Fred Mitchell - Hackett-Freedman Gallery

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Fred Mitchell
Born: 1923 Meridian, MS
1942-43
Studies at Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh, where he meets and befriends painter Philip Pearlstein.
1943–45
Drafted into the US Army and makes precise mechanical drawings for the army in Maryland and Chicago.
1945–47
Attends Cranbrook Academy, Bloomfield Hills, MI. Studies and practices painting in the modernist style.
1947
Wins first place in a painting competition sponsored by Pepsi Cola for his oil painting Sawmill, a highly
advanced work of semi-cubist figures and forms depicting men working in a southern sawmill. The award
winners are included in a traveling exhibition organized by the National Academy, New York. The cash prize,
of $1500, allows him to travel to Europe.
1947–50
Works at Stanley William Hayter’s Atelier 17, Paris, and attends the Academy of Fine Arts, Rome; meets Afro
(Basadella) and Philip Guston. Also meets Angelo Ippolito and John Heliker who are working in a more
advanced expressionist style of painting. All four artists have enourmous influnce on Mitchell’s work.
1951
Moves to New York and is one of the first artists to establish a loft studio at Coenties Slip in downtown
New York, which consists old, large, cheap lofts. During the next ten years, many other artists move into
Coenties Slip lofts including Robert Indiana, Agnes Martin, Jack Youngerman and James Rosenquist. He
meets and befriends Ellsworth Kelly who takes a studio near Mitchell’s and later establishes an art school
nearby in the old Seaman’s Church Institute.
1952
Co-founds Tanager Gallery, an artists’ cooperative, on East 9th Street, New York, where he has his first solo
exhibition.
Education
1942–43
Carnegie Institute of Technology, Pittsburgh, PA
1948
BFA from Cranbrook Academy of Art, Bloomfield Hills, MI
Columbia University, New York, NY
Atelier 17, New York, NY
MFA from Cranbrook Academy of Art, Bloomfield Hill, MI
1950–51
Academia de Belle Arti, Rome, Italy
Selected Solo Exhibitions
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MFA from Cranbrook Academy of Art, Bloomfield Hill, MI
1950–51
Academia de Belle Arti, Rome, Italy
Selected Solo Exhibitions
1953
Tanager Gallery, New York, NY (also 1954, 60)
1956
Positano Art Workshop, Positano, Italy
1958
Howard Wise Gallery, Cleveland, OH (also 60, 61, 63)
1965
Municipal Art Gallery, Jackson, MS
1966
Wooster Art Center, Danbury, CT
1968
Wisconsin State University, Platteville, WI
1972
Meridian Museum of Art, Meridian, MS (also 1988)
2003
David Findlay Jr Fine Art, New York, NY
2005
Noel Fine Art, Bronxville, NY
Selected Group Exhibitions
1945
Soldier Art Exhibition, National Army Arts Contest, National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC
1946–49
Detroit Institute of Art, Detroit, MI
1953–54
New York Painting and Sculpture Annual, Stable Gallery, New York, NY
1954
Young American Painters, Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY (also 1958)
1955
Vanguard Artists, Walker Arts Center, Minneapolis, MN
1956
The Founding Five, Tanager Gallery, New York, NY (also 1960)
1961
Carnegie International, Pittsburgh, PA
1974
Nine Artists, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY
1975
Painters and Watercolor, Hunterdon Art Center, Clinton, NJ
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1961
Carnegie International, Pittsburgh, PA
1974
Nine Artists, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY
1975
Painters and Watercolor, Hunterdon Art Center, Clinton, NJ
Teaching
1955–59
Cranbrook Academy, Bloomfield Hills, MI
1961–71
New York University, New York, NY
1968–69
Cornell University, Ithica, NY
1973–74
Queens College, City University of New York, NY
1979–83
Parsons School of Design MFA Program, New York, NY
1985
Art Students Leauge of New York, NY
1986
Kingsborough Community College, City University, New York, NY
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