This Monday, August 30, the Frick Collection in New York announced that it had received the largest donation of drawings and pastels in its history. Boucher, Degas, Millet, Fragonard, Vigée Le Brun… the greatest European artists are represented.
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The Frick Collection is growing: the New York institution has just announced the receipt of the largest donation of drawings and pastels in its history. The donors, Elizabeth Mugar Eveillard (Betty) and her husband Jean-Marie Eveillard, have made careers in the investment banking and international fund management sector, respectively. Keen on drawing, Elizabeth M. Eveillard is also a member of the visiting committees of the Drawings and Prints Department of the Morgan Museum and Library (New York), the Smith College Museum of Art (Northampton, Massachusetts) and the Menil Drawing Institute (Houston, Texas). The couple have built up a huge collection of European drawings and pastels over the past forty-five years; today, they promise to give away twenty-six of the most exceptional.
The greatest European artists
The Eveillard collection mainly comprises drawings and pastels dating from the end of the 15th century to the 20th century, and this gift consists of twenty-six pieces: eighteen drawings, five pastels, two prints and an oil sketch. These are signed by the greatest European artists: François Boucher, Edgar Degas, Jean-Honoré Fragonard, Francisco de Goya, Thomas Lawrence and Jean-François Millet. Better yet, the donation also includes creations by artists who are not yet present in the Frick collections such as Gustave Caillebotte, Maurice Quentin de La Tour, Jan Lievens, John Singer Sargent and Elisabeth Vigée le Brun.
François Boucher, La Bergère au coeur, 1753. Promised gift from the Eveillard Collection. © Photo Joseph Coscia Jr.
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Criteria of beauty, quality and condition
Xavier Salomon and Peter Jay Sharp, Deputy Director and Chief Curator of Frick, spoke about this exceptional donation: “It was a pleasure to study and select [des œuvres] in this remarkable collection, which is that of two people supporting the Frick for a long time, and who have assembled it in our own way: according to criteria of beauty, quality and condition ”. They also expressed their impatience to unveil these works to the public.
Venetian School, Head of a Youth, c. 1490. Promised gift from the Eveillard Collection. © Photo Joseph Coscia Jr.
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An exhibition in the fall of 2022
The museum will present an exhibition of these works at Frick Madison (the temporary collection site) in the fall of 2022. A catalog and events for the public will accompany this event.
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