Frick Collection Acquires First Gainsborough in 80 Years
The Frick Collection in New York has received a promised gift of Thomas Gainsborough's portrait *Mrs Alexander Champion*. This marks the museum's first acquisition of a work by the artist in 80 years and will be the centerpiece of a new exhibition titled *Gainsborough, The Fashion of Portraiture*.
- The portrait of *Mrs. Alexander Champion* was first painted around 1767, but the artist later updated it around 1775 to reflect the latest fashions, painting over the sitter's hair to create a higher powdered style and changing her dress. - The sitter, Frances Champion, spent a significant part of her early life in India, where her husband was the Commander-in-Chief of the Bengal Army; she became a collector of Indian art, including miniatures and ivory boxes. - The upcoming exhibition is the first at the Frick dedicated solely to Gainsborough and the first-ever exhibition in New York to focus exclusively on his portraiture. It will feature more than two dozen portraits from collections across North America and the United Kingdom. - The museum's founder, Henry Clay Frick, was an admirer of the artist and purchased eight of his works between 1903 and 1917. The museum acquired two more in 1946, making this promised gift the first addition in nearly 80 years. - This newly acquired bust-length portrait represents a style from the mid-1770s that was not previously part of the Frick's otherwise significant Gainsborough holdings. - The exhibition, curated by the Frick's Peter Jay Sharp Chief Curator Aimee Ng, will explore the broader meaning of "fashion" in the 18th century, connecting the portraits to class, trade, and the materials of the fashion industry like textiles and dyes. - While the new portrait will be on view, it will be displayed in the Library Gallery, separate from the main *Gainsborough: The Fashion of Portraiture* exhibition.
