Lilies

Frederick Frieseke's Lilies is one of many paintings celebrating leisure life in the setting of a floral garden in Giverny, France. The title emphasizes the tall white blooms massed against the wall of the house behind two women gathering outdoors for an open-air tea. The artist's wife, Sadie O'Bryan Frieseke, with her back to the viewer, pours from a tall blue pot into yellow teacups as a companion, said to be her sister, Janet O'Bryan Gely, approaches the table from behind her chair. The painting's dominant colors of greens and white, applied in a lively mosaic of short, choppy brushstrokes, are set off by the gold tones of the visible underpainting. The standing woman's gown echoes the white blossoms behind her while the wooden furniture, painted the same pale green as the shutters and trellis that adorn the house's façade, reflect the deeper verdure of the garden.

A summer resident of Giverny between 1906 and 1919, Frieseke was a leading member of a largely American expatriate colony of artists whose pleasing light-filled paintings of women, characterized by patterned brushwork and bright pastel color, embody the aesthetic often known as "decorative impressionism." Frieseke made a specialty of a widely popular subject: the woman surrounded by flowers in a garden, the theme of two other works in the Terra Foundation's collection: Lady in a Garden (TF 1999.52) and Breakfast in the Garden (TF 1987.21). The green garden furniture visible in the latter appears also in Lilies: both may have been painted in the garden of Le Hameau (The Hamlet), a house the Friesekes may have occupied and where the painter certainly worked and taught the visiting American women art students of Mary C. Wheeler (1846–1920), an artist and educator from Rhode Island who leased the property.

Along with many of Frieseke's other paintings set in the garden, Lilies shows it as a place for social interaction. The artist often painted in the garden while his wife read aloud or enjoyed the company of family friends, both male and female. His paintings, however, present the garden as a safely enclosed, wholly female sphere. In this work the lily, a traditional emblem of female purity, reinforces Frieseke's interpretation of the garden as a private preserve for the women. To underscore the exclusive intimacy of the tea party, Frieseke places his figures on a narrow path that barely admits their large chairs. A thin floral border separates the diagonal path from the foreground lawn, heightening its separation from the viewer. Lilles pictures the cozy domestic serenity in Giverny and is consistent with current taste for images of women at leisure in garden settings.

Paintings by Frederick C. Frieseke, Worcester Art Museum, Worcester, Massachusetts, February 18–March 11, 1912, no. 15.

Twenty-ninth Annual Exhibition, Rochester Art Club, Rochester, New York, 1912, no. 59.

[possibly exhibited] Twenty-fifth Annual Exhibition, The Art Institute of Chicago, Illinois, November 5–December 8, 1912 (perhaps as no. 91).

[possibly exhibited] Fourth Biennial, The Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., December 12, 1912–January 26, 1913 (perhaps as no. 130).

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.]

Selections from the Permanent Collection: Americans at Home and Abroad, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venue: Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, November 6–29, 1987.

American Painters in France, 1830–1930, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venue: Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, June 14–September 3, 1989. [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.

Frederick Carl Frieseke: The Evolution of an American Impressionist, Telfair Museum of Art, Savannah, Georgia (organizer). Venues: Telfair Museum of Art, Savannah, Georgia, March 13–June 3, 2001; The Dixon Gallery and Gardens, Memphis, Tennessee, June 23–August 18, 2001; San Diego Museum of Art, San Diego, California, September 15–November 10, 2001; Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, December 1, 2001–February 3, 2002. [exh. cat.]

D'une colonie à une collection: le Musée d'Art Américain Giverny fête ses dix ans (From a Colony to a Collection: Celebrating the Tenth Anniversary of the Musée d'Art Américain Giverny), Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France (organizer). Venue: Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France, March 30–June 16, 2002.

A Place on the Avenue: Terra Museum of American Art Celebrates 15 Years in Chicago, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venue: Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, November 16, 2002–February 16, 2003.

Giverny en fleurs (Giverny in Bloom), Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France (organizer). Venue: Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France, March 2–November 30, 2003 (on exhibit partial run: March 2–August 17, 2003).

Copley to Cassatt: Masterworks from the Terra Collection, New Britain Museum of American Art, New Britain, Connecticut, and Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venue: New Britain Museum of American Art, New Britain, Connecticut, September 5–December 7, 2003.

En plein air: personnages dans un paysage (En Plein Air: Figures in a Landscape), Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France (organizer). Venue: Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France, April 1–October 31, 2004.

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.

Monet and the Artists of Giverny: The Beginning of American Impressionism, The Bunkamura Museum of Art, Tokyo, Japan with the Terra Foundation for American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizers). Venues: Kitakyushu Municipal Museum of Art, Kitakyushu, Japan, October 9–November 28, 2010; The Bunkamura Museum of Art, Tokyo, Japan, December 7, 2010–February 17, 2011; The Okayama Prefectural Museum of Art, Okayama, Japan, February 25–April 10, 2011. [exh. cat.]

Art Across America, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, California; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas; National Museum of Korea, Seoul, South Korea; Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Terra Foundation for American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizers). Venues: National Museum of Korea, Seoul, February 4– May 12, 2013; Daejeon Museum of Art, Daejeon, South Korea, June 7–September 1, 2013. [exh. cat.]

Monet and American Impressionism, Samuel P. Harn Museum of Art, Gainesville, Florida in partnership with Telfair Museums, Savannah, Georgia and Hunter Museum of American Art, Chattanooga, Tennessee (organizers). Venues: Samuel P. Harn Museum of Art, Gainesville, Florida, February 3–May 24, 2015; Hunter Museum of American Art, Chattanooga, Tennessee, June 27–September 20, 2015; Telfair Museum's Jepson Center for the Arts, Savannah, Georgia, October 16, 2015–January 24, 2016. [exh. cat.]

Kilmer, Nicholas and Ben L. Summerford. A Retrospective of the Work of F. C. Frieseke. (exh. cat., Maxwell Galleries, Ltd.). San Francisco, California: Maxwell Galleries, Ltd., 1982. Ill. p. 14.

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-158, p. 267 (color).

Southgate, M. Therese. "The Cover." The Journal of the American Medical Association 266:2 (July 10, 1991): 181. Text p. 181; ill. cover (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. 37, p. 191 (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. 37, p. 191 (color).

De Vries-Evans, Susanna. The Impressionists Revealed: Masterpieces from Private Collections. Auckland, New Zealand: David Bateman, Ltd., 1992. Ill. pp. 146–47 (color).

Fell, Derek. The Impressionist Garden. London, England: Frances Lincoln Limited, 1994. p. 130.

Gomes, Rosalie. Impressions of Giverny: A Painter's Paradise 1883–1914. San Francisco, California: Pomegranate Artbooks, 1995. Text pp. 96, 101, 116; pl. 66, p. 100 (color).

Laws, Bill. Artists' Gardens. London, England: Ward Lock, 1999. Ill. p. 164 (color).

Joyes, Claire. The Taste of Giverny: At Home with Monet and the American Impressionists. Paris, France: Flammarion, 2000. Ill. p. 79 and back cover (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. Ill. p. 151 (color).

Mancoff, Debra N. Monet's Garden in Art. London, England: Frances Lincoln Limited, 2001. Ill. pp. 76 (color detail), 92–93 (color detail).

Bourguignon, Katherine M. and Elizabeth Kennedy. An American Point of View: The Daniel J. Terra Collection. Chicago, Illinois: Terra Foundation for the Arts, 2002. Text p. 31; ill. p. 32 (color).

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; ill. p. 32 (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 pp. 52, 152, 206 (checklist); cat. p. 156 (color).

Bourguignon, Katherine M. "Impressionist Giverny: American Painters in France" American Art Review 20.3 (June 2008): 100-113. Ill. p.110 (color).

Bourguignon, Katherine M., Shunsuke Kijima and Sanjiro Minamikawa. Monet and the Artists of Giverny: The Beginning of American Impressionism. (exh. cat. Kitakyushu Municipal Museum of Art, The Bunkamura Museum of Art, Tokyo, and The Okayama Prefectural Museum of Art). Fukuoka, Japan: The Nishinippon Shimbun, 2010. Text cat. no. 74, pp. 135 (in Japanese), 190 (in English); ill. p. 135 (color), opposite p. 135 (detail) (color).

Román, Dulce M. Monet and American Impressionism. (exh. cat. Samuel P. Harn Museum of Art, University of Florida, Gainesville). Gainesville, Florida: University of Florida, 2015. Text pp.68-70; ill. p. 69 (color), p. 113 (color).