Frick Fine Arts Building
Encyclopedia
The Henry Clay Frick Fine Arts Building is a landmark Renaissance
villa
and a contributing property
to the Schenley Farms-Oakland Civic Historic District
on the campus of the University of Pittsburgh
in Pittsburgh
, Pennsylvania
, United States
. It consists of classrooms, a library, and art galleries around an open cloister and contains a 45 feet (13.7 m) high octagon capped by a pyramidal roof.
It sits on the southern edge of Schenley Plaza
, opposite The Carnegie Institute
, and is the home of Pitt’s History of Art and Architecture Department, Studio Arts Department, and the Frick Fine Arts Library. Before its front steps is Mary Schenley Memorial Fountain
. The Schenley Park Casino
, Pittsburgh’s first multi-purpose arena with an indoor ice skating rink, sat on the location of the building before burning down in December 1896.
A noted 1965 low relief portrait of Henry Clay Frick by Malvina Hoffman
in limestone sits above the entrance to the building. Hoffman was 79 years old when she accepted the commission. She could not sculpt it herself because union rules prevented sculptors from working on a relief attached to a building. However, she climbed up on the scaffolding to oversee the completion of the work.http://www.publicartpittsburgh.org/pdf_files/PAPP_Oakland_Walking_Tour.pdfhttp://vrcoll.fa.pitt.edu/uag/Art-Anytime-Page/Pittsburgh-Sculpture/Hoffman-Frick-Pages/index.htm
(1888–1984), daughter of the Pittsburgh industrialist and art patron Henry Clay Frick
(1849–1919). She established the Fine Arts Department at the University of Pittsburgh in 1926 and continued to fund it through the 1950s, when she first made a commitment to create a separate structure to house it.http://www.haa.pitt.edu/resources/documents/ffab.pdf Land for the project was donated to the university by the City of Pittsburgh.
In early negotiations with the University of Pittsburgh, Miss Frick asked that successors to the New York
architects Carrère and Hastings
design the new facility after the Italian palazzo
its firm had built in Manhattan
for her father some fifty years earlier. Eventually, however, both parties agreed to Burton Kenneth Johnstone Associates as the architects. Its design is modeled after Pope Julius III
's (1487–1555) Villa Giulia
in Rome, Italy. The building is constructed of white limestone and marble with a terracotta tile roof around a central courtyard. An octagonal cupola, which caps the central rotunda, rises 45 feet above the ground.http://www.haa.pitt.edu/resources/documents/ffab.pdf The building houses the University of Pittsburgh's Department of History of Art and Architecture, and is contains classrooms, an open cloister, an art gallery, a 200-seat auditorium, as well as a research library. Construction began in 1962 and the building was opened in May 1965.
By the late 1960s Miss Frick, unhappy that the university did not conform to her restrictions on management of both the department and the new building, severed her ties with the University of Pittsburgh. She responded by creating a new venture, The Frick Art Museum
, on the property of her ancestral home, Clayton, a few miles east in Pittsburgh's Point Breeze
neighborhood. That museum operates today as a part of the Frick Art & Historical Center
complex.
The Nicholas Lochoff Cloister is a main feature of the Frick Fine Arts Building. Its large paintings of Italian masterpieces are scale reproductions that were commissioned in 1911 from Nicholas Lochoff by the Moscow Museum of Fine Arts (now the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts). Lochoff worked slowly and carefully. Only a few paintings were completed and sent back to Russia
by the Russian Revolution of 1917
. Lochoff, unable to return because of new communist regime, felt compelled to sell off the paintings. Buyers included Harvard University
and the Frick Art Reference Library in New York. Miss Frick acquired the entire collection, however, after Lochoff's death, with the help of art critic Bernard Berenson
. In 2003, the paintings were cleaned and restored by Christine Daulton. Also in the gallery are noted Carrara
marble reproductions of 14th century Annunciation
figures by sculptor Alceo Dossena
.
. An inscription on the wall facing the entrance indicates the libraries dedication to Henry Clay Frick
.http://www.haa.pitt.edu/resources/documents/ffab.pdf
and Gertrude Quastler prints; 16th-18th century drawings from the Clapp and Denny families; a collection of 19th and 20th century photography; the Gimbel collection of American art; and various Japanese prints, Asian ceramics, portraitures, and Pittsburgh related paintings by Hetzel, Gorson, and Kane.http://www.haa.pitt.edu/resources/documents/ffab.pdf
that aired on November 12th, 2002.
Video
Renaissance
The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...
villa
Villa
A villa was originally an ancient Roman upper-class country house. Since its origins in the Roman villa, the idea and function of a villa have evolved considerably. After the fall of the Roman Republic, villas became small farming compounds, which were increasingly fortified in Late Antiquity,...
and a contributing property
Contributing property
In the law regulating historic districts in the United States, a contributing resource or contributing property is any building, structure, or object which adds to the historical integrity or architectural qualities that make the historic district, listed locally or federally, significant...
to the Schenley Farms-Oakland Civic Historic District
Schenley Farms Historic District
The Schenley Farms Historic District, also referred to as the Schenley Farms-Oakland Civic District, is a historic district listed on the National Register of Historic Places that is located in the Oakland section of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States...
on the campus of the University of Pittsburgh
University of Pittsburgh
The University of Pittsburgh, commonly referred to as Pitt, is a state-related research university located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded as Pittsburgh Academy in 1787 on what was then the American frontier, Pitt is one of the oldest continuously chartered institutions of...
in Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh is the second-largest city in the US Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Allegheny County. Regionally, it anchors the largest urban area of Appalachia and the Ohio River Valley, and nationally, it is the 22nd-largest urban area in the United States...
, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. It consists of classrooms, a library, and art galleries around an open cloister and contains a 45 feet (13.7 m) high octagon capped by a pyramidal roof.
It sits on the southern edge of Schenley Plaza
Schenley Plaza
Schenley Plaza is a public park serving as the grand entrance into Schenley Park in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.The plaza, located on Forbes Avenue and Schenley Drive in the city's Oakland district, includes multiple gardens, food kiosks, public meeting spaces, a carousel, and a prominent "Emerald...
, opposite The Carnegie Institute
Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh
Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh are four museums that are operated by the Carnegie Institute headquartered in the Oakland neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania...
, and is the home of Pitt’s History of Art and Architecture Department, Studio Arts Department, and the Frick Fine Arts Library. Before its front steps is Mary Schenley Memorial Fountain
Mary Schenley Memorial Fountain
The Mary Schenley Memorial Fountain, also known as A Song to Nature, is a 1918 landmark public sculpture in bronze and granite by Victor David Brenner. It sits in Schenley Plaza at the entrance to Schenley Park and directly in front of the University of Pittsburgh's Frick Fine Arts Building in...
. The Schenley Park Casino
Schenley Park Casino
The Schenley Park Casino was Pittsburgh’s first multi-purpose arena. The facility was considered the envy of the sports and entertainment world during the early 1890's, with amenities that were unsurpassed anywhere on the globe. It was built at the entrance to Schenley Park in Oakland near the...
, Pittsburgh’s first multi-purpose arena with an indoor ice skating rink, sat on the location of the building before burning down in December 1896.
A noted 1965 low relief portrait of Henry Clay Frick by Malvina Hoffman
Malvina Hoffman
Malvina Hoffman , was an American sculptor and author, well known for her life-size bronze sculptures of people...
in limestone sits above the entrance to the building. Hoffman was 79 years old when she accepted the commission. She could not sculpt it herself because union rules prevented sculptors from working on a relief attached to a building. However, she climbed up on the scaffolding to oversee the completion of the work.http://www.publicartpittsburgh.org/pdf_files/PAPP_Oakland_Walking_Tour.pdfhttp://vrcoll.fa.pitt.edu/uag/Art-Anytime-Page/Pittsburgh-Sculpture/Hoffman-Frick-Pages/index.htm
History
The building is a gift of Helen Clay FrickHelen Clay Frick
Helen Clay Frick was an American philanthropist.She was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania the third child of the coke and steel magnate Henry Clay Frick and Adelaide Howard Childs . She grew up at the family's Pittsburgh estate, Clayton, although the family later moved to New York City in 1905...
(1888–1984), daughter of the Pittsburgh industrialist and art patron Henry Clay Frick
Henry Clay Frick
Henry Clay Frick was an American industrialist, financier, and art patron. He founded the H. C. Frick & Company coke manufacturing company, was chairman of the Carnegie Steel Company, and played a major role in the formation of the giant U.S. Steel steel manufacturing concern...
(1849–1919). She established the Fine Arts Department at the University of Pittsburgh in 1926 and continued to fund it through the 1950s, when she first made a commitment to create a separate structure to house it.http://www.haa.pitt.edu/resources/documents/ffab.pdf Land for the project was donated to the university by the City of Pittsburgh.
In early negotiations with the University of Pittsburgh, Miss Frick asked that successors to the New York
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
architects Carrère and Hastings
Carrère and Hastings
Carrère and Hastings, the firm of John Merven Carrère and Thomas Hastings , located in New York City, was one of the outstanding Beaux-Arts architecture firms in the United States. The partnership operated from 1885 until 1911, when Carrère was killed in an automobile accident...
design the new facility after the Italian palazzo
Palazzo
Palazzo, an Italian word meaning a large building , may refer to:-Buildings:*Palazzo, an Italian type of building**Palazzo style architecture, imitative of Italian palazzi...
its firm had built in Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
for her father some fifty years earlier. Eventually, however, both parties agreed to Burton Kenneth Johnstone Associates as the architects. Its design is modeled after Pope Julius III
Pope Julius III
Pope Julius III , born Giovanni Maria Ciocchi del Monte, was Pope from 7 February 1550 to 1555....
's (1487–1555) Villa Giulia
Villa Giulia
The Villa Giulia is a villa in Rome, Italy. It was built by Pope Julius III in 1550–1555 on what was then the edge of the city. Today it is publicly owned, and houses the Museo Nazionale Etrusco, an impressive collection of Etruscan art and artifacts....
in Rome, Italy. The building is constructed of white limestone and marble with a terracotta tile roof around a central courtyard. An octagonal cupola, which caps the central rotunda, rises 45 feet above the ground.http://www.haa.pitt.edu/resources/documents/ffab.pdf The building houses the University of Pittsburgh's Department of History of Art and Architecture, and is contains classrooms, an open cloister, an art gallery, a 200-seat auditorium, as well as a research library. Construction began in 1962 and the building was opened in May 1965.
By the late 1960s Miss Frick, unhappy that the university did not conform to her restrictions on management of both the department and the new building, severed her ties with the University of Pittsburgh. She responded by creating a new venture, The Frick Art Museum
Frick Art & Historical Center
The Frick Art & Historical Center is a cluster of museums and historical buildings located at 7227 Reynolds Street, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States and collectively known as "Clayton"...
, on the property of her ancestral home, Clayton, a few miles east in Pittsburgh's Point Breeze
Point Breeze, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Point Breeze, or South Point Breeze, is a largely residential neighborhood in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA.It is adjacent to the Pittsburgh neighborhoods of Regent Square, Squirrel Hill, Shadyside, and North Point Breeze, and the borough of Wilkinsburg. It includes the neighborhood of Park Place...
neighborhood. That museum operates today as a part of the Frick Art & Historical Center
Frick Art & Historical Center
The Frick Art & Historical Center is a cluster of museums and historical buildings located at 7227 Reynolds Street, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States and collectively known as "Clayton"...
complex.
Nicholas Lochoff Cloister
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
by the Russian Revolution of 1917
Russian Revolution of 1917
The Russian Revolution is the collective term for a series of revolutions in Russia in 1917, which destroyed the Tsarist autocracy and led to the creation of the Soviet Union. The Tsar was deposed and replaced by a provisional government in the first revolution of February 1917...
. Lochoff, unable to return because of new communist regime, felt compelled to sell off the paintings. Buyers included Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
and the Frick Art Reference Library in New York. Miss Frick acquired the entire collection, however, after Lochoff's death, with the help of art critic Bernard Berenson
Bernard Berenson
Bernard Berenson was an American art historian specializing in the Renaissance. He was a major figure in pioneering art attribution and therefore establishing the market for paintings by the "Old Masters".-Personal life:...
. In 2003, the paintings were cleaned and restored by Christine Daulton. Also in the gallery are noted Carrara
Carrara
Carrara is a city and comune in the province of Massa-Carrara , notable for the white or blue-grey marble quarried there. It is on the Carrione River, some west-northwest of Florence....
marble reproductions of 14th century Annunciation
Annunciation
The Annunciation, also referred to as the Annunciation to the Blessed Virgin Mary or Annunciation of the Lord, is the Christian celebration of the announcement by the angel Gabriel to Virgin Mary, that she would conceive and become the mother of Jesus the Son of God. Gabriel told Mary to name her...
figures by sculptor Alceo Dossena
Alceo Dossena
Alceo Dossena was an Italian sculptor. His dealers marketed his creations as originals by other sculptors.Dossena was born in Cremona. He was a talented stonemason and sculptor who was skilled at duplicating classical Greek, Roman, medieval, and Renaissance artistic styles and such artists as...
.
Frick Fine Arts Library
Located in Frick Fine Arts Building, this two-story library houses a circulating research collection serving the Department of the History of Art and Architecture. The Collection contains over 90,000 volumes and subscribes to more than 350 journals in relevant fields and is ranked among the top 10 fine art libraries in the country.http://www.library.pitt.edu/libraries/frick/fine_arts.htmlhttp://www.umc.pitt.edu/tour/tour-060.html The library's reading room is constructed of fruit wood paneling and cabinetwork with gold leaf trim designed by Italian craftsmen. The library is further appointed by wrought iron balcony railings, terracotta tile flooring, maple tables with matching Windsor chairs, and ceiling-high windows furnishing views of Schenley ParkSchenley Park
Schenley Park is a large municipal park located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, between the neighborhoods of Oakland, Greenfield, and Squirrel Hill. It is also listed on the National Register of Historic Places as a historic district...
. An inscription on the wall facing the entrance indicates the libraries dedication to Henry Clay Frick
Henry Clay Frick
Henry Clay Frick was an American industrialist, financier, and art patron. He founded the H. C. Frick & Company coke manufacturing company, was chairman of the Carnegie Steel Company, and played a major role in the formation of the giant U.S. Steel steel manufacturing concern...
.http://www.haa.pitt.edu/resources/documents/ffab.pdf
University Arts Gallery
The permanent collection contains a collection of prints and graphic works dating from the 16th through 20th centuries and regularly hosts changing exhibitions sponsored by the Department of the History of Art and Architecture and the Friends organization. Some of the more prominent pieces in the permanent collection include a large collection of Jacques CallotJacques Callot
Jacques Callot was a baroque printmaker and draftsman from the Duchy of Lorraine . He is an important figure in the development of the old master print...
and Gertrude Quastler prints; 16th-18th century drawings from the Clapp and Denny families; a collection of 19th and 20th century photography; the Gimbel collection of American art; and various Japanese prints, Asian ceramics, portraitures, and Pittsburgh related paintings by Hetzel, Gorson, and Kane.http://www.haa.pitt.edu/resources/documents/ffab.pdf
Popular culture
The Frick Fine Arts Building appeared in scenes set at the University of Pittsburgh on an episode of As the World TurnsAs the World Turns
As the World Turns is an American television soap opera that aired on CBS from April 2, 1956 to September 17, 2010. Irna Phillips created As the World Turns as a sister show to her other soap opera Guiding Light...
that aired on November 12th, 2002.
External links
- Frick Fine Arts website
- Frick Fine Arts virtual tour
- University Art Gallery
- University Art Gallery: Art Anytime
- Nicholas Lochoff Cloister virtual tour
- Frick Fine Arts Library
- Frick Fine Arts Library Panoramic
- University of Pittsburgh Department of History of Art & Architecture
- University of Pittsburgh Department of Studio Arts
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