[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 126 (Thursday, July 26, 2018)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1093]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




     CELEBRATING THE FRELINGHUYSEN MORRIS HOUSE AND STUDIO'S 20TH 
                              ANNIVERSARY

                                 ______
                                 

                      HON. RODNEY P. FRELINGHUYSEN

                             of new jersey

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, July 26, 2018

  Mr. FRELINGHUYSEN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the 
Frelinghuysen Morris House and Studio located in the Town of Lenox, 
Massachusetts, on the occasion of its 20th Anniversary.
  Estelle ``Suzy'' Frelinghuysen and George L.K. Morris were an 
extraordinary couple and prolific abstract artists, who were deeply 
involved with national and international art throughout their 
lifetimes. As collectors and artists themselves, Frelinghuysen and 
Morris created a Berkshire home that they designed after the Bauhaus 
and filled with their expansive collection of art. Today, they are 
being widely rediscovered and praised as important figures in the 
history of American art.
  Suzy Frelinghuysen, of Newark, New Jersey, was a trained opera singer 
who performed for the New York City Opera. She sang the leading roles 
of ``Tosca'' and ``Ariadne auf Naxos'' as a dramatic soprano. She 
married Morris in 1935 and by 1938 she became the first female artist 
to have a painting placed in the permanent collection of A.E. 
Gallatin's Museum of Living Art in New York City. Suzy was also a 
founding member of the American Abstract Artists. Her work can be 
viewed in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the 
Philadelphia Museum of Art, and the Carnegie Institute.
  George L.K. Morris of New York traveled to Paris in 1929 with his 
cousin, A.E. Gallatin, where he met Picasso, Braque, and Brancusi. He 
further studied in the studio of Fernand Leger and Amedee Ozenfant. 
Later, he became one of the founders of the American Abstract Artists. 
He was passionate about Cubism and abstract art, which led him to 
become an editor and art critic for the Partisan Review. His work can 
be viewed in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the 
Whitney Museum, the Brooklyn Museum, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, 
and the Carnegie Institute.
  Before her death in 1988, Suzy established the Morris Foundation and 
left instructions for their home, studio, and art collection intact and 
be used for educational purposes. Her nephew Kinney Frelinghuysen and 
his wife Linda have transformed their home into the Frelinghuysen 
Morris House and Studio.
  The 46 acre estate opened for visitation in 1998. Visitors can walk 
through their house with all of its original furnishings and see not 
only Suzy and George's own work, but also the work of their famous 
colleagues and contemporaries including Picasso, Braque, Leger, and 
Gris. As Kinney notes, ``The integration of living quarters with the 
immediacy of a concentration of works of art is a pleasurable and 
unexpected way to propel visitors into early 20th century art.'' Kinney 
and Linda have also completed several restoration projects over the 
past twenty years to preserve the iconic house.
  Kinney dreams that the Frelinghuysen Morris House and Studio will 
achieve National Historic Landmark status and believes that his Aunt 
Suzy would be pleased with their work to preserve her legacy.
  Mr. Speaker, I ask that you and our colleagues join me in celebrating 
the Frelinghuysen Morris House and Studio's 20th Anniversary.

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