Frederick Carl Frieseke, 'Garden Parasol', 1912

 

An outdoor setting with two figures confronts the viewer in Frederick Carl Frieseke's Impressionistic work of 1912. Yet, as the title suggests, the protagonist is in fact the orange and purple parasol that shades the seated figure. Almost like the sun itself, it encompasses the top third of the painting, allowing Frieseke to exploit the quick brushwork of Impressionism further, now in reds, oranges and purples. The detail on the parasol is indistinguishable – perhaps dancing figures, or flora and fauna motifs – engaging the eye to piece together an image of their liking. Its thin material is illuminated by the sun above, heightening its yellow glow to evoke a divine aura, almost halo-like above the seated figure. The parasol also gives the slightest hint at three-dimensionality in a broadly flat canvas, its circularity curving over the top of the figures to push the woman back who stands ‘behind’ its huge diameter. She seems to be preparing to put her own parasol up, however the size and pale colours with simple hints of red are nothing in comparison to the exotic, tropical shade of the protagonist in Frieseke’s work.

According to Jerry Weiss, Frieseke stated his goals clearly: ‘it is sunshine, flowers in sunshine, girls in sunshine, the nude in sunshine, which I have been principally interested in for eight years’. In The Garden Parasol, the effect of sunshine is felt firstly on the parasol itself, as discussed, but also on the backdrop of the scene, where a pattering of brushstrokes create a hedge to frame the serenity. The standing figure virtually melts into the thick, impasto paint application, furthering her secondary portrayal. A figure half in yet half out of shadow, the light effects continue on her dress and raised arm. Meanwhile, the dappled shade is also illustrated on the grass and garden pathway, pockets of sun with shadows seeping in to claim the light. The paint is applied in a particularly thick and rushed manner on the grey path, the colours blending together rapidly before the eye. This is in contrast to the sturdy green chairs which puncture the blended colours. Despite the seated woman being positioned in shade, there is still a sense of a warm day in her pink cheeks and her fidgeting position, as if the heat is starting to make her uncomfortable.

 Frieseke is not well known today, yet in the 1910s and 1920s he was perhaps the most popular living American artist. In his mid twenties he moved to France and started to produce works en plein air, following established Impressionist styles and forms. He utilised his family as models (the seated figure here is his wife) and his own garden for outdoor environments. It seems odd that he carried on in this style so late into the twentieth century. For instance, Monet’s Woman in the Garden where the enhanced light effects are comparable to Frieseke’s work was produced in 1867. Or in the case of Renoir, the only artist Frieseke admitted to having been influenced by, his outdoor scenes came in the mid-1870s and 1880s. Perhaps this is why Frieseke has been forgotten, because his works do not fit neatly into the established art historical chronology of ‘Impressionism’. He certainly does not fit the categories of Modernism that follow on. Stuck in art historical limbo, he becomes an artist difficult to define. With his amalgamation of Impressionism with Japonisme and perhaps even Symbolism in the form of the parasol and sunlight effects, Frieseke is more than ‘a follower of Renoir’. His works are detailed, tactile and he deserves credit for continuing this style of artistic production and contributing to its long-term legacies.