The Frick Collection recently announcement that he will return to his Manhattan Fifth Avenue mansion late next year. The museum, which houses works from the Renaissance to the early 1900s, moved to a Brutalist building designed by Marcel Breuer on Madison Avenue when renovations began at its original location in March 2021. The Frick’s final day at its temporary location will be March 3. 2024.
The collection’s temporary site on the Upper East Side once housed the Whitney Museum of American Art and the Met Breuer, the pop-up institution of the Metropolitan Museum of Art dedicated to modern and contemporary art. THE Whitney used the building from 1966 to 2014, and the Met Breuer exhibited there from 2016 to 2020.
Created by architect and designer Marcel Breuer, the structure is a classic example of the Brutalist style that dominated mid-century construction. As brutalism faced an unknown audience in the 1960s and then fell into disrepair over the following decades, the building was simultaneously mocked And rented.
Among others improvements and additions, Frick’s renovated building will house a new gallery for special exhibits, an auditorium and education center, updated curatorial facilities, and more energy-efficient infrastructure. It will also be accessible to people with disabilities and its second floor will be open to the public for the first time.
Golden Age robber baron Henry Frick built his New York City mansion between 1912 and 1914. It faces Central Park and takes up the entire stretch between East 70th and East 71st streets on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. Frick died in 1919 and his collection was opened to the public in 1935.
The renovations maintain the original artistic character from the Fifth Avenue mansion – classic patterns, ornate details and early 20th century glamour. In its final year on Madison Avenue, the Frick will continue to exhibit its classic collection, but will also showcase a contemporary take on portraiture through a exposure works by the late painter Barkley L. Hendricks, known for his personalized depictions of black Americans.
