The Pink Parasol - Masterpiece Jigsaw Puzzle
Fredrick Carl Frieseke (American 1847-1939)
Laurel Ink puzzles measure 18" x 24" 500 pieces.
Retail $12.95

The Pink Parasol (from back of puzzle box)
Fredrick Carl Frieseke (American 1847-1939)
American art in the decades prior to the Civil War concentrated on defining a national identity among artist. Throughout the mid nineteenth century, artists such as Thomas Cole, Albert Bierstadt and Frederic Church conveyed a patriotic message though a realistic style of painting. During the 1860's, the panoramic pastoral and wilderness scenes that had been rendered in the patriotic air seemed outdated. These young artists sought to break free from aesthetic tradition by becoming more directly linked to international trends.

Paris was the common hub for artist such as Edouard Manet, Claude Monet, Camille Pissarro and Alfred Sisley, who were reveling against the tradition of academic art. In the 1870's and 1880's, this group of artist (labeled "Impressionists") received hostile responses from the Parisian art critics who considered their work loose, unpolished and sketch-like.

The French Impressionists were first inspired to paint outdoors in an attempt to capture the transformations taking place in their urban environment. This new approach to painting led to the Impressionists to scrutinize the effects of light and color on an entirely new level. Soon, their concentration was fixed on capturing the quality of atmospheric light, the reflections affecting the object, and the juxtaposition of colors. Many American artists were inspired by the French Impressionists' new outlook, which challenged traditional methods and developed a new way of looking at their world.

Federick Carl Freseke was born in Owosso, Michigan, in 1874. He studied at the Art Institute of Chicago and The Art students League in New York. In 1898, he studied at the academie Julian in Paris and spent the remainder of his life in France. Giverny, France, was a popular location for many artist and, in 1906, Frieseke made it his home.

Although Freiseke's international reputation gained him acknowledgement as "America's best-known contemporary painter", it was under Monet's influence that Frieseke started implementing such a prismatic and rich color scheme. His females were reminiscent of Renoir's sensual nudes, his colorful palette expressed his fascination with the effects of sunlight, and his use of pattern suggested even a post-Impressionist influence.

Frieseke is thought to have painted The Pink Parasol in 1913 depicting his favorite subject matter, his wife, poised amid the flowers in their Giverny garden. In 1914, Frieseke told a New York Times interviewer, "I do not like the usual studio light - it is so artificial... There is nothing like a long, faithful study of nature to lead one away from the artificial."

New: packaged/shrink wrapped 14"x14" boxed.

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