In 2000, The Frick Art & Historical Center, Pittsburgh, invited renowned contemporary photographer Vik Muniz to inaugurate their artist-in-residence program, in which artists were granted the liberty of creating works inspired by the Center’s collection. For having a limited photographic trove, Muniz chose to create a photographic body of work in which he recreated life in the 19th century as experienced at Clayton, the renowned mansion in which Henry Clay Frick and his family resides. By utilizing period equipment and relying on employees at the Frick Collection —as well as himself—as subjects, Muniz staged tableaus emulating the atmospheric charm of the era, which was further emphasized by Muniz’s coloring of each print in sepia tones. The final images present a contemporary fantasy of a romanticized Victorian Pictorialist aesthetic and lifestyle.
PROPERTY FROM THE PRIVATE COLLECTION OF RITA KRAUSS, NEW YORK