Frederick C. Frieseke 1874-1939

Frederic Frieseke painted The Parasol while he was living in the picturesque village of Giverny and at the same time exhibiting a large number of nudes, mostly painted out-of-doors, at the Paris Salons and other European exhibitions between 1907 and 1914.  Many of these canvases were quite successful, the nude being an exceptionally popular subject in French art.  Frieseke enjoyed his newfound freedom from American mores while in France and adopted the nude as one of his most oft repeated subjects.  In 1914 he revealed, "Not only can I paint a nude here out of doors, but I can paint a nude in my garden or down by the fish pond and not be run out of town."

The present painting of a light-filled garden features a nude female figure modestly disrobing in preparation for an afternoon sunbath, or perhaps a swim in the nearby pond.  The painting is characterized by the vigorous brushwork typical of the artist during this period, as well as the brilliant and saturated pigments that make up the highly decorative riot of foliage and background that surrounds the solitary figure.  The vibrant yellows, blues and greens of the leaves and grass provide a shimmering backdrop to the figure's translucent flesh tones and sets off her more solidly rendered pink and white parasol and discarded clothing.  While the influence of Monet was a formidable one at this stage of Frieseke's career, the present painting emphatically illustrates the artist's response to the Nabis and other Post-Impressionists.  The flattened picture plane and decorative patterning of individually laid on brushstrokes are clearly resonant of the their strong impact on Frieseke's artistic development.