With its proximity to the cultural hub of New York City and its quieter suburban and rural landscapes, Connecticut was fertile ground for artists and writers in the period of Modernist movements between 1913 and 1979. Many of these cultural figures are well known through biographical and critical studies. Creative Places seeks to show how place played a significant role in creative work, and how in turn the artists and writers influenced communities in Connecticut.
Religious sculptor whose works in Connecticut include the 1959 ‘Crucifix’ at the main entrance to All Saints Catholic School in Norwalk and the 1967 ‘Triad, Holy Family’ at the former General Electric headquarters in Fairfield.
Self-taught son of sculptor Henry Merwin Shrady, Frederick began his artistic career as a painter before World War II. After the war, he converted to Catholicism and turned to sculpture of a religious nature. In 1959 he purchased the former estate of Edna Ferber in Easton and converted a barn there into a studio. His 28-foot ‘Peter, Fisher of Men,’ depicting the saint casting a net, was installed in the plaza of Fordham University’s Lincoln Center campus in 1969, and the 1975 green bronze figure of Mother Elizabeth Seton, the first American-born saint, stands in the Mother Seton Shrine at St. Patrick’s Cathedral.