LOT DETAILS

Materials:

oil on panel

Size Notes:

(image); 37.5 X 30.5 inches (frame)

Markings:

signed lower right: F.C. Frieseke

Condition:

minor craquelure; under uv light, the re appears to be small scattered careful touches of inpaint to figure, basket, and background. Framed

Exhibited:

Saint Louis art Museum, Saint Louis, Missouri, "Impressionism Reflected: american art, 1890-1920," May 6-June 27, 1982;

Literature:

Saint Louis art Museum, Impressionism Reflected: american art, 1890-1920, exhibition catalogue, Saint Louis, Missouri, 1982, n.p. Frederick Carl Frieseke's Girl with a Basket of Ribbons is an exquisite example of the intimism practiced by the american artists in Giverny. This genre, developed by the Nabis, featured artfully posed female models in decorative interiors illuminated by natural light. With its subtle light and beautiful tonal harmonies, Girl with a Basket of Ribbons demonstrates Frieseke at the height of his abilities. Frieseke was one of the leading figures among the second generation of american expatriates in France. He first studied at the art Institute of Chicago and the art Students League in New York before leaving for Paris in 1898 to continue his studies. the re Frieseke enrolled at the académie Julian and at the académie Carmen, James McNeill Whistler's short-lived school. Whistler's passion for Japanese art, for decoration, and for distinctive color arrangements had a lasting influence on Frieseke's work. By 1900, Frieseke was spending summers in Giverny and, after achieving artistic and financial success, was able to purchase a home the re in 1906. He chose american Impressionist the odore Robinson's former house next door to Claude Monet's. Like Monet, Frieseke found inspiration in the local landscape and the sunshine. In the present work, Frieseke's model appears lost in reverie, with her fingers looped into the colorful threads of yarn in her basket. the mood is contemplative and serene. the basket set upon her lap at center creates a diagonal through the composition, juxtaposing the vertical and horizontal moldings on the wall of the room. the woman's curved chair unites the composition, instilling depth, balance and harmony to the scene. the structure of the composition is similar to those of Édouard Vuillard. Both Vuillard and Frieseke often presented the ir figures in corners of rooms, viewing the m diagonally and from a slightly elevated vantage point. While deeply influenced by the French Impressionists and the Nabis, Frieseke's compositions also possess techniques revolutionized by the post-Impressionists. as William H. Gerdts writes, "Frieseke's use of flat, interlocking patterns to achieve two-dimensional effects allies his art to French post-Impressionism" (Monet's Giverny: an Impressionist Colony, New York, 1993, p. 174). Frieseke was at the height of his career during the 1910s and early 1920s, when he painted Girl with a Basket of Ribbons and was perhaps the most popular of all living american artists. His ability to manipulate light and imbue his models with an air of psychological independence makes him one of the most accomplished american Impressionist painters of the female figure. This painting will be included in the forthcoming catalogue raisonné of Frieseke's work being compiled by Nicholas Kilmer, the artist's grandson, and sponsored by Hollis Taggart Galleries, New York.

Provenance:

Private collection, circa 1930s; By descent to the present owner.