Jane Freilicher (1924-2014) was an American representational painter of urban and country scenes, most renowned for her expansive landscapes of Long Island and her vibrant depictions of downtown Manhattan. She devoted over sixty years to a distinctive style of painterly realism. Freilicher was born in Brooklyn. She studied art under Hans Hoffman and received her bachelor’s degree at Brooklyn College, followed by a master’s degree from Columbia University’s Teacher’s College. Freilicher emerged during the Abstract Expressionism era, but she later transitioned to paintings of still lives and landscapes. She was also part of a notable circle of artists and poets where she interacted with Willem de Koonig, Joan Mitchell, and Alex Katz, among others.

Freilicher’s work is part of major museum collections across the United States, including the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA). Her artwork was also chosen to be exhibited at the Whitney Biennial in 1995. Institutions such as the Art Institute of Chicago, the Brandywine Museum of Art, the Sheldon Art Museum, the National Portrait Gallery, the Addison Gallery of American Art, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMoMA), and the Grand Rapids Art Museum have recently acquired works from the collection.