Helen Clay Frick Papers, Series VI: Research Files on Jean Antoine Houdon

This collection reflects Helen Clay Frick’s lifelong interest in the sculptor Jean Antoine Houdon and documents research concerning his life and works. The research files contain the work of Miss Frick, Frick Art Reference Library staff members, and outside consultants. The records span the years 1802?-1976, with the bulk of documents dating from the 1930s-1940s and 1968-1972. Items dated before 1930 include three original documents in the Houdon Papers (1802?-1807), letters and notes of Charles Henry Hart (1890s-1909), and clippings and printed material (1883-1914). The collection contains typed and handwritten research notes, correspondence, photographs, Frick Art Reference Library photo mounts, publications, newspaper and magazine clippings, and typescript drafts and correspondence related to both published and unpublished writings on Houdon.

The materials are organized in the following eight subseries:

Subseries I: Writings, 1934-1955, undated

Subseries II. Works of Houdon, 1883-1973, undated

Subseries III. Related Works/Artists, 1931-1947, undated

Subseries IV. Copies of Houdon Papers, 1735-1879, undated

Subseries V. Correspondence/Memos, 1896-1965

Subseries VI. Research Notes and Reference Materials, 1932-1938, undated

Subseries VII. Research of Clotilde Brière, 1932-1949

Subseries VIII. Research of Virginia E. Lewis, 1967-1970

Of special interest are photostats and transcriptions of the papers of Jean Antoine Houdon in Subseries IV: Copies of Houdon Papers. The originals of the approximately 300 documents were acquired from a descendent of the sculptor, Mme. Jean Perron-Houdon, by Clotilde Brière for Miss Frick in the 1930s. Miss Frick bequeathed the papers to the Bibliotheque Municipale de Versailles (5 rue d l'Independence Americaine, 78000 Versailles, France) in her will, with the copies retained here among her own papers. The Houdon papers include correspondence of him and his family, extracts from birth and death registers, family trees, and documents related to the commission and sale of his works. Mme. Brière's correspondence related to the acquisition of the Houdon papers can be found in Box 7, Folder 12 of the Helen Clay Frick Research Files on Jean Antoine Houdon in this repository. Additional Brière correspondence related to her Houdon research and the purchase of Houdon’s letters can be found in the Frick Art Reference Library institutional archives within the Clotilde Brière Records.

Also of note are the files in Subseries II. Works of Houdon, which contain handwritten and typed research notes, correspondence, nearly 600 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 Subseries V. Correspondence/Memos. Works of Houdon are also listed in the same subcategory under Research of Clotilde Brière and Research of Virginia E. Lewis. Subseries II. Works of Houdon contains both subject and individual files for Houdon works (organized by subject/title) as well as for those of questionable attribution.

Helen Clay Frick’s unpublished manuscript on the life and work of Houdon is located in Subseries I. Writings. The approximately 110-page draft of Miss Frick’s “The Life of Houdon as Revealed Through His Unpublished Correspondence and Other Documents” is represented by six typescripts in various stages of completion.