FREMONT F. ELLIS
American (New Mexico / California) 1897-1985
"PLACITA ALLEGRE"
Oil on canvas
Signed lower left: FREMONT F. ELLIS
Provenance: Gift from the artist to the parents of the present
owner
Museums: 17, including The White House; UCLA Hammer Museum; Stark Museum of Art; Addison Gallery of American Art;
Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center; Museum of New Mexico; Oklahoma City Museum of Art
Books: 56 including A Nation's Pride, Art in the White House, William Kloss;
Masterpieces of the American West - Selections from the Anschutz Collection , Elizabeth Cunningham
Periodicals: 9, Southwest Art (7); American Art Review (2)
Fremont Ellis was one of the founders of the Santa Fe "Los Cinco Pintores" in 1921, followers, at the time,
of the new modernism and strong color . But Ellis could never fully accept the modernist idiom into his work.
As a young man, he had spent a great deal of time at The Metropolitan in New York City, studying the American
Impressionist paintings there. Their influence permeates his work as prominent brushwork, lack of detail, and an arresting
sense of light - all evident in this hacienda entry. The soft earthy color is here vigorously applied, carrying the essence
of the New Mexico surroundings, but in a more romantic and lyrical sense - more in the Taos manner. He lived and painted
in the Santa Fe area for nearly 60 years. He also worked in California for a short time. His work is housed in
The White House, UCLA Hammer Museum, Addison Gallery of American Art, and Museum of New Mexico, among many others.
Image size: 15-1/2 x 19-1/2 inches
sold
#5487
We welcome and encourage all inquiries. We will make every attempt to answer any questions you might have.
ELLIS, Fremont F. (1897-1985)
Birth place: Virginia City, MT
Death place: Virginia City
Addresses: Santa Fe, New Mexico/Los Angeles in 1976
Profession: Landscape painter, graphic artist, etcher, teacher
Studied: mainly self-taught; Art Students League, 1915 (three months)
Exhibited: Society of Independent Artists, 1920; California Art Club, 1921; Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1922 (solo),
1924 (Henry E Huntington Award); Oakland Art Gallery, 1950 (prize),1953 (medal); Springville (UT) Museum (When Evening, Comes
Navajo Girls, purchase prize)
Member: Santa Fe Painters & Sculptors; Los Cinco Pintores, 1921-26 (founder).
Work: El Paso (TX) Museum; Museum New Mexico, Santa Fe; Thomas Gilcrease Institute of American History, Tulsa, OK;
Art Institute, Lubbock, TX; University of California, Los Angeles. Commissions: S. S. America (mural).
Comments: Went to optometry school but failed in business. He became a fulltime painter at age 20 and went to Santa Fe in 1919, but
moved back to Southern California. He soon returned to New Mexico and worked as a sign painter and photographer. He created an artists'
colony in Santa Fe along with Bakos, Mruck, Nash and Shuster.
Sources: WW73; WW47. More recently, see Hughes, Artists of California, 168; Peggy and Harold Samuels, 156.
This biography is drawn from the 'Who Was Who in American Art' , the reference book on the cultural life in the United States.
Museums:
Stark Museum of Art
Addison Gallery of American Art
Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center
Desert Caballeros Western Museum
Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art
El Paso Museum of Art
Gilcrease Museum
Great Plains Art Museum
Jonson Gallery of University of New Mexico
Museum of New Mexico
Oklahoma City Museum of Art
Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum
Roswell Museum and Art Center
Sangre De Cristo Arts Center
Springville Museum of Art
The White House
UCLA Hammer Museum
For information, call (901) 761-1163 or (901) 683-4668 or email mfcreech@bellsouth.net
American Express, Mastercard, Visa and Discover accepted
|
Accessories Ceramics Early Asian Ceramics Fine Art Furniture Glassware Silver Home
|