Frederick Carl Frieseke

At the Mirror

circa 1922

Maximilien Luce 1858-1941 French Femme mettant ses bas (Woman putting on her stockings) Pastel on paper Signed "Luce 89" (lower left) Maximilien Luce’s Femme mettant ses bas is a...

For Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Impressionism's pre-eminent figure painter, depicting the nude was an exercise in bringing the canvas to life. He once said, “I look at a nude, I see myriads of minuscule shades. I have to find those which will make the flesh on my canvas come to life and resonate.” This compelling portrait by Renoir entitled Après le bain presents the nude figure of a woman in a serene, private moment, absorbed in the task of drying herself after a bath. The artist’s mastery of light and shading is incredible, achieving a sense of vitality in this otherwise ordinary scene. Renoir is celebrated for his figural work, especially his Rubenesque female nudes, however, it was not until the artist was in his forties that he depicted the nude with any frequency. In 1881, Renoir traveled to Italy, where he studied the works of the Renaissance masters and the ancient art of Pompeii and Rome. Upon his return to France, the nude became his favored subject, and he used the motif to combine the spontaneity of Impressionism with the solid modeling of classical painting. Renoir’s medium here, sanguine, a reddish-brown chalk, was used extensively in the Renaissance by Leonardo (who employed it in his sketches for the Last Supper), Michelangelo and Raphael. Its warm hue lends itself well to depicting flesh, and the chalk drawing allows for a greater focus on line, form and texture in a departure from the aspects of color and light that so often preoccupied the Impressionists. Après le bain conveys the impression of arrested motion with perfect naturalness, deftly capturing the moment before the elegant lines of the sitter's form change position. The sitter is almost certainly Gabrielle Renard, the nanny to Renoir’s children and a frequent model for the artist. Gabrielle was the cousin of Renoir’s wife, Aline, and came to Montmartre to work for the family at the age of 16. She developed a strong bond with the family and became a favorite subject for Renoir, appearing in several of his most important works, including his 1911 Gabrielle with a Rose (Musée d'Orsay). When Renoir began to suffer from severe rheumatoid arthritis that would eventually leave him unable to walk and scarcely able to grasp a paintbrush, it was Gabrielle that would assist the artist by positioning the paintbrush between his crippled fingers. Born in Limoges, France in 1841, Renoir began his career as an apprentice to a painter of porcelain wares. He later moved to Paris at the age of 21, enrolling at the prestigious École des Beaux-Arts. It was here, while studying under Charles Gleyre, that Renoir attained a tremendous appreciation for the academic style of painting, a quality that would last throughout his career. This was also when he met Claude Monet and several other classmates, with whom he would later form the Impressionists. Working closely with Monet, Renoir began experimenting with the portrayal of light and its effect on his canvases. The youngest member of the Impressionist movement, an astute Renoir recognized how a subject was constantly changing due to the dynamic effects of light on color. Relying heavily upon his academic training that focused on composition, lines and descriptive details, Renoir distinguished himself among his contemporaries. His intuitive use of color and expansive brushstroke, along with acute attention to his subject, have placed him among the finest painters in history. This work is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity and will be included in the forthcoming catalogue raisonné of the work of Pierre-Auguste Renoir from the Wildenstein Plattner Institute. Circa 1898 Canvas: 43 1/2" high x 35 1/2" wide Frame: 57 3/4" high x 49 1/4" wide Provenance: Galerie Durand-Ruel, Paris (acquired from the artist on January 25, 1899) J. Pereire Collection, France (1966) Sam Salz, New York (before 1981) Claus Virch, Paris French Compagny, Inc., New York Larry Silverstein, New York (circa January 1987) Le Clos de Sierne Gallery, Geneva Galerie Heyram, Paris (October 1987) Francis Gross M.S. Rau, New Orleans Literature: B. Schneider, Renoir, Berlin, 1957, p. 95 (illustrated in color, p. 83) M. Gauthier, Renoir, Paris, 1958, p. 83 (illustrated in color; erroneously dated '1916' and titled 'Woman in her toilet') F. Fosca, Renoir, L'homme et son obra, Paris, 1961, p. 280 (illustrated, p. 95; erroneously dated 'about 1890' and titled 'After the Bath...

Pierre Carrier-Belleuse 1851-1932 French Danseuse Signed “Pierre Carrier-Belleuse” (lower right) Pastel on canvas Strikingly elegant, this extraordinary pastel by French impressi...

Federico Zandomeneghi 1841-1917 Italian Les deux soeurs (The two sisters) Signed and dated "Zandomeneghi 95" (lower left) Oil on canvas Two sisters enjoy a quiet moment in a rich green landscape in this intimate oil on canvas from Federico Zandomeneghi. An Italian painter by birth who became a fixture in the Parisian Impressionist scene, Zandomeneghi is best remembered for his sentimental and affectionate scenes of women in both domestic and public spheres. Zandomeneghi’s creative and technical prowess in composition is highlighted in this painting. The artist deftly frames the young pair in the lower register of the canvas, imbuing the work with a remarkably observational feel. The girls pensively gaze off to the right, lost in thought; Zandomeneghi allows the viewer to witness a natural moment of discussion and contemplation shared among the sisters. The soft palette employed by the artist gives the whole scene an atmospheric glow, with dappled rays of sunshine breaking through the lush foliage. Though the girls remain in the shaded areas of the landscape, Zandomeneghi’s skillful application of paint allows a brightness to remain nevertheless. Federico Zandomeneghi was born in Venice to a long line of neoclassical sculptors. As if created to be an artist, Zandomeneghi began his artistic education early, enrolling in the Accademia di Belle Arti in Venice at just 15 years old before transferring to the Academy of Fine Arts in Milan. By 1862, the artist had arrived in Florence, where he became fast acquaintances with several Italian artists dedicated to executing landscape paintings en plein air. Zandomeneghi embraced the spontaneity, seeking to bring unparalleled luminosity to his works. When Zandomeneghi arrived in Paris in 1874, he found kindred spirits...

Standing Female Nude Drypoint, c. 1910 Unsigned Estate authentication on verso (see photo) Estate authentication verso by Frances Frieseke Kilmer (Mrs. Kenton Kilmer, 1914-1998) (see photo) Probably depicts the artist's wife, the artist's favorite model Extremely rare original drypoint by Frieseke Printed with selective inking to highlight the figure Condition: excellent Image/Plate size: 10 x 6 5/8 inches Frame size: 19 1/4 x 15 3/4 inches Provenance: Estate of the Artist By descent to his daughter Frances Hirschl & Adler Gallery, Stock No. APG 1106.3D-B (see photo) Biography Frederick Carl Frieseke was born on April 7, 1874, in Owosso, Michigan. After studying for a short while at the Art Institute of Chicago and the Art Students League in New York, Frieseke left for France in 1898, and almost all of his career was spent as an expatriate, with ties to the United States maintained through his New York dealer, William MacBeth, and by occasional visits to America. Following the pattern of innumerable young Americans, he enrolled at the Academie Julian where he studied with Benjamin Constant (1845-1902) and Jean-Paul Laurens (1838-1921). He appears to have had at least brief contact with and to have been influenced by James McNeill Whistler, who had recently opened his Academie Carmen in Paris. By 1900 Frieseke was spending summers in the town of Giverny, made famous by the residence of Monet and subsequently by other artists, among them many Americans. In 1906, the year after his marriage to Sarah O'Bryan, he leased a house once occupied by the American Impressionist Theodore Robinson. Although the property was adjacent to Monet's, Frieseke had only limited contact with the French master. Instead he apparently found Pierre Auguste Renoir the most influential of all the Impressionists. Frieseke's Giverny house and garden, as settings for a series of female models, provided nearly all of his subject matter for the next thirty years, although in 1930 he made a series of watercolors of Florida scenes remembered from his childhood and painted some Swiss landscapes. After World War I, the artist and his family settled in Normandy. Frieseke's career falls roughly into three stages. In the first, figures most clearly show his academic training and draughtsmanship. Gradually these evolve into the most common images of the next decade, comprised of loosely-applied blotches of bright color. The vast majority of these show their subjects in the garden, standing among the flowers, taking tea, or just basking in the sun. Others include models in colorful, light-filled interiors. In Frieseke's latest paintings, the figures very often appear indoors, their forms are given greater solidity, and the brushwork is less broken. At the height of his career, in the 1910s and early 1920s, Frieseke was perhaps the most popular of all living American artists. He received numerous awards and medals and saw his work purchased by private collectors and major museums. Decades after the initial introduction of Impressionism by Monet and his contemporaries, Frieseke assumed this style for his work, choosing to ignore the newer artistic movements of the early twentieth century. Nevertheless, his paintings were acclaimed in both the United States and in Europe. In 1904 he won a silver medal at the St. Louis Universal Exposition and a gold medal at Munich. He was elected a member of the Société National des Beaux Arts in 1908 and the National Academy of Design in 1912. Seventeen of his canvases were featured at the Venice Biennale in 1909 and he won the Grand Prize at the Panama-Pacific International Exposition in 1915. He was commissioned to execute several murals, including one for the New York store of John Wanamaker, one of his most loyal patrons. He died on August 28, 1939, at his home in Normandy, in the town of Le Mesnil sur Blangy. In the decades following his death, however, after artistic tastes had changed considerably, his work was nearly forgotten until it received renewed attention as interest in American Impressionism grew in the 1960s Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington Etchings by Frederick Carl Frieseke include The Balcony and Standing Female Nude. Frieseke was an American Impressionist painter who was popular in the 1910s and 1920s. Etchings by Frederick Carl Frieseke: The Balcony: An etching by Frieseke from 1904 Standing Female Nude Other paintings by Frederick Carl Frieseke: The Garden Parasol...

Victor Abeloos 1881 – Brussels – 1965 Belgian Painter 'Girl at the Mirror' Signature: signed lower left and dated 1920 'V. Abeloos. 1920' Medium: oil on panel Dimensions: ima...

Signed and dated oil on canvas figure in interior painting by American impressionist painter Frederick Carl Frieseke. The piece depicts a young girl in a pink dress seated at a piano...

Nude before a mirror by French artist Auguste Leroux Beautiful oil on canvas, French school from the 1920' . The painting is not framed Title: " Nude before a mirror " Medium: or...