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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April 14, 2005 - June 12, 2005 |
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On April 14, 2005, the Frick Art & Historical Center opens a stunning exhibition of painting and sculpture by many of America’s most celebrated artists from the eighteenth through the early twentieth century. American Beauty: Painting and Sculpture from the Detroit Institute of Arts, 1770–1920 features more than 90 masterworks that trace the development of our nation’s art and uniquely American definitions of beauty. The exhibition includes some of the best-known works representing the major American art movements and trends of the period. Represented in this expansive survey are the Colonial artist John Singleton Copley; Hudson River School artists Thomas Cole and Frederic Edwin Church; American Impressionists Mary Cassatt, Childe Hassam and William Merritt Chase; the Tonalists George Inness, Thomas Wilmer Dewing and James McNeill Whistler; Realist Thomas Eakins; and Winslow Homer, who redefined the American genre scene. American Beauty also includes iconic sculptures by Hiram Powers, Augustus Saint-Gaudens and Frederic Remington. The exhibition concludes with several outstanding paintings by the Ashcan artists John Sloan, George Bellows and Robert Henri. American Beauty is organized by the Detroit Institute of Arts, which is known for its collection of American paintings from the early Colonial period through the first half of the twentieth century. To coincide with extensive construction work on its building, the Detroit Institute organized this traveling exhibition of important works from its collection. Following a highly successful European tour at the National Gallery of Ireland, Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam and American Museum at Giverny, France, American Beauty traveled to three American venues. The Frick Art & Historical Center is the final U.S. destination for the exhibition before the works return to Detroit. “The privilege of presenting American Beauty to Pittsburgh audiences is two-fold,” says Frick Art & Historical Center director Bill Bodine. “Not only are we able to share extraordinary art works from one of the world’s most important collections of American art, the exhibition also complements the Frick’s mission of utilizing art to engage audiences with the history of our nation.” American Beauty is presented at The Frick Art Museum through June 12, 2005. A suggested contribution will be requested to view this extraordinary exhibition. EXHIBITION HIGHLIGHTS Europeans who settled in young America sought to forge a unique style of government, religion, society, and culture. In their attempts to create a national visual identity, American artists were inspired by both their own experiences living in a developing nation, as well as lessons from abroad. While many alternated between homegrown creativity and international influences, certain characteristics reappear in their art: an adherence to truthful depiction, directness, idealism, and a belief in progress. American Beauty explores the development of American art through portraits, still lifes, landscapes, and realistic genre scenes, as well as sculpture, beginning with America’s first “home-made” talent, John Singleton Copley. The artist is represented by five canvases, including one of three versions that he produced of Watson and the Shark (1777-78). This heroic and frightening work was born of Copley’s desire to create, while an expatriate living in London, an American history painting. By the 1830s, landscape painting had become the vehicle for depicting an American identity. Throughout the rest of the century, portrayal of the American landscape took a variety of forms: mysterious and sublime wilderness; a new territory requiring scientific documentation; the pioneers’ territorial and natural destiny; or the individual’s private retreat. The Trapper’s Return (1851) by George Caleb Bingham, the most celebrated genre painter of the pre-Civil War era, captures a vanishing way of life on America’s frontier rivers, while Frederic Edwin Church’s large-scale masterpiece Cotopaxi (1862) represents the glorious landscapes of the Hudson River School. After 1867, increasing numbers of artists went abroad with a determination to learn from the best and to recreate the very nature of American art. James McNeill Whistler’s art and theories derive entirely from his experience in Paris and London as reflected in his Nocturne in Black and Gold: The Falling Rocket (1874). Born in Florence to American parents, John Singer Sargent spent most of his life in Europe, becoming one of the most sought-after portrait painters of European and American high society. Included in the exhibition is Sargent’s dazzling, full-length portrait, Madame Paul Poirson (1885). Other artists of the period such as William Merritt Chase, Childe Hassam, Thomas Eakins, and John Twachtman studied abroad and returned home to apply the lessons they had learned in Europe to American themes. The world changed dramatically in the opening decades of the twentieth century. America was the wealthiest and most modern country in the world, with New York City symbolizing the country’s financial and technological superiority. A group of artists called the “Ashcan School” captured both the grittiness and the vitality of the city. Led by artist Robert Henri, this pioneering group introduced new themes into American art. John Sloan’s McSorley's Bar (1912) illustrates his conviction that the real artist finds beauty in everyday life. Another painter engaged with modern American life at the turn of the century was George Bellows, represented in the exhibition with his superb A Day in June (1913). These and many other outstanding works in the exhibition tell the story of a vibrant and diverse visual tradition forged by many of America’s greatest artists. CURATOR AND CATALOGUE American Beauty: Painting and Sculpture from the Detroit Institute of Arts, 1770–1920 is organized by James W. Tottis, Detroit Institute of Arts’ acting curator of American Art. A curator with over twenty years’ experience, Mr. Tottis is editor of American Painting in the Detroit Institute of Arts: Volume III and is currently organizing an exhibition of Ashcan School artists. American Beauty is accompanied by a fully illustrated, 123-page catalogue featuring essays by Detroit Institute of Arts director Graham W.J. Beal. The softcover book includes color illustrations of each work in the exhibition and will be available for purchase in The Frick Art Museum’s American Beauty Shop for $24.95. AMERICAN BEAUTY SHOP The Frick Art Museum’s intimate Jacobean room will be the site for a special store designed to complement the American Beauty exhibition. Special merchandise will include wares made by local artists, hand-blown glass, a wide selection of books on American painters, and exhibition-related merchandise including post cards, magnets, prints, and T-shirts. The American Beauty Shop will be open during regular site hours. EXHIBITION SUPPORT The Pittsburgh presentation of American Beauty: Painting and Sculpture from the Detroit Institute of Arts, 1770–1920 is made possible, in part, through a generous grant from the Allegheny 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 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. GENERAL INFORMATION A suggested contribution will be requested to view this extraordinary exhibition (non-members: $10; members: $5). Docent-led tours of American Beauty will be offered every Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday at 2:00 p.m. Group tours (for groups of five or more) of American Beauty are available at a cost of $10 per person, and tours of the permanent collection are available at a cost of $5 per person. Group tour and permanent collection tour reservations must be made one to two weeks in advance by calling 412-371-0600, 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m., Monday through Sunday. 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 – Sunday, 10:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. The site is closed Mondays and major holidays. For information and reservations, call 412-371-0600, 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m., Monday through Sunday, or visit the Frick’s web site at www.frickart.org. 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. Click here for special events and programs offered in conjuction with this exhibition. |
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