Frederick Mershimer

About The Artist

Frederick Mershimer was born in Sharon, Pennsylvania in 1958. He received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Painting from Carnegie Mellon University in 1980. After moving to New York in 1982, he further developed his talents in graphics and fine art printmaking through studies at the Parsons School of Design, Pratt Graphic Center and Manhattan Graphic Center.

Frederick Mershimer celebrates the experience of New York through his art. He creates an evocative realism that transports the viewer beyond first appearances to reveal the hidden beauty of the contemporary city. Before moving to New York, Mershimer was exclusively a figurative artist; but his attention was quickly diverted by the power and energy of the city around him. At first glance, his work can be interpreted as bold naturalism. Yet, he skillfully choreographs lighting and detail while altering perspective to draw the viewer’s attention to the essence of the piece. Mershimer’s mezzotints speak to both the grit and grandeur of the modern American city.

To translate his visions, Mershimer has chosen mezzotint, a tonal medium capable of achieving rich blacks and subtle gradations of grays. This is a painstaking technique which requires the artist to spend long hours just to prepare the ground on the copper plate before any work on the actual image can begin. This preparatory work is done using a curved serrated blade called a rocker. Although a very technical process, mezzotint allows the artist a very direct means of plate making. It is this approach to the art, along with the rich sensibility of the medium, which rewards the artist for his patience.

The success which Mershimer has achieved in capturing his images and communicating his vision has led to an ever-widening circle of recognition and respect. His mezzotints are in many private and public collections, including the Corcoran Gallery, the Cleveland Museum of Art, the Museum of the City of New York, the National Museum of American Art/Smithsonian Institution, the New Orleans Museum of Art, the Queens Museum of Art and the Whitney Museum of American Art. His works have also been acquired by the Georgetown University Art Collection, Harvard’s Fogg Museum, the Library of Congress, New York Public Library, University of Arizona and the University of New Mexico. He was the recipient of the 2007 Fellow in Printmaking/Drawing/Artist’s Books from the New York State Foundation for the Arts.