An impressionistic style painting of the narrow Spanish Street in St. Augustine, typical of Fritz’s landscapes. Fritz discovered the city of St. Augustine in the 1950's making its landscape and scenes of everyday life his primary subjects. This impressionistic painting of Spanish Street is typical of his work. The narrow street disappearing in the distance with the woman in the red skirt walking under the shade of the Floridian trees is executed in in peaceful colors. Fritz adopted and perfected an impressionistic, painterly style that enabled him to capture the light and movement reflected in his artwork through his distinctive application of impasto and vigorous brushstroke.

Biography

Emmett John Fritz (born John Emmett Fritz) was born on October 13 1917 in Kansas City, Missouri. He studied art at Pratt Institute in New York graduating in 1937. Pratt Institute is a higher-learning graduate institution built with a focus on the fine arts, engineering, and architecture. Fritz also worked with Norman Rockwell for a brief period, becoming a known magazine and newspaper cartoonist for a comic strip called Roxie West, as well as an illustrator, before a move to Florida in 1950. It was during this time he painted “Schooner”, the only sailboat painting by Fritz.

Florida was a popular destination for tourism In Florida, Fritz discovered the city of St. Augustine in the 1950's. He became a serious easel painter. His primary subjects were the St. Augustine landscape, scenes of everyday life in the walled city, and the Spanish influenced architecture. He had an indoor studio on St. George Street but Fritz preferred painting outside on city sidewalks . In 2004, a group of townspeople organized the Emmett Fritz Memorial Exhibition to celebrate Fritz’s leadership in making St. Augustine a popular destination for art tourists from all over the world. Fritz painted the many views of America’s oldest city in hundreds of colorful and romantic images.