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Litchfield painter Frank Federico’s show, “Jazzalicious,” offers a retrospective of his works portraying jazz themes in his collaboration with the Litchfield Jazz Festival over the past decade. Other paintings selected for the exhibition provide a look at his early paintings and drawings in New Orleans, as well as cityscape tableaus from his artistic work in New York City.
Federico began his art career as a youth in New Orleans, setting up exhibitions on city street corners to sell his paintings of vibrant Louisiana bayou landscapes and sketches of jazz musicians who played the clubs along Bourbon Street. He later drew artistic inspiration from the city’s annual Jazz Fest music and cultural festival, creating paintings of Taj Mahal, Doc Cheatham and other notable musicians.
Federico studied professionally at the John McCrady Art School in New Orleans and the Southwest Louisiana Institute. He moved to New York City to further his artistic career and later traveled extensively abroad during his service in the U.S. Army.
Now a resident of Litchfield, Federico has continued to build his reputation as a master painter of figures, landscapes, murals and portraits. He shares his professional insights and techniques in popular art workshops held both locally and internationally. A founding member of the Litchfield Jazz Festival art show, Federico stages an exhibition of his works at the annual event, which features reproductions of his images on festival posters and T-shirts.
“Jazz has been the single most significant influence on my art,” he said. “Jazz has always inspired me—it has influenced the style, timing, rhythm and improvisation in my art.”
Federico’s works have earned awards from the Watercolor Society, the Pastel Society of America and the International Association of Pastels. He has staged exhibitions at the Brockton Museum of Art in Boston, the National Gallery in Tokyo, and galleries from Maine to Florida. His pastel and watercolor works are featured in private collections of clients including the Sultan of Dubai, IBM and Gulf Oil.
The painting shown above is titled, "Jamming," by Frank Federico.
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