Frederick Carl Frieseke: Associations

"The Garden Parasol" by Frederick Carl Frieseke

"The Friesekes and the Richard Miller and his wife were fast friends. Miller, who had arrived in Paris shortly after Fred, was well connected in America, achieved European success quite early, and showed generous admiration for Fred's work. Invited to fill a room at the Venice Biennial in 1909 with his own paintings, he offered to share the space with Fred.

It is at the Eighth International Exhibition in Venice in April-May 1909 that we find the first important offering of outdoor subjects by Frieseke. Here were some of the major plein air themes that would come to be associated with his summer work during the next decade: the woman in the garden, the nude sunbather, and the woman in a boat in shadowy water. 

As he turned his attention to the out of doors and thus subjected himself to a far-from-controlled environment, Frieseke remained the methodical and meticulous painter who had trained under Whistler. The 1910 portrait by Karl Anderson shows Frieseke in bow tie, smock, and Panama hat, painting a nude outdoors. He holds the same array of brushes as he might have in the academy, one brush set aside for each of the colors that had been mixed beforehand.

Frieseke had known Karl Anderson when both were students at the Art Institute of Chicago, and both had traveled in Holland in the summer of 1898. They renewed their friendship, traveling together with Richard Miller in Venice and Florence in 1909. Anderson spent time in Giverny in both 1909 and 1910. He became one of the so-called Giverny luminists who exhibited together at Henry Fitch Taylor's Madison Art Gallery in December 1910. 

For Frieseke's career, this first venture into the commercial world of New York was of crucial importance, and as a result he came to the notice of William and Robert Macbeth, the most successful and influential of the New York dealers."

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: A Giverny Aesthetic

"Rest (Femme au Sofa)" by Frederick Carl Frieseke

"Beginning in 1906 Fred and Sadie Frieseke began to spend the warmer months in Giverny, a comfortably bucolic village within easy reach of Paris. Giverny also enjoyed all the urban advantages of a well-established art colony, one that had been especially favored by Americans. During the months from April through October the surroundings were a movable feast attended by regulars such as Ernest and Mary Blumenschein, the Karl Buehrs, Theodore Butler, the A. B. Frost family, Lawton Parker, and Guy and Ethel Rose. The men fished together. There were countless musical evenings, tennis matches at the courts of the Hotel Baudy, and afternoon teas. The Friesekes took tea with the Monets. Monet and Sadie, herself an ambitious gardener, eagerly discussed the expansion of Monet's garden, and the new bridge from which his water lily garden could be enjoyed.

Alieen O'Bryan, Sadie's niece, spent the summer of 1910 in Giverny with the Friesekes and left a memoir that preserves some of her impressions from that time. 'It was not alone the desire to paint gardens that brought this group together,' she wrote. 'They wished to be rid of business and political ties, rid of petty vanities and avarice, rid of fashions and affiliations.' As a cultural model for the group and its aesthetic she suggested the works of Horace, in which were to be found 'a kind of breviary of good taste, of poetry, or practical and worldly wisdom.' 

'It was our custom to spend a great deal of the time in the garden. Sadie would usually read aloud while Fred painted. Occasionally I would get out my water colours; but more often I would pose for Fred and listen to whatever my aunt had chosen from their well-filled bookshelves. As I look back, life was very pleasant, and much of the pleasure lay in the fine aestheticism.'

An state observer, Aileen O'Bryan was surely correct in her suggestion that idealism was a significant factor in bringing and holding the group together. Appropriately, the nude figure outdoors, the symbol of this urbane community, is an Arcadian motif claiming a civilized innocence."

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: Professional Success

"Afternoon Tea on the Terrace" by Frederick Carl Frieseke

"On his return to Paris at the end of May 1904, Frederick Carl Frieseke learned that the director of the Luxembourg Museum had selected one of his Salon nudes for purchase by the French government. The triumph must be celebrated with a dinner at Lavenue, a cafe-restaurant in a first-class hotel near the Montparnasse railroad station. Fred invited a party that included the Clarks and William Merritt Chase, who was in town.

Frieseke, who had begun to work in larger scale, exhibited three sizable canvases at the spring Salon. Fortunately, he now had enough money to devote his studio space exclusively to painting, because he had to plan and execute an even larger-scale composition - the mural project for the Hotel Shelburne in Atlantic City. The mural, designed as a single composition, but completed in seven segments, depicts a beach scene with figures, principally elegant young ladies, although a few children, an occasional male, and even a donkey also appear. Sadie was the model for many of the figures. The mural was installed under his supervision in February 1906. 

Frieseke's professional life was booming. His entries to the Saint Louis World's Fair of 1904 had earned him a silver medal. A large nude submitted to the ninth Internationalen Kunstausstellung in Munich in 1905 was awarded the gold medal. That same summer he made what may have been his first visit to Giverny. 'I am leaving in a few days with Young,' he wrote Sadie. She had gone back to Pennsylvania to help her sister Kitty with a new child. 'Giverny is where Monet paints, and MacMonnies lives. You'll like the Youngs.' Frieseke was at least a month in Giverny during the summer of 1905, but what or how he painted there is not recorded."

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: All for Sadie

"Through the Vines"
by Frederick Carl Frieseke

"The O'Bryans had returned to Paris in October 1903. They took an apartment in a rather opulent new building just by the boulevard du Montparnasse. Frederick Carl Frieseke lived a mere ten-minute walk away. Sadly, Judge O'Bryan died rather suddenly on March 1, 1904, following an operation for appendicitis. The family was obliged to pack, parcel their belongings out among friends for safekeeping, vacate the apartment, and accompany O'Bryan's body on its return to the United States for burial. Fred had spent the hours of watching with the family, and he accompanied them on their voyage.

He had other business in America - business that may have had as its motive the desire to qualify as a husband for Sadie O'Bryan. The previous year he had begun to provide illustrations and marginal decorations for the 'North American,' a Philadelphia newspaper owned and managed by the Wanamakers' eldest son. He pressed Frieseke to come to Philadelphia as an advisor to the art department and to provide more drawings for both the paper and the Wanamaker stores. Though Frieseke was provided with ample studio space, it amounted to an office job, and it did not agree with him. 

By Spring Frieseke was decidedly out of sorts. He complained to Sadie:

'I want to paint and, honey, the longer I stay the harder it will be for them to get on without me. Oh, dear, if only I were not ambitious... As a great compliment and favor they are going to give me a full-page ad, 'The American Girl by Frieseke.' Well, I hadn't the heart to refuse. They meant it so kindly. But to think I'd ever do such a thing! I've drawn the girl, though, and they are pleased to death with her. And this is fame, dearie. I'm an ungrateful little slob.' 

True, Fred and Sadie were of the same national origin, but after that there were significant differences. Sadie was elegant and tall, almost six feet; Fred was short and dumpy, a condition he could alleviate only by good humor. He concluded one letter with 'I send you all the love that's possible from a person of my size.' Sadie's family was militantly Catholic, while his approach to religion was tangential. Sadie's family enjoyed an ostentatious display of wealth, while Fred was poor and of a family whose economic status could be described as 'comfortable' at best. Fred was modest, determined and introverted. Sadie was dramatic, gregarious - and probably even more determined. As it worked out in due course, they were married in Paris on October 31, 1905. It proved to be an excellent match." 

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: John Wanamaker's Patronage

"The Birdcage" by Frederick Carl Frieseke

"At the end of May 1903 Frederick Carl Frieseke wrote:

'I had a call one day from John Lavery, Joseph Pennell and two other members of the International Society in London. They wanted me to send three of my Salon pictures over there to their exhibition in June - but they are all invited to America so I don't know what to do.'

The honor, which Frieseke was able to accept with a suitable submission, came before the artist had reached his thirtieth birthday and established his rise to the height of recognition among his peers. Founded in 1899 the exclusive International Society of Sculptors, Painters and Gravers in London had Whistler as its president. Its membership included John White Alexander, Albert Besnard, Gustav Klimt, Frederick MacMonnies, James Jebusa Shannon, Fritz Thaulow, Henri Fantin-Latour, Edouard Manet, Claude Monet,  Henri Toulouse-Lautrec, Félix Vallotton, and Edouard Vuillard.

To this success was added a stroke of economic good fortune. John Wanamaker guaranteed to purchase every year a certain number of Frieseke's paintings for the fixed amount of $2,500 - then a princely sum. Wanamaker had started buying from the Salons during his frequent trips to Paris in the 1880s. He was hard-nosed, civic-minded, opinionated, and successful. And he knew what he liked. 

'He was attracted to canvases where the landscapes were gay. He wanted his skies bright, his trees honestly green, and the girl standing in the field beside the river not too drably dressed. He expected a picture to tell a story... He did not like nudes. His women had to be clothed. and he was emphatic is his belief that disgusting realism had no place in art or literature.' 

As he commenced collecting, he took back with him across the ocean works that embodied his aesthetic principles; that art in its highest sense is the expression of ideal beauty, and that it should depict the beautiful or teach a lesson. So he amassed works by Lawrence Alma-Tadema, Rose Bonheur, William Bouguereau, Corot, Charles-François Daubigny, Jean-François Millet, and many more.. He purchased 250 paintings from the 1903 Salons alone.

There is no indication that Wanamaker's tastes had a direct effect on Frieseke's production, short of encouraging him. But his patronage cannot have failed to make itself felt. For one thing it gave the young man hope that he could demonstrate himself to be a good financial risk."

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: Jeanne Blazy

Detail from "Jeanne" by Alfred Maurer

"In Paris again at the end of November, Frederick Carl Frieseke settled into a new living and working space at 6, rue Victor Considerant. His rooms were above the apartment of Alson and Medora Clark, who for the next few years would provide familial stability and comradeship. The three shared meals and evenings of Parcheesi or bezique. Medora sewed his buttons on and frequently posed for the two men; she is the model for Frieseke's 'The Green Sash.' Also and Fred spent much time together, whether playing billiards, visiting exhibitions, or buying new top hats in time for the opening of the Internationale exhibition.

Once settled in, Frieseke engaged the services of a model from heaven, Jeanne Blazy.

'I've had a nice model. She's as useful as anything in other things besides posing. Brings my things for luncheon and cooks them before she leaves, hunts up anything I wish and is always cheerful. Always late but works on as long as I wish. She has posed for Whistler and lots of the big men. Posed for MacMonnies' statue in the Luxembourg.'

Given her essential contribution to the work of many artists, Jeanne Blazy might qualify for her own exhibition. In addition to the talents Frieseke discovered, Jeanne, it seems, could also stand on one foot for a long time while balancing an infant on her arm, as she apparently did for MacMonnies' 'Bacchante with Infant Faun.' Alfred Maurer's 'Jeanne,.' painted around 1904, presents a very different image of the same woman who appears in Frieseke's 'Sleep,' shown at the Salon in 1904. Maurer's interpretation won a gold medal at the 1905 Internationalen Kunstausstellung in Berlin."

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: Business Back at Home

"The Gold Locket" by Frederick Carl Frieseke

"In the late spring of 1902 Frederick Carl Frieseke returned to the United States. He had been away five years. He had family matters to keep up with and it was also time for him to tend to the American side of his career. It had become the practice in some parts of the American art establishment to defer to the jury systems of the Paris Salons. An American artist who had been accepted by the Société des Artistes Français or the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts was more than likely to be invited to the annual exhibition of the Art Institute of Chicago the following October, and thence to the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. It was prudent for the young artist to build upon his European success. If he was to make a living at this business, his paintings must be not only seen but also sold.

 'I'm going to bring all my pictures home,' Frieseke wrote, 'and with the stuff I shall paint there during the summer, try to arrange for some exhibitions in different cities... I"ll stay in America until next fall in time for the Internationale show here.' So, leaving his four submissions hanging at the Salon, he sailed for home. During the next seven months he managed to spend time in Owosso, transact business in New York and Chicago, continue the regular supply of drawings for Wanamaker, and see Sadie in New York. A series of meeting with William R. French [sculptor Daniel Chester French's brother], director of the Art Institute of Chicago resulted in a special exhibition of eight of his paintings, which were hung together in Chicago's annual exhibition.

Only occasionally during his career is there any sign that Frieseke thought seriously of living and working in the United States. Nevertheless, he was encouraged by his reception in Chicago.

'The painters here all seem to like my things. I have been awfully well treated by them here and several have asked me to locate here, but I wouldn't live here for the world as - to show the art interest of the town - I may say that only two of the morning papers had any mention of the exhibition. I was well treated in both, but it makes one tired to see so little interest displayed. I but I am wild to get back to work.'"

So back to Paris he went! 

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.)