Unraveling Silk

Unraveling Silk typifies Frederick Frieseke’s many richly colored decorative images of women in domestic settings. The image focuses closely on a young woman as she bends over her work of separating strands of brightly tinted silk yarn held in a basket on her lap. She sits in a green chair facing the viewer and close up to the picture plane, but her downturned face suggests she is unaware of being observed. Her firmly delineated form, with her décolleté highlighted at the composition’s exact center, vies for attention with the multiplicity of geometric patterns in her striped skirt, the checked-and-floral wallpaper background, the series of lines on the wall paneling and in the chair, and the distinct strands of the vividly colored yarn. A dry, brushy overall texture and a harmonious color scheme of muted pastel colors unify the image within the balanced, virtually square composition.

Frieseke most likely painted Unraveling Silk in Giverny, a rural village in Normandy, France, in which he worked every summer between 1905 and 1919, for the chair seen in this work is one of a set that appears in several scenes painted there, notably Breakfast in the Garden (TF 1987.21) and Lilies (TF 1999.55). With his arrival in Giverny, site of a lively international artists’ colony, Frieseke soon adopted the prevailing manner of painting with open brushstrokes and bright colors. Unraveling Silk also reveals his particular interest in abstract pattern and structure, recalling the art of the avant-garde group of the 1890s known as Les Nabis (“the prophets”), of whom Edouard Vuillard (1868–1940) is the best known. In Giverny, Frieseke dedicated these visual strategies to portraying the female figure, both nude and clothed and in both interior and outdoor settings, in decorative, lushly colored domestic images. His favorite paid model, an otherwise unidentified woman named Marcelle, posed for this painting.

From the start, Frieseke’s paintings of women met with considerable success in both Europe and in the United States. Unraveling Silk was painted at a particularly auspicious moment in the artist’s career. After nine years of marriage, the couple welcomed their first (and only) child, Frances, in 1914. The following year, Frieseke was awarded the grand prize gold medal for his entries in the Panama Pacific Exposition in San Francisco. Despite the turmoil of World War I, which the couple determined to wait out in France rather than fleeing to America, and the artist’s five-month volunteer service in the ambulance corps, Frieseke was remarkably productive. Late in 1915, he was able to ship twenty-one new paintings, among them Unraveling Silk, to his New York dealers, William and Robert Macbeth, for a show to open in January of the new year. Because of Frieseke’s triumph in San Francisco, the Macbeths astutely priced Unraveling Silk at a generous one thousand dollars and sold it by the end of the year.

Recent Paintings by Frederick C. Frieseke N.A., Macbeth Gallery, New York, New York, January 4–18, 1916, no. 7.

Paris International, Maxwell Galleries, San Francisco, California, October 8–30, 1965 (as The Artist's Daughter).

Six week loan, Reynolda House, Museum of American Art, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, mid-June–July 1981.

An International Episode: Millet, Monet, and Their North American Counterparts, The Dixon Gallery and Gardens, Memphis, Tennessee (organizer). Venues: The Dixon Gallery and Gardens, Memphis, Tennessee, November 21–December 23, 1982; Terra Museum of American Art, Evanston, Illinois, January 8–February 13, 1983; Worcester Art Museum, Worcester, Massachusetts, March 3–April 30, 1983 (as Marcelle). [exh. cat.]

Woman, Terra Museum of American Art, Evanston, Illinois (organizer). Venue: Terra Museum of American Art, Evanston, Illinois, February 21–April 22, 1984. [exh.cat.]

Masterworks in American Art from the Daniel J. Terra Collection, Terra Museum of American Art, Evanston, Illinois (organizer). Venue: Terra Museum of American Art, Evanston, Illinois, April 27–September 12, 1985 (as Marcelle).

Selections from the Permanent Collection, Terra Museum of American Art, Evanston, Illinois (organizer). Venue: Terra Museum of American Art, Evanston, Illinois, July 19–September 14, 1985.

A Proud Heritage: Two Centuries of American Art, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venue: Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, April 21–June 21, 1987. [exh. cat.]

An American Revelation: The Daniel J. Terra Collection, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venue: Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, February 28–October 1, 1988.

American Impressionists, Reynolda House, Museum of American Art, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, October 6–December 31, 1989.

Impressionism and Post-Impressionism: The Collector's Passion, Portland Museum of Art, Portland, Maine (organizer). Venue: Portland Museum of Art, Portland, Maine, July 30–October 20, 1991. [exh. cat.]

Impressions de toujours: les peintres américains en France, 1865–1915 (Lasting Impressions: American Painters in France, 1865–1915), Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France (organizer). Venue: Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France, June 1–November 1, 1992; April 1–October 31, 1993; April 1–October 30, 1994; April 1–October 31, 1995. [exh. cat.]

American Artists and the Paris Experience, 1880–1910, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venue: Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, November 22, 1997–March 8, 1998.

Giverny: une impression américaine (Giverny, An American Impression), Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France (organizer). Venue: Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France, April 1–November 1, 1998.

Giverny: intérieurs, extérieurs (Giverny: Inside and Out), Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France (organizer). Venue: Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France, April 1–October 31, 2000.

Héroïque et le quotidien: les artistes américains, 1820–1920 (The Extraordinary and the Everyday: American Perspectives, 1820–1920), Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France (organizer). Venue: Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France, April 1–November 30, 2001. [exh. cat.]

The People Work: American Perspectives, 1840–1940 (Le Travail à l'oeuvre: les artistes américains 1840–1940), Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venues: Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, March 15–May 25, 2003; Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France, June 8–August 17, 2003. [exh. cat.]

Visages de l'Amérique: de George Washington à Marilyn Monroe (Faces of America: From George Washington to Marilyn Monroe), Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France (organizer). Venue: Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France, April 1–October 31, 2004. [exh. cat.]

Twarze Ameryki: Portrety z kolekcji Terra Foundation for American Art, 1770–1940 (Faces of America: Portraits from the collection of the Terra Foundation for American Art, 1770–1940), Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France and Miedzynarodowe Centrum Kultury (International Cultural Center), Crakow, Poland (organizers). Venue: International Cultural Center, Crakow, Poland, February 15–May 7, 2006. [exh. cat.]

Impressionist Giverny: A Colony of Artists, 1885–1915, Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France (organizer). Venues: Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France, April 1–July 1, 2007; San Diego Museum of Art, San Diego, CA, July 21–October 14, 2007. [exh. cat.]

Impressionist Giverny: The Americans, 1885-1915, Selections from the Terra Foundation for American Art, Terra Foundation for American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venues: Florence Griswold Museum of Art, Old Lyme, Connecticut, May 3–July 27, 2008; Albany Institute of History & Art, Albany, New York, August 23, 2008–January 4, 2009.

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The International Studio 53:212 (October 1914): ill.

Realities 178 (September 1965). Ill. (as The Artist's Daughter).

Paris International. (exh. cat., Maxwell Galleries). San Francisco, California: Maxwell Galleries, 1965. Ill. no. 57 (as The Artist's Daughter).

Meixner, Laura L. An International Episode: Millet, Monet, and Their North American Counterparts. (exh. cat., The Dixon Gallery and Gardens). Memphis, Tennessee: The Dixon Gallery and Gardens, 1982. Text pp. 155, 167, no. 64 (checklist); fig. 38 (black & white detail).

"Minds Meet on Millet and Monet." Pioneer Press (January 20, 1983). Ill. (black & white as Marcelle).

Artner, Alan G. "French Art's Influence Shows Up in Scholarly Light." Chicago Tribune (January 21, 1983): 12. Ill. p. 12 (black & white as Marcelle).

Nochlin, Linda. Woman. (exh. cat., Terra Museum of American Art). Evanston, Illinois: Terra Museum of American Art, 1984. Ill. no. 32, p. 30 (color).

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Calo, Carole Gold et al. Impressionism and Post-Impressionism: The Collector's Passion. (exh. cat., Portland Museum of Art). Portland, Maine: Portland Museum of Art, 1991. Text pp. 103–104; ill. p. 103 (color).

Gerdts, William H. et al. Lasting Impressions: American Painters in France, 1865–1915. (exh. cat., Musée d'Art Américain Giverny). Chicago, Illinois: Terra Foundation for the Arts, 1992. Text p. 192; pl. 39, p. 194 (color).

Gerdts, William H. et al. Impressions de toujours: les peintres américains en France, 1865–1915. (exh. cat., Musée d'Art Américain Giverny). Chicago, Illinois: Terra Foundation for the Arts, 1992. Text p. 192; pl. 39, p. 194 (color).

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Bourguignon, Katherine M. and Elizabeth Kennedy. Un regard transatlantique. La collection d'art américain de Daniel J. Terra. Chicago, Illinois: Terra Foundation for the Arts, 2002. Text p. 31.

Bourguignon, Katherine M. and Elizabeth Kennedy. The People Work: American Perspectives, 1840–1940. (exh. cat., Terra Museum of American Art). Chicago, Illinois: Terra Foundation for the Arts, 2003. Text pp. 23, 27 (checklist); ill. p. 47 (color).

Bourguignon, Katherine M. and Elizabeth Kennedy. Le Travail à l'oeuvre: les artistes américains, 1840–1940. (exh. cat., Terra Museum of American Art). Chicago, Illinois: Terra Foundation for the Arts, 2003. Text pp. 23, 27 (checklist); ill. p. 47 (color).

Lévy, Sophie, et al. Twarze Ameryki: Portrety z kolekcji Terra Foundation for American Art, 1770–1940/Faces of America: Portraits from the collection of the Terra Foundation for American Art, 1770–1940. (exh. cat. International Cultural Center). Cracow, Poland: International Cultural Center, 2006. Ill. p. 105 (color).

Bourguignon, Katherine M. et al. Impressionist Giverny: A Colony of Artists, 1885–1915. (exh. cat. Musée d'Art Américain Giverny). Chicago, Illinois: Terra Foundation for American Art, 2007. Text p. 206 (checklist); cat. p. 158 (color). Bourguignon, Katherine M. "Impressionist Giverny: American Painters in France" American Art Review 20.3 (June 2008): 100-113. Ill. p.109 (color).