Ian Wardropper Takes a Bow: Inside the Frick’s Reopening Gala

Jordan Roth, Ivy Getty, and Laurence Milstein cracking into the “special delivery” chocolate boxes. Matteo Prandoni/BFA.com

The Frick Collection came back with a bang on Monday (March 31) with $3.7 million in new funds to show for it. Ahead of the institution’s much-awaited April 17 reopening, the Fifth Avenue mansion hosted its first black-tie gala since closing for renovations five years ago—a ‘welcome back’ celebration that doubled as a farewell to outgoing director Ian Wardropper, who retired this year. He helmed the Frick for an eventful fourteen years that included a $33o million capital campaign and the museum’s temporary residency at the Frick Madison.

The soiree, attended by art world luminaries and patrons of the highest caliber, was the first major event held in the Gilded Age mansion since construction began, and guests were treated to an exclusive preview of the newly accessible second-floor galleries, now refreshed and open to the public for the first time in the institution’s history. Notable faces in the crowd included Metropolitan Museum of Art director and CEO Max Hollein, heiress Ivy Getty, philanthropists Alice Walton and Ronald S. Lauder and Blackstone CEO Stephen Schwarzman.

After the cocktail hour, dinner was served in a suite of first-floor galleries, where tables were adorned with tailored floral arrangements designed to harmonize with the art and architecture of each space. Board Chair Elizabeth “Betty” Eveillard opened the evening with a tribute to the return of the Frick’s historic mansion and announced the naming of the new Ian Wardropper Education Room in honor of the outgoing director’s commitment to expanding educational access. Wardropper, in turn, offered thanks to the many individuals behind the renovation and closed his remarks with a simple refrain that carried the room: “Long live the Frick.” The museum’s new director, Axel Rüger, presented Wardropper with a commemorative silver tray from Christofle.

Two men and a woman pose with a large silver plate — Ian Wardropper, Axel Rüger and Betty Eveillard. Matteo Prandoni/BFA.com

The gala ended with a final, artful flourish: chocolate “shipping crates” guests cracked open with dainty golden hammers to find one of nine shortbread cookies designed to look like iconic paintings from the Frick’s collection. And if that wasn’t delightful enough, attendees departed with a copy of Wardropper’s recent publication, The Fricks Collect: An American Family and the Evolution of Taste in the Gilded Age, and a box of Ladurée macarons.