FREDERICK CARL FRIESEKE: The Evolution of an American Impressionist
This lovely, colorful volume, the first book devoted to  Frieseke's work, accompanies a traveling exhibition of the  artist's paintings. Nicholas Kilmer, Frieseke's grandson,  contributes a biographical narrative that includes many personal  letters and archival family photographs, and three noted  scholars of American art (Barbara Weinberg, Virginia M.  Meklenburg, and David Sellin) address the artist's stylistic  tendencies. Their essays move chronologically through Frieseke's  career, discussing his style from the period before 1910; his  stays in Le Pouldu, Brittany in 1901 and in Giverny in 1905-20;  and his last artistic phase, which lasted from the 1920s until  his death in 1939. The authors examine the paintings produced at  the height of Frieseke's Impressionist phase at Giverny not only  in terms of Impressionist effects of color and light but also in  relation to the decorative qualities of line, texture, and  interlocking figures seen in the Nabis and Art Nouveau styles.  They go on to point out the characteristics of Frieseke's  lesser-known late paintings, which utilize a new realism, a less  sensual line, harder edges, and modern dress. Recommended for  all libraries with art book collections. Sandra Rothenberg,  Framingham State Coll. Lib., MACopyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.