Frick Pittsburgh museum quietly postpones Islamic art exhibition as Israel-Hamas war continues

Editor’s Note: This story has been updated with reaction from the Pittsburgh chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

A scheduled Islamic art exhibition was quietly postponed at The Frick Pittsburgh in Point Breeze early this month, and museum director Elizabeth Barker said the decision was because of concerns it might be hurtful to the Jewish community and others. She said it would have seemed “insensitively superficial” given the conflict and high tensions.

“When war broke out in the Middle East, we were as heartbroken as everyone, and we realized that we were about to open an exhibition that a forgiving person would call insensitive, but for many people, especially in our community, would be traumatic,” said Barker.

Frick officials spoke to the Tribune-Review on Sunday after the paper received emails and meeting details that hinted consideration of the politics surrounding the Israel/Hamas war and the city’s significant Jewish population weighed on that decision to postpone the exhibit.

The Frick announced this month that “Treasured Ornament: 10 Centuries of Islamic Art” would premiere Nov. 4 at the museum alongside another exhibit called “The Red Dress,” a collaborative embroidery project.

“Treasured Ornament” featured ancient to more modern glassware, ceramics, metalwork, painting, weaponry, and more from countries across the Middle East, and is meant to invoke the “rich history of the Islamic world and the shared human experiences that bind us,” according to an Oct. 3 Frick news release.

By Oct. 11, leadership at The Frick was contemplating postponing the Islamic art exhibition, because it might be perceived differently in light of the Israel/Hamas war, according to an email sent by Barker.

The Pittsburgh chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-Pittsburgh), a chapter of the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, on Monday expressed disappointment over the decision.

“It’s disheartening to witness such insensitivity when blanket statements are made about an entire religion, particularly when they have the potential to incite harm in the Pittsburgh Muslim community,” CAIR-Pittsburgh Executive Director Christine Mohamed said in a statement. “We cannot overlook the trauma and suffering experienced by the Palestinian people, with more than 8,000 lives lost, including almost 4,000 innocent children. The extent to which this tragedy is overshadowed underscores a troubling lack of empathy and humanity – something that even the most forgiving person would find deeply disturbing.’

Mohamed asked that the Frick reconsider its decision. She said postponing the exhibition “perpetuates the harmful stereotype that Muslims or Islamic art are synonymous with terrorism or antisemitism.”

Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, and the Israeli government has said that 1,400 people in Israel have been killed and more than 5,400 injured since. Israel has since retaliated. As of Sunday evening, more than 8,000 people in Gaza have been killed and 20,200 injured, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.

The Oct. 11 email from Barker said that she wanted to discuss the future of “Treasured Ornament” “given the war in Israel and the inflammatory anti-Islamic rhetoric related to the current political environment.” She also cited the city’s large Jewish population and the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting.

The fifth anniversary of the Pittsburgh Synagogue shooting was Friday, and recently Taylor Allderdice High School in Squirrel Hill was vandalized with pro-Palestine graffiti.

Officially, the “Treasured Ornament” exhibit was postponed due to “a scheduling conflict,” according to the Frick’s website.

But a Frick staff virtual meeting Oct. 16, suggests that there was more to consider when deciding to postpone the exhibit.

Barker said during the meeting that The Frick was not planning to proactively tell people about postponement.

She said then no publication wrote about the show after the Oct. 3 news release and the museum had not sent out postcards or literature about the exhibit.

But now, Barker said, the museum didn’t have enough time to adjust the exhibit to provide more context about the culture behind the art, metal working and other pieces.

She said she wasn’t sure if any of the pieces had originated in Israel or Palestine, but the show is a traveling exhibition that mostly focused on describing how the art was constructed.

Barker said if The Frick were to show them during the time of unrest, she would want to have time to provide more cultural background information and enough time for her staff to be trained on those issues. She also said she would have liked more time to include community partners into the “Treasured Ornament” exhibit.

“The key point is that we didn’t want to put our front-of-house people in the impossible position of discussing the war because we care about them and don’t want them to be vulnerable,” she said.

Barker said “The Red Dress” show was also larger than the museum anticipated and a local version of the dress was made and will be displayed at the museum. According to The Frick, the titular dress showcases the collective efforts of 380 talented, primarily female, artists from 51 countries, each contributing their own stories, perspectives and artistic flair to its fabric.

When asked about communication with her staff, who appeared a bit confused by the messaging around the exhibit postponement, Barker said she regrets not having more face-to-face interactions with staff members to explain.

“Communication is the most important and the most challenging thing,” she said. “We certainly try to speak face to face, and find our most productive conversations are face to face. The big recording we sent out to the full team isn’t always as intimate as those.”