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Family, by Frieda Sohn, 1950s. Alabaster. c. 18-20 in. tall. Private Collection.
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Balance, by Frieda Sohn, 1950s. Marble. c. 14 in. tall. Private Collection.
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Floating Torso, by Frieda Sohn, 1960s. Teak Wood. c. 16 in. long. Private Collection.
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Medium/Discipline: Sculpture, Works on Paper
Birthplace: Lithuania
Place of Death: Toronto, Canada
Maryland Affiliation: Active while in residence
Prominent Theme: Abstracted Figurative Sculpture; Mother and Child; Family; Animals
Style/Period: Modern
Places of Residence: New York, New York, 1923-48; Baltimore, Maryland 1948-2004
Gender: Female
Race/Ethnicity: White
Biography: Frieda Rosengarten Sohn, a successful sculptor and beloved art teacher, was born in Lithuania and came to the United States in 1923. Sohn studied French, German and fine arts at Hunter College of the City University of New York, and taught in the public schools of New York City and Long Island from 1934-48. Sohn's first opportunity to study sculpture was during her graduate career in art history at Columbia University, where she worked with renowned outdoor sculpture artist Oronzio Malderelli (Italian, 1893-1963). Thereafter, she pursued graduate studies in sculpture at Columbia and advanced studies at the Beaux-Arts Institute. During her New York residence, Sohn's work was shown often at the Sculpture Center in New York and in galleries throughout the city. She sold work during these exhibitions to many private collectors, some of whom lived and worked in Baltimore where she would later reside. The Sculpture Center in New York acquired many of her pieces.
Travel to Mexico and Guatemala in 1973 was formative to Sohn's signature style, as were the influences of Henry Moore and Italian sculptors Marino Marini (1901-1980) and Giacomo Manzu (1908-1991), among others, whom she met on a ten-week trip to Italy and Greece, with a couple of weeks spent in France and England as well. Sohn's facility with languages enabled her to become fluent in Italian just months prior to her travel abroad.
Frieda Sohn works primarily in the media of wood and stone, does bronze and aluminum castings and has also worked in clay. Most of her works are abstracted figurative sculpture: mother and child, family or animal figures. Favorite animals as subjects include cats, bears and monkeys. Over the course of her life, Sohn has produced more than 300 original works. While her primary medium is sculpture, Sohn spent many summers at North Carolina's Penland School of Crafts where she devoted her energies to printmaking. While there, she also learned how to cast sculptures in aluminum.
Sohn and her husband, a talented mathematician and engineer whom she met at Columbia University while he studied optometry, moved to Baltimore City in 1948. She was also an instructor from 1949-68 as part of The Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) adult education programs (which are no longer available), at Goucher College in the 1950s and at various private schools in Maryland. She also lectured at Loyola College and at Saidie A. May Art Center, among many other institutions. Sohn then taught art history survey courses, 20th Century art history and sculpture at the Community College of Baltimore from 1968-79, and was made full professor there a couple years before retiring. Later in her career, she taught at Baltimore Clayworks and the Jewish Community Center.
Sohn's pieces were shown locally at the Peale Museum in Baltimore, the BMA, the Corcoran Museum of Art in Washington, D.C., The Johns Hopkins University and at many invitational shows. She won the Best in Show prize at both the Maryland Regional show at The Baltimore Museum of Art and Loyola College. In Maryland, her works are part of the permanent collection at Towson University and University of Maryland University College, and have been purchased by many local collectors. She was often commissioned to produce work, such as for Camp Louise for girls in Cascade, Md. One of her pieces sits on the campus of the Roland Park Country School.
Frieda Sohn instructed a number of important Maryland artists in sculpture, including Amalie Rothschild (1916-2000) who first attempted work in 3-D under Sohn's tutelage. In addition, Sohn has long been an associate of prominent 20th Century Maryland artists, including Rothschild and Mary Ann Mears. For her lifetime achievement, Sohn was recognized as a "living treasure" as a sculptor, artist and teacher by the Maryland Chapter of the Artists' Equity Association (1986), along with Reuben Kramer and Herman Maril. Over the years, many Baltimore Sun newspaper articles have featured Sohn and her exhibitions, along with photographs of her work or of her working in her studio. She was also featured, with sculptor Reuben Kramer, in 1959 in the "Man the Maker" television series that ran in the 1950s until 1962 on WMAR-TV and was produced by The Walters Art Museum (then the Walters Art Gallery) and Enoch Pratt Free Library.
Until 2004 Frieda Sohn resided in the greater Baltimore area, and moved to Toronto that year. Upon retiring in 1979 and until she departed Baltimore, she maintained a loyal following of sculpture students who consulted with her on their projects three days a week in the studio at her home. There is a fund in Sohn's name that her students and others have established in her honor at The Baltimore Museum of Art.
Education/Training: Hunter College, B.A. Majors: French and German, Minor: Fine Arts; Columbia University, graduate studies, Fine Art and Sculpture; Beaux-Arts Institute, one year advanced studies in painting
Selected References: "Celebrating Maryland Artists," Holtzman Art Gallery, Towson University, June 1986.
Maryland ArtSource Interview with the Artist, March 2004.
Maryland Institutions Holding Artworks: Towson University; University of Maryland University College
Single-Artist Exhibitions: The Baltimore Museum of Art
Towson University (Towson State Teachers College)
Essex Public Library
Hampton Gallery
Gallery One
Community College of Baltimore, 1973, 1976
Jewish Community Center
Multiple-Artist Exhibitions: Bronx House, New York, New York, 1946.
Gallery One, 1961 +.
Historical Museum (York, Pennsylvania)
Loyola College
Artist Equity Association of Maryland
Rehoboth Art League
WCBM Art Gallery
Zion Church
Baltimore Outdoor Art Festival
The Corcoran Museum of Art, Washington, D.C., 1959.
With Bennard Perlman at Chiznuk Amuno Congregation, Hendler Art Gallery, 1971.
Studio Gallery, Baltimore Sculptors' Group, "Five Artists for a Sunday Afternoon: Scuris, Mears, Turnbull, Rothschild, Sohn," 1973.
"Britain Salutes Baltimore at Stewart's", England, 1975.
Goucher College, "Baltimore County Collectors Exhibit, 1776-1976," 1976.
Jewish Community Center, "Three Maryland Sculptors: Kramer, Hamburger, Sohn," April 16, 1961; 1981.
McDonough School, Tuttle Memorial Gallery, 1984.
"Celebrating Maryland Artists," Holtzman Art Gallery, Towson University, June 1986.
Millersville University (PA), "A sculpture exhibit of bronze works," 1994.
Awards: "Living Treasure" as a sculptor, artist and teacher, by the Maryland Chapter of the Artists' Equity Association, 1986.
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