Past Exhibitions

November 4, 2006 - January 14, 2007
On November 4, 2006, an exhibition of works, depicting nineteenth-century women as they emerged from the traditional roles of wife and mother, opens at The Frick Art Museum. Off the Pedestal: New Women in the Art of Homer, Chase, and Sargent, organized by The Newark Museum, is the first exhibition to examine how American painters, photographers, and illustrators, such as Thomas Eakins (1844-1916), Winslow Homer (1836-1910), William Merritt Chase (1849-1916), and Charles Dana Gibson (1867-1944), interpreted the newly-emancipated women who emerged in America in the post-Civil War era.

Pictures of women portrayed as intelligent, confident, professional, and athletic are common today, but images of strong, self-reliant women were a rarity in fine art and popular culture until the second half of the nineteenth century. Equally compelling are the many works by women artists documenting their struggles for emancipation and acceptance. Off the Pedestal will remain on view at The Frick Art Museum through January 14, 2007.

THE EXHIBITION
Close to 100 works, including paintings, sculpture, drawings, photographs, and engravings, were selected for this exhibition from the holdings of The Newark Museum and other leading American museums and private collections.

The exhibition places works of art within the context of archival photographs and printed materials to highlight the pivotal role of artists in documenting and influencing the distinctive traits that characterized this New Woman. When initially created, scenes of intelligent, professional, and athletic women were considered provocative and shocking because they depicted women who claimed greater personal freedoms and professional opportunities. Curious and confident, the New Woman is the precursor of today's modern woman.

Many of the most innovative artists of the post-Civil War period responded to the dramatic changes in women's lives as they became liberated from the confines of home, chaperones, and other restrictions. During the last half of the nineteenth century, the ideal of the Victorian woman was being challenged by an array of avant-garde activists. The works in the exhibition portray these dynamic, exceptional women going to college, riding bicycles, hiking in the mountains and bathing on deserted beaches-all activities considered radical and controversial at the time. Newspapers, books, cigarettes, riding whips, and tennis rackets accompanied the New Woman, replacing the flowers, fruits, and infants associated with ideal womanhood. By the 1890s, the emancipated woman was seen everywhere, from the Gibson Girl magazine covers of Scribner's to the walls of popular exhibitions.

Arranged historically and thematically, the exhibition chronicles the changing attitudes and responsibilities of women brought on by the Civil War. Accepted Victorian views of women placed them on a metaphorical pedestal, portraying them as ideal wives and mothers. Two paintings, included in the exhibition, by Lilly Martin Spencer (1822-1902) illustrate the struggles of transformation: Mother and Child, 1869, is a traditional view of an intimate domestic moment, while The War Spirit at Home, 1866, depicts the difficult position of women during and after the Civil War who provided for both the domestic and financial needs of their families. The mother's awkward attempt to balance both her baby and a newspaper allude to Spencer's own role as her family's sole support.

Following the Civil War, American artists began to portray women outdoors, unescorted in public parks, playing croquet and tennis, bathing at the beach, and hiking in mountainous areas. Women who were unchaperoned and engaged in physically demanding activities were considered careless and irresponsible at best and indecent at worst. Paintings and engraved illustrations by Winslow Homer thoroughly document women at outdoor leisure activities. Homer painted no fewer than five paintings of women playing croquet, including Croquet Player, undated, which is included in the exhibition.

One of the defining characteristics of the New Woman was her intellectual curiosity and intense desire to further her education and develop her own abilities and interests. Painters, photographers, and illustrators created a new female type, "the thinking woman," who is shown on college campuses or immersed in reading books and newspapers. Of particular interest are the anonymous photographs of African American women shown with books and as scholars, which pointedly illustrate the importance of education to both personal and social emancipation. Winslow Homer's Sunday Morning in Old Virginia, 1888, photogravure after the 1877 painting, shows African American children reading a Bible as an older woman stands to the side and looks away-uneducated and uncomprehending.

The exhibition at the Frick will be augmented by a selection of archival materials from Chatham College, founded in 1869, highlighting the importance of education in shaping the New Woman and providing a local context for appreciating the role of higher education in furthering women's accomplishments.

Armed with an education, women sought career opportunities out of either necessity or choice. Artists tended to paint working women in those professions that were deemed acceptable, such as writing, nursing, elementary school teaching, and art. Thomas Eakins's spectacular painting, The Concert Singer, 1890-92, presents mezzo-soprano Weda Cook as an acclaimed professional. Cook dominates the composition, appearing totally absorbed in the physical, mental, and emotional effort of her all-consuming creative act, while the male conductor's hand and baton are barely visible in the lower left corner.

One of the more accessible professions open to women was a career in art. By the 1880s, women art students outnumbered men in the leading painting academies; and by the 1890s, nearly half of the practicing artists in the United States were female. Female Life Class, c. 1879 by Alice Barber Stevens (1858-1932) and Portrait of the Artist, c. 1890, by Elizabeth Rebecca Coffin (1851-1930) document their success. John Singer Sargent was known for his energetic portraits of new women, and he may have met Alice Brisbane Thursby while she was studying painting in Paris. Sargent's Mrs. Charles Thursby, c. 1898, depicts her with a verve and energy that make her seem as if she may leap out of the painting.

The new medium of photography was another avenue open to women. In the photograph Frances Benjamin Johnston in the Basement of Her Studio, 1895, the professional photographer Frances Benjamin Johnston (1864-1952) is shown as an educated, emancipated woman, working at her desk in a room adorned with posters of new women. On the other hand, professions such as law, medicine, and business remained closed except to a few determined trailblazers.

As women challenged conventions through political activism, pursuit of a career, or demand for sexual liberty, many contemporaries feared that they were behaving more like men. Illustrations in the popular press showed a backlash that questioned the morality and gender of emancipated women. However, some women appropriated the "manly woman" identity for their own ends. Several actresses adopted versions of masculine dress in their performances to the delight of their audiences. Others, particularly photographers, recorded themselves masquerading as men. Such self-portraits not only revealed a bawdy sense of humor but, more importantly, became vehicles for women to express their rejection of gender-based conventions that limited their life choices.

According to Dr. Holly Pyne Connor, Newark Museum Curator of Nineteenth-Century American Art, who assembled the exhibition with Dr. Mary Kate O'Hare, Assistant Curator of American Art, the first generation of new women of the nineteenth century were the mentors for the feminists who emerged so strongly a hundred years later. "I hope that visitors will gain a historical perspective on the lives of women during this period," Dr. Connor said, "and that they will also reflect on the accomplished women in their own lives who have acted as powerful role models."


EXHIBITION ORGANIZATIONAL AND SUPPORT CREDITS
Off the Pedestal: New Women in the Art of Homer, Chase, and Sargent was organized by The Newark Museum. This exhibition, as well as research for the catalogue, has been made possible through major funding by the Henry Luce Foundation, Inc. and JPMorgan Chase Foundation. Generous support for the exhibition was also received from the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, Victoria Foundation and The Newark Museum Volunteer Organization.

The Pittsburgh presentation is made possible through the generosity of the Eden Hall Foundation. Additional support has been provided by Allegheny Foundation and PNC Wealth Management.


     

CATALOGUE
A full-color, illustrated catalogue containing major essays by leading scholars including Holly Pyne Connor, Sarah Burns, and Mary Blanchard, was published in conjunction with the exhibition by The Newark Museum and Rutgers University Press. It is available for purchase at the Frick's Museum Shop for $29.95 ($26.96 for Frick members).


ALSO ON VIEW AT THE FRICK ART MUSEUM:
MINERVA CHAPMAN: MINIATURE PORTRAITS
As a complement to Off the Pedestal, The Frick Art Museum will present a selection of Minerva Chapman's (1858-1947) portrait miniature paintings in a variety of formats and media in the Jacobean Room. The works comprising the exhibition are from the collection of Mr. and Mrs. Morse G. Dial, Jr.


CLAYTON INSTALLATION ECHOES EXHIBITION THEMES
In conjunction with the presentation of Off the Pedestal at The Frick Art Museum, the Frick Art & Historical Center will celebrate the New Woman of the late nineteenth century at Clayton, the immaculately restored nineteenth-century home of the Henry Clay Frick family, with a seasonal installation inspired by women's roles in Gilded Age holiday preparations. Holiday tours of Clayton and seasonal programs are offered November 17, 2006-January 7, 2007.


GENERAL INFORMATION
The Frick Art & Historical Center is located at 7227 Reynolds Street in Point Breeze. Free parking is available in the Frick's off-street lot, or along adjacent streets.

The Frick is open 10:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m., Tuesday-Sunday, and closed Mondays and major holidays. Extended holiday hours are offered on Wednesdays in December: The entire site is open 10:00 a.m. - 9:00 p.m. on these days.

Admission to The Frick Art Museum, Car and Carriage Museum, Greenhouse, and Playhouse is free. Docent-led tours of Off the Pedestal and Minerva Chapman: Miniature Portraits are available free of charge on Wednesdays, Saturdays, and Sundays at 2:00 p.m. Groups of five or more and those interested in scheduling a tour of the permanent collection are requested to schedule a private tour at an alternate time. The cost for group tours and permanent collection tours is $7 per person, and reservations must be made one to two weeks in advance. Call 412-371-0600, 9:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m., Monday-Sunday. Tours of Clayton are available Tuesday through Sunday; reservations are recommended. Admission is $12 for the general public and $10 for students and seniors.

For information and reservations, call 412-371-0600, 9:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m., Monday through Sunday, or visit the Frick's Web site at www.frickart.org.

For further information or images, please contact Greg Langel at 412-371-0600, ext. 524, or at glangel@frickart.org.



The Frick Art & Historical Center, a 501 (c) (3) non-profit organization, is an historic site and cultural center with a mission to serve the public through preservation, presentation, and interpretation of the fine and decorative arts and historically significant artifacts for all residents of and visitors to
Western Pennsylvania.