Porcelain Garden blooms at Frick Collection reopening

To mark the Frick Collection's grand reopening on Fifth Avenue in New York, the museum commissioned Ukrainian artist Vladimir Kanevsky, known for his porcelain sculptures. His exhibition "Porcelain Garden" (April 17 to November 17, 2025) features floral arrangements that evoke the live bouquets displayed at the museum's opening on December 16, 1935, when Helen Clay Frick personally selected flower compositions to complement nearby artworks—for instance, a bowl of anthuriums beneath Titian's "Portrait of a Man with a Red Hat" echoed the hat's color and form. Because current conservation practices prohibit fresh flowers in galleries, the curatorial team turned to Kanevsky, whose porcelain works are supported by metal armatures. He has previously exhibited at Meissen Porcelain Manufactory in Germany, the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, and Hillwood Museum in Washington. Kanevsky, who studied architecture, noted that "flowers are probably the most widespread theme in art and architecture history," and his background in architecture aids the fusion of art and engineering required for his porcelain practice. The exhibition is distributed throughout the museum's rooms.