Isabelle de Borchgrave Sculptures at Clayton
Did you know there are two paper sculptures by Isabelle de Borchgrave on view at Clayton? Isabelle de Borchgrave: Fashioning Art from Paper is represented in Clayton with creations specifically chose for their connections to the Gilded Age and La Belle Époque, as well as our own costume collection.
The dining room features a stunning black and white ensemble inspired by an 1898 dress designed by the House of Worth in the collection of The Costume Institute at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Charles Frederick Worth (1825–1895) is often referred to as the “father of haute couture” and the first modern fashion designer. The savvy businessman and talented dressmaker dominated the fashion market in the second half of the nineteenth century. Worth’s designs were noted for their luxurious trimmings and attention to fit, and he often drew inspiration from elements of historic fashion. Upon his death in 1895, Worth’s two sons continued the business as the House of Worth and designed the dress from which de Borchgrave drew inspiration for her creation. While many of the garments in our costume collection worn by Adelaide Frick are similar in style to Worth designs, only one contains a Worth label – an elegant black wool evening coat with embroidered sleeves.
The dress is a quintessential example of the late nineteenth century aesthetic. The full sleeves, nipped waist, and cascading skirt show off the fashionable S-curve silhouette of the 1890s. The graphic scroll pattern reflects the influence of the Art Nouveau movement while also evoking interlacing patterns from the Renaissance.
Revived designs from the Renaissance also served as inspiration to Frederick J. Osterling, the architect hired by Henry Clay Frick to renovate and enlarge Clayton in the early 1890s. His design for the dining room combined the expressive naturalism of the Art Nouveau movement with the romantic historicism of the Renaissance Revival. The foliate scrolls carved into the top rails of the chairs and onto the doors of the sideboard mimic the dramatic curves on the dress. It’s almost as if the dress was meant to be seen in this setting. The stylistic similarities between the ornamentation in the room and on the dress make them a perfect pair to showcase the interest in historic revivals during the late nineteenth century.
The second sculpture by de Borchgrave on view at Clayton is based on an evening gown by Callot Soeurs –another Parisian couture house represented in our collection by a tea gown owned by Adelaide Frick. Like House of Worth, Callot Soeurs was one of the leading French fashion houses of the early twentieth century, often capitalizing on the vogue for exotic “orientalist” designs with lavish ornamentation.
De Borchgrave’s painted decoration evokes the detailed embroidery of the original (in the collection of the Kyoto Costume Institute) designed in 1908. Coincidentally that same year marked the occasion of the debut of Helen Clay Frick, which is the focus of this year’s holiday installation.
Isabelle de Borchgrave: Fashioning Art from Paper is on view at The Frick Art Museum through January 6, 2019. Book a tour of Clayton to see the two additional gowns by de Borchgrave on view as part of the holiday tour, A Season of Celebrations, also running through January 6.