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Freeman, Don (1908 - 1978)

Freeman's early influence was John Sloan but his mentor in many ways was Honore Daumier. Evidence of Freeman's love of Daumier included volumes of books devoted to Daumier, sketch studies of Daumier's work and an extraordinary copy of one of Daumier's major paintings completed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. His passion for the caricature of Daumier developed into a passion for draftsmanship. Freeman's estate held hundreds of drawings depicting life in the City of New York. (Sullivan Goss, Ltd. acquired the estate of Don Freeman and Lydia Cooley Freeman from thier son Roy Freeman in 1998.) His skills as draftsman came in handy as he was chosen to be the dramatic illustrator for New York's theater district. In an autobiographical sketch, Freeman commented, "...I have been drawn to all phases of theatrical expression. For many years I reveled in graphic reporting of the Broadway plays for New York newspapers." During his years as a dramatic illustrator Freeman also completed many lithographs, some with a focus on the theatrical world. When the Second World War broke out Freeman turned his illustration talent to work for the war effort. His illustrations appeared in numerous military publications. When Freeman lived in New York City during the 1930s, 40s, and early 1950s, he was a brilliant illustrator of city life in the best traditions of Social Realism. His subjects were the actors and actresses of Broadway—from Orson Welles to Alfred Luntand Lynn Fontanne to the man in the street or the charwomen who scrubbed the stage after the actors and the audience went home. His cartoons and other illustrations appeared regularly in the New York Herald TribuneThe New York TimesThe Christian Science Monitor, and Theater Magazine. Freeman also self-published Don Freeman's Newsstand, a short-lived quarterly magazine, each page of which was an original lithograph.