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Frederick Carl Frieseke

Memories, 1915

Not on View

Medium

oil on canvas

Dimensions

overall: 131.5 x 130.3 cm (51 3/4 x 51 5/16 in.)

framed: 148 x 148 x 5.7 cm (58 1/4 x 58 1/4 x 2 1/4 in.)

Credit Line

Gift of Frances Frieseke Kilmer

Accession Number

1969.5.1

Artists / Makers

Frederick Carl Frieseke (artist) American, 1874 - 1939

Image Use

This image is in the public domain.
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Inscription

lower right: F.C. Frieseke. 1915

Provenance

Consigned by the artist to (Macbeth Galleries, New York), c. 1917; sold 1917 to The Toledo Museum of Art, Ohio; by exchange 1937 to (Macbeth Galleries, New York); estate of Frederick Frieseke, 1939-1965; the artist's daughter, Frances Frieseke Kilmer [Mrs. Kenton Kilmer], Vienna, Virginia; gift 1969 to NGA.

Associated Names

Kilmer, Kenton, Mrs.
Macbeth Galleries
Macbeth Galleries
Toledo Museum of Art

Exhibition History

1916: Sixth Exhibition, Oil Paintings by Contemporary American Artists, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1916-1917, no. 368.

1917: 112th Annual Exhibition, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, 1917, no. 290.

1937: 15th Biennial Exhibition of Contemporary American Oil Paintings, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1937, no. 319.

1937: American Painting from 1860 until Today, Cleveland Museum of Art, 1937.

1939: Retrospective Exhibition of Paintings by Frederick Carl Frieseke, N.A., Grand Central Art Galleries, Inc., New York, 1939, no. 12.

1940: Survey of American Painting, Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh, 1940, no. 227.

1966: Frederick Frieseke (1874-1939), Hirschl & Adler Galleries, New York, 1966, no. 21.

1971: French Impressionists Influence American Artists, Lowe Art Museum, University of Miami, Coral Gables, Florida, 1971, no. 38, repro.

1974: Frederick Frieseke 1874-1939, Telfair Academy of Arts & Sciences, Savannah, Georgia; North Carolina Mus. of Art, Raleigh; Mus. of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg; Columbia Mus. of Art, South Carolina, 1974-1975, no. 24 (not shown at 2nd venue in New York).

1981: Extended loan for use by Vice President and Mrs. George H.W. Bush, Washington, D.C., 1981-1987.

1987: Extended loan for use by Ambassador John Shad, U.S. Embassy residence, The Hague, The Netherlands, 1987-1989.

1989: Extended loan for use by Ambassador Howard Wilkins, U.S. Embassy residence, The Hague, The Netherlands, 1989-1992.

1993: American Art from the Gilded Age: Paintings and Photographs. 100th Birthday Celebration, The Admiralty House, 1883-1993, Vice President's House, Washington, D.C., 1993-1994, unnumbered catalogue, repro.

1994: Extended loan to Vice President and Mrs. Al Gore, Vice President's House, Washington, D.C., 1994-2000.

2001: Extended loan for use by Ambassador William Stamps Farish III, U.S. Embassy residence, London, England, 2001-2004.

2006: Art & Fashion: from Marie Antoinette to Jacqueline Kennedy, Nassau County Museum of Art, Roslyn Harbor, 2006, unnumbered catalogue, repro.

2006: Extended loan for use by Ambassador Peter R. Coneway, U.S. Embassy residence, Bern, Switzerland, 2006-2008.

Providence Arts Club, Rhode Island (from donor records, no date given).

Technical Summary

The closely woven, plain-weave fabric support is particularly white and is probably cotton or possibly linen. It is unlined, has wide tacking margins intact, a selvage on the right side, and appears to be on its original six-member mortise-and-tenon stretcher. A white, thinly applied ground has been brushed on freely, leaving scattered, small areas of bare fabric over which paint was thinly applied, except for passages in the face and hands which were built up to form a more opaque covering. The painting's textured, matte appearance was created with paint of a very dry consistency being dragged across the surface. In other areas, the paint was "scrubbed in." A wet-into-wet technique using wavy brushstrokes of varying width was also used. White impasto highlights are found in the flower arrangement, the clock, and the jewels. The blue shadows on the knitting needles are short strokes applied wet-into-wet. A palette knife was probably used to scratch fine lines through the upper paint layer to "lighten" the green shadow in the sitter's left cuff, the stripes in the wallpaper to the left of the sitter's head, and some lines in the shadowed part of the wall. The painting is in good condition with small areas of paint loss, mostly along the edges. The painting does not have a varnish coating.

Bibliography

1970: American Paintings and Sculpture: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1970: 60, repro.

1980: American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1980: 162, repro.

1981: Williams, William James. A Heritage of American Paintings from the National Gallery of Art. New York, 1981: 194, 195, repro.

1992: American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1992: 185, repro.

1996: Kelly, Franklin, with Nicolai Cikovsky, Jr., Deborah Chotner, and John Davis. American Paintings of the Nineteenth Century, Part I. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 1996: 230-232, color repro.