Dorothy Fratt American, 1923-2017
A significant but often overlooked player in the Washington Color School and Color Field movement, Dorothy Fratt is best known for her personal and expressive use of color. Born in Washington, DC, in 1923, Fratt showed an early talent for art and was awarded numerous scholarships to study art at DC-area schools, including Mount Vernon College, the Corcoran School of Art, and the Phillips Memorial Gallery Art School. She received her first prize at age fifteen from the Corcoran School of Art and had her first solo show in 1946 at the Washington City Library. That same year she began a six-year teaching position at Mount Vernon College for Women.
Working in Washington, DC, during the 1950s, when the Washington Color School was first gaining momentum, Fratt explored many of the same artistic options that then preoccupied her peers, and, like them, she sought to treat color as an expressive means in its own right, independent from representation. Despite the advantages of being part of a thriving art scene, in 1958 Fratt moved to Phoenix, Arizona, removing herself from the crosscurrents of East Coast art centers so that she could focus on developing her own visual lexicon and style.
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Living Colors
Josef Albers, Thomas Downing, Matthew Feyld, Dorothy Fratt, David Headley, Helene Herzbrun, Terry Parmelee, Kimber Smith, and Vivian Springford
Kensington, MD. 9 Mar - 18 May 2024Pazo Fine Art is thrilled to present Living Colors, a unique exhibition highlighting paintings by Josef Albers, Thomas Downing, Matthew Feyld, Dorothy Fratt, David Headley, Helene Herzbrun, Howard Mehring, Terry Parmelee, Kimber Smith, and Vivian Springford. The exhibition will remain on view until May 18, 2024.Read more -
Dorothy Fratt: Paint The Town Red
Dorothy Fratt 19 Nov 2022 - 19 Jan 2023Pazo Fine Art is pleased to announce Dorothy Fratt: Paint the Town Red, a retrospective exhibition featuring over thirty works and offering an insightful look at the artist’s oeuvre.Read more
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Dorothy Fratt | Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art
Color Mirage February 2, 2024February 3 - July 21, 2024 www.smoca.org Dorothy Fratt: Color Mirage is the first major U.S. museum exhibition on the prolific, yet underrecognized, American painter...Read more -
In-Conversation & Book Launch
Retired Catholic minister Father Gregory Fratt and Vesela Sretenovic October 18, 2023Join us on Saturday, November 4th at 11 AM ET at PFA–Washington D.C. for a conversation with late painter Dorothy Fratt’s son, retired Catholic minister...Read more -
Dorothy Fratt Monograph
Release date: October 23, 2023 July 17, 2023Publisher: Radius Books/Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art Essays: Lauren R. O’Connell and Jennifer McCabe Illustrated biography: Dr. Ashley Busby Hardcover: 224 Pages / 70 images...Read more -
Dorothy Fratt Recent Museum Acquisition
The Columbus Museum (Columbus, GA) May 26, 2023Pazo Fine Art is pleased to announce the acquisition of Hopscotch, 2001 by The Columbus Museum (Columbus, GA). This is the first work by Fratt...Read more
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Dorothy Fratt At Scottsdale Museum Of Contemporary Art
Chadd Scott, Forbes, February 13, 2024 -
Dorothy Fratt
Molly Warnock, ARTFORUM, March 1, 2023 -
Dorothy Fratt: Paint The Town Red
Mark Jenkins, The Washington Post, January 6, 2023 -
GOING HER OWN WAY
Dr. Ashley Busby, Art & Antiques Magazine, December 1, 2022