FREDERICK CARL FRIESEKE: The Evolution of an American Impressionist

The color-drenched gardens and sun-dappled nudes by Frederick Carl Frieseke (1874-1939) have long been loved by admirers of American Impressionism, and his paintings are treasured in museum collections across the country. This beautiful and comprehensive volume--with more than one hundred color and almost eighty black-and-white plates--is the most ambitious ever devoted to his work. It is being published in conjunction with a major retrospective of the artist's work.

A biographical overview and a detailed chronology by the artist's grandson, including charming vintage photographs, provide much new information and correct several misconceptions about Frieseke's life and career. Three invaluable essays by leading scholars discuss the diverse stages of his work and place it in art historical context, detailing his experience as a student at Whistler's atelier in Paris and as a central member of the group of American expatriates who settled in Giverny, France, near the French master Monet. The book's groundbreaking scholarship casts new light on Frieseke, American Impressionism, and the art world at the turn of the last century.

The contributors are Nicholas Kilmer, guest curator of the exhibition and the artist's grandson; Virginia M. Mecklenburg, senior curator of painting and sculpture at the Smithsonian American Art Museum; David Sellin, art historian and author of American Painters in Brittany and Normandy; and H. Barbara Weinberg, curator of American painting and sculpture at The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

EXHIBITION SCHEDULE:

The Telfair Museum of Art, Savannah, Georgia
March 20-June 3, 2001

The Dixon Gallery and Gardens, Memphis
June 23-August 19, 2001

San Diego Museum of Art
September 8-November 11, 2001

Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago
December 8, 2001-February 3, 2002