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Lot Essay
This painting will be included in the Frederick C. Frieseke Catalogue Raisonné being compiled by Nicholas Kilmer, the artist's grandson, with the support of the Hollis Taggart Galleries, New York.
Frederick Frieseke's The Hammock intimately captures the artist's wife Sarah, whom he nicknamed Sadie, lounging in the private garden of their home in Giverny, France. The present work closely relates to another painting by the artist, also entitled The Hammock, in the collection of the Telfair Academy of Arts and Sciences, Savannah, Georgia.
Incorporating a still life at lower left and the bold striped background of the hammock, both versions of the portrait represent Frieseke at the height of his experimentation with color and modern composition. Hollis Koons McCullough writes of the related work, "Frieseke's interest in sunlight is especially evident in The Hammock...The entire surface of the work is dappled with brilliant spots of sunlight filtered through the trees...yet the predominant blue and lavender tones evoke instead the cool of the shaded hammock. This painting has all the hallmarks of Frieseke's mature impressionist style--loose brushwork, a fascination with sunlight, and a highly decorative surface treatment characterized by abundant pattern and vibrant color. The diagonal disposition of the figure across the canvas lends a dynamic element to the composition, while the surface pattern and elevated point of view call attention to an insistently flat picture plane. Frieseke's assertion of flatness reflects the mature stylistic ideals of the original French impressionists and their followers, while embodying the strong abstract tendencies and surface tensions that characterize twentieth-century art." (Telfair Museum of Art: Collection Highlights, Savannah, Georgia, 2005, p. 172)
Frederick Frieseke's The Hammock intimately captures the artist's wife Sarah, whom he nicknamed Sadie, lounging in the private garden of their home in Giverny, France. The present work closely relates to another painting by the artist, also entitled The Hammock, in the collection of the Telfair Academy of Arts and Sciences, Savannah, Georgia.
Incorporating a still life at lower left and the bold striped background of the hammock, both versions of the portrait represent Frieseke at the height of his experimentation with color and modern composition. Hollis Koons McCullough writes of the related work, "Frieseke's interest in sunlight is especially evident in The Hammock...The entire surface of the work is dappled with brilliant spots of sunlight filtered through the trees...yet the predominant blue and lavender tones evoke instead the cool of the shaded hammock. This painting has all the hallmarks of Frieseke's mature impressionist style--loose brushwork, a fascination with sunlight, and a highly decorative surface treatment characterized by abundant pattern and vibrant color. The diagonal disposition of the figure across the canvas lends a dynamic element to the composition, while the surface pattern and elevated point of view call attention to an insistently flat picture plane. Frieseke's assertion of flatness reflects the mature stylistic ideals of the original French impressionists and their followers, while embodying the strong abstract tendencies and surface tensions that characterize twentieth-century art." (Telfair Museum of Art: Collection Highlights, Savannah, Georgia, 2005, p. 172)