Background

Opened to the public in 1935, The Frick Collection is a world-renowned art 
museum consisting of more than 1,500 works of art from the ninth to the 
nineteenth centuries displayed in the intimate surroundings of the former home 
of Pittsburgh industrialist Henry Clay Frick. It is considered one of the 
world's most perfect museums and the residence is one of New York City’s few 
remaining Gilded Age mansions. The Frick welcomes nearly 300,000 visitors a 
year to its tranquil mansion on the Upper East Side, encouraging visitors to 
closely observe, reflect, and engage with its esteemed collection.

The Frick Art Reference Library (FARL), founded by Helen Clay Frick in 1920 and 
open to the public in 1922, is an internationally recognized research library 
that serves as one of the world's most complete resources for the study of 
Western art. It has been at the cutting-edge of art-history technology since 
its foundation, pioneering onsite photography of works of art, web archiving of 
art-rich websites, computer vision and the use of artificial intelligence and 
machine learning; all in support of The Frick Collection’s mission of serving 
as a “center for research and to stimulate scholarship in the history of art.”

The Frick has moved into its temporary home in the former Whitney Museum Breuer 
building at 75th Street and Madison Avenue, Frick Madison, while renovations 
are undertaken to the newer parts of the building at 1 East 70th Street. We 
opened to the public at Frick Madison in early spring and have experienced a 
surge in membership. We are searching for an enthusiastic partner to support 
our team and our ever expanding and diverse group of members. We will be 
providing training on best practices for protecting oneself and the public 
during a pandemic while always providing the highest quality customer service.

More about FARL and the Digital Art History Lab

The Digital Art History Lab (a virtual entity) began in October 2014. In 2017, 
it was tasked by the Kress and Getty Foundations to produce the Art history in 
digital dimensions report. An update of this report can be found in ‘Digital 
dimensions revisited’, by Stephen Bury, in Art Libraries Journal, 46/2 (2021).

The DAHL has been involved with pop-up presentations on digital art history at 
MOMA, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the IFA; projects such as ARIES (ARt 
Image Exploration Space) with the Tandon School of Engineering, NYU; artificial 
intelligence/machine learning projects with Stanford University Department of 
Statistics, Cornell University Department of Operations Research and 
Information Engineering; and the University of Pennsylvania School of 
Engineering; collaboration with university art history departments interested 
in digital art history e.g. Hunter College, CUNY; programming – workshops and 
lectures for art historians and the general public, and collaborative 
programming in a biennial series on computer vision.

The current strategy is to digitally exploit the digital content of the Library 
– 1.2 photographic records of works of art, 8.5 Tb of web archives, c. ½ M 
books and various subject databases (history of collecting, Spanish artists, 
17th C art inventories compiled by Professor John Michael Montias, etc.) – to 
answer art historical questions; training and working with art historians; and 
collaborating with university engineering departments and other technology 
partners.

In July 2020 the Library was re-organized into four clusters – Access, Content, 
Preservation/Digitization and Archives/Records Management – and lead positions 
were created to work across the Clusters: the title of Digital Art History Lead 
reflects this responsibility.

Position Summary

Reporting to the Associate Chief Librarian, Content. The Digital Art History 
Lead will develop and deliver the digital art history strategy for the Frick 
Art Reference Library and maintain its high international reputation in this 
area.

Primary responsibilities include: audit and evaluate DAH activities of the 
Frick Art Reference Library; in consultation with internal and external 
stakeholders, the Lead will define the strategy and work plan of the Library in 
the area of digital art history; lead and co-ordinate the Frick Art Reference 
Library’s Digital Art History activities across the four Clusters

The Lead will assess and create programming in support of the digital art 
history of collecting and provenance research. The Lead will liaise with 
external partners for existing and future collaborative projects, including 
university engineering departments, university art history departments (in 
liaison with TFC Education), technology companies; supervise the Digital Art 
History Fellows and interns; DAHL through social media and publication. 
Collaborate with External Affairs/Fund Raising in support of DAHL activities.

Requirements 

Education: postgraduate qualification in Art History or a related subject 
(preferably PhD) or postgraduate library qualification.

Successful candidates will have been to have been closely involved in at least 
one digital art history project and have knowledge of the digital art history 
landscape. They will have basic technical skills e.g. Excel, blog post or 
Wikipedia entry writing, coding, Python, OpenRefine, Gephi, a basic knowledge 
of statistics and good knowledge of a language other than English. Excellent 
communication skills, both written and oral are essential for success in this 
role. We are searching for a person committed to diversity and exploring 
digital art history to advance this and to reach wider audiences and for 
someone who works well individually and in a team.

Benefits in Employment with the Frick Collection

Full-time employees are eligible to participate in-group life, health, and 
dental insurance plans. Employees contribute to the cost of their health 
insurance based on income level and type of coverage selected. Employer seeded 
health savings accounts. Other benefits include Short and Long Term Disability 
insurance, employee contributed tax deferred annuity, flexible spending plans 
for health, dependent care and commuting costs, generous defined benefit 
pension plan with participation after one year of service/vesting after five 
years of service, 14 paid holidays, accrual of 12 vacation days the first year 
of employment. All employees may access free or discounted admission to most of 
New York’s finest museums. The Frick provides employees with a discount on 
Museum Shop purchases.

The Frick offers a beautiful and pleasant work setting and excellent 
opportunity to appreciate some of the world’s finest works of art. 

Compensation

Salary is commensurate to experience, the range the exempt salary for this 
position is $62,000 - $66,000 annually. 

Application Process

Please send resume and cover letter with salary requirements to:

Associate Chief Librarian, Content
[email protected] (include “DAHL Lead” in subject line of email)

Mailing address for application: 
Frick Madison
30 East 75th Street
New York, NY 10021

No phone calls please. Inquiries without cover letter and salary requirements 
will not be considered.

Equal Employment Opportunity has been, and will continue to be, a fundamental 
principal at The Collection, where employment is based upon personal 
capabilities and qualifications without discrimination because of race, color, 
religion, sex, national origin, age, marital status, alienage or citizenship 
status, sexual orientation, disability, pregnancy, military status, creed, 
genetic predisposition or carrier status or any other protected characteristic 
as established by law. This policy applies to all terms and conditions of 
employment, including, but not limited to, hiring, placement, promotion, 
termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation and 
training.This description shall not be construed as a contract of any sort for 
a specific period of employment.


----
Brought to you by code4lib jobs: 
https://jobs.code4lib.org/jobs/48423-digital-art-history-lead

Reply via email to