Frederick Carl Frieseke: France and Corsica

"Before Her Appearance (La Toilette)"
by Frederick Carl Frieseke

"Frederick and Sadie Freieseke returned to France in February. Aside from a very brief visit to New York and Pittsburgh at the end of 1928, this would be the last Frieseke was to see of his native country. The couple spent a particularly rainy summer in Giverny, but as Frieseke wrote to a friend: 'I managed to do a good season's work in spite of it and think I can put up a better show than last year.' Having created his summer's work (he complained it took two days to think of titles) and sent it to New York, Fred packed himself and Sadie off to Corsica for the winter months. 

Here, once they had found a house and garden to their liking, they set up shop and Frieseke sent for his model, Marcelle. She would figure in the six large canvases to be exhibited in the 1913 Salon of the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts. After the miserable Giverny summer, the Corsican weather was an improvement. Even in February, Marcelle was able to pose naked on the beach, while Fred painted 'On the Dunes,' and Sadie watched from the distance to warn them of approaching tourists.

By the end of 1913 the Friesekes felt sufficiently stable economically to purchase the apartment on the rue du Cherche Midi. There had been sales in the United States. The arrangement with Wanamaker whereby he purchased a regular number of pictures annually was still in force, and Mrs. H.P. Whitney purchased the largest of Frieseke's Salon pictures, 'Before Her Appearance (La Toilette)' for $2500. Thus the Friesekes could afford to think of expanding into real estate. 

Besides, at the end of 1913, Sadie was pregnant. There had been other pregnancies that ended in disappointment, but this one was successful. In a world that was preoccupied by the parade of implacable forces whose posturing and ultimatums would lead to war, Sadie and Fred nursed a more loving hope. Frances, their only child, was born in Paris on August 2, 1914, as France mobilized for war against Germany. Fred had been in Giverny, but he managed to get the last civilian train to Paris."

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.)