Robert Freiman (1917 – 1991)

Interior (Untitled), 1958, watercolor and ink on paper mounted on cardboard, signed and dated lower right, 11 ½ x 16 ½ inches (sight); 12 x 18 inches (sheet); inscribed lower left “To John Robert Happy days ahead for you! From Bob”, unframed

$850

Robert Freiman was a New York-based painter who favored watercolor and ink compositions. From early childhood, he was fascinated by drawing. Born deaf, Freiman attended the Wright Oral School and Lexington School for the Deaf before pursuing art studies at the National Academy of Design (with Robert Brackman and Wayman Adams), Pratt Institute, Art Students League and Parsons School of Design. Through diligent study, Freiman learned to speak not only English, but also French. His early acquisition of speech, as well as a keen ability to read lips, allowed Freiman to lead a remarkably full life as a successful professional artist. He also studied in Paris at the Ecole des Beaux Arts where he won the French Republic First Prize at Fontainebleau in 1950.  Although adept at portraying interiors, he was best known for portraiture and depicting figures in motion, such as acrobats, cyclists, dancers and athletes. Early in his career, Freiman’s paintings were realistic, but he later adopted a more abstract and surreal style, particularly metaphysical landscapes filled with mystical towers and other structures. Freiman exhibited at the New Britain Museum of American Art, Mint Museum (Charlotte), Columbia Museum of Art (South Carolina), Bruce Museum (Connecticut), Doll & Richards Gallery (Boston), the Newport Art Association, and Roerich Gallery (New York). Freiman’s works are in the permanent collections of the National Gallery of Art, Museum of Fine Arts Boston, New Britain Museum of American Art, and the Farnsworth Art Museum and he was a member of the American Watercolor Society.