William C A FRERICHS (American, 1829 - 1905)

William Charles Anthony Frerichs
American, 1829 - 1905 (born Ghent, Netherlands)

AUTUMN MOUNTAIN VIEW
(North Carolina, around Grandfather Mountain, above the falls ?)

oil on canvas, 8-1/2 x 27-1/2"
Signed lower right : W. Frerichs

in circa early 1900's period frame, carved and stained wood
# 00315 ........................................................................................................................................................SOLD


FRERICHS, William Charles Anthony
Mar 2, 1829 - Mar 16, 1905

Born in Ghent, Netherlands, he studied art at a very early age in The Hague; he later studied medicine at the University of Leyden and returned to the study of art at Brussels Academy where he completed his formal education with a "Grand Tour".

With a passport dated 4 July 1850, he sailed to New York where he remained until 1854, when the 24 year old artist headed to North Carolina, accepting a position as professor of arts and languages at Greensboro Female College (now Greensboro College)

In North Carolina Frerichs painted twenty-four paintings of a single stream, each showing a different waterfall on that stream. He documented the Sauratown Mountains, an ancient isolated range on the Piedmont Plateau 40 miles from Greensboro, with views of the Blue Ridge range spreading southward from Virginia to South Carolina.

Frerichs was the first artist of consequence to travel to the Cherokee country, where he painted the vast western country of North Carolina. Some of his scenes remain the only documentary record of landmarks like the Falls of the Tamahaka" which is now flooded by Fontana lake.

In the wild territories through which he traveled, he suffered repeated loss of his studies-from-nature and painting materials; in 1863 his entire collection was destroyed by a fire that consumed Greensboro College. Discouraged by the loss of his studio and by the Civil War, he moved east with his growing family to Williston on the Scuppernong River, a trip of over 400 miles, skirting Federal and Confederate troops that were blocking the regular route. Ultimately he relocated to Tottenville, Staten Island, New York, where he painted for the rest of his life. Although he made several painting trips to New England, he always painted in the style he developed in North Carolina.

Frerichs' work can be found in private and public collections throughout the country. The first retrospective exhibition of his work was held at the North Carolina Museum of Art in 1974.

(Source : B.F. Williams, 1986, in Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, 1979-1996, U of NC Press)