Charles Fritz's
paintings are an honest approach to the world around him, depicting the
landscape, life and history of the Rocky Mountain region. In explaining
his style, he describes himself as an outdoor artist, preferring to
paint on location, a strennous and time-honored approach to the changing
moods of nature. He has traveled extensively in the United States and
Europe studying the paintings and working techniques of artists whose
work he admires.
Born in 1955, Charles
Fritz grew up in Mason City, Iowa, studying history and education at
Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa. He left teaching to pursue his art
and has worked exclusively as a professional artist for the last thirty
years. His move to Montana in 1980 strengthened his interest in the
history of the Great Plains and the West, which is apparent in the
evolution of his work. Today he paints historical subjects in vast,
luminous landscapes while residing in Billings, Montana with his wife
and their two sons, Isaac and Erick.
During the Lewis and
Clark Bicentennial of 2003 to 2006, his exhibit of seventy-two paintings
traveled nationally to seven museums: the Montana Museum of Art and
Culture, Missoula, Montana; the Oregon Historical Society, Portland,
Oregon; the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum, Oklahoma City,
Oklahoma; the C.M. Russell Museum, Great Falls, Montana; the Booth
Western Art Musuem, Cartersville, Georgia; the Yellowstone Art Museum,
Billings, Montana; and the MacNider Art Museum, Mason City, Iowa.
In 2009 the Buffalo Bill
Historical Center in Cody, Wyoming will host the premier exhibit of the
complete collection, "An Artist with the Corps of Discovery -
One-Hundred Paintings Illustrating the Journals of Lewis and Clark."
Fritz's paintings can be found in private, corporate, and public art
collections. He has won many awards and has been honored to have his
paintings placed into the permanent collections of the C.M. Russell
Museum, Great Falls, Montana; the Denver Art Museum, Colorado; the
Charles H. MacNider Museum, Mason City, Iowa; the Buffalo Bill
Historical Center, Cody, Wyoming; and the Rahr-West Museum, Manitowoc,
Wisconsin.
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