Fred Mitchell, 1923-2013

Paintings and works on paper from the estate of Fred Mitchell are available from Philip Douglas Fine Art. PDFA has exhibited Mitchell's work since 1998 and has worked closely with his estate since 2013 placing his work in private & public collections.

Fred Mitchell had a long and influential career as a painter & painting instructor from 1942 until he died in 2013. It continues to the present through his estate. Between 1940-1947 he won scholarships to Carnegie Tech and Cranbrook Academy and served in the US military during WWII. In '47 Mitchell was awarded a cash prize for a national Pepsi Cola artist contest and traveled to Europe settling for two years in Rome taking a studio near the Coliseum. Returning to the USA in early '51 he opened a painting studio in lower Manhattan. Later he opened another studio in a large loft on Coenties Slip in 1954. There he became known for being part of a legendary group of artists that followed later and also opened art studio in lofts on "The Slip'. In 1952 Mitchell along with Angelo Ippolito, a painter FM had met in Rome, they came up with an idea to form a cooperative gallery of invited only artists. They brought in artist friends Lois Dodd, William King & Charles Cajori and together co-founded Tanager Gallery on East 4th Street later moving it to east 10th Street where from '52 to '62 it became an influential gallery for many artists early NY shows. In 1953 FM was invited by lead curator of The Guggenheim Museum James Johnson Sweeney to exhibit in Younger American Painters an early influential museum exhibition about abstract painting. Mitchell continued to exhibit at Tanager Gallery through 1962 when it closed. In 1956 he had began showing in Cleveland w/ Howard Wise Gallery. The gallery relocated to 57th Street in NYC and Mitchell was given two solo exhibitions and participated in a number of gallery group shows through 1966.

During his life Mitchell exhibited widely in prominent art gallery & museum exhibitions around The United States and the world including Tanager Gallery, Stable Gallery, Howard Wise Gallery, The Museum of Modern Art's traveling exhibits 'Art In Embassies' program, The Whitney Museum (Artist's of Coenties Slip), Roko Gallery, Museo del Arte Moderna (Rome), The National Academy, The National Gallery of Art Washington DC, The Walker Arts Center, The Carnegie Institute, U. of Mississippi Art Museum, Robert Miller Gallery, David Findlay Jr. and much more. His legacy is set as a well known respected painter & participant of The New York School of Abstract Expressionism.

Fred Mitchell (1923-2013)