Frederick Carl Frieseke: the evolution of an American Impressionist - Learning from Exhibitions

Arts & Activities, Jan, 2002 by Mark M. Johnson

Frieseke embraced a style that celebrated light, color and the female form. Common and repeated themes present women in sunlit gardens and women in domestic interiors including paintings of female nudes. The interior paintings were frequently created when the weather was not suitable for outdoor painting.

Beautiful and impressive, it is stated that work of this period displays all the hallmarks of Frieseke's mature style "including a highly decorative surface treatment, flattened by a profusion of flowers and pattern, combined with the loose brushwork, vibrant color, and fascination with sunlight typical of Impressionism."

In the words of the artist, "It is sunshine, flowers in sunshine, girls in sunshine, the nude in sunshine, which I have been principally interested in ... If I could only reproduce it exactly as I see it I would be satisfied."

Largely due to his remarkable understanding of the effects of light on color, Frieseke's critics and patrons were indeed satisfied and his reputation would grow dramatically both in France and in the United States during his years in Giverny. His paintings won countless awards and were exhibited in galleries across America.

By 1920, the effects of World War I and the needs of his growing family led Frieseke to move to a large farmhouse in Normandy. Here, his daughter Frances increasingly became his "model and muse," as the painter would utilize his family as subjects more regularly.

The pictures of this period gradually display a darkening of the palette, a more restrained use of decorative pattern and an interest in portraying the figure as a solid entity. The somber colors probably also reflect Frieseke's emotional state caused by economic downturn in the market coupled with the illness of his daughter.

When the artist died in 1939, the Art Digest credited Frieseke as "America's best known painter internationally" and "one of the best represented--if not the best--of all artists in American museums."

It is fortunate that the artist was well regarded in his lifetime, and we are fortunate for this new opportunity to revisit and reflect on the work of this excellent "painter of light."

The retrospective exhibition, Frederick Carl Frieseke: The Evolution of an American Impressionist, is organized by the Telfair Museum of Art. The accompanying catalogue is published jointly by the Telfair Museum of Art and Princeton University Press. The exhibition, catalogue and film have been made possible by generous support from the Henry Luce Foundation.

Mark M. Johnson is Director of the Montgomery (Ala.) Museum of Fine Arts, and is a Contributing Editor for Arts & Activities.