Frederick Carl Frieseke (1874-1939)

Frederick Carl Frieseke was an American impressionist painter who spent most of his life as an expatriate in France; he was an influential member of the Giverny art colony.

In 1858, Frederick’s grandparents emigrated from Pritzerbe (near Brandenburg) with their family to the United States and settled in the small town of Owosso, Michigan. His father, Herman Frieseke, returned to Owosso after military service in the Union Army, where he founded a brick manufacturing business. In 1871, he married Eva Graham, and in 1871 they had a daughter, Edith, and in 1874, a son, Friedrich (Frederick). His mother died in 1880, and in 1881 the family moved to Florida, where his father continued his brick manufacturing business in Jacksonville. His grandmother encouraged her grandson to pursue artistic interests. A visit to the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair reinforced Frederick’s desire to become an artist.

In 1893, Friedrich graduated from Owosso High School and continued his education at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, studying with Frederick Warren Freer and John Vanderpoel. After moving to New York City in 1895, he continued his art education at the Art Students League in 1897. He also worked as an illustrator, selling his work to The New York Times, Puck, and Truth.

The following year, Frieseke moved to France, where he remained for the rest of his life, with the exception of a few short visits to the United States and other countries. He continued his education by enrolling at the Académie Julian in Paris, where he studied with Benjamin-Constant and Laurens, receiving critical comments from Delescluze. He took lessons from Whistler at the Académie Carmen for some time.

The artist visited Holland, including the Katwijk and Laren art colonies in the summer of 1898. Friedrich Frieseke created his first works in watercolor, but the academy instructor, Friederike Macmonnies, convinced him to work in oil. Frieseke himself considered himself self-taught, feeling that he gained more from independent work with advice from outstanding artists than from an academic education. A year after arriving in Paris, in 1899, Frieseke exhibited at the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts salon, and this continued for many years to come. Beginning in the summer of 1905, the artist spent at least a month in the art colony of the town of Giverny.

In October 1905, he married Sarah Anne O’Bryan, whom he had met seven years earlier. Together with his wife, and then their daughter, they spent every summer until 1919 in Giverny. In the winter, he worked in his apartment and studio in Paris. His house in Giverny, formerly the residence of Theodore Robinson, was next to Monet’s house. Despite this, Friske did not become either a friend of Monet or an object of his creative influence.

Friske himself said that of the impressionists, Renoir probably influenced him, which is indeed felt in some of his works depicting the female body. The house and garden in Giverny often appear in Friske’s paintings, often with his wife posing. The artist also had a second studio here on the Epte River, where many of his nude works were created. In 1909, seventeen of his paintings were presented at the prestigious Venice Biennale. Friske’s artistic influence is strong was felt among the Americans working in Giverny, among whom were Louis Ritman, Karl Anderson, Lawton Parker and Karl Buehr.

Friske’s only child, a daughter, Frances, was born in 1914. In 1920, the family moved to a farm in Le Mesnil-sur-Blangy, Normandy. The artist’s work during this period concentrated on female figures, especially nudes. In 1923, Friske left the salon of the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts and founded, together with other artists, the Salon des Tuileries. He returned to painting in watercolor, especially during his trips to Nice and Switzerland in the winter of 1930-1932.

He died on August 24, 1939, at his home in Normandy from an aneurysm and was buried in Mesnil-sur-Blangy Cemetery.