ELIZABETH ‘LIZZIE’ BARKER | COURTESY OF THE FRICK PITTSBURGH

As the Frick Pittsburgh Museum and Gardens closes its “Treasured Ornament” exhibit this coming Sunday, Oct. 20, it also is commencing a national search for a new executive director.

The museum’s chairman of the board of trustees, Bob Hernandez, recently sent out a letter to members informing them that Elizabeth “Lizzie” Barker, the executive director since 2019, has left the position. A reason was not given for her departure.

The board has appointed a national search committee, to be overseen by incoming board chair Steve Pavsner, to find a successor. Hernandez said he would step in during the transition to help “provide overall guidance and direction and support to our enormously talented department heads.”

The executive director oversees the collection of museums and other buildings on a 5.5-acre corner in Point Breeze. These includes Clayton, the restored mansion of Henry Clay Frick; the Frick Art Museum; the Car and Carriage Museum; the Greenhouse; the Café; the Grable Visitor Center and more. About 100,000 guests visit each year.

In his note to members, Hernandez lauded Barker’s leadership, particularly in how she guided the complex through the challenges of the pandemic. She oversaw The Frick’s most attended exhibition in the museum’s history — “Vermeer, Monet, Rembrandt: Forging the Frick Collections in Pittsburgh and New York,” earlier this year and it recently was honored by the American Association for State and Local History for the Signature Clayton Tour Experience: “Gilded, Not Golden.”

She also oversaw its latest exhibit, “Treasured Ornament,” which displayed objects that anchored everyday life in Muslim civilizations in southwest Asia and Northern Africa, including Iran, Egypt, India, Syria and Turkey. The exhibit was postponed from its original dates last fall after the Hamas-led militants’ attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. That exhibition, which opened Aug. 17, closes Sunday. 

“I am extraordinarily proud of all The Frick has accomplished over the last five years,” Barker said in a statement. “I am especially grateful to have had the opportunity to broaden The Frick’s reach and impact. As I move on to my next chapter, I will continue to root for this very special museum that enjoys a very special place in the cultural fabric of this region.” 

According to Hernandez: “In many ways, The Frick’s mission is more important in the current climate than perhaps ever before, as our community and society at large seek sources of hope and inspiration, opportunities to foster greater inclusion, and experiences that bring people together regardless of their backgrounds — all of which art has the power to deliver in abundance.” 

The Frick already has announced its first exhibition for 2025: “Kara Walker: Harper’s Pictorial History of the Civil War (Annotated),” which opens on March 1. 

The exhibition features Walker’s important series of prints that reproduce, on a large scale, 15 book illustrations from a two-volume, pro-Union history of the Civil War published in 1866 and 1868: “Harper’s Pictorial History of the Civil War.” According to the description: “Walker overlays the 1860s scenes with solid black figures resembling cut-paper silhouettes, confronting the viewer with superimposed caricatures of African Americans that command attention — and deep consideration.”