The Magnolia Palace

Author’s Note

On a cold winter’s day in late 2019, after taking a marvelous tour of the Frick Collection, I stared up at the front entrance and wondered what might have happened if the woman who posed for the figure in the pediment above the door—considered the “supermodel” of the 1910s—encountered Helen Clay Frick, the headstrong adult daughter of Henry Clay Frick. The storyline for this book bloomed from there, although there is no evidence the two women ever crossed paths. In all of my books, I like to layer a fictional story over the scaffolding of historical facts, and then parse out the inspiration for the plot and characters in the Author’s Note, as well as provide ideas for further reading.

The character of Lillian is lightly based on the real-life artists’ model whose figure graces the pediment above the front door of the Frick Collection. Her name was Audrey Munson, and she was the darling of the artistic set in New York City in the early 1900s, posing for all of the famous statues mentioned in The Magnolia Palace and over a hundred more. In 1919, Audrey’s landlord brutally murdered his wife, and Audrey became ensnared in the investigation on scant evidence. The ensuing scandal ruined her budding film career, and Audrey and her mother retreated to upstate New York. Unfortunately, Audrey’s real-life ending is quite different from Lillian’s. In 1922, Audrey tried to die by suicide by swallowing mercury, and nine years later, as her mental state deteriorated, was admitted to an asylum, where she remained for sixty-five years. She died in 1996 at the age of 104, and was buried in an unmarked grave. Years later, her relatives added a headstone. For further reading, I highly recommend The Curse of Beauty: The Scandalous & Tragic Life of Audrey Munson, America’s First Supermodel, by James Bone.

In writing about the Fricks, I was inspired by two volumes by Martha Frick Symington Sanger, great-granddaughter of Henry Clay Frick: Helen Clay Frick: Bittersweet Heiress and Henry Clay Frick: An Intimate Portrait. Both dive deeply into the history of the Frick family as well as the provenance and significance of the art found in the Frick Collection. The following plot points of The Magnolia Palace echo events in the family history: Martha, the firstborn daughter of Henry Clay and Adelaide Frick, passed away at the age of five from the tragedy described in my book. The Fricks also had a young son who died in infancy, and one can only imagine the pain those losses must have caused them. I decided to exclude mentioning the son so as to keep the focus on Martha and Helen. While Henry Clay Frick was known for lavishing expensive gemstones and jewelry on his wife and daughter, the Magnolia diamond is my own invention. Helen Clay Frick was almost engaged, but never married, and then in 1917 sailed to France to assist the Red Cross during World War I. Helen’s brother Childs and his wife, Dixie, were quite unhappy regarding the terms of Henry Clay Frick’s will and accused Helen of poisoning her father, although there was never a formal investigation. Helen founded the Frick Art Reference Library in 1920 and worked tirelessly to carry on her father’s legacy after his death.

Helen Clay Frick accomplished far more in her life than my novel could possibly encompass. In 1909, she founded the Iron Rail Vacation Home for Working Girls in Wenham, Massachusetts, where young women who toiled in factory work could rest and recuperate. After she returned from the Great War in 1918, she organized a Red Cross thrift store in Manhattan that raised over $50,000 for veterans, and then later financed the Frick Fine Arts Building at the University of Pittsburgh. Helen never married nor had children, and died in 1984 at the age of ninety-six at her home in Pittsburgh.

All of the artwork and sculptures mentioned in the novel are based on actual creations, except the bust mentioned in the scene where Lillian and Helen first meet, which I invented. Also, Isidore Konti’s Three Graces in the Hotel Astor was actually completed in 1909—I pushed the date forward in the novel to fit the plot’s timeline. Books that were helpful for my research include Millionaires and Grub Street: Comrades and Contacts in the Last Half Century, by James Howard Bridge and Don C. Seitz; The Frick Collection: Handbook of Paintings, edited by Elaine Koss; The Sleeve Should Be Illegal, edited by Michaelyn Mitchell; Building the Frick Collection: An Introduction to the House and Its Collections, by Colin B. Bailey; Mirror to America: The Autobiography of John Hope Franklin, by John Hope Franklin; Young, Gifted and Black: A New Generation of Artists, edited by Antwaun Sargent; Model: The Ugly Business of Beautiful Women, by Michael Gross; and Wonderful Tonight, by Pattie Boyd with Penny Junor.

The Frick’s website (frick.org) includes a terrific virtual tour and dozens of online programs that provide a behind-the-scenes look at the Collection. The Frick Collection is an innovator when it comes to developing initiatives aimed at diversity and inclusion, including arts internships, career readiness programs, and the Frick Film Project, a unique collaboration with the Bronx-based Ghetto Film School, which provides on-site education. I highly recommend catching the Frick’s “Cocktails with a Curator” series online, which features brilliant curators like Aimee Ng and Xavier F. Salomon discussing selected works, and I urge you to learn more about the building, its treasures, and its outreach.

Thank you for reading The Magnolia Palace. I’m thrilled and honored to be able to share this New York City gem—the Frick Collection—with you.