Jane Freilicher and Jane Wilson: Seen and Unseen

About The Publication

Alicia G. Longwell, with essays by Karin Roffman, Deborah Rothschild, and Mimi Thompson

First published in 2015 by the Parrish Art Museum

128 pages, $30.00

This exhibition brings together paintings and works on paper by Jane Freilicher and Jane Wilson—two notable figures in American art who emerged from the pursuit of rigorous abstraction to develop highly individual and beautifully compelling approaches to representation, fundamentally reinventing traditional definitions of landscape and still life painting. Their lives shared many parallels, yet it was in their distinctive approaches to painting that the two diverged. Freilicher abandoned abstraction early in her career, citing a need for what she termed the “seen” and her keen observation skirted realism in favor of an informal, fluidly vernacular kind of painting. Wilson, too, steered away from literal transcription, seeking to convey, in her words, those unseen “moments of strong sensation” in paint. It was here on the East End of Long Island that, over time, these two ground-breaking artists emphatically claimed their artistic territory, and, after decades-long careers, leave their enduring legacies.

A 128-page illustrated color catalogue by Lewis B. and Dorothy Cullman Chief Curator Alicia G. Longwell, featuring an introduction by Parrish Art Museum Director Terrie Sultan and essays by Karin Roffman, Deborah Rothschild, and Mimi Thompson. More than fifty full-color illustrations highlight the most important paintings created by the two renowned artists over the course of their concurrent forty-year careers.
Available for purchase through the Museum Shop.

Jane Freilicher and Jane Wilson: Seen and Unseen is made possible, in part, by The Robert David Lion Gardiner Foundation, Joseph and Sylvia Slifka Foundation, Mildred C. Brinn, DC Moore Gallery,  Mary and Howard S. Frank, The Wolf Kahn and Emily Mason Foundation, Tibor de Nagy Gallery, Mr. and Mrs. Richard E. Salomon, Lola Goldring and Family, Barbara and Jon Landau, Jen and James Marden, Patti and Mark Renton, Dola Hamilton Stemberg Charitable Foundation, Dr. and Mrs. Jeremiah A. Barondess, and a donor who wishes to remain anonymous. Public Funding provided by Suffolk County.