Frederick Carl Frieseke: For the Love of Art

"Blue Girl Reading" by Frederick Carl Frieseke

"Concerning the Macbeth exhibition of Frieseke's winter subjects, Robert Macbeth wrote with brutal brevity, 'We liked them and the public didn't.' Frederick Carl Frieseke returned to exhibiting at the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts in 1932, but from then on, working chiefly for himself - and an audience that was not likely to include purchasers - he concentrated almost exclusively on the portrait.

The drastic reduction in the family's finances led them to give up the Paris apartment and to settle down in Normandy. In 1934 Fred reached the age of sixty and was experiencing periods of depression and physical disability, such as neuritis in the shoulders, which made painting difficult.

Nevertheless, the years 1934 to 1935 saw the last great flowering of the painter's energy in a series of portraits including 'The Library,' and culminating in his late masterpiece, 'Blue Girl Reading,' both portraits of Frances. His last extensive show of recent work in October 1935, included some sixteen paintings spanning the period from 1932 onward. That his work continued to be well received, in critical terms, is amply demonstrated by the award of the Corcoran's second William Clark Prize and a silver medal for the 1934 portrait "At the Piano.'

In 1935 it was becoming increasingly evident to all who took note of the political winds in Europe that another major war was inevitable. The effects of the Depression were still a factor also. At the same time, Frances had become engaged to Kenton Kilmer, a young American poet and editor with whom she had begun a correspondence in the winter of 1933-34. Considering their daughter's impending marriage and other factors, the Friesekes contemplated the possibility of moving to the United States. Frieseke wrote Macbeth:  

'I have not been painting for some time. I promise the impetus will come again some day, when I can convince myself that it is worthwhile from some point of view. I have a very few canvases, but it really doesn't seem worthwhile adding to your encumberment. At times we consider returning to America to live but it seems a bit venturesome after all these years, especially as we can live here perfectly comfortably on our greatly reduced income. I must confess, however, that I am getting dissatisfied at not working.'"

To be continued

(Excerpts from "Frederick Carl Frieseke: A Biography by Nicholas Kilmer" in Frederick Carl Frieseke: The Evolution of an American Impressionist"published on the occasion of an exhibition of Frieseke's work.) 

 

Frederick Carl Frieseke: Ill Health

"White Lilies" by Frederick Carl Frieseke

"The Frieseke family returned to the United States during the final weeks of 1928. It had been eighteen years since they had last seen New York. They were shocked and overwhelmed by the rush and vulgarity, and by the hypocrisy manifested in urban America under Prohibition. They also stopped in Pittsburgh and then visited the Karl Andersons in Connecticut. Anderson had been storing old paintings of Frieseke's that Macbeth had no present use for, and Fred took the opportunity to destroy a great many of them, which he felt to be 'no longer a credit to his reputation.'

On their return to France, their daughter, Frances, whose health had never been robust, was diagnosed as having a 'pretubercular' condition. It was decided that she must be exposed to a regimen, which included better air, in Switzerland. This downturn in her health recalled the recent death of her friend Elsbeth, who was Richard Miller's daughter. That had hit the Friesekes very hard. Sadie reminded Frances:

 'You know I was with Elsbeth's mama when Elsbeth was born and I always felt that if anything happened to her parents that she would of course live with us. She seemed so much a part of our family... I think of that other poor mother and father who haven't any little girl any more and I just feel as though I couldn't bear it. I wrote to Aunt Billee & Uncle Richard & I wish you to do also - just the kind of letter you would like Elsbeth to have written to me, if God had taken you away from us... You will all understand how such a terrible tragedy makes my heart stand still. Poor Papa is a wreck & and of one thing you can be sure. There will be no boarding school away off among strangers for you...'

So Sadie accompanied Frances to Switzerland, where they spent the next two years while she followed her cure prescribed by a sanatorium. Fred joined them within four months. Within the next few years Frances improved enough that the family returned to Normandy."

To be continued

(Excerpts from "Frederick Carl Frieseke: A Biography by Nicholas Kilmer" in Frederick Carl Frieseke: The Evolution of an American Impressionist"published on the occasion of an exhibition of Frieseke's work.) 

Frederick Carl Frieseke: Salon des Tuileries

"Child at the Piano" by Frederick Carl Frieseke

"In 1923 Frederick Carl Frieseke broke from the Salon of the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts and joined with others in establishing the Salon des Tuileries, showing two nudes, a portrait of the dancer Jane Belo, and an image of his daughter Frances at the piano. In keeping with the sentiments of the renegades, the group's introductory manifesto proclaimed:

'The most gifted of the artists of the Salon d'Automne and the Independent were invited to show next to Friesz, Guérin, Flandrin, on the line at the Salon de Tuileries, even the isolated who, on account of their hatred of the promiscuity of the salons and their mercantilism in the race after medals [had rejected the other salons as unworthy venues for true artists].' 

 In its first year the Tuileries attracted others among the Europeans who were associated with the more modern movements. Matisse would join the following year, as would Marc Chagall and Paul Sérusier. It is in this company, perhaps, as well as in that of such Americans as Bellows and Glackens, that Frieseke's work of the last two decades is best understood. Never discordant, shocking, or purposely worrying, Frieseke's later works nonetheless contain a new sense of realism that more and more eschews style or an audience's expectation. They rely more on the accidents of everyday life, which when they are viewed with the painter's care, take on a poignant gravity.

The October 1924 shipment to Macbeth - twenty-two canvases ('the pick of my things, past and present') - shows the artist's preferred direction. Seven of the clothed figures are portraits of Frieseke's wife or daughter in which the artist, relishing the range of color to be discovered in the skin in shadow made no effort to address a public taste for what might be dismissed as merely pretty. There was a growing disparity between what collectors looked for and what Frieseke's development led him to produce. One critic observed of one work:

'The figure belongs to the highest reach of Frieseke's talent, finely observed, beautifully and tenderly painted with the quiet, almost solemn, grasp that for a time was almost driven out of flesh-painting by the attempted radiance of impressionism.'

Frieseke took what comfort he could. 'I cannot help feeling from what I have heard from others, that it was a success from points of view other than financial.' But Frieseke pressed on, continuing to exhibit regularly in the Salons and joining with his colleagues in group exhibitions in Paris and the United States."

To be continued

(Excerpts from "Frederick Carl Frieseke: A Biography by Nicholas Kilmer" in Frederick Carl Frieseke: The Evolution of an American Impressionist"published on the occasion of an exhibition of Frieseke's work.) 

 

Frederick Carl Frieseke: Outside Interests

"Frances" by Frederick Carl Frieseke

"In Paris the Friesekes kept up their social schedule. Fred painted in the morning, played billiards in the afternoon. They had luncheon, tea, or dinner with friends, and attended musical and theatrical offerings. Sadie, being far more gregarious than Fred, was more likely to take part in the salons at Gertrude Stein's than he. He preferred to lunch quietly with his good friend the Irish painter Roderic O'Conor, a neighbor on the rue du Cherche Midi and once Gauguin's painting companion, or he might play billiards with the painter Charles Thorndike, visit exhibitions, or browse the book stalls.

In Normandy Fred painted or fished. If the caged bird - for him the symbol of contented domesticity - had a natural rival it was the wild trout of the Touques or the Risele. Sadie became an active participant in the life of the town where their farm was situated. At the Normandy house, called La Beauvairie, and commemorated in the artist's 'My Home in Normandy.'

There had never been a time when Frieseke did not turn serious attention to landscape. His protracted study of the Luxembourg Gardens in the spring of 1901 had led directly to the Brittany landscapes of that summer. In Giverny he had done 'pure' landscapes without figure) representing that specific countryside, but Macbeth could do nothing with them and tended not to show them.  

Whether outdoors or in his studio the painter was entranced by the change of light and atmosphere in Normandy. Unlike the sunny, dry Giverny climate that reveals brilliant and distinct colors, the Normandy microclimate is moist, unpredictable, and frequently wild, with brilliant sun often eclipsed by wind and rain. The fertile landscape presents a bewildering range of absorbent greens, with only the most subtle color shifts. This landscape fascinated Frieseke. He was also intrigued, no doubt, by his new position as proprietor of a working farm. During the 1920s he returned to it frequently, working either in the orchards and pastures below his home or in the extensive gardens Sadie designed and supervised above it."

To be continued

(Excerpts from "Frederick Carl Frieseke: A Biography by Nicholas Kilmer" in Frederick Carl Frieseke: The Evolution of an American Impressionist"published on the occasion of an exhibition of Frieseke's work.) 

 

 

Frederick Carl Frieseke: Normandy and Frances

"The Artist's Daughter" by Frederick Carl Frieseke

"As his career progressed Frederick Carl Frieseke did not hesitate to follow his innate sense of how his craft must develop. His manner and approach would become progressively more meditative and deliberate, his production less. He wrote Macbeth:

'My present method of painting allows me to produce very few pictures as compared with that I turned out previously. You will have to explain to your customers that these pictures take five to six times as long to paint as previous ones, and I consider them far more complete as works of art.'

There were other changes at work as well. In 1919 the Friesekes decided to shift their summer quarters. They had become friendly with the Philadelphian George Biddle, who had painted with Fred in Giverny during the summers of 1915 and 1916. In September 1919 Fred wrote to George, 

'We have been trying to find a place in Normandy to buy. Hard to  find what we want and the troubled times here make us doubtful if it's wise to buy at all... Giverny has been quite gay this summer. Louis [Ritman] is installed in Miss Wheeler's house with his model [Gaby]. Waldo Pierce, with Jeanne Savoy, is living in the little house next to the farm...'

Though the Friesekes often said that their reason for taking a place in Normandy was the fishing, undoubtedly they had also concluded that Giverny was no place to bring up a little girl. Once they had purchased the Normandy property in 1919, Frieseke began the series of landscapes and the clothed figures - many of them portraits - that would occupy him for the remainder of his life. As Frances grew older, she became more and more his preferred subject.

From the very beginning the Friesekes had never been at ease about their daughter's health. Her birth followed a difficult pregnancy, and her infancy was threatened from the outset by her parents' unwitting use of a criminally adulterated baby formula to which formaldehyde had been added as a preservative. For much of her youth, and until her marriage in 1937, Frances was considered to be either an invalid or at grave risk. Though she occasionally attended schools for brief periods, as the Friesekes moved back and forth from Paris to Normandy, for the most part her education relied on tutors and governesses."

To be continued

(Excerpts from "Frederick Carl Frieseke: A Biography by Nicholas Kilmer" in Frederick Carl Frieseke: The Evolution of an American Impressionist"published on the occasion of an exhibition of Frieseke's work.) 

Frederick Carl Frieseke: "Peace"

"Peace" by Frederick Carl Frieseke

"The war progressed, and Fred and Sadie Frieseke continued the routines of life and work in Paris and Giverny, wintering in the south of France between October 1917 and the spring of 1918. Among the paintings sent to Macbeth in the fall of 1917 was one whose title, 'Peace,' given the context of the World War during which it was composed, suggests more than a passing consideration for the metaphorical significance of its subject. It represents what we read as a mother seated in the nursery, sewing, next to her child's cradle. It is as domestic a subject as may be imagined. The model is Louise, a native of Giverny who posed frequently for Frieseke at this time, and the cradle was that of Frieseke's daughter, who had long outgrown it. The message of the painting's title was not lost on its American audience when it was shown in 1918. One reporter observed:

 'Woman as the hope and consolation of the race is the basic thought of Frieseke's 'Peace'... Altogether, the picture is full of hope for a new generation that shall not be obsessed by frightfulness... Frieseke's picture evokes a vision of the time forecast in the words of the prophet Micah, 'And they shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift a sword against nation; neither shall they learn war any more.'

Very likely the painting's title was Sadie's contribution since she assisted when a shipment of paintings must be given titles. An earlier or preparatory version of the subject was called simply 'In the Nursery.' Whatever the painter's intention, and however the title came about, we can only applaud the happy coincidence of the painter's craft and the journalist's reading." 

To be continued

(Excerpts from "Frederick Carl Frieseke: A Biography by Nicholas Kilmer" in Frederick Carl Frieseke: The Evolution of an American Impressionist"published on the occasion of an exhibition of Frieseke's work.) 

 

Frederick Carl Frieseke: The War

"The Parrots" by Frederick Carl Frieseke

"Of the American painters in France, most had already returned home once war appeared inevitable, and others followed suit when war broke out. The Friesekes, however, hunkered down. As Frieseke wrote Macbeth: 'You see we are still staying by the flag. Things were sufficiently exciting with aeroplanes dropping bombs. We are provisioned for a six months' siege. I couldn't stand leaving Paris after the years I've lived here. Seemed like running away.'

Far from running away, he volunteered to serve with the American Red Cross ambulance service at Neuilly, outside Paris, an activity that lasted five months. He was no longer working in the hospital, he told Macbeth in a letter of February 1, 1915, because there were fewer wounded being sent to Paris. 'Am working hard in spite of the war - in fact find work the only relief from the sadness of it all.'

The painting continued in Paris and, with good weather, in Giverny also. The Paris Salons had been closed down on account of the war. It was next to impossible to ship work, and Frieseke had sent much of his stock to England for safekeeping. However, he was able to put together a striking representation for the Panama-Pacific Exposition in San Francisco, which opened in June 1915. Here Frieseke was awarded the grand prize and gold medal for his entries, notable among them the nude 'Summer,' painted in 1914, an especially fruitful year for him. That season he produced a series of large, successful figure pieces, nude and clothed, single and in groups, that suggest singular energy, sufficient finances for material and frames, and plenty of working space. His 1915 presentation in San Francisco won him critical acclaim. His success was accompanied by sales sufficient to lead him into an unusual arrogance in defense of one of his preferred subjects. In a letter of late October 1915, he wrote Macbeth: 'You may find too many nudes among my last shipment. But one cannot paint for the public entirely and as over here my reputation is chiefly with my nudes I see no reason why the American public should not recognize it.'

However, his primary concern was not with subject matter as he wrote: 'I should have explained before what I am aiming at in my work, which has [for] a number of years been constant - experimenting to attain the priority of color and truth of light effect.'"

To be continued

(Excerpts from "Frederick Carl Frieseke: A Biography by Nicholas Kilmer" in Frederick Carl Frieseke: The Evolution of an American Impressionist"published on the occasion of an exhibition of Frieseke's work.)