Out of the Attic: Images of Fred Stewart Greene

The end of the nineteenth and the early decades of the twentieth centuries were a time of intellectual and artistic ferment. In 1898 Marie Curie discovered radium. In 1900 Count Zeppelin flew his first airship, and the Wright brothers took to the air in 1903. Nobel invented dynamite and progress in weaponry found a terrible expression in World War I. In 1900 Freud presented The Interpretation of Dreams, and in 1915 Einstein published his special theory of relativity. The very nature of matter and the human identity were being redefined. It was in this context that new forms in visual arts were emerging most notably Impressionism. Green was one of its American proponents. Some of his contemporaries were Mary Cassatt, Childe Hassam, John Singer Sargent and William Merritt Chase.Fredrick Stewart Green did portraiture as well as landscapes. Because his photographic subjects were architectural he painted many architectural and city scapes. His palette was more in the pastel tones. He made several trips to the South and painted many Afro-American subjects. He portraiture was very realistic while being soft and impressionistic.The creative instinct expressed itself in photography as well. However photography struggled to be accepted as possessing aesthetic value. Green was an effective and talented advocate. Artistry and originality in both painting and photography thrived in many parts of America during these years and Green gain a modest success during his lifetime.