Date: Fri 27-Feb-1998

Publication: Ant

Author: DONNAM

Quick Words:

Adam

Full Text:

Robert Adam -- The Creative Mind: From The Sketch To The Finished Drawing

w/ cuts

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.