Jane Freilicher

Raised and educated in New York City, Freilicher’s work reflects an urbane wit so often the product of a cosmopolitan upbringing. This nuanced atmosphere, found in her intensely personal paintings, might also stem from a reconciliation between the Abstract Expressionist influence of her youth and her desire to produce realistic, often autobiographical, paintings. Her rebellious nature prevailed in her art: she constantly rejected the movements of the moment for her own intimate style. She created a community with other free-thinking artists such as figurative painters Larry Rivers and Nell Blaine, and New York School poets John Ashbery, Kenneth Koch, and Frank O’Hara. The symbiosis between visual art and the written word informed much of the work in this circle of artists.