A Panorama of Pittsburgh
at the Frick through 10/5
Learn about Pittsburgh's past by viewing more than 130 printed views of the city.
Meissonier masterpiece
now on view at the Frick
1806, Jena is on view at the Frick through May 31, 2009.
This Sunday is
RADical Day at the Frick
Visit the Frick on 10/5 for a full day of activities and fun!
Rob Rogers discusses
political cartooning on 10/12
The Post-Gazette's award-winning editorial cartoonist will discuss his experiences covering the 2008 presidential campaign and conventions.
Music for Exhibitions
begins new season 11/18
Join Katherine Soroka and Chatham Baroque for an evening of memorable music.
View photos from the 2008 H. C. Frick Horseless Carriage Tour
Twenty-six teams of drivers made it a day of fun.
Sign up for the
Frick e-newsletter
Each month, receive the latest information about exhibitions; programs for adults, families, children, and teachers; events; specials at The Café and the Museum Shop; and more.
at the Frick through 10/5
Learn about Pittsburgh's past by viewing more than 130 printed views of the city.
Meissonier masterpiece
now on view at the Frick
1806, Jena is on view at the Frick through May 31, 2009.
This Sunday is
RADical Day at the Frick
Visit the Frick on 10/5 for a full day of activities and fun!
Rob Rogers discusses
political cartooning on 10/12
The Post-Gazette's award-winning editorial cartoonist will discuss his experiences covering the 2008 presidential campaign and conventions.
Music for Exhibitions
begins new season 11/18
Join Katherine Soroka and Chatham Baroque for an evening of memorable music.
View photos from the 2008 H. C. Frick Horseless Carriage Tour
Twenty-six teams of drivers made it a day of fun.
Sign up for the
Frick e-newsletter
Each month, receive the latest information about exhibitions; programs for adults, families, children, and teachers; events; specials at The Café and the Museum Shop; and more.
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February 28, 2004 - April 18, 2004 |
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Pittsburgh, PA—On February 28, 2004, the Frick Art & Historical Center opens an exhibition of 66 drawings and watercolors by some of the most noted Victorian artists of nineteenth-century Great Britain. Edward Burne-Jones (1833-1898), William Morris (1834-1896), Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828-1882), Edward Poynter (1836-1919), and John Singer Sargent (1856-1925) are among the masters featured in Victorian Visions. The exhibition is organized by the National Museums & Galleries of Wales, Cardiff. It runs through April 18, 2004 at The Frick Art Museum. The American tour of Victorian Visions is organized by International Arts & Artists, Inc., Washington, D.C. The Pittsburgh presentation is made possible, in part, by a generous grant from the Woodmere Foundation. Selected from the National Museums & Galleries’ vast collection of works on paper (over 28,000 pieces), Victorian Visions examines the methods and motivations behind the drawings and watercolors of the era. Some of the works were produced simply to capture a moment, drawn as a memento or as a way of perfecting techniques, while others are preparatory studies for paintings, decorative schemes and designs for three-dimensional objects. Also included are watercolors conceived as finished works of art. This variety enables viewers to compare the drawings and watercolors of different artists and gain an idea of their individual working methods, skills and vision. “Victorian Visions is a natural complement to the Frick’s permanent collections of nineteenth-century art,” says Frick Art & Historical Center Director William B. Bodine, Jr. “It also continues the rich series of exhibitions of drawings that The Frick Art Museum has presented over the last few years, beginning in 2002 with Masterworks from the Albertina: Renaissance to Rococo and seen most recently with Drawn Toward the Avant-Garde: Nineteenth and Twentieth Century French Drawings from the Royal Museum of Fine Arts, Copenhagen.” PICTURES IN THE EXHIBITION The artists featured in Victorian Visions were linked by a shared sentiment for the past and an interest in the exotic. Their often fantastical creations contrasted sharply with the industrialization and strict social codes associated with Victorian society. Yet even while they probed the imaginative limits and potentials of drawing, their work was grounded in a variety of historical styles. Frederic Leighton’s (1830-1896) Study of a Draped Man (date unknown), for example, reveals his interest in elegant linear classicism, while medievalism is evoked in Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s studies for the Seed of David altarpiece (1858-1860), a commission for Llandaff Cathedral in Cardiff, and his painterly ink study of David as King (1860). Edward Poynter, who saw himself as an heir to the classical tradition, is prominently featured in the exhibition. His studies for mosaics to decorate the central lobby of the Palace of Westminster illustrate his meticulous preparation for the final product. The Victorian artists’ passion for combining the real and the imagined is demonstrated in a number of works. Edward Burne-Jones’ (1833-1898) Drawings of Birds (ca. 1877-97) distill his study of the life model into scintillating images of imaginary creatures. In Figure Study for King Arthur in Avalon (1883), the artist clothes the women who guard Arthur in a combination of real and invented costume, working toward a final canvas that was “a reflection of a reflection of something purely imaginary.” In addition to their interests in painting and sculpture, many of the Victorian artists applied their skills to the modern interior. William Morris, a leader in the British arts and crafts movement, revived interest in the hand-made, leading the drive for artists to design domestic art furnishings as illustrated in his design for printed textile, Design for Snakehead (1876). During this era, artists produced drawings and watercolors using an unprecedented range of commercially prepared media, pigments and papers. While pencil and charcoal were the dominant mediums of the time, the artists also employed metallic pastels and red chalks, sometimes in combination with oils and watercolor. Moreover, advances in watercolor media and painting techniques enabled many Victorian artists to achieve a polished finish that had previously been confined to oil painting. At the end of the nineteenth century, watercolors began to reflect the developments of the Impressionists in France. Works such as John Singer Sargent’s Figure Study (1900) and Albert Goodwin’s Lincoln (1891) foreshadow the end of the Victorian age and point to a more spontaneous, modern style for a new century. THE COLLECTION Most of the significant Victorian drawings in the collection of the National Museums & Galleries of Wales owe their presence to the generosity of James Pyke Thompson (1846-1897) and William Goscombe John (1860-1952). James Pyke Thompson made a fortune in the corn trade and spent much of it on art. He particularly admired British watercolors. Wishing to share his collection with others, he built Turner House, Penarth, in 1888 and opened it to the public. At his death, Thompson bequeathed part of his collection to the National Museum of Wales. Turner House became part of the National Museum in 1921. William Goscombe John was one of Wales’ leading sculptors at the turn of the century. He urged the National Museum to purchase works by his late Victorian predecessors before they were gathered into other permanent collections. He also gave and bequeathed to the museum hundreds of sculptures, prints, drawings, and paintings, many of which were “given to me by other artists in what artists like to call ‘swops.’” EXHIBITION CATALOGUE Victorian Visions is accompanied by a 114-page catalogue that includes full-color and black-and-white reproductions of all works in the exhibition, as well as an essay titled The formation of the collection of Victorian works on paper at the National Museum of Wales: James Pyke Thompson and Sir William Goscombe John. The essay and catalogue entries are written by Bethany McIntyre, Assistant Curator (Fine Art - prints and drawings), National Museums & Galleries of Wales. The publication is available for $19.95 in the Museum Shop. EXHIBITION ORGANIZATIONAL AND SUPPORT CREDITS Victorian Visions is an exhibition from the National Museums & Galleries of Wales, Cardiff. Tour organized by International Arts & Artists, Inc., Washington, D.C. The Pittsburgh presentation is made possible, in part, by a generous grant from the Woodmere Foundation. Exhibitions at The Frick Art Museum are made possible, in part, by annual operating support grants from the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission and the Allegheny Regional Asset District. THE FRICK ART MUSEUM Part of the Frick Art & Historical Center in Pittsburgh, The Frick Art Museum contains the fine and decorative art collection of Helen Clay Frick, daughter of nineteenth-century industrialist Henry Clay Frick. In addition to exhibiting its permanent collection, which concentrates on Italian Renaissance and French eighteenth-century works, the Museum has an active program of temporary exhibitions. Admission to The Frick Art Museum is free to the public. Free, docent-led tours of Victorian Visions will be offered every Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday at 2:00 p.m. Group tours (for five or more) and tours of the permanent collection are available for $5 per person and must be scheduled two weeks in advance. FRICK ART & HISTORICAL CENTER The Frick Art & Historical Center is located at 7227 Reynolds Street in Point Breeze. Free parking is available in the Frick’s off-street lot, or along adjacent streets. Hours of operation are Tuesday – Saturday, 10:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m., Sunday 12:00 – 6:00 p.m. The site is closed Mondays and major holidays. For information and reservations, please call 412-371-0600, 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m., Monday through Sunday. For further information or images, please contact Greg Langel at the Frick Art & Historical Center at 412-371-0600, ext. 524, or at glangel@frickart.org. |
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