Gallery Frederick Carl Frieseke | The complete 266 works | Buy Museum Art Reproductions

Frederick Carl Frieseke was an American Impressionist painter who spent most of his life as an expatriate in France. An influential member of the Giverny art colony, his paintings often concentrated on various effects of dappled sunlight. He is especially known for painting female subjects, both indoors and out.
In 1858, Frederick Carl Frieseke's grandparents, Frederick Frieseke and his wife, emigrated from Pritzerbe (near Brandenburg, Germany) with their sons, including Herman Carl. They settled in the small central Michigan town of Owosso. Herman served in the Union Army then returned to Owosso, where he established a brick manufacturing business. He married Eva Graham and in 1871 their daughter Edith was born. Their son, Frederick Carl, was born in Owosso in 1874. Eva died in 1880 when Frederick was six years old, and in about 1881 the family moved to Florida. Herman started another brick manufacturing business in Jacksonville. The four years in Florida left an enduring impression on young Frederick; years later, when he contemplated a return to the United States from Europe, he concentrated on Florida.
Frederick's aunt recounted how, unlike most boys, he was interested in the arts more than in sports. His grandmother, Valetta Gould Graham, enjoyed painting, and encouraged Frederick in his artistic pursuits. An 1893 visit to the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago also stimulated his desire to become an artist.
In 1893, Frieseke graduated from Owosso High School, then began his artistic training at the Art Institute of Chicago, studying with Frederick Warren Freer and John Vanderpoel. After moving to New York in 1895, he resumed his art education at the Art Students League in 1897. He worked as an illustrator, selling cartoons he had drawn to The New York Times, Puck, and Truth. He claimed that he might have curtailed his art education if he had been more successful in that endeavor. The following year, he moved to France, where he would remain, except for short visits to the United States and elsewhere, as an expatriate for the rest of his life. He did continue his education, enrolling at the Académie Julian in Paris, studying under Jean-Joseph Benjamin-Constant and Jean-Paul Laurens, and receiving criticism from Auguste-Joseph Delecluse. His studies also included some time at Académie Carmen under James Abbott McNeill Whistler. Frieseke visited Holland, including the Katwijk and Laren artist colonies, in the summer of 1898. During this time he sketched and painted in watercolors, and he initially planned to make that his specialty, but he was encouraged by Académie Carmen instructor Frederick William MacMonnies to work in oils.
Frieseke discounted his formal art education, referring to himself as self-taught; he felt that he had learned more from his independent study of artists' work than he had from his academic studies.
Starting in 1899, just over a year since his arrival in Paris, Frieseke exhibited at the Salon of the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts.
Whistler's influence is evident in Frieseke's early mature paintings, with close tonalities. By his post-1900 work, his palette had evolved toward that of the Impressionists, becoming light and colorful; however, he still retained the strong linear customs of art back in the United States.
In the summer of 1905, he spent at least a month in the Giverny art colony. In October of that year he married Sarah Anne O'Bryan (known as Sadie), whom he had met seven years earlier. Frieseke and his wife (and later, their daughter) spent every summer from 1906 to 1919 in Giverny. He kept a Paris apartment and studio throughout his life, and the Friesekes spent the winters in Paris. Their Giverny house, previously the residence of Theodore Robinson, was next door to Claude Monet's. Despite the proximity, Frieseke did not become close friends with Monet, nor was Monet an artistic influence. He said in an interview, "No artist in school has influenced me except, perhaps, Renoir." Indeed, Frieseke's paintings of sensually rounded figures often bear a resemblance to those of Pierre-Auguste Renoir.
The Friesekes' Giverny home and the garden they created there were often featured in his paintings, and his wife would frequently pose for him. He also kept another studio nearby on the Epte river. Many of his outdoor nudes were painted there.
After spending some time in Giverny, his unique style quickly emerged, and he would be quite influential with most of the other members of the colony. Although well known as an Impressionist, some of his work, with its "intense, almost arbitrary colors", demonstrates the Post-Impressionist influence of artists Paul Gauguin and Pierre Bonnard. The term "Decorative Impressionism" was coined by an art writer to refer to Frieseke's style. It combined the decorative style of Les Nabis, expressively using color and pattern, with classic Impressionist interests in atmosphere and sunlight.

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Torn Lingerie

Summer Reading (Aka Under The Awning)

In The Garden, Giverny

The Birdcage

Nasturtiums

Lady With Parasol

Nude on the Beach

Afternoon - Yellow Room

Grey Day On The River (Aka Two Ladies In A Boat)

Nude Seated At Her Dressing Table

Reflections (Marcelle)

The Pink Kimono 1

Reading by Lamp Light

The Japanese Parasol

Reflections

Garden In June

Woman Tying Her Shoe

The Crinoline

Cherry Blossoms 1

On The Beach

Sleep

By The Cradle

The Judas Tree

Youth

The Mirror

Basket of Flowers

Two Women On The Grass

Woman Before A Mirror

Medora Clark At The Clark Apartment, Paris

Unraveling Silk

The Old Fashioned Gown

Summer Morning

Good Morning

Sunbath

Yellow Tulips

Woman with a Mirror

Nude in Dappled Sunlight

Luxembourg Gardens

Mahdah

Lady With A Parasol

Sewing In The Garden

Closed Blinds

The Pink Kimono

Afternoon Tea on the Terrace

Blue Curtains

Study for Blue Curtains

The Open Window (Aka The Bird Cage)

Russian Model

The Gold Locket

Venus In The Sunlight

Hollyhocks

Venus Au Soleil

Two Young Women In A Garden

The Hammock

Lilies

Embroidery

Girl on the Piano

Woman At A Dressing Table

On The Beach at Dieppe

Late October

Woman In An Interior

The Green Chair

The Robe

Normandy Girl

Woman Seated In A Park With Basket

Woman In A Doorway

Lady with the Sunshade

Lady in Rose

Windy Day at the Beach

Frances

Child Knitting

The Breakfast Room

Pensive Model

Mahdah Reddin

The Blue Garden

Lady Sitting

Woman with Jewels

Fancy Dress

Portrait Of Madame Gely (On The Couch)

Under the Trees

Woman at Dressing Table

The Model in Paris

Woman Seated in a Garden

In the Boudoir

The Hour Of Tea

Nude Behind Red Curtains

Promenade in the Garden

Sadie in the Window

The Pink Parasol

Girl in Bed

In the Nursery

Yellow And Blue

Woman in Blue

The Green Sash

Becassine

Le Jardin

Under the Willows

Silhouette

Portrait of a Woman with a Cactus

Girl in Blue

Le Pouldu Landscape

The Yellow Tulip

Mist

Baby in Pram

Woman Seated by a Fireplace

Summer

Bathing Nude

Peace

The Pet Rabbit

Two Ladies in a Boat

Man Plowing

La Chaise Longue

Lady Trying On A Hat

Memories

On the River, Giverny

Blue Girl Reading

At the Bal-Bullier

Autumn

Rest

Mesnil Landscape

On the Balcony

On the Bank

Nude in Dappled Sunlight

The Wiindow

Garden Mirror

Samadan Landscape

hollyhocks

Under the Willows

Portrait of a Girl (also known as Pensive Model)

Girl in Pink (also known as The Pink Kimono)

Woman with a Flower Basket

Hollyhocks

Nude in Window (also known as Seated Female, Semi-Nude)

open window

Landscape, Le Pouldu, Brittany

The House in Giverny

sewing in the garden

Nude #3

the blue gown

Closed Blinds

The Garden Parasol

before her appearance (la toilette) -

Le thé au jardin (also known as Tea in the Garden)

NIght, Orange Grove

The Garden Umbrella

memories

Portrait of a Woman (with Cactus) (study)

Still Life with Flowers

the garden umbrella

The Fountain

Lunch in Bed

blue girl reading

woman in boudoir

untitled (3498)

Winter Landscape

On the River

In the Doorway Good Morning

The Kitchen Door

portrait of a woman (with cactus)

portrait of a girl (pensive model) -

the garden parasol

before her appearance la toilette

the blue garden

blue interior, giverny (the red ribbon) -

Summer

Normandy Girl

on the balcony

People in the Park

Portrait of Jane Belo

Russian Model

Yellow Tulips

The Parasol

The KItchen Door

Study of the Nude in an Interior

the yellow tulip

The Hammock (study)

On the Beach, Corsica

Venus in the Sunlight

girl in blue

Girl in Blue

torn lingerie

nude on beach

samaden landscape

The Practice Hour

Woman with a Mirror

The Hammock

Portrait of a Woman with Cactus

on the beach in corsica

Sunspots

Lilies

Self-Portrait

under the willows

Grey Day on the River (also known as Two Ladies in a Boat)

Silhouette

Lady in a garden Sun

in the boudoir

Misty Morning on the Seine

autumn

Fishing in the Swamp

Montparnasse Landscape (Hilltop Street)

Woman in Boudoir

c woman before a mirror

normandy girl

lady in rose

Sun and Wind

Girl with Earrings

On the Beach in Corsica

Through the Vines

the mother

Paris, Pont Neuf with Barges

Seated Nude

Unraveling Silk

summer

The Carriage House (also known as Normandy Cottage)

Spring #5

portrait of madame gely no 1 (on the couch)

Child at the Piano

lady trying on a hat

the blue gown

Dutch Landscape

The Yellow Room

the green sash

In the Boudoir

in the doorway (good morning) -

Frances (study)

The Hour of Tea

femme en rose

Hoeing, Jacksonville

breakfast in the garden

Hélène

Rest (also known as Femme au sofa)

frances

seated nude

through the vines

girl reading

The Pirogue (also known as Canoeing, Florida)

Study for 'The Garden Parasol'

baby in pram

Girl with Earrings (study)

giverny winter

Rest

Lady on a Gold Couch

Night Scene, Samaden

two ladies in a boat

Under the Striped Umbrella (from Hotel Shelburne murals)

lilies

unraveling silk

garden mirror

wind and sun

untitled (8494)

sleep

Breakfast in the Garden

Self-Portrait

the garden

the kitchen door

Venus in the Sunlight

Hill at Giverny

le dejeuner au lit

Foxgloves

On the Dunes

untitled (146)

the garden parasol

untitled (6247)

On the Bank

untitled (6268)

untitled (8343)

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FrederickCarl Frieseke