FRANK FREED (1906–1975)

Frank Freed was born in San Antonio, the only child of Louis and Fannie Freed, on February 15, 1906. In 1913 they moved to Houston and at a young age, Freed showed little signs of being an artist. Like most "folk" artists it wasn't until middle age or later when he began painting. Freed's parents brought him up exposed to contemporary adult issues being debated in their home and the community, such as women's suffrage and prohibition. They provided a strong background of civic and cultural affairs.

He studied literature at Harvard and pursued a career in journalism. Having graduated from Harvard in June 1927, he worked briefly in New York City, returned to Houston and then toured Europe in 1930. He tried writing briefly, but nothing materialized and instead worked with his father in the insurance business.

After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, he volunteered to join the Army in 1942. This experience was later seen as a liberation to him from a "too-comfortable routine in Houston." He traveled around Europe during the war, but it was his trip to Paris, that seemed to spark something inside of him. Like most artists, he was inspired by the night life, the street life, and the art exhibits. "Freed left France with experiences that had enriched his eye for the ironies and incongruities of life and with the idea of trying his hand at art." It seemed that he "could do something better" than what he had seen at the Paris exhibitions.

After his return from the war in 1947, he began courting an old friend, Eleanor, who later became his wife, and went on a week-long date in Manhattan, where he saw other inspiring exhibits. It was the exhibit of Ben Shahn that "floored" him at the Museum of Modern Art. Two months after the exhibition, he was enrolled in a painting class at the Museum School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.

It was through painting, rather than writing that he found a way to express himself. "The world of art" is a common theme throughout his paintings during the 1950s, depicting artists, art classes, collectors, auctions, museums, and gallery openings. Freed's paintings can be described as, "flat, simplified, strongly defined by line, and filled in with unmodeled colors that establish lively patterns of color and tonal contrasts."

Selected Biographical and Career Highlights:

1906 Born in San Antonio, Texas

1927 BA, English Literature, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts

1942–46 Served in U. S. Army

1948–50 Student, Museum School, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston

1950 Married Eleanor Kempner

1975 Died in Houston, Texas

Selected Exhibitions:

1948–49 10th Texas General Exhibition 1948-1949, circulated: Witte Museum, San Antonio; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, Texas

1949–52 24th–27th Annual Exhibit of Works by Houston Artists, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas

1950 Art of 49, Bute’s Art Gallery, Houston, Texas

1950 Art News National Amateur Painters’ Competition, Galleries of the National Academy of Design, New York, New York

1951 First Solo, Alley Theatre, Houston, Texas

1952 Paintings by the Harvard Class of 1927, Fogg Museum, Cambridge, Massachusetts

1953–55 Annual Art Rental Exhibit, Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston, Texas

1953 Festival of Jewish Art, Temple Emanuel, Houston, Texas

1954 29th Annual Exhibit of Works by Houston Artists, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas

1956 Frank Freed Paintings, Alley Theater, Houston, Texas

1957 Opening Exhibition, Cushman Gallery, Houston, Texas

1958 Eight Paintings by Frank Freed, Rudi’s Restaurant, Houston, Texas

1958–60 33rd–35th Annual Houston Artists, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas

1964 Jury Award Exhibition, Jewish Community Center, Houston, Texas

1964 Paintings by Frank Freed, Tall Timbers Club, Houston, Texas

1966 Show of Drawings, Jewish Community Center of Houston, Texas

1966 Made in Houston, Louisiana Gallery, Houston, Texas

1966 Six Southwest Artists, Kiko Galleries, Houston, Texas

1966 10th Anniversary Tekkei Kai Group Exhibition, Kyoto Municipal Museum, Japan

1966 Texas Painting and Sculpture Exhibition 1966, Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, Texas

1967 Invitational Group Show, Art League of Houston, Texas

1967 Annual Invitational Exhibit, Nicholson Memorial Library, Longview, Texas

1967 Dimension—Houston II 1967 Arts Festival Exhibit, Art League of Houston, Texas

1967 Artists of the Southeast and Texas Exhibition of Paintings and Sculpture, Delgado Museum of Art, New Orleans, Louisiana

1968 Spring Jury Exhibition, Texas Fine Arts Association, Laguna Gloria Art Museum, Austin, Texas

1968 Dimension—Houston III, Art League of Houston, Texas

1968 33rd Annual, Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown, Ohio

1968–69 Annual Sun Carnival Art Exhibition, El Paso Museum of Art, El Paso, Texas

1969 Paintings and Drawings from 1965 to 1969 by Frank Freed, Carol Lane Gallery, Houston, Texas

1970 Pinturas Recientes de Frank Freed, El Instituto Mexicano Notreamericano de Relaciones Culturales, Mexico City

1971 Dimension—Houston VI, Art League of Houston, Texas

1971 Main Street Art Happening, Houston Chamber of Commerce, Houston, Texas

1972 Paintings by Frank Freed, Meredith Long & Company, Houston, Texas

1972 Southwest Fine Arts Biennial, Museum of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico

1973 An American in France: Paintings by Frank Freed, Shamrock Hilton, Houston, Texas, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Alliance Française of Houston

1974 Frank Freed Paintings, Alley Theatre, Houston, Texas

1974 Annual Jury Award Art Exhibition, Jewish Community Center of Houston, Texas

1975 All Media Spring Membership Exhibit, Art League of Houston, Texas

1975 Houston Area Exhibition, Blaffer Gallery, University of Houston, Texas

1976 The American Jewish Festival, Congregation Emanu El, Houston, Texas

1978 Art and The Alphabet, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas

1979 FIRE! Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston, Texas (catalogue)

1979 A Survey of Texas Naïve Artists, Witte Museum, San Antonio, traveled to: Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Laguna Gloria Art Museum, Austin; Tyler Museum of Fine Arts, Tyler, Texas

1980 Eyes of Texas. Texas Folk Artists, Lawndale Art Center, Houston, Texas

1982 A Peaceable Kingdom: Animals in Art, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas

1982 In Our Time: Houston’s Contemporary Arts Museum, 1948–1982, Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston, Texas (catalogue)

1983 Frank Freed: People and Places, Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston, Texas

1984 Houston Figurative Art, College of the Mainland, Texas City, Texas

1985 Americans at Play: Realism between the World Wars, Davis Gallery, Houston, Texas

1985 Americans at Work: Realism between the World Wars, Transco Energy Company, Houston, Texas

1986 Texas Seen—Texas Made, San Antonio Museum of Art, San Antonio, Texas

1989–90 Another Reality, Hooks-Epstein Galleries, Inc., Houston, Texas, traveled to: Arkansas Art Center, Little Rock; McNay Art Museum, San Antonio; and other venues

1994 Solo, Frank Freed: Paintings and Drawings, 1946–1975, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas

1996 Solo, More Than a Constructive Hobby: The Paintings of Frank Freed, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas (catalogue)

2004 A Selection of Art Made in Houston 1950-1965, Brazos Projects, Brazos Bookstore, Houston, Texas

2006 Houston Art in Houston Collections: Works from 1900 to 1965, Heritage Society Museum, Houston, Texas

2011 Lone Star Modernism: A Celebration of Mid-Century Texas Art, William Reaves Fine Art, Houston, Texas

2012 A Survey of Texas Modernists, William Reaves Fine Art, Houston, Texas

2013 Rhythms of Modernism, William Reaves Fine Art, Houston, Texas

2013 Summer Encore Exhibition, William Reaves Fine Art, Houston, Texas

2014 Houston Founders at City Hall Art Exhibition, City Hall, Houston, Texas

2014 A New Visual Vocabulary: Developments in Texas Modernism 1935-1965, One Allen Center, Lobby Gallery, Houston, Texas

2015 Bayou City Chic: Progressive Streams of Modern Art in Houston, Art Museum of South Texas, Corpus Christi, Texas (catalogue)

Selected Public Collections:

Israel Museum, Jerusalem, Israel

McNay Art Museum, San Antonio, Texas

Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas

University of Texas at Austin, Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center, Austin, Texas

Frank Freed

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