Paintings by Ernest Fredericks

By Helaine Fendelman and Joe Rosson / Scripps Howard News Service
Copyright © 2005 The Detroit News.

"Most sources say that Fredericks was born in 1877, but exactly where seems to be open to some debate.

The Illinois Historical Art Project says his place of birth was Galesburg, Ill., but other sources claim he was born on a farm near McPherson, Kan. There is some agreement that he was the son of Swedish immigrant parents and that his name at birth was Frederick Swedlun.

There seems to be some agreement, too, that Fredericks went to Chicago to study art at the Chicago Academy of Fine Art and that he later exhibited at the Chicago Art Institute and in All-Illinois art shows. One source reports that when he arrived in Chicago, there was a certain amount of prejudice connected to persons of Swedish derivation and that was the reason he adopted "Ernest Fredericks" as a pseudonym.

After, that, however, the record becomes somewhat unclear. Many sources say Fredericks/Swedlun died in 1927, but the aforementioned Illinois Historical Art Projects says that he probably died in the 1940s while another source says he moved to Eureka Springs, Ark., and passed away sometime in the 1950s.

When he moved to Arkansas, Fredericks is said to have dropped the pseudonym he had been using and resumed using his birth name, Frederick Swedlun. Fredericks or Swedlun was noted for his landscape paintings...

... the prices of Fredericks'/Swedlun's work appears to be rising. The highest auction price we could find was $1,300 for a similar but smaller landscape that was realized at Robert S. Brunk's (Asheville, N. C.) in July 2003.

We found other auction prices from the early years of the 21st century in the $500 to $800 range, and we believe after examining the marketplace that the price of works by this artist may be slowly rising. Certainly, the paintings are very attractive and should find favor with collectors of regional American art.

In the course of our research, we found one retail price and that was for a Fredericks painting entitled "Winter Day in Arkansas." It was being offered by a Florida gallery for $1,200... "