Fred Mitchell

Madison Fred Mitchell (November 24, 1923 – May 21, 2013) belonged to the New York School Abstract Expressionist artists whose influence and artistic innovation by the 1950s had been recognized around the world. New York School Abstract Expressionism, represented by Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning, Franz Kline and others became a leading art movement of the post-World War II era.

Biography

Fred Mitchell was born November 24, 1923, in Meridian, Mississippi. Following graduation from Meridian High School, Mitchell attended the Carnegie Institute of Technology (now Carnegie Mellon University), until his studies were interrupted by military duty. After serving in the Army, Mitchell enrolled in the Cranbrook Academy of Art, where he eventually received his M.F.A.

He died New York City on May 21, 2013.

Studied painting

1942-1943: Carnegie Institute of Technology, Pittsburgh, PA with scholarship 1948, 1950, 1951: Accademia di Belle Arti, Instituto Meschini, Rome, Italy 1948: Cranbrook Academy of Art, Bloomfield Hills, MI received BFA; Columbia University, New York City in summer; Atelier 17 with Stanley Hayter 1956: Cranbrook Academy of Art, Bloomfield Hills, MI received MFA

Participation in the Downtown Art Scene In 1947 Mitchell was the winner of Pepsi Cola cash award of $1,500; He sailed to Rome. During his visit to Rome he met painters John Heliker, Afro (Basadella), and Philip Guston, who had major influence on his work. Returning to the US, in 1951 Mitchell moved to New York City and became one of the first painters to open a painting studio in the downtown seaport area along the East River known as Coenties Slip (Manhattan). He soon joined the "Downtown Group" which represented a group of artists who found studios in lower Manhattan. In 1952 Mitchell, Angelo Ippolito, Lois Dodd, Charles Cajori and William King organized the Tanager Gallery, which belonged to the Tenth Street galleries. His friend Philip Pavia introduced Mitchell to 'The Club'.

Teaching positions Mitchell was also a highly regarded teacher:

1952–1954: Drawing and Painting, Neighborhood House, Riverdale. NY 1954: Finch College, NY; Founded Coenties Slip (Manhattan) School of Art 1956: Positano Art Workshop. Positano, Italy 1955–1959: Cranbrook Academy of Arts, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan 1961–1968: Downtown Art Center, Seamens Church Institute, Coenties Slip (Manhattan), NY 1961–1971: New York University 1968–1969: Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 1973–1974: Queens College, CUNY 1975–1980: Southern Tip School of Art, South Street Seaport, NY 1979–1983: Parsons School of Design Master of Fine Arts program, NY 1985–2003: Art Students League of New York; 1986–2000: Kingsborough Community College, City University, NY

Selected solo exhibitions 1942, 1965: Municipal Gallery, Jackson, Mississippi 1953: Tanager Gallery, New York City 1954: Neighborhood House, New York, NY 1956: Positano Art Workshop, Positano, Italy 1958, 1960, 1961, 1963: Howard Wise Gallery, Cleveland, Ohio and New York 1964: "i" Gallery, La Jolla, CA 1965: Ford Foundation Award, Columbia Museum of Art, Columbia, SC 1966: Wooster Art Center, Danbury, Connecticut 1968: Wisconsin State University, Platteville 1972, 1988: Meridian Museum of Art, Meridian, Mississippi 1973: Image Gallery, Stockbridge, Massachusetts; Roko Gallery, New York City 1974: Queens College Art Library Gallery, Queens, New York; Art Gallery, University of Maine at Machias 1976, 1977: Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute Gallery, Utica, New York; University Art Gallery, SUNY Binghamton 1979: "Southern Tip Series," South Street Seaport Museum, New York City 1982: Landmark Gallery, New York City 1984: University of Oregon Museum of Art, Eugene, Oregon 1987: Kingsborough Community College Art Gallery, New York 1988: Meridian Community College, Casteel Gallery, Mississippi 1996: Horne-Marshall Gallery, Meridian, Mississippi 1997: White Box Gallery, Fred Mitchell Recent Works; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 1998: Fred Mitchell, Gallery X, New York 2003: David Findlay Jr. Gallery, 'Fred Mitchell', New York 2005: Noel Fine Art, 'Fred Mitchell: New York Harbor Scenes', Bronxville, New York 2007: Joyce Goldstein Gallery, 'Modernism Into Abstraction: Fred Mitchell 1940-1949', Chatham, New York

Selected group exhibitions 1945: "Soldier Art" National Army Arts Contest, National Gallery of Art Washington, D.C. 1946–1949: Detroit Institute of Art, Detroit, MI 1953, 1954: "New York Painting and Sculpture Annual," Stable Gallery, New York City 1954–1955: "Young American Painters," circ., Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York City 1955: "Vanguard Artists," Walker Arts Center, Minneapolis, MN 1956, 1960: "The Founding Five," Tanager Gallery, New York City 1958: "Young American Painters," Rome-New York Foundation, Rome, Italy 1961: Carnegie International, Pittsburgh, PA 1962: "Museum of Modern Art in Embassies," Manila, Philippines 1967: "Art in American Embassies Abroad," U.S. State Department 1968: "Will Insley, Fred Mitchell and Steve Poleskie," A D White Museum, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 1974: "Nine Artists, Coenties Slip," Whitney Museum of American Art, Downtown, NY 1975: "Paintings and Watercolors," Hunterdon Art Center, Clinton, NJ 1972, 1973, 1975, 1976, 1983: Buecker & Harpsichords Gallery, NY 1980–1982: "New York Painting," Landmark Gallery, New York City 1985: "The Gathering of the Avant-Garde: The Lower East Side, 1948–1970," Kenkaleba House Gallery, New York City 1990: ULAE Gallery," Waterworks", New York, NY 1998: Gallery X, "Revelations", Harlem, NY 1999: Katherina Rich Perlow Gallery, "The Abstract Tradition: Fred Mitchell, John Ferren, Stephen Pace, John Grillo", New York, NY 2004: The Rockford Art Museum, "Reuniting An Era: Abstract Expressionists of The 1950s", Rockford, IL 2007: Hackett Freedman Gallery, "A Culture in the Making: New York and San Francisco in the 1950s", San Francisco, CA 2008: Robert Miller Gallery, "Beyond The Canon: Small Works in American Abstraction 1945–1965", New York, NY