(American, 1860 - 1932)
Atlantic City from the Bay
Oil on canvas, 20 1/4 x 16 1/4 inches
Signed at lower right: “G H Freedley”
Invitation to opening reception on verso: “Berus Gallery is pleased to invite you to/the opening of an exhibition of: Bucks Co. Landscape and Still Life Paintings by /ELIZABETH FREEDLEY PRICE; and/Altantic [sic] City Views by GEORGE FREEDLEY/ Artists Reception 1-6 p.m., Sun., Dec. 13, 1981″
Exhibited: Berus Gallery, Lambertville, New Jersey, Bucks County Landscape and Still Life Paintings by Elizabeth Freedley Price and Atlantic City Views by George Freedley (Dec. 1981)
Although Freedley was closely associated with the Impressionist art colony in New Hope, he was particularly noted for his New Jersey shore scenes.1 These two undated views of Atlantic City, with their indistinct forms, tonalism, and thinly applied paint layers that accent the coarse textures of the canvas supports, reflect the influence of James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903).
Notes
1. Freedley is listed in American Art Annual (New York: R. R. Bowker, 1932), vol. 29, p. 45; see also the entry at the Philadelphia Architects and Buildings website: http://www.philadelphiabuildings.org/pab/app/ar_display.cfm/23104
About the Artist
(American, 1860 - 1932)
George Harrison Freedley (sometimes incorrectly spelled “Freedly”) was born in West Stockbridge, Massachusetts. He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1881, the year he was first listed in the Philadelphia city directories as a partner of J. K. Freedley and Sons, a marble quarry owned by his father. He earned a Master of Arts at Penn in 1884 and became an architect. Freedley was also a painter and studied with Rae Sloan Bredin (1881–1933) in New Hope, Pennsylvania. His daughter Elizabeth Freedley (1891–1988) became an artist and specialized in painting landscapes of Bucks County.
