Free Leader steps down after 14 years of running

After 14 years running the Frick Collection, during which the art museum finally made a controversial expansion of its Gilded Age mansion on Fifth Avenue — and temporarily took up residence in the modernist Breuer Building on Madison Avenue — its director, Ian WardrobeerHe said he will retire next year.

“My goal is to leave the organization in good shape programmatically and financially, and this will be it,” Wardrobe, 72, said in a phone interview. “I hope I can hand it over to someone with new ideas.”

The announcement is the latest in a series of significant resignations by long-serving leaders of major museums, including the Guggenheim Museum, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and the Whitney Museum of American Art. In addition, the contract of Glenn D. Lurie, MoMA's longtime director, will expire next year.

Such leadership shifts have provided cultural institutions with the opportunity—or even the mandate—to recalibrate themselves, especially at a time when job descriptions have become increasingly complex and concerns about diversity have become more pressing.

The Frick is particularly connected to the past, given its historic collection of Old Masters such as Bellini, Rembrandt, Vermeer and Hals, as well as its location in the historic 1914 former residence of industrialist Henry Clay Frick, designed by Carrier and Hastings.

While many museums have modified their programs in response to the intense demand for contemporary art in the past decade, Frick under Wardropper has steadfastly adhered to its founding principles of focusing on works of art from the Renaissance through the early twentieth century.

Only recently, at his temporary home, the former Whitney Museum, did Frick appear to have loosened his tie, showing Turner, Sargent, and Fragonards alongside an exhibition dedicated to the black painter Barclay L. Hendricks (1945-2017), the first Artist of Color to mount a solo show in The museum since its founding in 1935.

The museum also recently presented “Living History: Strange Perspectives and Old Masters“With four contemporary artists – Doron Langberg, Salman Toor, Gina Gribbon, and Toyin Oger Odutola – they present works that address issues of gender and queer identity, narratives previously excluded in a museum focused on European art.

“I had to talk to some of the secretaries about it, as it went further than they thought it was grits,” Wardropper said of the show. “But it brought new audiences and new programs around, and opened up people's ideas about what grits could be.”

Max Hollin, director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, said Wardrobeer showed “diplomatic qualities” in bringing the grits into the present while honoring the past. “He opened a dialogue with contemporary thinkers and cultural figures,” Hollin said. “The Frick can be seen as a very static group. I think Ian has changed that.”

The renovation of The Frick aims to modernize the museum visitor experience by improving circulation, facilities, infrastructure and wheelchair accessibility – in an effort to meet the needs of modern audiences without compromising on the building's jewel-box quality. It also opens up the restored second-floor living quarters of Frick and his wife, Adelaide Howard Childs Frick, previously used for museum offices and off-limits to the public.

Pre-pandemic attendance averaged between 285,000 and 300,000 annually. The museum's annual operating budget of about $30 million is expected to increase slightly in the expanded building.

As for whether or not the Frick should present more Hendrix-type shows, Wardropper said the museum will continue to search for “balance.”

“We are not a contemporary art institution, and we are in a city full of them,” he said. “Where we can make a difference is the intersection with contemporary art that makes sense and not lose sight of our mission, which is to continue to try to attract a younger audience interested in ancient art.”

“I think we have to show young people in particular that if they pay attention and dig deep, they can really come to the surface with something interesting,” he added.

Frick has been repeatedly thwarted in previous expansion efforts and the Wardropper clearly bears some battle scars. In the face of violent protests… Attempts to renovate the museum failed in 2014 and 2015 before Selldorf Architects' proposal was finally approved in 2018.

Preservationists, designers, critics and architects opposed Frick's efforts to remove his tranquil garden on East 70th Street, designed by British landscape architect Russell Page, and were concerned about losing the museum's intimate scale. Among the demonstrators were members of New York City Landmarks Preservation Commissionalong with a coalition Unite to save the Freek.

“Gardens are works of art,” Robert M. Stern, dean of Yale University’s School of Architecture, said at the time. “This is in excellent condition by Russell Page, one of the leading garden designers of the 20th century, and should be respected as such. It is no less important than a tapestry or even a painting, and I think the museum has an obligation to acknowledge its importance.”

They also objected to the museum converting its music room into a private exhibition hall. The music room, which would be used for performances and talks, moved underground. But Wardropper said he bore no ill will and was happy with the outcome. “The only thing we didn't get was a loading dock,” he said.

“I couldn't hold a grudge and stay unhappy, I had to keep moving forward,” he said. “I felt defeated a few years ago, but what makes it more satisfying is seeing that we've made it to the end. There are still a few neighbors who aren't quite happy, but I think most people have realized that the grits need that.

Under the current plan, prepared by Annabelle Selldorf, the Frickes are restoring the garden to honor Page's original vision, in consultation with Linden B. Miller, a garden designer and conservationist. Instead of building above the garden, as previously planned, Frick built beneath it. Through the new link, the public will now be able to move from the museum to the art reference library without leaving.

The new Frick, scheduled to open late this year, also includes a new education center, a small café and an expanded museum store. (Frick's admission restrictions on children ages 10 and older will remain in effect.)

As for what's next, Wardropper said he's working on two books, one with Selldorf about renovation, and the other about Frick and his daughter Helen as collectors. “I'm looking forward to taking a break,” he said.

While the board will conduct an international search for his successor, Wardropper said it would be great if that person came “from within” and expressed his hope that he would. Xavier F. salomon, The Deputy Director and Chief Coordinator “will be one of the candidates.”

With a Ph.D. Warduber holds a master's degree in art history from New York University, and previously spent a decade at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, ending his tenure there as head of the Department of European Sculpture and Decorative Arts. Twenty years earlier, he worked at the Art Institute of Chicago, where he served as Curator of European Decorative Arts, Sculpture, and Ancient Art.

During his tenure at the Frick Hotel, Wardropper oversaw a $290 million capital campaign for the renovation, about 83 percent of which — $242 million — has been raised so far.

He also increased the Board of Trustees to 24 from 18 (there are three Frick descendants and one honorary member), and developed the “Amusement Series”Cocktails with AminFor YouTube – During the pandemic a crash course discussion of an artwork in the collection was coupled with a drink related to the era. (It became a book and became a global hit with many who had never visited the museum before.)

The Frick's partnership with the Ghetto Film School, now in its eighth year, connects young filmmakers to the museum's collection.

With the construction project not yet complete, Wardropper still has work to do, which is bringing the art and staff back to its original home as well as raising money for exhibitions through 2027. “It's going to be a very intense year,” he said.

But the director also said he feels positive about how the museum can continue to become more open and accessible to more visitors.

“Frick was this ivory tower that had the key thrown away in a lot of people's minds,” he said. “I think we opened it.”