The Frick Collection’s epic $220 million, five-year renovation was one of the art world’s biggest stories this spring. Now, the New York museum is making headlines again – this time by enlisting the talents of Steve Martin to mark and promote its grand reopening.
In a six-minute video – published on The Frick’s website and social media channels – the Only Murders in the Building actor takes viewers on a tour of the museum. As he moves through the Gilded Age mansion that houses the collections (which were temporarily relocated to the brutalist Marcel Breuer building on Madison Avenue during the renovation), Martin shares a brief history of The Frick Collection, which opened in 1935, and its founder, Henry Clay Frick. He highlights the museum’s reputation as one of the finest small collections of European fine and decorative arts in the US, showcasing everything from Old Master paintings to French furniture and Limoges enamel.
The actor encourages viewers to visit the Frick in person and experience its treasures slowly and reflectively. ‘This is what The Frick Collection is for,’ he says. ‘For slowing down, following your eye, and getting closer to objects of beauty and awe that are always right here, waiting for us behind these historic doors.’
If you, like us, are wondering, why Martin? – a Frick spokesperson has explained that the actor is a longtime member and fan of the museum, as well as an iconic New York figure. He’s also a serious art collector, having described collecting as his ‘biggest hobby’, and is reportedly the owner of works by Picasso, Francis Bacon and Roy Lichtenstein.
We’d like to think that his appearance is also a wink to his 2006 role as the museum-heist-investigating Inspector Jacques Clouseau in The Pink Panther – proving that even a bastion of classic art isn’t above a little playful irony.
Video credits: Video by SandenWolff. Writer: Rachel Wolff . Director: Jonathan Sanden. Photography: Noah Therrien, Jonathan Sanden, Nate Reininga, Thomas Lange. Editors: Hannah Kaylor, Jonathan Sanden. Music: Noah Therrien. Producers: Alexis Light, Katherine Ellis, Lisa Goble. Additional Footage: George Koelle. Editorial: Noah Purdy, Vincent Tolentino