1940s Frederick Thompson Nautical Framed Still Life Oil Painting on Canvas

Description

Still life oil painting titled "Seafarer". Painted on canvas by listed artist Frederick Thompson. Signed in the lower right corner … more Still life oil painting titled "Seafarer". Painted on canvas by listed artist Frederick Thompson. Signed in the lower right corner and dated 1945. Features an abalone shell holding a pipe next to a glass fishing float and another small shell. Framed with linen matting in a craved wooden gold frame.
Framed 24" x 20"
Canvas 16" x 12.25"

FREDERICK THOMPSON was born in New York City on October 16, 1904. His father was of Scandinavian origin and his mother was of German, and English origin. Little is known of his paternal grandparents who died when his father was a child. His maternal grandparents were prosperous middle-class people who played an important role in his life. His grandfather Frederick Sprauer owned and operated a large brush manufacturing company, which he sold following the first World War. He then became affiliated with the Manufacturers Trust Company and served many years as President.

As a child, the artist and his parents lived in an old brownstone house in the Brooklyn area. Though he was an only child, his parents shared him with his grandparents and he spent more than average time with them. His early interest in Art was so formidable, the grandparents felt it advisable to lend support and foster its development. When he was still a young man, his grandmother died and left him a legacy that enabled him to pursue formal Art Studies at The New York School of Design and The Arts Students League in New York City.

While there, he studied first with Douglas John Connah and later with Frank Dumond. Though his mother was aware of his profound temperament and sensibility to Art, she disapproved of a career that might bring dubious monetary results. She believed a career in business would be more practical and, being a determined woman of strong will she gave him only a begrudging approval. After a five-year period of formal training, he moved to Gramercy Park New York City to share a sky-lighted studio with David Cohen, a former classmate, whose own parents held similar views on the doubtful rewards of Art as a career. Finally, the authority of Mr. Cohen's parents prevailed, and David Cohen went into his father's business; thus, ending a three-year association.

Frederick Thompson remained steadfast to his ideals and he continued to paint. There were lean years ahead, keeping the studio by himself became extremely difficult and he finally had to give it up and establish his working activities in the bleak and hostile atmosphere of his parents' home, He managed to sustain himself for years doing copies of his favorite Masters, painting portraits of friends and acquaintances which he sold for a pittance. Meanwhile, he continued to work assiduously doing as many still life as he could, and as often as possible he would join sketch groups when models were available, thus giving himself an opportunity to draw from life.

In 1938, he married Melida Ouellette, and they established themselves in Pittsfield, Massachusetts where they remained until 1941. It was there that he began to develop fully the type of painting he had always wanted to do. Realism in the trompe l'oeil manner became his steadfast objective. He felt that an artist could through the medium of paint surpass the reality of the camera which can at best produce a picture with only a single dimension. He believed one can achieve three-dimensional effects only with the aid of pigments.

This became his goal. For the first time in his adult life, he found himself in an atmosphere of total freedom, warmth, and love. Indeed, only then was he living in an environment that was entirely pleasing and fully compatible with his taste and temperament. This harmony resulted in a very rapid development of his talent, and his work soon attracted the attention of Stuart Henry, Director of the Pittsfield Museum where in 1941 he was given a one-man show. This exhibition was well received and there followed more and better portrait commissions and deeper involvement in the Art World where at last he was finding his place.

In 1941, the artist and his wife returned to New York City where they continued to live for ten years in the old studio building at 39 West 67th Street. There he continued to paint portraits on commission and still lifes. During the war years, he executed a number of commissions for some of the major advertising agencies. In 1950, his mother offered him a house that she owned in Hollis, Queens. The artist and his wife left Manhattan reluctantly, but they soon adapted to their new surroundings, It was there on June 26, 1956, the artist met his untimely death very suddenly of myocardial infarction.

During the 18 years of his marriage, Frederick Thompson had come into his own, He achieved full mastery of his technique and during this comparatively brief span of time, he produced a remarkable body of work. While he continued to receive portrait commissions, he considered still life painting more creative and challenging, and he produced a large number of these. In his study, he kept a notebook of ideas that he intended to use in the projected compositions; the search for these objects consumed a great deal of time as it involved countless trips to bric a brac, curio, and antique shops throughout the City of New York and its environs. He rarely spent over one week on a canvas, as he tried to make every stroke of his brush productive. Once a painting was completed, it held no further interest for him, and so he went from one work to another pursuing new ideas and registering these on canvas.

Frederick Thompson was a man of many dimensions. When he was not painting much time reading and writing. He enjoyed long walks in the crowded New York City streets, observing the passing scene of humanity. He also had a deep interest in Music, the Theater, and the Ballet." less