Jane Freilicher was a painter and a prominent figure in the art world known for her unique and evocative paintings, which often depicted still life, landscapes, and interiors.
In the 1950s, Freilicher was associated with the New York School of artists, her circle included renowned painters such as Helen Frankenthaler, Joan Mitchell, Grace Hartigan, Fairfield Porter, and Larry Rivers, as well as distinguished poets John Ashbery, Kenneth Koch, Frank O'Hara, and James Schuyler. Notably, Freilicher, along with Frankenthaler, Hartigan, Mitchell, and Nell Blaine, stood out as one of the few women artists who exhibited alongside their male counterparts during that time.
While she was a part of this group, her artistic style stood out due to its departure from the more abstract and expressionistic tendencies of her contemporaries. Instead, Freilicher's works were characterized by their representational and figurative elements. She captured the essence of her subjects with a keen eye for light and color. She is most well known for her compositions of flowers, domestic interiors, and studio scenes, and for conveying a poetic and contemplative atmosphere on the canvas.
Her work is held in the collections of the Brooklyn Museum, the Cleveland Museum, the Hirshhorn Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art, the National Academy Museum and School, and the Whitney Museum of American Art.
