SKU: 11190
Barnett Freedman
(1901 - 1958)
The farmer and his wife, at the roadside, mid 1920’s
£1,900
Barnett Freedman (1901 - 1958)
£7,750
Oil on canvas
Size:
Height – 66cm
Width – 41.3cm
1 in stock
Literature: Llewellyn, Sacha, and Paul Liss. Portrait of an Artist. Liss Llewellyn, 2021, p.187.
Claudia Freedman’s output was relatively small, but her talent – though never fully given the chance to flourish – was arguably a worth rival to that of Barnett Freedman’s. She studied at Liverpool School of Art and the Royal College of Art. Working initially under her maiden name, she took the name Claudia Freedman from 1930 when the two were declared as married, although they had secretly married when they first met at the Royal College of Art in 1924. They lived in two rooms near the Euston Road, one of which Freedman used as a studio.
Claudia Guercio at her engagement to Barnett Freedman
A portrait of Charles Mahoney shows a similar setting and pose
Charles Mahoney at Stanhipe Street, Ben Uri Art Gallery and Msueum
We are grateful to Vince Freedman, the artist’s son, for his assistance.
Illustrator, painter, printmaker and teacher, Freedman was born to Russian Jewish immigrants living in poverty in the East End of London. In 1916, he worked as draughtsman to a monumental mason, and at the same time took evening classes at St Martin’s School of Art. In 1922, he won a three-year scholarship to the Royal College of Art. In 1928, he joined the staff of the Royal College, and not long afterwards began to teach at the Ruskin School of Art, Oxford. He soon became a pioneer in the revival of colour lithography. He was an Official War Artist in World War II. By the time of his death Freedman had established an enviable reputation as an illustrator and designer of posters, stamps, books and book-jackets. He believed that there was no such thing as commercial art, ‘only good art and bad art’. His first exhibition was held in 1929 at the Literary Bookshop, Bloomsbury. A memorial exhibition was organised by the Arts Council in 1958. Manchester Polytechnic, which holds the Freedman archive, held a major show in 1990. Examples of his work are in the collection of the Tate Gallery.
With thanks to artbiogs.co.uk
