Durr Freedley (also known as Durr Friedley) was a portrait painter and muralist who enjoyed a noted but brief career in

Newport, Rhode Island Newport is a seaside city on Aquidneck Island in Rhode Island, United States. It is located in Narragansett Bay, approximately southeast of Providence, Rhode Island, Providence, south of Fall River, Massachusetts, south of Boston, and nort ...

before his death in an automobile accident. He is perhaps best known for his mural on the interior of the Memorial Chapel of the Seamen's Church Institute of Newport.

Personal life

The artist was born as Jesse Jacob Friedley in Indianapolis, Indiana. He earned his degree in Fine Arts from

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

in 1911. During his time at Harvard, Freedley was editor of the

Harvard Lampoon ''The Harvard Lampoon'' is an undergraduate humor publication founded in 1876 by seven undergraduates at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Overview The ''Harvard Lampoon'' publication was founded in 1876 by seven undergraduate ...

. At some point after 1918 and before 1932, Friedley changed the spelling of his surname to Freedley. Freedley, who was homosexual, never married or had children.

Early career

Freedley was a staff member at the

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art, colloquially referred to as the Met, is an Encyclopedic museum, encyclopedic art museum in New York City. By floor area, it is the List of largest museums, third-largest museum in the world and the List of larg ...

between 1911 and 1917. His positions included Assistant Curator and Acting Curator. In 1917 Freedley was offered the post of curator when Wilhelm Valentiner resigned to join the German Army; he declined, and spent World War I painting camouflage on war planes.

Paris

After the war Freedley moved to Paris, where he set up a portrait studio and socialized with artists and writers including

Man Ray Man Ray (born Emmanuel Radnitzky; August 27, 1890 – November 18, 1976) was an American naturalized French visual artist who spent most of his career in Paris. He was a significant contributor to the Dada and Surrealism, Surrealist movements, ...

Gertrude Stein Gertrude Stein (February 3, 1874 – July 27, 1946) was an American novelist, poet, playwright, and art collector. Born in Allegheny, Pennsylvania (now part of Pittsburgh), and raised in Oakland, California, Stein moved to Paris in 1903, and ...

and

Ernest Hemingway Ernest Miller Hemingway ( ; July 21, 1899 – July 2, 1961) was an American novelist, short-story writer and journalist. Known for an economical, understated style that influenced later 20th-century writers, he has been romanticized fo ...

. Among his works in Paris were drawings and paintings of performers at the famous '' La Revue Negre''.

Newport

Freedley was invited by socialite Mrs Hamilton Fish Webster to come to Newport in 1932. She offered him the opportunity to design and paint the interior of the Memorial Chapel of the Seamen's Church Institute of Newport, and continued to be a patron of his career. Freedley remained in Newport until the end of his life, painting portraits of Newport socialites such as Maud Howe Elliott. During this time, Freedley is known to have traveled to Mississippi to paint portraits of black sharecroppers and field hands.

Death and burial

Freedley was killed at age 46 in an automobile accident on March 23, 1938, in Lexington, Massachusetts. He broke both legs and was rushed to Symmes hospital in Arlington, and died there several hours later. It is possible that Freedley was the victim of an anti-gay attack. His body was shipped to his mother in Indianapolis for burial.

Posthumous exhibitions

* Memorial exhibition at the John Herron Art Institute (now

Indianapolis Museum of Art The Indianapolis Museum of Art (IMA) is an encyclopedic art museum located at Newfields, a campus that also houses Lilly House, The Virginia B. Fairbanks Art & Nature Park, the Garden at Newfields and more. It is located at the corner of No ...

, November 1–30, 1938. * Memorial exhibition at the Walker Galleries in New York City in 1939. * "Durr Freedley: Newport's Forgotten Artist," Newport Museum of Art, September 26, 2015 - January 18, 2016.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Freedley, Durr Artists from Newport, Rhode Island 1888 births 1938 deaths Painters from Rhode Island Painters from Indiana 20th-century American painters American male painters American LGBTQ artists LGBTQ people from Indiana The Harvard Lampoon alumni 20th-century American male artists