Toward a Mutual Understanding Through Culture: Art and Politics in the Past Century

• Published in: The Brown journal of world affairs 2017-10, Vol.23 (1), p.155
• Main Author: O'Connell, Luke
• Format: Magazinearticle
• Language: English
• Subjects: 19th century; Art exhibits; Art galleries & museums; Collectors; General public; Landscape art; Politics; Provenance; Sculpture
• ISSN: 1080-0786; 2472-3347

In an interview, Ian Wardropper director, The Frick Collection, talked about Frick Collection. Wardropper said the Frick is an unusual museum. It's a house museum, and what distinguishes it is the quality of the collection. It's one of the best collections of the European period from the Renaissance through the nineteenth century. It was a private collection, now a public one, which was formed by Henry Clay Frick, but most people don't know that his daughter, Helen Clay Frick, also had a role after her father's death in promoting the collection and acquiring works. Her interests were somewhat different from her father's-she collected Italian Renaissance art, for example. One thing that's really important is documenting provenance and then making the records of the works in our collection available to the general public and researching the provenance of works of art. Works of art can be ambassadors from one country to another, and that's something that's been a very positive trend.