Don Freeman

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For the basketball player, see Donnie Freeman.
Don Freeman
San Diego, California
DiedFebruary 1, 1978(1978-02-01) (aged 69)
New York City
NationalityAmerican
Area(s)Cartoonist, Penciller
Notable works
Corduroy
donfreeman.info

Don Freeman (August 11, 1908 – February 1, 1978) was an American

children's books. He was active from the 1930s to the 1970s[1] and often used Times Square as the backdrop of his memorable works.[2]

Early life

Freeman was born in

John Sloan, Harry Wickey, and Kathryn E. Cherry.[4]

Career

Frequent subjects of Freeman's included Broadway theater, politics, and the circus. Freeman was known for carrying a sketchbook with him wherever he went. His images depicted New York City, and the faces of the people he observed on the streets, in the theaters, and in the subways. They often included images of showgirls, Bowery Boys, drunks, apple sellers, window washers and numerous citizens of the city that were down on their luck. Freeman was also a jazz musician and the brother of hotel entrepreneur Warren Freeman.

As Freeman's career progressed, he lightened his palette and depicted more upbeat subjects. In 1951, he began illustrating children's books. His wife, Lydia, who was also an accomplished artist, authored some of the books Freeman illustrated. The Freemans eventually moved to Santa Barbara, California, where they spent the remainder of their lives.[5]

Don Freeman was first introduced to children's literature when William Saroyan asked him to illustrate several books. These include Human Comedy, which is considered one of his best-known works.[2] However, his greatest influence came from the artist Honoré Daumier. Freeman studied many of Daumier's works, particularly his caricatures.[2] He also owned a large collection of books on the artist.

Throughout Don Freeman's career, he was the writer and illustrator of more than 20 children's books. He is best known for his publication of Corduroy (later became a 1990s animated direct-to-video series and a Canadian-produced television program was premiered on the PBS's "Bookworm Bunch" block in 2000). Although he came up with many of his ideas on his own, his wife Lydia Freeman contributed greatly to his success; indeed, she co-wrote two books with him, Chuggy and the Blue Caboose and Pet of the Met. She was very influential on her husband's work, as he relied on her for inspiration for his pieces. He would read his work aloud to her as well as any children around in order to gain feedback on a particular piece.[6] Lydia too became a well-known artist in her later life. In his autobiography "Come One, Come All![7] Don humorously admits that of the two, she was the better (watercolor) artist.

"Simplicity is the essence of children's-book stories, not simple-mindedness", Don Freeman once stated when speaking to an audience that was interested in writing, illustrating, and publishing children's books.[8]

When Freeman lived in New York City during the 1930s, 1940s, and early 1950s, he was an illustrator of city life in the tradition of

Social Realism. His subjects included actors, actresses, and manual laborers. His cartoons and other illustrations appeared regularly in the New York Herald Tribune, The New York Times, The Christian Science Monitor, and Theater Magazine.[citation needed
]

From 1936 to 1968, Freeman self-published Don Freeman's Newsstand. It was published as a quarterly magazine for its first decade and then irregularly. The tagline read "Signs of the Times in Lithographs." The periodical documented the daily life in New York City during and after the Great Depression and during the Second World War and featured articles by many well known writers and personalities of the time. In later volumes, Freeman illustrated life in post-war Los Angeles. The journal contained original

lithographs.[9]

In 1976, Freeman was recognized by the City of New York for his body of work portraying the city.

Abraham D. Beame, which was presented to Freeman at the opening of a one-man retrospective exhibition.[10] In a measure of Freeman's national fame, The Christian Science Monitor covered the 1976 exhibition, as well as a 1978 retrospective, both of which showcased Freeman's drawings, oils, prints, and his limited-edition self-published periodical, Don Freeman's Newsstand.[11][12][13][14]

In 2018, Freeman's work was featured in "A City for Corduroy," an exhibit at the Museum of the City of New York.

Selected works]

  • Gregory's Shadow (Viking, 2000)[clarification needed]
  • Manuelo the Playing Mantis (2004)
  • Earl the Squirrel (2005)

The two Corduroy books by Freeman (1968 and 1978) were also issued in one volume as All About Corduroy (1998).[15] Other writers and illustrators have extended the series "based on the character created by Don Freeman".[16]

As illustrator only

References

  1. ^ Don Freeman artwork collected by M. Lee Stone, circa 1940s-1960s. Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Retrieved 2 June 2015. {{cite book}}: |website= ignored (help)
  2. ^
    ISBN 0415937043
    .
  3. ISBN 9780486782102
    .
  4. ISBN 9781304858887
    .
  5. ^ Anderson, Alissa J., Don Freeman (1908-1978), Anderson Shea Art Appraisals
  6. ^ "Storymaker - Don Freeman". YouTube. Retrieved 2 October 2014.
  7. ^ Rhinehart & Company, Inc, New York, 1949, p. 244-45.
  8. ^ "Don's Lecture - Don Freeman". Donfreeman.info. Retrieved 2 October 2014.
  9. ^ "Welcome to the official site about Don Freeman - Don Freeman". Donfreeman.info. Retrieved 2 October 2014.
  10. ^ Leogrande, Ernest (March 30, 1976). "Back when Big Apple was Ripe". New York Daily News.
  11. ^ Beaufort, John (April 28, 1976). "Artist in Residence of the New York Stage". The Christian Science Monitor.
  12. ^ Beaufort, John (February 24, 1978). "Freeman's Art Caught Stream of Life in Bygone New York". The Christian Science Monitor.
  13. ^ "Goings On About Town", The New Yorker, April 12, 1976, p. 11.
  14. ^ "Goings On About Town", The New Yorker, March 13, 1978, p. 14.
  15. OCLC 40922107
    .
  16. ^ "Results for 'corduroy don freeman'". Worldcat.org. Retrieved 2 October 2014.

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Don_Freeman&oldid=1204889178"