Arnold Friedman
1874-1946

A lesser-known contemporary of such American Modernists as John Marin and Marsden Hartley, Arnold Friedman lived a quiet and moderate life away from the center of the New York art world.  Living in the New York City borough of Queens, he supported himself and his family (he fathered four children) by working as a postal clerk from the age of seventeen until retirement, and although he was recognized by a handful of influential critics during his lifetime (Clement Greenberg was among the most important and steadfast of them), his paintings of landscapes, still lifes and portraits went largely unrecognized by the art establishment.  Hardly an art outsider in terms of knowledge, technique and talent, Friedman’s work, in recent years, has begun to receive the recognition it has long merited.