Anne H. Fitzpatrick Façade
October 14, 2025 – February 10, 2026
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Artist-in-Residence Robert T. Freeman (b. 1946, USA) is a figurative painter known for his bold gestural brushwork, vivid color palette, geometric forms, and abstract approach to his subjects.
This piece of public art, commissioned by the Gardner Museum, is Freeman’s tribute to the life and work of fellow artist Allan Rohan Crite. Freeman paints the artist as larger-than-life, surrounded by smaller figures taken from a combination of paintings by Crite of street scenes of Boston’s Lower Roxbury and South End neighborhoods (Late Afternoon, Tire Jumping in Front of My Window, Harriet and Leon, and The News). Crite was a storyteller who delighted in chronicling the visual beauty of African American communities; his portrait by Freeman imbues Crite with the same dignity and glory he spent his life giving his beloved city.
Image courtesy of Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston
Robert T. Freeman: Allan Crite - American Griot, 2025 [rendering] © Robert T. Freeman.
About the Artist
Photo: Brian K. Snyder (Reuters)
Robert T. Freeman (b. 1946, USA) is a figurative painter known for his bold gestural brushwork, vivid color palette, geometric forms, and abstract approach to his subjects. Freeman’s monumental canvases reflect personal experiences and probe the complexities of race and politics, including the long shadow of slavery and its ties to American white supremacy. Born in New York City, Freeman spent his childhood between Ghana and Washington D.C., before settling in Boston.
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Robert T. Freeman: Allan Crite - American Griot, 2025 is supported in part by Barbara and Amos Hostetter, the Abrams Foundation, the Barr Foundation, the Henry Luce Foundation, the Ford Foundation, the Barbara Lee Program Fund, The Tom and Katherine Stemberg Fund for Exhibitions and Programs, and Fredericka and Howard Stevenson.
The Artist-in-Residence program is supported in part by Lizbeth and George Krupp and The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts and directed by Pieranna Cavalchini, Tom and Lisa Blumenthal Curator of Contemporary Art. Funding is also provided for site-specific installations of new work on the Anne H. Fitzpatrick Façade on Evans Way.
The Museum receives operating support from the Massachusetts Cultural Council, which is supported by the state of Massachusetts and the National Endowment for the Arts.
