Biography

LONG BIO OF ARTIST found here: http://donfreeman.info/images/2008/08/don_saa_bio.pdf
He was the illustrator for the Corduroy Bear Books.

Biography below from donfreeman.info/biographical-sketches/
Don was born in San Diego, California, in 1908 and grew up in Chula Visa. He writes about his childhood in his humorous autobiographical novel Come One, Come All! in which he tells his own story of how he came and dove in to his life as an artist/musician in New York City.

Michelle Gabriel (1995):
“Freeman did not start out to be a children’s author and illustrator, although by the age of seven he knew he wanted, above all, to be an artist more than anything. Working with crayolas and whatever drawing paper he could get his hands on, the young Freeman began sketching a perceptive view of the world around him.

Freeman’s artistic talent was given a boost by his grandmother who presented him with a gift for his high school graduation - a summer course at the San Diego School of Fine Arts. There he met another aspiring artist, Lydia Cooley, who would later become his wife. Firmly entrenched in his artistic pursuit, Freeman left for New York to study at the Art Students League with John Sloan and Harry Wickey.

His passion for art enveloped the New York theater where Freeman often ventured backstage, sketchbook in hand, to sketch and draw the actors and everything he saw on and off the stage. No other artist has been credited with recording so faithfully and with such sensitivity the drama of New York City as Don Freeman. But it wasn’t until a serendipitous twist of fate prompted Freeman to begin submitting his theater drawings to newspapers that anyone even guessed what an artistic gold mine he had in his sketch pads. In order to be able to wander through the city with this sketchbook in hand, Freeman supported himself by working as a dance band musician at night, playing the trumpet in nightclubs and at wedding receptions.

One night, on his way home from work, Freeman lost his trumpet on the subway. After that incident he decided it was time to concentrate on making a living from his sketches. His astute impressions of the Broadway scene began to appear in the drama sections of The Herald Tribune, The New York Times, The Christian Science Monitor, and Theater Magazine, as well as other magazines and newspapers. Over the next several years he illustrated for William Saroyan and Brooks Atkinson. He also contributed illustrations to James Thurber’s The White Deer. He captured the spirit and essence of everyday life in New York City, and occasionally Hollywood, during the 1930s and ’40s. During this period he also printed a publication of his own, Newsstand, which he described as “One man’s Manhattan.” Many of his limited edition lithographs and etchings, as well as the offset prints for Newsstand, are treasured by loyal collectors around the world.”

(From “Don Freeman, 1908-1978″ by Michelle Gabriel in the brochure to the exhibition “Cover to Cover” organized by M. Lee Stone at the Villa Montalvo, Saratoga, California in 1995.)

Don was a truly gregarious personality. He and Lydia made many friends in New York. Some of these friends are such original unique characters that I have tried to bring some element of them and New York in the 30’s and 40’s to life in these “biographical sketches”. Beauford Delaney, Esther Goetz & George McCoy, and Jerome Myers are now featured here (see the bar on the right hand side) with biographical sketches in Don’s own words and images. More (Joe Gould, for instance) will be coming in the near future.

Below his career in brief from:http://donfreeman.info/images/2008/08/don_saa_bio.pdf
Born August 11, 1908 in San Diego, California, son of Mortimer Roy (a salesman) and
Hazel (Currier) Freeman
Married Lydia Cooley (an artist), June 30, 1931
Children Christopher (1948, died shortly after birth), Roy (born 1949, presently living in
Switzerland).
Education Attended Principia College (St. Louis, Missouri) and after graduation in 1928, the Art
Students League in New York.
Work: Began as a trumpet-player in a jazz band; free-lance artist, painter, print-maker;
graphic artist with the New York Times and New York Herald Tribune for more than
20 years; author and illustrator of books for children.
Died: in New York City, February 1, 1978 the evening after seeing the final proofs for A
POCKET FOR CORDUROY through the press.

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