Robert Adam - The Creative Mind

From the Sketch to the Finished Drawing At The Frick

NEW YORK CITY -- The Frick Collection is exhibiting 66 drawings and watercolors by Robert Adam (1728-92), his brother and partner, James (1732-94), and artists employed in their studio.

The sheets have been selected from the collection of 9,000 Adam drawings housed in Sir John Soane's Museum in London. Acquired in 1833 by the British architect John Soane, they are part of the massive collection of 30,000 drawings he assembled in order to preserve for the future the best in design.

The exhibition was presented initially in the Soane Gallery in the fall of 1996 and is the first to draw from the Adam material the richest collection of architectural drawings in Britain.

Preserved in the volumes that Adam's sisters placed them in after his death, these sheets have lost none of their original brilliance. This is the first time they have been exhibited outside the Soane Museum.

The Scottish artist and architect Robert Adam was brought up in Edinburgh, where he learned the rudiments of his profession in his father's architectural firm. After an Italian tour, during which he developed his drawing style and absorbed the vocabulary of Classicism, he established an architectural practice in London. Under his leadership, the practice became one of the most successful and influential in the Eighteenth Century.

With the collective talents of Adam, his brother, and their handpicked team of international assistants - among them George Richardson, Joseph Bonomi, Antonio Zucchi, and Giovanni Manocchi, all of whom are represented in this exhibition - the Adam office set a new standard for architectural drawings.

Adam is best remembered for his magnificent Neoclassical interiors. This show, however, presents a more unconventional view of his achievements. Drawings for some of his most celebrated works - Culzean Castle in Strathclyde; Home House; Portland Square, London; and Kedleston Hall in Derbyshire - are shown along with those that display lesser-known aspects of his work. In the latter category is Adam's talent for picturesque architecture, as seen in buildings that range from delightful garden structures to dramatic Scottish castles.

The character and range of Robert Adam's creativity, and the vital connection between his drawings and his buildings is demonstrated by this display. The drawings highlight the various stages of Adam's career and his artistic development.

From small, rapid pen sketches in Adam's hand to vividly colored presentation drawings and grand perspectives executed by his assistants, a picture is formed of how Adam went about his business and organized the most productive drawing office of the Eighteenth Century. The exhibition explores how he designed, how he delegated authority to certain key employees, and how he used his collection as inspiration for his work.

Arranged in five thematic sections, the show opens with Adam's Italian tour of 1755-57. It includes his "capricci" of classical buildings in landscape settings, as well as works by his tutors, Lallemand, Clerisseau, and Piranesi. Sections on country houses, town houses, public architecture, and the Adam office follow.

In addition to the drawings, the exhibition presents a specially commissioned large model of the picturesque Scottish castle Barnbougle that Adam designed. It was never built. There are objects from Adam's collection, including a cinerary urn he bought in Rome, plaster casts of Italian decorative details, and a large capital that was once owned by Piranesi.

A 48-page scholarly catalogue with illustrations in color and black and white, written by professor Alain Tait of Glasgow University, guest curator, accompanies the exhibition. After the Frick Collection, the show will travel to the Armand Hammer Museum of Art and Cultural Center, Los Angeles, and to the Octagon Gallery in Washington, D.C. After its return to the United Kingdom, it will be shown at the National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh, in 1999.

In conjunction with "Robert Adam, The Creative Mind: From the Sketch to the Finished Drawing," the Frick Collection will present a lecture on Wednesday, March 11, at 5:30 pm. Jane Clark, independent scholar and musician from London, will discuss "The Impudence to Sing in Rome Publicly: Robert Adam's Little Known Interest in Music."

The Frick Collection, at 5th Avenue and East 70th Street, is open from 10 am to 6 pm, Tuesdays through Saturdays, and from 1 to 6 pm Sundays. "The Frick Collection: An Introduction," a 22-minute audiovisual presentation, is shown in the music room hourly from 10:30 am to 4:30 pm Tuesdays through Saturdays, and from 1:30 to 4:30 pm on Sundays. Telephone 212/288-0700.