Frank Freed

"Circus in Spring" Naturalistic Painting with an Elephant

1960s

Frank Freed was born in San Antonio, Texas in 1906 and, in 1913, he moved to Houston. Like most "folk" artists, it wasn't until middle age or later when he began painting. He studied literature at Harvard and pursued a career in journalism. After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, he volunteered to join the army in 1942. After his return from the war in 1947, he began courting an old friend, Eleanor, who later became his wife, and went on a week-long date in Manhattan, where he saw other inspiring exhibits. It was the exhibit of Ben Shahn that "floored" him at the Museum of Modern Art. Two months after the exhibition, he was enrolled in a painting class at the Museum School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. It was through painting rather than writing that he found a way to express himself. "The world of art" is a common theme throughout his paintings during the 1950s, depicting artists, art classes, collectors, auctions, museums and gallery openings.