Robert Freimark, Abstract Expressionist Watercolor Painting Mexican Farm Worker Robert Freimark, 1963

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Robert Freimark (1922 - 2010), Watercolor painting of a Farm Laborer in Mexico Hand signed and dated 1961 upper right, … Read more Robert Freimark (1922 - 2010), Watercolor painting of a Farm Laborer in Mexico Hand signed and dated 1961 upper right, Dimensions: 24.5 inches x 30.25 inches, image is 16.75 X 23 Robert Freimark (1922 - 2010) Bob Freimark was active/lived in Ohio, California, Michigan. Known for West Coast abstract expressionist painting, figurative-Mexico, teaching. Subject matter for which known: "I am an abstract-expressionist, but I am committed to the belief that all artists must thoroughly know and pursue the figure and the figurative genre, in the same sense that a pianist regularly practices the scale." His family moved to Toledo, Ohio in 1932 where Freimark developed his boxing skills participating in Golden Gloves competitions before joining the U.S. Navy and serving in the Pacific from 1939 to 1946. Upon his return he enrolled at the University of Toledo on the G.I. Bill, graduating in 1950 with a BA in creative writing, as well the Toledo Museum of Art where he studied with Hal Lotterman and Harvey Littleton. He then received his MFA in painting from the Cranbrook Academy of Art in Michigan, studying architecture under Eliel Saarinen and sculpture under Carl Milles. He was deeply involved in sports, particularly boxing and football. He won the Diamond Belt Tournament in Detroit and got to meet Joe Louis and Jack Dempsey. After the war Freimark attended the University of Toledo, and studied with Hal Lotterman and Harvey Littleton, plus an excellent faculty at the Toledo Museum of Art. He went on to gain a Masters in Fine Arts at Cranbrook Academy of Art, where he was tutored by Eliel Saarinen in architecture and Carl Milles in sculpture. Following Cranbrook, he returned to Toledo, where he lived near Israel Abramofsky, who had been one of the expatriates in Paris during the blooming of Modern art. Later he studied with Max Weber, from that same period. His suite of serigraphs, "Fifty States," toured Europe in 1970-71 and includes one example of each of the U.S. fifty states. His outdoor painting classes led him to set up the Artist in Residence program for the National Parks, which he initiated at Yosemite in 1984. Freimarks travels abroad introduced him to Art Protis, the tapestry technique perfected in Communist Czechoslovakia, where he worked seasonally for 25 years, immersed in a technique that was very related to painting. Film-making occupied a good deal of his time at the turn of the century. In 2005 he had completed "El Dia Tarasco" in Mexico, "Arte Cubano" in Cuba, "Los Desaparecidos" in Argentina, and "Royal Chicano Air Force" in California. Known for Contemporary Art, 20th Century Art, Abstract Landscape, Tapestry and Wall Hanging, Painting, Textile Arts, Political art. "I consider myself a painter. But to be a painter, you have to under-stand line, and drawing. Drawing leads directly into print-making. And finally there is sculpture, and architecture, to house the art." "I was motivated by the people before me, Henri Matisse and Paul Cezanne particularly, and eventually Willem De Kooning. I understood from those early masters that it is the province and discipline of an artist to utilize whatever media he confronts, or whatever exists around him, and particularly the media most pertinent to the subject at hand." In 1972-73 Freimark was Guest Artist at Harvard University's Carpenter Center for Visual Arts, where he was responsible for starting the lithographic studio. In 1981 he and Warren Haack filmed Dias de Los Muertos in Mexico. They collaborated on three more documentaries: Arte Cubano, Los Desaparecidos and Royal Chicano Air Force. Freimark set-up the Artist-in-Residence program for the National Parks, which he initiated at Yosemite in 1984. ONE-PERSON EXHIBITIONS: Rockefeller Center (sponsor: Prang Crayon Co.), 1954 Des Moines Art Center, 1959 Minneapolis Institute of Art, 1960 North American Cultural Institute, Mexico City, 1963 Santa Barbara Museum of Art, CA, 1965 Exhibition "Fifty States" toured Europe: Moravske Museum, Brno, Czechoslovakia; International People's College, Helsinger, Denmark; Galerie Alliance, Copenhagen; vaerksted fur Grafisk Kunst, Hjorring, Denmark; Newton Abbot School of Art, Ikon Gallery, Dartington Hall in Totnes, Centre for American Studies at Exeter University Ball in England, Schiller College, Bonnigheim, Germany. "Fifty States", official U.S. Bicentennial offering, in Amerika Hausen, Germany. Visitor's Center, Yosemite National Park, 1985 Joslyn Center for Arts, Torrance, CA, 1987 Triton Museum of Art, Santa Clara, CA, 1990 Stara Radnice, Brno and Strahov Kloster, National Palace, Prague, 1990 Galerie Katinae (Studio of Corot), St. Ceneri le Gerei, France, 1992 Art Expo, NYC, 2000 Dakar Biennale, Senegal, 2002 GROUP EXHIBITIONS: "Drawings of 12 Countries," Chicago Art Institute, 1952 Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art, Lambert Fund Prize, 1952 Brooklyn Print Biennial, Brooklyn Museum of Art, Purchase Award, 1960 International Watercolor Biennial, Brooklyn Museum of Art, 1963 Olympic Games, Moscow, American representative, 1980 Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris, "Enrichments of the Print Cabinet," 1989 Boston Museum of Fine Arts, "Screen Prints 1930s-1960s", 1991 Hotel Cosima, Tokyo, Japan, Installation: Tapestry and Paintings, 1994 Graphic Arts International, Portland Art Museum, OR, Purchase Award, 1997 Japan Contemporary Arts and Crafts, Tokyo Museum, Invited, 1995 National Works on Paper, University of Hawaii, Hilo, 1996 International Print Triennial, Krakow, Poland, 1997-98 Boston Print Symposium, Harvard and Boston Museum, Invited, 1997 Museum of Arts Downtown Los Angeles, 1997 Honolulu Academy of Fine Arts, "Lithography After 200 Years," 1998 Mini-Print International, Cadaques, Spain, circulating 1 year, 2002 Egyptian International Print Triennial, Cairo, 2003 Dahlonega International Film Festival, Atlanta, Freedom Award, 2003 Hungarian Multi-Cultural Exhibition, Vizivaros Gallery, Budapest, 2004 PERMANENT COLLECTIONS Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris, France Boston Museum of Fine Arts, MA British Museum, London Cranbrook Museum of Art, Bloomfield Hills, MI Florean Museum, Carbunari, Romania Fogg Museum, Cambridge, MA Gilkey Center for Graphic Arts, Portland, OR (complete prints over 600) Kyoto International Woodprint Association, Japan Library of Congress, Washington, DC Los Angeles County Art Institute, CA Museo de Arte Contemporaneo, Panama City, Panama Museo Emilio Bacardi, Santiago de Cuba Museo Nacional de Costa Rica, San Jose, CR Museo Nacional de Cuba, La Habana, Cuba Museum of the International Triennial of Graphic Arts, Sofia, Bulgaria National Gallery, Prague, Czech Republic National Museum of American History (over 100 works) Washington, DC Seattle Art Museum, WA National Museum of Fine Arts, Cairo, Egypt Museo Guayasamin, Quito, Ecuador Select bibliography: MOSAIC ART TODAY, Larry Argiro, 1961. International Textbooks Company SERIGRAPHY, Kenneth W. Auvil, 1965. Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1965. GRAPHIC DESIGN AND VISUAL COMMUNICATION, John W. Cataldo, 1966. WATERCOLOR PAINTING, Yar G. Chomicky, 1968. Prentice-Hall, Inc. THE RUG BOOK, Lillian Quirke, Prentice-Hall, 1979. BEYOND WEAVING, Chamberlain and Crockett, 1974. Watson-Guptill Publ. CALIFORNIA ARTISTS COOKBOOK, Blank and Seymour, 1982. Abbeville Press WINE AUCTION, San Jose Museum of Art, 1985. 45pp. Illus. pg. 15. ENCYCLOPEDIA OF LIVING ARTISTS IN AMERICA, Constance Franklin, EROTIC ART BY LIVING ARTISTS, Constance Franklin, 1988. Directors Guild. VITREOGRAPH LITTLETON STUDIOS, Kala Institute, Berkeley, CA, Mar., 1994. BOHUMIL VRZAL, Point Gallery, Brno, Czech Republic, 2000. 204 pp., color. See less