TitleFrederick Carl Frieseke
Artist
Lawton Silas Parker
(1868 - 1954)
Daten.d.
MediumOil on canvas
DimensionsUnframed: 25 5/8 × 32 in.
Framed: 39 × 33 × 4 3/8 in.
SubmissionANA diploma presentation, November 3, 1913
Credit LineNational Academy of Design, New York, NY
Object number975-P
Label TextThe extent of Lawton Parker's activity in Giverny is difficult to determine. What is certain is that he spent the summers of 1909 through 1913 in the French art colony, and it was there that he abandoned the tonal style he had developed in the late 1890s following his study with Whistler at the Academie Carmen. Less certain is when Parker first visited the area. It may have been as early as 1903, perhaps durning the course of a summer excursion to sketch en plein air.Parker and Frieseke had a very close friendship and working relationship, and Frieseke chose Parker to paint his portrait after he was named an Associate of the National Academy of Design in New York in 1912. (The inductee was required to submit a self-portrait or a portrait of himself by a fellow artist for inclusion in the academy's gallery of members.) Parker painted a warm, introspective, and symbolic portrait of his friend reading on the porch of his Giverny house, which is open to sunlight. Frieseke's grandson Nicholas Kilmer has related that Frieseke "loved reading above all things, and had a library [at his later house in Normandy] situated in such a way that it overlooked [a] long driveway. When he saw visitors approaching, he was able to duck out and hide in the woods."
Collections
- Artist Portrait Highlights from the Collection
1953 (card says 1952)
