Maurice Freedman

Maurice Freedman was born in Massachusetts, lived in New York, and painted in Maine. His desire to become an artist developed early and in high school he took classes at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston until 1921. He then enrolled at the Massachusetts Normal School of Art (Massachusetts College of Art) in 1922 where he also earned a scholarship to continue his studies. In 1926, Freedman enrolled at the Art Students League of New York. After only a year, feeling a stronger alignment with the French Avant-Garde than he did with the American art schools’ curricula, he relocated to Paris. There he took classes at Académie Colarossi and the Académie de la Grande Chaumière. A year later, the Lambert Collection in Avignon, France acquired Freedman’s artwork and, upon returning to the U.S., he secured life-long representation at the prestigious Midtown Galleries in New York City.

In Maine, Freedman’s work can be seen in the following public collections: Bates College Museum of Art, Bowdoin College Museum, Portland Museum of Art, Ogunquit Museum of American Art, and the Monhegan Museum of Art and History. His work in represented in the collections of numerous national museums, including the Brooklyn Museum, NY; Butler Institute of American Art, OH; Carnegie Museum of Art, PA; Denver Art Museum, CO; Los Angeles County Museum of Art, CA; Milwaukee Art Museum, WI; New Britain Museum of Art, CT; Peabody Essex Museum, MA; Pennsylvania Museum of Fine Arts, PA; Provincetown Art Association and Museum, MA; and the Smithsonian Museum of Art and History, Washington DC.

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