, carpets, and tapestries is appreciated One of the most important changes that occurred and beloved by an international public. The extensive at The Frick Collection in the past eighteen months is research and archive collections of the Frick Art that the institution has officially terminated its status as Reference Library, the innovative creation of Henry a private operating foundation and is now recognized by Clay Frick’s daughter Helen, have come to be relied the Internal Revenue Service as a public charity. This upon by a community of scholars both here and abroad. transition reflects the fact that the institution generates Over the last year, the Trustees and staff have spent a substantial and increasing amount of its operating much time evaluating the opportunities that lie ahead. 6 The Frick Collection Hans Holbein the Younger (1497/98–1543), Sir Thomas More, 1527, oil on panel, The Frick Collection Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres (1780–1867), Comtesse d’Haussonville, 1845, oil on canvas, The Frick Collection Both the art and library collections have continued to grow and develop over the decades, today posing different challenges in terms of their ongoing needs. The increased demands by a more diverse public for educational outreach, interpretive services, and focused exhibitions taxes the capacity of our library, curatorial, education, conservation, and support staff members, who must work in the limited spaces available. While forever committed to its origins and history, The Frick Collection is looking increasingly forward, cognizant that no institution remains static. As a descendant of the institution’s founder and president of its Board of Trustees, I take seriously both the preservation of the past and the preparation for the future. I am grateful to everyone who shares my passion for this special place, and I invite you to participate actively in its extraordinary evolution. Annual Report, January 2004~June 2005 7 report of the director Anne L. Poulet It is with pride and deep satisfaction that I look back on mind the Frick’s space requirements for expanding its my first full fiscal year as the director of The Frick current programming. Collection. I was especially pleased when, in September In November 2004 we established the Director’s 2004, the Frick acquired Joseph Chinard’s magnificent Circle, which includes long-time Frick supporters as terracotta Portrait of Étienne Vincent-Marniola (c. 1809), our well as new friends. Numbering twenty-four at this first major purchase in nearly ten years. While the writing, this group of individuals will have contributed museum often receives gifts of art, we look forward more than $600,000 during this fiscal year, eliminating to establishing an acquisition fund that would enable a projected 2005 deficit in the process. Their combined The Frick Collection to venture into the art market at contributions are used to address two of our most opportune moments such as those that made available important curatorial and library activities: exhibitions this wonderful bust. and acquisitions. More important, these generous In the following pages, you will read about curator- donors represent a source of enthusiastic support for ial and library activities; here I would like to focus your the institution. attention on the strides we have made in external affairs Throughout this eighteen-month period, we during 2004 and the first half of 2005. Working closely continued to bring together our friends at openings, with the senior staff and building on previous strategic concerts, lectures, and special fundraising events. planning activity, we spent last summer assessing the The annual Young Fellows Ball—launched in 2000— accomplishments of the past ten years and forecasting continues to introduce a younger generation of support- our activity going forward; it was exciting work. Each ers to the Frick, in the process raising more than a department prepared a presentation that was delivered million dollars to date for our education program, which to the Board, Council, and Young Fellows Steering serves schools throughout the five boroughs. The 2004 Committee in an all-day session held on September 13, Young Fellows Ball, held February 12, re-created the 2004. The symposium, titled “The Frick Collection: atmosphere of a men’s club from a bygone era; the 2005 Preserving the Legacy/Building for the Future,” offered event, A Dance in the Golden Age, on February 24, the opportunity for staff to exchange ideas with the celebrated the Collection’s numerous Dutch masters. leadership of the Frick and to apprise them of our goals The 2004 Autumn Dinner, on October 18, and challenges as we work together to preserve the legacy honored former Time magazine art critic and author of Henry Clay Frick while preparing for the institution’s Robert Hughes, who spoke about “Why the Frick future. One immediate outcome of this process was the Matters.” Proceeds from the event, totaling more than initiation, in early 2005, of an architectural study to $250,000, helped to support the core activities of the assess the ways in which we use our facilities, keeping in Collection and Library. May 12, 2005, saw the Frick’s 8 The Frick Collection Joseph Chinard (1756–1813), Portrait of Étienne Vincent-Marniola (1781–1809), c. 1809, terracotta, The Frick Collection Parmigianino (1503–1540), Study for Two Canephori on the Steccata Ceiling and Self-Portrait, c. 1534–35, pen and brown ink on paper, Devonshire Collections, Chatsworth return as the beneficiary of the preview opening recep- teers, and staff—share my pride in these and the many tion for the International Fine Art Fair, held at the other accomplishments outlined in this Annual Report.