2 American Realists: Jack Beal & Sondra Freckelton

A Mini-Retrospective of Drawings, Paintings, Sculpture & Original Prints from the 1950's - Present

1 April  - 28 May 2011

Opening Reception: Friday, 1 April 2011 | 6-9 pm

About the exhibition:

Anthony Brunelli Fine Arts is honored to present 2 AMERICAN REALISTS : JACK BEAL & SONDRA FRECKELTON on display from April 1 through May 28th, 2011.  As a natural extension of the gallery's focus on contemporary American realism, this exhibition serves as a mini-retrospective that features works by Beal & Freckelton from the 1950's to the present and illustrates their continual evolution of work over the years.  Featured in this exhibition will be Paintings, Sculptures and Works on Paper - Drawings, Watercolors, Etchings, and Original Prints.  Beal and Freckelton have exhibited widely in the United States and internationally and have been featured in several book and magazine publications.  Along with a notable history of gallery representation, their works are included in many prominent private, public and museum collections nationally. 

Jack Beal was born June 25, 1931 in Richmond, Virginia. He has been married to the painter Sondra Freckelton for 55 years. They have lived in the Town of Franklin in Delaware County, NY since 1974.  He began showing his work in 1964 with the Allan Frumkin Gallery in New York and Chicago, and later continued with the Frumkin/Adams Gallery.  Beal continues to exhibit with the George Adams Gallery in NYC.  He has completed a number of portrait commissions as well as public commissions for the U.S. Department of Labor in Washington, D.C., the Metropolitan Transit Authority in Times Square, New York City, and for the Creative Discovery Museum in Chattanooga, TN.  His works are housed in numerous, important private collections as well as several prominent, public collections including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Museum of Modern Art, Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City, and the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C., to name a few.  Beal has also earned numerous awards and fellowships including the Hermitage Foundation Fellow 1953-56, Neysa McMein Purchase Award - Whitney Museum in 1965, National Endowment for the Arts Grant in 1973, the American Academy & Institute of Arts & Letters Purchase in 1986. He has received honorary Doctorates from The Art Institute of Boston, Hollins College, and the State University of New York at Oneonta.  He has lectured at more than one hundred Art Schools, Universities and Colleges across America. His work is the subject of the monograph Jack Beal by Eric Shanes, Hudson Hills Press, NY.

Sondra Freckelton was born in Dearborn, Michigan on June 23, 1936 and studied at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and at the University of Chicago. She began her career as a sculptor working in wood and plastics, exhibiting under her married name, Sondra Beal. During the early 1970's Ms. Freckelton was one of several noted abstract artists who turned to realism in their work.  She began working in transparent watercolor - a logical extension of the delicate watercolor studies she had done for her transparent cast-resin sculptures.  In 1974 she designed, built and oversaw the rebuilding of an old mill on the Ouleout Creek, a work she considers her last sculpture.  Numerous museums, galleries and traveling shows throughout the United States have exhibited her works. She has had solo exhibits at major galleries in New York, Chicago, Washing­ton, D. C., and San Francisco.  Various public and corporate collections house her paintings such as the National Museum of American Art in Washington, D.C., The Arkansas Art Center, and The Art Institute of Chicago to name a few.  Ms. Freckelton's work and teaching philosophy are the subjects of the Watson-Guptill pub­lication entitled Dynamic Still Lifes in Watercolor by M. Stephen Do­herty and Realists at Work by John Arthur.  She has received honorary Doctorates from Hollins College and from the State University of New York at Oneonta.