Freeman Butts I

Figurative Paintings

Freeman Butts

[1928 –1998]

Freeman Butts’ artistic legacy is vast. It consists of thousands of drawings, watercolors, and acrylic paintings on paper, ceramic and bronze sculpture, found object assemblages, and oil and acrylic paintings on canvas. A big man with an even larger personality, Butts laughed easily and was well known in the community. He originally wanted to be a musician – growing his hair out and donning an unruly beard. Upon realizing he had little musical talent, Butts retired his guitar and picked up a paint brush. He attended Hollywood Art School on the GI bill and proceeded to have a successful career as an artist that spanned half a century, from the late 1940s through the 1990s.

Butts is known for expressive paintings that integrate figure and landscape using vigorous brushwork and fluid, sensuous line. Butts preferred to paint his canvas using house painting brushes and his work is characterized by looseness, gestural marks, and bold color. Much like Monet, whom he admired, Butts worked in phases. Whether it was hay bales and silos, or his ubiquitous human figures, he painted energetically and tirelessly, repeatedly cycling through familiar subjects. Though he worked quickly and frenetically, Butts never reworked a canvas believing it better to fail and throw out than edit. Butts’ work evolved and matured through the decades and as a body of work it reflects a broad range of interests and influences.

Butts moved to Montana in 1974 and to Livingston in 1993. He was known to be easygoing and calm with five children and cats constantly interrupting him at the studio. Freeman Butts’ giant stature was only matched by his humor, and gentle nature. His work can be found in many private collections as well as in the permanent collections of a number of museums across the state of Montana.