Jane Freilcher was a key figure in a particular New York milieu from the 1950s until her death in 2014, contributing to a vibrant community of both painters such as Grace Hartigan and poets such as Frank O’Hara and John Ashbery. Like these poets, her paintings emerge from the texture of everyday life and its viewpoints of flowers, windows and cityscapes, yet these mundane elements are imbued with both the artist’s sensibility and a sharp awareness of art history. Writing about her work from the early 1950s, fellow painter Fairfield Porter wrote that Freilicher ‘seems to be trying to rediscover first principles. Her painting is traditional and radical.’ Pared down, closely observed, and painted with a blend of skilful dexterity and brave experimentation, Freilicher’s paintings were among the most beloved of her generation.

Lydia Yee says: “Freilicher’s paintings appear to be rooted in representation, notably in still life and landscape, but she aligns her concerns with ‘an inner impulse that wants to be expressed or a sensation of colour or atmosphere or arrangement of shapes’.”

Jane Freilicher (1924–2014) lived and worked in New York and Long Island. Known for her affiliation with poets such as John Ashbery and Frank O’Hara, Freilicher was a lyrical painter of daily life, with flowers, the Manhattan skyline and Long Island landscapes among her favourite subjects. Her work can be found in museum collections across the US, including The Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY and the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago.