Helen Clay Frick Research Files on Jean Antoine Houdon

This collection reflects Helen Clay Frick's lifelong interest in the life and works of sculptor Jean Antoine Houdon (1741-1828), and documents the research she and the Frick Art Reference Library staff conducted over the course of nearly fifty years. The records span the years 1930-1977, with the bulk of the documents dating from the 1930s-1940s. The collection also includes printed material, 1914-1964. The collection contains typed and handwritten research notes, correspondence, photographs, Library photo mounts, publications, newspaper and magazine clippings, typescript drafts and engraved copper plates.

The materials are organized in ten series: Series I: Typescript Drafts, Series II: Correspondence, Series III: Works of Houdon, Series IV: Related Works/Artists, Series V: Transcriptions of Houdon Correspondence, Series VI: Miscellaneous Research Notes, Series VII: Printed Material, Series VIII: Research of Isobel Binks (Frick Art Reference Library staff member), Series IX: Research of Clotilde Brière (Frick Art Reference Library staff member based in Europe), and Series X: Artifacts.

Of special interest are Miss Frick's unpublished manuscripts on the life and work of Houdon [Series I: Typescript Drafts, Box 1]. The approximately 110-page draft of Miss Frick's The Life of Jean Antoine Houdon or The Life of Houdon Revealed Through His Unpublished Correspondence and Other Documents is represented by six typescripts in various stages of completion. The Catalogue of Houdon's Work manuscript is in a much more preliminary phase, consisting of organized notes and photographs, with an introduction written by Miss Frick.

Also of note in the collection are photostats and transcriptions of select Houdon letters [Series V: Transcriptions of Houdon Correspondence, Box 5]. The originals of these Houdon letters, acquired from Jean Perron Houdon by Clotilde Brière for Miss Frick in the 1930s, were bequeathed to the Bibliotheque Municipale de Versailles (5 rue de l'Independence Americaine, 78000 Versailles, France) in Miss Frick's will. Correspondence related to the acquisition of the letters is stored in Box 7 with Ms. Brière's files. Additional Brière correspondence related to her Houdon research and the purchase of Houdon's letters can be found in the records of Clotilde Brière in The Frick Collection/Frick Art Reference Library Archives. Files in Series III: Works of Houdon, and in the same subcategory under Research of Isobel Binks and Clotilde Brière, form the bulk of the collection. Series III: Works of Houdon contains individual files for each subject/title of a Houdon work, as well as those of questionable attribution. Files contain handwritten and typed research notes, correspondence, photographs, and related newspaper and magazine clippings. The research notes include such information as title, owner, provenance, date, size, material, exhibitions, bibliography, comments on attribution, and biographical and background information on the subject of the work. Correspondence not related to a specific Houdon work, but instead to more general research, is filed in Series II: Correspondence.

Oversize documents are stored separately in Oversize Box A. Reduced-size photocopies replace the originals in Boxes 1-8.