Art Collecting Files of Henry Clay Frick

Henry Clay Frick (1849-1919) was a prominent industrialist and art collector who made his fortune in the coal, coke, steel, and railroad industries. Born into modest circumstances in West Overton, Pa., Frick ended his formal education in his late teens. In 1871, he borrowed money to purchase a share in a coking concern that would eventually become the H.C. Frick Coke Co. Over the next decade, he continued to expand his business through the acquisition of more coal lands and coke ovens, and became a partner of fellow industrialist Andrew Carnegie in 1882. Frick assumed the chairmanship of Carnegie Bros. & Co. (later Carnegie Steel Co.) in 1889, and served in that capacity until his resignation from the company in December 1899. During his tenure as chairman, differences between Frick and Carnegie emerged, most significantly in their approach to labor issues. The 1892 Homestead Strike further strained relations between the two men, and in 1899, Frick permanently severed his relationship with Carnegie.

In December 1881, Frick married Adelaide Howard Childs of Pittsburgh. The couple purchased a house (Clayton), and had four children: Childs Frick (1883-1965), Martha Howard Frick (1885-1891), Helen Clay Frick (1888-1984), and Henry Clay Frick, Jr. (born 1892, died in infancy). After his break with Carnegie, Frick began spending less time in Pittsburgh, and soon established additional residences in New York and Massachusetts. In 1905, he signed a ten-year lease on the Vanderbilt mansion at 640 Fifth Avenue in New York, and built an elaborate summer residence (Eagle Rock) on Boston's North Shore, which was completed in 1906. Though Frick maintained his status as a Pittsburgh resident for the remainder of his life, he and his family chiefly divided their time between Massachusetts and New York. In 1907, Frick purchased land at the corner of Fifth Avenue and 70th Street in New York. Construction on a new residence, designed by Thomas Hastings of the firm Carrère and Hastings, began in 1912, after the demolition of the Lenox Library formerly on the site. The family moved into the house at One East 70th Street in the fall of 1914, and Henry Clay Frick died there on 2 December 1919.

While there is evidence that Frick had an interest in art collecting as early as 1871, little is known about his early exposure to art, or his earliest acquisitions. His first recorded purchase occurred in 1881, when he acquired George Hetzel's Landscape with River. Frick purchased only a few paintings over the next decade, but by the mid-1890's, he was steadily acquiring new pictures at the rate of about one per month. His taste during this period ran toward contemporary French artists, such as Bouguereau and Cazin, and Barbizon School landscapes. After the turn of the century, however, Frick's taste shifted to eighteenth century English portraits and seventeenth century Dutch paintings, including works by Gainsborough, Lawrence, Vermeer, Cuyp, and Hobbema. He purchased his first Italian Renaissance painting, Titian's Pietro Aretino, along with the first of his eight Van Dycks in 1905, the same year he and his family took up residence in the Vanderbilt mansion at 640 Fifth Avenue in New York. Major acquisitions during this period include Rembrandt's Self-Portrait, El Greco's Purification of the Temple, a second painting by Vermeer ( Officer and Laughing Girl), and Holbein's Sir Thomas More. In 1914, the same year the Frick family moved into their newly constructed New York house at One East 70th Street, Frick's purchases included works by Gainsborough, Goya, Renoir, Turner and Whistler, among others. From 1915 until his death in 1919, Frick purchased fewer paintings overall, but added works by Bellini, Boucher, Bronzino, Hoppner, and Stuart, as well as additional works Titian, Holbein, and Vermeer.

Although Frick purchased from many dealers while building his collection, he heavily favored the firm of M. Knoedler & Co. Roland Knoedler, Charles Knoedler, and Charles Carstairs were considered friends as well as advisers on art, and Frick made more purchases through them than he did from any other source. One major exception to this, however, is Frick's association with Duveen Brothers. Although Frick's ties to this firm date back to 1906, when rugs, porcelains, and other objects were purchased for the Frick family's Massachusetts estate, it was not until after the death of J.P. Morgan in 1913 that Frick made his most important acquisitions from them. From 1915 through 1918, Frick purchased millions of dollars' worth of Renaissance bronzes, Chinese porcelains, Limoges enamels, and furniture from the Morgan estate through Joseph Duveen. In 1915, Frick also agreed to purchase the series of panels by Fragonard entitled The Progress of Love (also referred to as The Romance of Love and Youth). The installation of these panels in the Frick residence necessitated a complete renovation of the drawing room in the newly completed house. In addition to Knoedler and Duveen, Frick acquired paintings through domestic and European galleries such as Arthur Tooth & Sons, L. Crist Delmonico, The Ehrich Galleries, and Durand-Ruel & Sons. Frick also occasionally acquired works through individuals, including Virginia P. Bacon, Alice Creelman, and Roger Fry.

Henry Clay Frick's acquisitions were carefully considered, and he often kept pictures on approval in his home for months before deciding whether to purchase or return them. In certain instances, though, works of art were bought sight unseen, or brought over from Europe at his expense but not purchased. As Frick's collection grew and his taste evolved, he sometimes returned works for credit towards another painting, and pictures were also sometimes acquired with the option to return them for full credit within a given period of time. In some cases, he actively sought the opinions of art experts such as Roger Fry, Carel F. de Wild, and Charles Henry Hart before consenting to an acquisition.

Although Frick continued to acquire works of art until his death in 1919 (his last purchase was Vermeer's Mistress and Maid), he quietly established plans to open his collection to the public after his death as early as 1915. In his will, dated 24 June 1915, Frick bequeathed his New York City residence, including furnishings, art, and decorative objects, as a museum "for the purpose of establishing and maintaining a gallery of art...and encouraging and developing the study of the fine arts, and of advancing the general knowledge of kindred subjects." The museum was endowed with funds for maintenance, building alterations, and acquisitions of art. Henry Clay Frick's widow continued to live at the residence until her death in 1931. At that time, the building was extensively renovated, and opened to the public as The Frick Collection in December 1935.

Sources consulted:

Grier, H.D.M. "Henry Clay Frick, Art Collector," in The Frick Collection: An Illustrated Catalogue, Vol. 1, Paintings. New York: The Frick Collection; [Princeton, N.J.]: Distributed by Princeton University Press, 1968.

Grier, H.D.M. Introduction to Masterpieces of The Frick Collection, by Edgar Munhall. New York: Frick Collection, 1970.

Ryskamp, Charles, et al. Art in the Frick Collection: Paintings, Sculpture, Decorative Arts. New York: Harry N. Abrams in association with the Frick Collection, 1996.