Freeman W. Butts
Freeman W. Butts [1928-1998] was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. He studied on the GI Bill at the Hollywood Art Center School from 1945-1947 and had a short stint at the Disney Studio before painting as an abstract expressionist. In 1975 he moved his family to Livingston, Montana where he spent the remainder of his 50-year career as an artist painting the female nude and landscapes. Inspired by the painters of the mid 1950's his work defines a signature language. Butts demonstrates the volume of his work through literally thousands of drawings, pastels, charcoals, watercolors, and multitudes of sketch books. ARTCHAUCER artgallery is fortunate to be able to offer a selection of nude figure paintings on paper from the Freeman Butts Estate. These works testify to Butt's ability to merge a figurative style with abstraction. His work is unapologetic about the use of the female model and demonstrates his authority on the use of fluidity of line in both figurative work and landscapes. Butts painted constantly and left behind an enormous body of work. The work of Freeman Butts is in permanent collections of the following Montana Museums, The Missoula Art Museum, The Custer County Art Museum in Miles City, The Hochaday Museum of Art in Kalispell, The Holter Museum of Art in Helena, The Paris Gibson Square Museum of Art in Great Falls, and The Yellowstone Art Museum in Billings.
Freeman Butts signed most of his completed works on paper with his initials and date over a custom red inked stamp in various locations to suit each composition. Figurative nudes were an ongoing series for Freeman Butts, capturing the essence of the female human form with color and evocative, suggestive poses while leaving much to the imagination. These works demonstrate his ability to capture the relationship between figure and ground in a fluid, gestural style. The strength of this work is clearly the commitment of line and the fluid relationship between the materials used and the composition of his figures.
Freeman W. Butts [1928-1998] was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. He studied on the GI Bill at the Hollywood Art Center School from 1945-1947 and had a short stint at the Disney Studio before painting as an abstract expressionist. In 1975 he moved his family to Livingston, Montana where he spent the remainder of his 50-year career as an artist painting the female nude and landscapes. Inspired by the painters of the mid 1950's his work defines a signature language. Butts demonstrates the volume of his work through literally thousands of drawings, pastels, charcoals, watercolors, and multitudes of sketch books. ARTCHAUCER artgallery is fortunate to be able to offer a selection of nude figure paintings on paper from the Freeman Butts Estate. These works testify to Butt's ability to merge a figurative style with abstraction. His work is unapologetic about the use of the female model and demonstrates his authority on the use of fluidity of line in both figurative work and landscapes. Butts painted constantly and left behind an enormous body of work. The work of Freeman Butts is in permanent collections of the following Montana Museums, The Missoula Art Museum, The Custer County Art Museum in Miles City, The Hochaday Museum of Art in Kalispell, The Holter Museum of Art in Helena, The Paris Gibson Square Museum of Art in Great Falls, and The Yellowstone Art Museum in Billings.
Freeman Butts signed most of his completed works on paper with his initials and date over a custom red inked stamp in various locations to suit each composition. Figurative nudes were an ongoing series for Freeman Butts, capturing the essence of the female human form with color and evocative, suggestive poses while leaving much to the imagination. These works demonstrate his ability to capture the relationship between figure and ground in a fluid, gestural style. The strength of this work is clearly the commitment of line and the fluid relationship between the materials used and the composition of his figures.
