Sunday Art Date by Miriam Schulman, @schulmanArt
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Édouard Manet (1832–1883) At the Café, 1874
Gillotage on beige wove paper Sheet: 12 1/2 x 16 1/4 in. This sheet is one of very few known impressions of Manet’s gillotage of a scene in the Café Guerbois, a Parisian establishment frequented by artists and writers. Gillotage was a new photomechanical process capable of conveying painterly effects.
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If you want to avoid the crowds at the blockbuster exhibits, there is a really cute exhibit at one of my favorite New York museums, the Frick collection. The Frick collection is the legacy of gilded age millionaire Henry Frick who built his fifth avenue mansion and collected art with an eye towards turning his home into a museum. His collection reads like a who’s who in master art ranging from Titian and Rembrandt to Degas. The Frick has great relationships with other teaching institutions and borrows collections for its small downstairs gallery and upstairs room. These three rooms allow for an intimate experience.
Right now, the Frick has a collection of nineteenth century drawings borrowed from the Clark Institute (another rich person’s art collection– but that is another story) and there are plenty of jewels to inspire. Mostly impressionists comprise these artists, but as drawing is not normally in the impressionist painter’s oeurve, there are plenty of experimental surprises. Working in media ranging from wood cuts to monotypes and more you will see these artists at work without their characteristic color. Take for example this cafe scene by Manet done in dramatic black and white. There are also several woodcuts from Gauguin and a monotype by Degas.
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| Camille Pissarro (1830–1903) Boulevard de Rochechouart, 1880 Pastel on beige wove paper 24 x 29 in. Lively strokes of pastel in a multitude of colors create a transparent atmosphere that envelops figures and architecture in the flow of urban life. |
No impressionist exhibit is complete however, without a colorful landscape and since pastel counts as a drawing medium, Pissarro doesn’t disappoint with his Parisian cityscape executed in shades of blue and orange.
The Frick Collection is located on 70th street just off fifth avenue. This exhibit runs through June 16, 2013. (treat yourself to a Parisian macaron at Laduree right around the corner on Madison Avenue after your exhibit!)
Got the drawing bug? Plenty of art supplies for sale on etsy!!
Hi Lisa– Having NYC in my backyard certainly makes up for the lack of travel in my life. I have to tell you we picked the wrong day to go in– the Greek American parade was running down fifth ave and we had to park our car in a garage…so much for city life! but put this museum on the TOP of your list the next time you are in nyc, the permanent collection is top rate and you will recognize many of the paintings from your art history survey course
Good post Miriam. When my husband and I were there two summers ago, the Frick museum was on our list of places to go, but we ran out of time. We will have to hit that one for sure when we return, which we hope to in the next couple of years. What a blessing to live in such a great city. We were just talking about that yesterday. I would not get any art made though because I would be roaming the city looking at everyone else's.