New Acquisitions: "Girl Sewing (The Chinese Robe)" by Frederick Carl Frieseke

Frederick Carl Frieseke, Girl Sewing (The Chinese Robe) (1931)

Among the latest additions to the Georgia Museum of Art's permanent collection is the American Impressionist painting “Girl Sewing (The Chinese Robe)” by Frederick Carl Frieseke (pronounced FREE-suh-kuh). Peaceful domestic settings were a common theme in American Impressionism. This purchase was made possible with funds given by The Chu Family Foundation. Dr. David Chu is a distinguished research professor emeritus in UGA’s College of Pharmacy. He and his wife, Jane, made this financial gift through their family foundation with the specific goal of having the museum purchase a significant American painting. The museum held a formal unveiling to commemorate the acquisition of this painting.

Gift unveiling with Jane Chu of The Chu Family Foundation 

Sarah Kate Gillespie, our curator of American art, said, “Frieseke was an important force in American Impressionism, particularly among those Americans working in the colony of Giverny, France, adjacent to Claude Monet’s gardens. He enjoyed great popularity on both sides of the Atlantic. This particular work not only fills what had been a major gap in the genre within our collection, but also very much complements our current holdings in American Impressionism.”

“Girl Sewing (The Chinese Robe)” is now on view in the Marilyn Overstreet Nalley Gallery at the museum, alongside other American Impressionist paintings from the collection by Mary Cassatt, Frank Weston Benson, Childe Hassam and William Merritt Chase.