Frederick Carl Frieseke is one of the most delightful among the younger
American painters who revel in the sunlight of Impressionism. He studied
at the Chicago Art Institute, at the Art Students’ League, and, in Paris,
under Constant, Laurens and Whistler; but Claude Monet has been the
important influence. Frieseke’s interest is in the color effect of the
things in his chosen field of vision, in the effect things make at a
single glance upon an eye trained to see the transient color of shadows
and of objects in sunlight. For the detailed study of form, he cares
little; yet his drawing is adequate, and his spots of bright color are
always worked together into a pleasing and balanced pattern, as we see it
in the Garden in June.
Lately, a more diffused light and less dazzling color has appealed to
Frieseke, and he has given us a series of lovely impressions of ladies at
their various domestic pursuits. The painting entitled The Toilet in the
Institute’s collection is an example of the later studies.—The Martin B.
Koon Memorial Collection.
[The Open Sea. Emil Carlsen, 1853]