If you grew up in Pittsburgh, or have lived here for a while, you’ve doubtless heard about figures like industrialists Andrew Carnegie and Henry Clay Frick, artist Andy Warhol or biologist Rachel Carson who were inextricably products of Pittsburgh and of the wider configuration of time and place that they were born into.

Textbook thumbnails describe the achievements that make them part of the regional history but they usually also raise as many questions as they answer. Where did these people come from? What were they like on a personal level? Did their positions in life arise from opportunity, intelligence, sheer luck, privilege? 

An exhibition at The Frick Art Museum offers a chance to learn more about the domestic side of Henry Clay Frick and what internal and external things shaped him and his family. It also asks which social norms of his time period prevail and how others have changed.

A significant component of “The Frick Reflects: Looking Back, Moving Forward,” is the critical review The Frick Pittsburgh staff has undertaken, through objects and archival materials, to examine what role the institution has in defining the family story. And it’s reaching out to the community to help determine future directions.

Tonight [Jan. 7] from 7 to 8:00 p.m. the public is invited to participate in the first of three free online discussions  planned to complement the exhibition. Advance registration is required at https://tickets.thefrickpittsburgh.org/Policies.aspx .

“Gilded Is Not Golden: Exploring Museums' Multiple Histories” will address the constantly evolving considerations that go into making institutions contemporaneously relevant in a manner respectful of their founding missions. The participants are Dawn Reid Brean, Frick Associate Curator; Elee Wood, Director of Education and Public Programs at the Huntington, West Virginia; and Michelle Grohe, Curator of Education at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston. 

As with individuals, the stories of museums are layered and different emphasis is given to what’s important and what’s memorable dependent upon many factors ranging from collection size to funding.

Helen Clay Frick (1888-1984) is one important thread that runs through this exhibition which dips into her public side but also her private.

She is remembered as benefactress of The Frick Pittsburgh and as a devoted daughter who was caretaker of her father’s legacy, both of which are well documented. Independent, educated and well-traveled, she became the richest single woman in America at age 31 when she inherited $38 million from her father, Henry Clay Frick.

But regardless of her wealth she was also a person of her time and items in the exhibition serve as avenues through which to pose numerous cultural questions that remain relevant today.

Two dolls, one light-skinned and one a child of color, displayed next to one another, invite a dialogue about race, class and privilege. Displays of Helen’s toys, including paper fashion dolls and mini domestic objects, and of her brother Childs’ possessions, including a small soldier, arrowhead and adventure book, raise issues related to gender stereotyping. 

The concept for the exhibition had been on the minds of staff previous to 2020 while planning celebrations of the 50th anniversary of the founding of The Frick Art Museum and 30th anniversary of Clayton's restoration and public opening (the Frick family home). Repercussions of the pandemic and the national focus on social justice issues inspired outreach programming designed to bring new voices into a conversation that simultaneously speaks about a specific family and an evolving American culture.

This kind of self-examination has been occurring at institutions across the country this year with the intent, when it is at its best, to neither aggrandize nor denigrate the past but rather to learn from it.

Archival material, for example, about a notorious labor incident that made Frick infamous because of his part in it is used as an opportunity to compare that action to today’s relationships between management and labor. The grief that lingered with Frick after the death of his daughter, Martha (1885–1891), and infant son, nearly one year apart, is given physical form through objects like a painting of the child and photographs of the dead infant. These mementos open the door for a discussion of acceptable mourning practices in the 19th century and how those are perceived today.

The other two online conversations are:

“What's Past is Prologue: Industrialization & Changing Landscapes,” 7 p.m. Jan. 12. The legacy of industry including environmental impacts will be discussed by Kim Cady, museum Assistant Curator; Joel Tarr, Carnegie Mellon University professor of history; and Marijke Hecht, Penn State professor of Recreation, Park and Tourism Management.

“Museums Are Not Neutral: A Conversation on Gender, Power and Privilege,” 7 p.m. Jan. 21. The role and responsibility of museums and museum staff in creating open and welcoming spaces for all will be discussed by Melanie Groves, museum Manager of Exhibitions & Registrar; La Tanya Autry, co-founder of the Museums Are Not Neutral movement; and Danielle Linzer, Director of Learning & Public Engagement, The Andy Warhol Museum. Both are free with registration.

Also related to the exhibition are weekly online chats beginning at noon Wednesdays through Feb. 3, free with registration. Visit www.thefrickpittsburgh.org for information on re-opening dates to physically visit the exhibition.

M. Thomas: mthomas@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1925.

First Published: January 9, 2021, 2:37 p.m.