"The brush of Michael Frary is an immensely skilled one, as his distinguished career attests. He is a verile painter, working with decision and bravura; the vocabulary of brush strokes is endless, appropriate to the profusion of textures and colors at hand. The physical quality of his painting never flags, and one is aware of the speed and
intensity with which he works. Nothing is omitted; the stops are out; and one is enveloped in this luxuriant, mysterious world painted without restraint or hesitation."
"In his best work Frary is a natural painter, and the more immediate he is to the subject and the painting, the more powerful he becomes. Despite the adroit, well-organized canvases he has produced, he becomes vibrant when he is responding directly. There are no theories here; he is expressive, not analytical, and we are moved."
Excerpts from John Paul Leeper's forward to Impressions of the Big Thicket
Michael Frary was born in Santa Monica, California. His father died six months later. Young Michael excelled. He was athletic and bright, and his drive was apparent from a young age. The household Frary grew up in was not wealthy, and the Great Depression took a further toll. In response to these financial pressures, wealthy relatives in the East moved Michael, his mother and siblings from California to Florida. After his graduation from Palm Beach High School in 1934, Michael returned to California and accepted a swimming scholarship to the University of Southern California. Despite a high school football injury that had broken his neck, he became a champion swimmer and captain of the USC varsity water polo team; during his collegiate career, he received eight letters, the maximum possible. He received a Bachelor of Architecture degree in 1940, and his Master of Fine Arts degree in painting the following year.
Soon after his discharge as Lieutenant from United States Navy in 1945, Frary became assistant art director for the Goldwyn, Paramount, and then Universal studios. (He still speaks of working with Edward G. Robinson and Orson Wells.) He discovered, however, that although the salary was good and the life exciting, time constraints forbade him finding time to paint. His painting was taking a back burner. He found an outlet teaching night classes in painting. When word of his teaching skills spread, UCLA offered a full-time teaching position, and he made a permanent break from art director to painting instructor.
Frary has been indefatigable as an artist, taking advantage of every professional opportunity and participating fully in immediate art affairs. And, wherever he has been, he has taught - in California, in Missouri, in Colorado, and finally, in Texas.
During the last thirty to forty years, Frary has traveled extensively both on the G.I. Bill and with his family. He has made it a policy to paint wherever he went, on the spot, on full sheets (22" x 30") on French Arches 140 or 300 pound C.P. paper. He painted directly, with little or no drawing. With a minimum of "comfort" equipment, he was forced to put down what he considered important and eliminate details that were not necessary. His approach was to make a painting, not a tinted drawing.
Despite many excursions elsewhere, Frary has always been primarily oriented to the broad axis of the southern United States, and in his watercolors and acrylic painting he has recorded its beaches, its vegetation, its sun-filled and wind-swept landscapes. It seems fitting, then, that Texas became home for Frary in 1952, when he accepted a teaching position as assistant professor with the University of Texas, Austin, which named him Professor of Art in 1970, and Professor Emeritus of Art in 1986. Since his move there nearly half a century ago, he has traveled the state extensively, painting as he has moved, his artwork resulting in three books which vividly convey his inspiration.
In addition to Texas, Frary's watercolors and acrylics capture moments of earth, man and sky from his extensive travels across the United States, South America, South Africa, England, Mexico, Italy, and France.
The payoff from his diligence and observations is a body of work which has collectively won over 175 awards and purchase prizes and earned over 200 one man exhibitions.
Michael Frary put it well when he wrote, "Watercolor is indeed a challenge: it takes dedication, many paintings, a love of the medium, courage, the flexibility to change, the ability to make something useful out of accidents. These are some of the reasons why watercolor has been called by some, 'The medium of the masters.'" Michael Frary is one of those masters.
John Paul Leeper and Rowland Williams
Teaching:
University of California, Los Angeles / Los Angeles City College / Chouinard Art Institute, Los Angeles / San Antonio, McNay Art Institute (faculty chairman, 1952) / University of Texas at Austin (retired as Professor Emeritus of Art, 1986) / Many summer watercolor workshops in Texas, Colorado, Utah, and Missouri
Museums & Other Public Collections:
National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian Institute, Washington, D.C. / Interior Building, Washington, D.C. / Austin Museum of Art / Museum of the Big Bend, Alpine, TX / Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown, OH / Los Angeles County Museum / Santa Barbara Museum of Art / Dallas Museum of Fine Arts / The Plains Museum, Canyon, TX / Phillips Petroleum Building, Bartlesville, OK / Springfield Museum of Art, Springfield, MO / Virginia Museum of Art, Richmond, VA / Virgina Scott Museum, Pasadena, CA / Amarillo Art Center, Amarillo, TX / McNay Museum, San Antonio, TX / Texas Instruments, Dallas, TX (85 full-size watercolors) / University of Texas at Austin
Commissions & Other Honors:
Commissioned by the U.S Department of Interior to paint at reclamation sites in four states, resulting in four of his paintings being shown at an exhibition at the National Gallery, Washington, D.C., 1972 / Commissioned to paint the Psyche Prize for the Fourth Biennial International Film Festival, Canada, 1978 / Painting, "Antelope Country" selected by the National Gallery for presentation by President and Mrs. Lyndon B. Johnson to the New Zealand Prime Minister and his wife at the Manila Conference, 1966 / Austin Chapter of the American Institute of Architects, Medal of Honor winner, 1974 / Texas Society of Architects, Citation of Honor, 1974, for Impressions of The Big Thicket
Societies & Directorships:
Society of Motion Picture Art Directors, member, 1946-49 / California Watercolor Society - now National Watercolor Society, boardmember / Men's Athletics Council, University of Texas, boardmember, 1977 - 1981 / Southwestern Watercolor Society, honorary life member / Texas Watercolor Society, Purple Sage status / Watercolor USA Honor Society / Waterloo Watercolor Group, honorary life member / Mississippi Watercolor Society, signature member
Publications:
Impressions of the Big Thicket, University of Texas Press, 1973
Impressions of the Texas Panhandle, Texas A&M University Press, 1977
Watercolors of the Rio Grande, Texas A&M University Press, 1984
Featured in:
Contemporary American Painting; Contemporary Painting and Sculpture; American Painting Today; Prize Winning Watercolors; Trends and Techniques in Modern Art; Landscapes; Stolen Steers; Texas Gulf Coast; Texas Hill Country; Expressive Watercolor Techniques; Pecos to the Rio Grande; Best of Watercolor four volume series; Paul Horgan and the Southwest; Who's Who in American Art; American Artists
