Frede Vidar

Frede Vidar (June 6, 1911 – January 12, 1967) was a Danish-born American visual artist, illustrator, and educator. He was known for murals, paintings, and prints, was a war artist during World War II, and he was one of the twenty-six artists who painted murals at Coit Tower in San Francisco.

Early life and education Frede Vidar was born in Askø in Lolland Municipality, Denmark. He moved to San Francisco as a teenager, and graduated from the High School of Commerce.

Vidar attended the California School of Fine Arts (San Francisco Art Institute), the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, Vidar studied under muralist Diego Rivera. He won the Chaloner Prize Foundation's biennial prize in 1935 to study art for three years in Europe. In 1936, Vidar became engaged to Suzanne Austin Sheets from Montclair, New Jersey, the daughter of Harold F. Sheets.

Vidar exhibited in the Golden Gate International Exposition in 1939, on Treasure Island.

During World War II, Vidar served in the United States Army as a combat artist starting in 1942, and he left in 1946 with the rank of major. After the war, he relocated to New Jersey.

He taught at Washington University in St. Louis, the University of Wisconsin, the New York School of Interior Decoration (now New York School of Interior Design), the Newark School of Fine and Industrial Art, and starting in the 1950s at the University of Michigan. His work can be found in museum collections, including at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, and the Whitney Museum of American Art.