Jeff Koons, Chuck Close, David Salle, Cindy Sherman, Rachel Feinstein, John Currin, Richard Prince, Frank Stella, Brice Marden, Claude Lalanne, Marc Jacobs, Sophia Coppola, Richard Phillips, Inez van Lamsweerde, Vinoodh Matadin, Jessica Craig-Martin, Lisa Yuskavage & more.

Art world figures ask NYC Mayor to seek alternatives to Frick’s planned destruction of famed garden, and protect its unique Gilded Age residential character

A prominent group of world-renowned artists have signed a letter requesting that Mayor Bill de Blasio and the NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission deny the Frick Collection gallery’s ill-conceived proposed expansion plan. The famously intimate Gilded Age residential gallery is seeking to destroy its beloved, landmarked 70th Street Garden and Reception Hall Pavilion, replacing them with a 106-foot-tall tower. While the Frick expansion plan would add 59,000 square feet of space, it would create only 3,600 square feet of new gallery space for the display of art - none of which would be in the new structure.

In a letter to key municipal decision-makers, the artists and other art professionals praise the Frick’s existing combination of human-scale galleries and masterfully designed gardens. The letter identifies the ensemble of the 70th Street Garden, by preeminent 20th Century garden designer Russell Page, and the Reception Hall Pavilion as the architectural masterstroke that positions the Henry Clay Frick mansion “in counterpoint to the Manhattan street grid.” It continues: “Razing these two elegant and essential elements and replacing them with an institutional 106-foot tower will indeed destroy the Frick experience for artists and art lovers around the world.”

** CLICK HERE to read the artists’ letter opposing the Frick expansion plan **

Artists from an array of media – painting, sculpture, photography, filmmaking, video installation, fashion design – along with gallerists, art dealers, and critics signing the letter include:

Jeff Koons, artist
Chuck Close, painter
Rachel Feinstein, artist
John Currin, painter
Helen and Brice Marden, artist
Marc Jacobs, fashion designer
Inez van Lamsweerde, artist
Vinoodh Matadin, artist
Ben Kinmont, artist
Deborah Kass, artist
Marie Lalanne, painter
Dorothea Rockburne, painter
Sean Landers, painter
Cecily Brown, artist
Walton Ford, artist
Lisa Yuskavage, artist
Rudolf Stingel, artist
Jessica Craig-Martin, artist

Sofia Coppola, filmmaker
Frank Stella, artist
Richard Prince, artist
Cindy Sherman, artist
Claude Lalanne, sculptor
Nir Hod, artist
Matvey Levenstein, artist
Richard Phillips, artist
Marianne Vitale, artist
James Capper, sculptor
Laylah Ali, artist
David Salle, artist
Makoto Saito, artist
Jackie Buechner, painter
T.J. Wilcox, filmmaker
Sarah Morris, artist
Paul Branca, artist
Julian Lethbridge, artist
Sarah Sze, sculptor

This group is rallying to protect the Frick Collection from the proposed short-sighted expansion that will squander the very qualities that make it a New York City and global treasure – the gallery’s unique value lies in the residential experience it evokes: “We strongly believe that the Frick’s effectiveness as a display space lies in its intimacy … we are transported by the gallery’s serene environment, and encouraged to reflect on what it means to let art inhabit one’s daily life.”

In voicing disapproval of the Frick’s current expansion plan, the letter asks Mayor de Blasio and the Landmarks Preservation Commission to consider that design alternatives exist which can address the Frick’s desire to modernize, while preserving its landmarked pavilion, garden and ambiance.

This group of artists adds their voices to those of prominent architects, landscape architects, preservationists, garden advocates, authors, historians, civic leaders and groups speaking out against the Frick’s plan, including: Robert A.M. Stern, architect and Dean of the Yale University School of Architecture; Peter Pennoyer, architect; the New York chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects; Madison Cox, garden designer; Andrew Scott Dolkart, architectural historian and Director of Columbia University’s masters program in Historic Preservation; Witold Rybczynski, architect and critic; the Historic Districts Council; the Garden Club of America; Victoria Newhouse, architectural historian; Elizabeth Barlow Rogers, founder of the Central Park Conservancy and the Foundation for Landscape Studies; Annette de la Renta, philanthropist; and the Defenders of the Historic Upper East Side.

Over four thousand individuals have already signed an online petition urging the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission to deny the Frick’s ill-conceived proposal and consider alternatives that preserve the legacy of leading 20th Century landscape artist Russell Page, and allow the Frick to maintain its identity as a "house museum," ideal for viewing art for generations to come.

UNITE TO SAVE THE FRICK
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