JANE FREILICHER | UNTITLED FROM "SELF PORTRAIT IN A CONVEX MIRROR" BY JOHN ASHBERY

Brooklyn native, Jane Freilicher, came of age during the rise of Abstract Expressionism in New York. Born on November 29, 1924, Freilicher had a long career stretching over sixty years, only ending with her death on December 9, 2014. However, Freilicher’s work continued (and continues) to inspire. Best known for her lush still lifes, New York skylines, and Long Island landscapes, her work and unique vision have gained recognition from all corners of the art world. Her lyrical examinations of country and urban life, the shifts between foreground and background, and her playing with the distinction between what is in- and outside, make Freilicher’s art fascinating.

Freilicher graduated from Brooklyn College and went on to study under well-known American-German painter, Hans Hofmann, before matriculating at the Teachers College at Columbia University, where she completed her M.A. in 1948. She held her first solo-exhibition at the Tibor de Nagy Gallery, in 1952. Freilicher’s early works were greatly influenced by the dominant Abstract Expressionist style of the day. That said, over time, her style adopted the soft pastels and dreamlike forms akin to those of Pierre Bonnard.

A long time member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the National Academy of Design, Freilicher earned numerous awards, such as the Gold Medal in Painting from the Academy of Arts and Letters (its highest honor), the National Academy of Design Saltus Gold Medal, and the Academy of the Arts Lifetime Achievement Award from the Guild Hall Museum. Freilicher’s works can be found in the collections of The Cleveland Museum of Art, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, D.C., The Museum of Modern Art, and The Art Institute of Chicago, among others.