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William Merritt Chase
American Art Association, Sale of the Collection of William Merritt Chase, Plaza Hotel, 1912
Private collection
Descended in family
Berry-Hill Galleries, Inc., New York, New York
Daniel J. Terra Collection, Chicago, Illinois, 1983
Terra Foundation for the Arts Collection, Chicago, Illinois, 1999
Exhibition HistoryPublished References
Frederick Carl Frieseke
(American, 1874–1939)
The Green Sash
1904
Oil on canvas
Image: 46 x 32 in. (116.8 x 81.3 cm)
Frame: 65 1/2 x 51 9/16 in. (166.4 x 131.0 cm)
Frame: 65 1/2 x 51 9/16 in. (166.4 x 131.0 cm)
Credit LineTerra Foundation for American Art, Daniel J. Terra Collection
Object number1999.54
SignedLower left: F.C. Frieseke/Paris 04
InterpretationIn Frederick Carl Frieseke’s The Green Sash, an elegantly dressed woman assumes a graceful stance as she gathers the tiered skirt of her white dress in her left hand. Her gesture and the painting’s title evoke her attempt to scrutinize in an unseen mirror the brilliant emerald-colored sash that spills down the back of her dress. Its sensuous curve, mimicking the woman’s body, emphasizes the spiraling twist of her dance-like pose. The figure is set against the warm tone of a pale-gold wall, a boldly patterned rug, and a drapery with a speckled pattern that echoes the spotted veil covering but not concealing her face. Her averted gaze, along with the tipped-up perspective of the setting, suggests the viewer’s somewhat elevated position in relation to the model.
The Green Sash was painted in Paris, where Frieseke lived at number 6, rue Victor Considérant, just upstairs from American painter Alson Skinner Clark (1876–1949) and his new wife, Medora. Frieseke and Clark were friends from their student days in New York (and possibly earlier, in Chicago), and also had studied together in the Académie Carmen, the school established in 1898 in Paris by influential expatriate American artist James McNeill Whistler and sculptor Frederick MacMonnies. In the three years before Frieseke’s own marriage, in 1905, he and the Clarks were close friends. Medora posed frequently for both, wearing the white dress that appears in The Green Sash in at least one of her husband’s paintings of her.
As demonstrated by Joseph DeCamp’s The Violinist (TF 1999.43) and Richard Miller’s The White Shawl (TF 1992.50), American artists at the turn of the twentieth century were enamored of the subject of the woman engrossed in a solitary activity or in contemplation of an object as beautiful as herself, especially an article of feminine attire. Whistler had pioneered the imagery of the female figure as a vehicle for purely formal, non-narrative composition in which forms and colors are arranged for pleasing effect within a unified whole. The Green Sash reveals Frieseke’s deep indebtedness to Whistler in both subject and approach, while it indicates his further engagement with other sources. The flattened perspective and the coiled movement of the figure lapped in the folds of her garment recall the many stylized images of elaborately dressed women in Japanese ukiyo-e (woodblock prints), which had inspired Whistler himself. The flowing lines and dance-like grace of Frieseke’s model, meanwhile, are informed by the contemporary stylistic movement in the graphic arts known as art nouveau. One of the most ambitious paintings produced by Frieseke during his formative years as a painter and a synthesis of important currents in American painting, The Green Sash was awarded a silver medal at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis the year it was painted, and became the property of prominent American artist William Merritt Chase.
The Green Sash was painted in Paris, where Frieseke lived at number 6, rue Victor Considérant, just upstairs from American painter Alson Skinner Clark (1876–1949) and his new wife, Medora. Frieseke and Clark were friends from their student days in New York (and possibly earlier, in Chicago), and also had studied together in the Académie Carmen, the school established in 1898 in Paris by influential expatriate American artist James McNeill Whistler and sculptor Frederick MacMonnies. In the three years before Frieseke’s own marriage, in 1905, he and the Clarks were close friends. Medora posed frequently for both, wearing the white dress that appears in The Green Sash in at least one of her husband’s paintings of her.
As demonstrated by Joseph DeCamp’s The Violinist (TF 1999.43) and Richard Miller’s The White Shawl (TF 1992.50), American artists at the turn of the twentieth century were enamored of the subject of the woman engrossed in a solitary activity or in contemplation of an object as beautiful as herself, especially an article of feminine attire. Whistler had pioneered the imagery of the female figure as a vehicle for purely formal, non-narrative composition in which forms and colors are arranged for pleasing effect within a unified whole. The Green Sash reveals Frieseke’s deep indebtedness to Whistler in both subject and approach, while it indicates his further engagement with other sources. The flattened perspective and the coiled movement of the figure lapped in the folds of her garment recall the many stylized images of elaborately dressed women in Japanese ukiyo-e (woodblock prints), which had inspired Whistler himself. The flowing lines and dance-like grace of Frieseke’s model, meanwhile, are informed by the contemporary stylistic movement in the graphic arts known as art nouveau. One of the most ambitious paintings produced by Frieseke during his formative years as a painter and a synthesis of important currents in American painting, The Green Sash was awarded a silver medal at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis the year it was painted, and became the property of prominent American artist William Merritt Chase.
William Merritt Chase
American Art Association, Sale of the Collection of William Merritt Chase, Plaza Hotel, 1912
Private collection
Descended in family
Berry-Hill Galleries, Inc., New York, New York
Daniel J. Terra Collection, Chicago, Illinois, 1983
Terra Foundation for the Arts Collection, Chicago, Illinois, 1999
Exhibition History
Louisiana Purchase Exposition, American Oil Painting Section, St. Louis, Missouri, 1904, cat. 268 (as The Green Bow) [won silver medal].
Seventeenth Annual Exhibition of Oil Paintings and Sculpture by American Artists, The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, October 20 - November 27, 1904, no. 136.
100th Annual Exhibition, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, January 23–March 4, 1905, no. 703.
Continuities: American Figure Painting, 1900–1950, Berry-Hill Galleries, Inc., New York, New York, October 11–November 5, 1983. [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.]
La Femme, The Dixon Gallery and Gardens, Memphis, Tennessee, November 10, 1984–January 13, 1985.
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.
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.
Frederick C. Frieseke: Women in Repose, Berry-Hill Galleries, Inc., New York, New York (organizer). Venue: Berry-Hill Galleries, Inc., New York, New York, May 2–June 23, 1990. [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 French Experience, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venue: Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, April 12–August 27, 1997.
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.
Paris and the American Woman, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venue: Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, January 19–April 14, 2002.
The French Experience: American Artists at Giverny, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venue: Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, July 27–October 20, 2002.
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.]
Portrait of a Lady : peintures et photographies américaines en France, 1870–1915 (Portrait of a Lady: American Paintings and Photographs in France, 1870–1915), Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, Giverny, France and Musée des Beaux-Arts de Bordeaux, Bordeaux, France (organizers). Venues: Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, Giverny, France, April 1–July 14, 2008; Musée des Beaux-Arts de Bordeaux, Bordeaux, France, September 25, 2008–January 5, 2009. [exh. cat.]
Seventeenth Annual Exhibition of Oil Paintings and Sculpture by American Artists, The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, October 20 - November 27, 1904, no. 136.
100th Annual Exhibition, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, January 23–March 4, 1905, no. 703.
Continuities: American Figure Painting, 1900–1950, Berry-Hill Galleries, Inc., New York, New York, October 11–November 5, 1983. [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.]
La Femme, The Dixon Gallery and Gardens, Memphis, Tennessee, November 10, 1984–January 13, 1985.
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.
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.
Frederick C. Frieseke: Women in Repose, Berry-Hill Galleries, Inc., New York, New York (organizer). Venue: Berry-Hill Galleries, Inc., New York, New York, May 2–June 23, 1990. [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 French Experience, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venue: Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, April 12–August 27, 1997.
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.
Paris and the American Woman, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venue: Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, January 19–April 14, 2002.
The French Experience: American Artists at Giverny, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venue: Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, July 27–October 20, 2002.
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.]
Portrait of a Lady : peintures et photographies américaines en France, 1870–1915 (Portrait of a Lady: American Paintings and Photographs in France, 1870–1915), Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, Giverny, France and Musée des Beaux-Arts de Bordeaux, Bordeaux, France (organizers). Venues: Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, Giverny, France, April 1–July 14, 2008; Musée des Beaux-Arts de Bordeaux, Bordeaux, France, September 25, 2008–January 5, 2009. [exh. cat.]
Taylor, E. A. "The American Colony of Artists in Paris." International Studio 43 (June 1911): 271–73. Text p. 273; ill. p. 271.
New York Sun (March 9, 1912).
New York Herald (March 9, 1912).
New York Times (March 9, 1912).
Continuities: American Figure Painting, 1900–1950. (exh. cat., Berry-Hill Galleries, Inc.). New York: Berry-Hill Galleries, Inc., 1983. Cat. 10, frontispiece.
The Magazine Antiques 124:6 (December 1983): 1070. Ill. p. 1070 (color).
Nochlin, Linda. Woman. (exh. cat., Terra Museum of American Art). Evanston, Illinois: Terra Museum of American Art, 1984. Ill. no. 30, p. 28 (color).
Sokol, David M. "The Terra Museum of American Art, Evanston, Illinois." The Magazine Antiques 126:5 (November 1984): 1156–69. Pl. XIV, p. 1161 (color).
Atkinson, D. Scott et al. A Proud Heritage: Two Centuries of American Art. Edited by Terry A. Neff. (exh. cat., Terra Museum of American Art). Chicago, Illinois: Terra Foundation for the Arts, 1987. Pl. T-155, p. 264 (color).
Chambers, Bruce W. Frederick C. Frieseke, Women in Repose. (exh. cat., Berry-Hill Galleries, Inc.). New York: Berry-Hill Galleries, Inc., 1990. Text p. 45 (checklist); cat. 3, p. 17 (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. 188; pl. 35, p. 189 (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. 188; pl. 35, p. 189 (color).
Kilmer, Nicholas et al. Frederick Carl Frieseke: The Evolution of an American Impressionist. (exh. cat., Telfair Museum of Art). Savannah, Georgia: Telfair Museum of Art in association with Princeton University Press, 2001. Text p. 25; fig. 1.14, p. 25 (black & white).
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. 96 (color). Carr, Carolyn Kinder. Sara Tyson Hallowell: Pioneer Curator and Art Advisor in the Gilded Age. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Scholarly Press, 2019. Text pp.242, 332; ill. p. 243 (color).
New York Sun (March 9, 1912).
New York Herald (March 9, 1912).
New York Times (March 9, 1912).
Continuities: American Figure Painting, 1900–1950. (exh. cat., Berry-Hill Galleries, Inc.). New York: Berry-Hill Galleries, Inc., 1983. Cat. 10, frontispiece.
The Magazine Antiques 124:6 (December 1983): 1070. Ill. p. 1070 (color).
Nochlin, Linda. Woman. (exh. cat., Terra Museum of American Art). Evanston, Illinois: Terra Museum of American Art, 1984. Ill. no. 30, p. 28 (color).
Sokol, David M. "The Terra Museum of American Art, Evanston, Illinois." The Magazine Antiques 126:5 (November 1984): 1156–69. Pl. XIV, p. 1161 (color).
Atkinson, D. Scott et al. A Proud Heritage: Two Centuries of American Art. Edited by Terry A. Neff. (exh. cat., Terra Museum of American Art). Chicago, Illinois: Terra Foundation for the Arts, 1987. Pl. T-155, p. 264 (color).
Chambers, Bruce W. Frederick C. Frieseke, Women in Repose. (exh. cat., Berry-Hill Galleries, Inc.). New York: Berry-Hill Galleries, Inc., 1990. Text p. 45 (checklist); cat. 3, p. 17 (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. 188; pl. 35, p. 189 (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. 188; pl. 35, p. 189 (color).
Kilmer, Nicholas et al. Frederick Carl Frieseke: The Evolution of an American Impressionist. (exh. cat., Telfair Museum of Art). Savannah, Georgia: Telfair Museum of Art in association with Princeton University Press, 2001. Text p. 25; fig. 1.14, p. 25 (black & white).
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. 96 (color). Carr, Carolyn Kinder. Sara Tyson Hallowell: Pioneer Curator and Art Advisor in the Gilded Age. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Scholarly Press, 2019. Text pp.242, 332; ill. p. 243 (color).