The New York herald., 1922-02-23
FRICK LIBRARY GIVES
KEY TO WORLDS ART
All Paintings of Note From
1900 Down Listed i'm
Mansion.
DATA FOR RESEARCHES
Galleries and Records Are
Searched for Facts on
Great Works.
1000 ITEMS GATHERED
Public to Have Access as Soon
as Mrs. Frick and Miss
Frick Consent.

The creation of a great reference
library to supplement the art COL
lection left to the city by Henry C.
Frick is under way at the Frick home,
fifth avenue and Seventieth street.
Authoritative information regarding
this enterprise and its ultimate mean
ing to the public was obtained yes
terday for the first time.
The aim OF the project Is IN accord
with Mr.. Frick's wishes that the
legacy of his art should. in, every pos
sible way, encourage the study and
appreciation OF the fine arts In Amer
lea So far as is known, there is only
one other art reference library of the
kind in the world. that of Sir Robert
Witt, at 80 Portman square, London.
This library, which has taken more
than twenty years to assemble. Ia the
model for the Frlck library. The aim
of the Witt library in London and the
Fricll library in New York Is to file
a Photographic reproduction of every
painting and drawing of ancient or
modern times. together with facts re-
lating to the history and present loca-
tion of the work In question.
Data Only Dates From 1900.
Obviously the task is gigantic. Only
paintings and drawings of Western
artists-as distinguished from Oriental
Will be included and for the present
only works produced after the twelfth
century. But an attempt will be made
to include in the collection every known
drawing or painting by a reputed West
ern artist produced between the twelfth
century and 1850.
In dealing with modern art the prob
lem is not so simple, both by reason
OF the greater volume of work extant
and the difficulty OF separating the
works OF value from those comparative
ly worthless. To meet this difficulty
only those modern artists are to be
represented whose works are in ma
tional galleries. Representations OF the
plastic arts may be added later
Although work in the Frcll library
has been under way little more than a
year. some 1900 items have been COL
lected. classified and placed on file.
Fifteen trained librarians. research
workers and assistants have been at
work in temporary quarters in the base
ment of the big house. Friends in Lon
don and in Paris are collecting material,
obtaining photographs of public and pri-
vate collections, ferreting out inforna-
ton from archives and records and
auction catalogues.
Photographers are at work both in
this country and in Europe making
prints of pictures and drawings that
have never before been photographed.
A storeroom in the Frick house is filled
from floor to ceiling with raw ma
teriap photographs, catalogues and
works of reference that have been gath
cred from all conceivable sources.
Information for Researchers,
Each picture or drawing Is allotted a
single manila card about 1917 bv 10
inches. or a smaller standardized card
II the print is small. On the front of
the card is a photograph or other re-
of the work. with the name
of the artist and title of the work. the
name of the collection to which II be-
longs and description OF the ma
terial on which IL Is drawn or painted
and the signature or date. On the back
of the card are n photography and data
on whether O. copy or replica is in ex-
istence.
The object OF all this is to give as
sistance to the student of art, the con-
noIsseur, tho collector, the critic the