Theodore Fried (1902-1980): In Hiding and Beyond
Presentation by Sofia Thornblad, Tulsa (OK)
September 3, 2025 @ 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm
| FreeThis presentation explores the historical background and creative works of Hungarian-born Jewish artist Theodore Fried (1902-1980). He was educated at the Budapest Academy of Fine Arts and moved to Vienna in 1924 and to Paris in 1925. He met and married his first wife Anna and his son Christopher was born in 1928. That same year, the artist had his first one-man show, and was included in important shows in Vienna, Prague, Berlin, and Paris.
Image above: Detail of Theodore Fried, Self Portrait, 1938. Oil on canvas. Sherwin Miller Museum of Jewish Art, Tulsa (OK)
When the Nazis came to power in 1933, Fried’s work was labeled as “degenerate”. He fled with his family to unoccupied Southern France, from where, in 1942, a Quaker organization brought him and his family to the United States. Most of his artwork stayed behind, hidden throughout France. The bulk of it was not recovered until the 1970’s.
Theodore Fried, The Family, not dated. Oil on canvas. Sherwin Miller Museum of Jewish Art, Tulsa (OK)
Fried settled in New York, where he lived for the rest of his life; summering in the Berkshires. In the early 1960s he founded, with his second wife Maria, the Hudson Guild Art Project, a community art school and gallery still thriving today. Over the course of his lifetime, Fried’s work was affected by loss, love, and changing aesthetics and values of the world around him. It offers a fascinating glimpse into an era that feels much more distant than it is.
Theodore Fried passed away in 1980, and The Sherwin Miller Museum of Jewish Art in Tulsa, Oklahoma became the home of his collection in the early 2000’s.
Theodore Fried, Maria, not dated. Oil on canvas. Sherwin Miller Museum of Jewish Art, Tulsa (OK)
Sofia Thornblad is the Chief Curator and Director of Collections and Holocaust Education for the Sherwin Miller Museum of Jewish Art in Tulsa Oklahoma. She has a BA in Holocaust and Genocide Studies from Keene State College and an MA in Museum Studies from the University of New Hampshire. Originally from the East Coast, she lives in Tulsa with her partner and their various pets. In her free time, she participates in local community theater productions both as a historical consultant and performer.
The exhibition Theodore Fried: Art in Hiding is on view until Dec 31, 2025 at the Sherwin Miller Museum of Jewish Art in Tulsa, Oklahoma (SMMJA)
