The Frick Collection’s trio of paintings by famed seventeenth-century Dutch artist Johannes Vermeer has returned from Amsterdam to New York. From June 15 through the remainder of the institution’s temporary residency at Frick Madison, visitors can once again encounter in one room the Frick’s Officer and Laughing Girl, Girl Interrupted at Her Music, and Mistress and Maid. Recently reinstalled after their presentation in the Rijksmuseum’s landmark Vermeer exhibition, these three canvases by the “Sphinx of Delft” have revealed a few more hints about their layered histories.
The recent Amsterdam show offered an exceptional opportunity to contextualize the Frick works within the artist’s career. Twenty-eight paintings by or attributed to Vermeer were on view, the most that one exhibition has ever shown from his surviving oeuvre of only around thirty-five canvases. The Frick’s loans—possible during the renovation and enhancement of the institution’s historic East 70th Street buildings—were key to securing the Rijksmuseum exhibition’s historic scope.
Comments Ian Wardropper, Anna-Maria and Stephen Kellen Director, “We are thrilled to have participated in this thought-provoking and visually stunning presentation of the great artist’s works. The show—one of the most talked about art world events of the year, if not the decade—offered audiences from around the world, both in person and online, new ways to consider Vermeer’s oeuvre, taking advantage of thematic groupings and recent technical analysis. Having never loaned our three works simultaneously before, we found the experience deeply enriching. As we celebrate the return of the works to Frick Madison, we look forward to engaging in stimulating dialogues about them with New York audiences.”
About the Author Ann is a freelance writer who started her professional career at the NY Trend more than two decades ago. Ann has since gone on to write for a number of major outlets including: Black Enterprise, Essence, MadameNoire, Pathfinders, Frequent Flier, Playboy, The Source, Girl, Upscale, For Harriet, The Network Journal, AFKInsider, Africa Strictly Business, AFKTravel, among others. |