FRANCES RHEA BASCH
The late artist Frances Rhea Basch, granddaughter of Nathan Handwerker, founder of “Nathan’s Famous” Hotdog empire, put aside familial and financial considerations early in life to pursue a career as a visual artist. After attending the University of Michigan, Basch moved to Woodstock to study with Arnold Blanch at the Art Student’s League’s summer school. While there, the artist developed an obsession with the description of form using line and color. Working large and fast, her figurative paintings caught the attention of artists and she became a favorite in the Arnold Blanch milieu. Eventually Basch became restless and boarded a sailboat and sailed to Key West, where she became the owner/operator of a beachside cafe. When the AIDS epidemic ravaged her close circle of friends, Basch returned “home” to Woodstock, where she resumed painting in earnest and established friendships with faculty and students. The last twelve years of her life were devoted to landscape and figure painting, mostly in watercolor, expressed in vibrant and sensuous hues. Her work reveals a ferocious line quality akin to that of Joan Mitchell and William deKooning.
As a painter and restless soul, Basch traveled to study the landscape of Tuscany, San Miguel de Allende, Margarita Island, Monhegan Island and Block Island. The locale of each place she painted are recognizable in Basch’s iconic calligraphic mark making and sumptuous use of color. The artist’s final foray into figure study (1999-2003, the year of her death) was executed in clay at the Woodstock School of Art. Nearly twenty of those studies still exist. Her figurines and her figure paintings are a statement of the artist’s love of form, her spark of genius and consummate understanding of making art. Frances Rhea Basch stands apart from the artists of her time because of the absolute originality and feverish approach she took with each composition.
We are thrilled to show Basch’s work at the Lodge Gallery for our 20th anniversary exhibit here and are grateful to Frances’s dear friend and executor, the consummate artist and teacher Kate McGloughlin, for making it possible.
