Frances Elizabeth Fryatt (
pen name, F. E. Fryatt) was an American author and specialist in household
applied arts
The applied arts are all the arts that apply design and decoration to everyday and essentially practical objects in order to make them aesthetically pleasing."Applied art" in ''The Oxford Dictionary of Art''. Online edition. Oxford Univ ...
. She served as editor-in-chief of ''
The Lady's World'' after its establishment in 1886, and was twice elected president of the
Ladies' Art Association of New York.
Early life
Frances Elizabeth Fryatt was born in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
, but spent her girlhood in the countryside. In her childhood, she wrote for pleasure and chiefly in verse, taking up literature as a life-work on the death of her father, Horatio N. Fryatt, who had written articles on science, law and finance during the intervals of his busy life as a New York merchant. After the death of her father, the family removed to the city.
Career
Fryatt commenced to write for New York newspapers, the ''New-York Evening Post'', the ''
Commercial Advertiser
The ''New-York Commercial Advertiser'' was an American evening newspaper. It originated as the ''American Minerva'' in 1793, changed its name in 1797, and was published, with slight name variations, until 1904.
History
The paper had its origins ...
'', the ''Tribune'' and the ''Daily Graphic'', a line of work soon relinquished for the more congenial field of magazine literature. An article entitled "Lunar Lore and Portraiture", written for the ''
Popular Science Monthly
''Popular Science'' (also known as ''PopSci'') is an American digital magazine carrying popular science content, which refers to articles for the general reader on science and technology subjects. ''Popular Science'' has won over 58 awards, incl ...
'' and published in August, 1881, involved extended reading and research. About 1879, she became a contributor to ''
Harper's Magazine'', ''
The Independent
''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publish ...
'', ''
The Churchman
''Churchman'' is an evangelical Anglican academic journal published by the Church Society. It was formerly known as ''The Churchman'' and started in 1880 as a monthly periodical before moving to quarterly publication in 1920. The name change to "C ...
'', the ''Illustrated Christian Weekly'', the ''Art Age'', and later to ''
Harper's Young People
''Harper's Young People'' was an American children's magazine between 1879 and 1899. The first issue appeared in the fall of 1879. It was published by Harper & Brothers. It was Harper's fourth magazine to be established, after '' Harper's Magazine ...
'' and ''
Wide Awake''.
In 1881, she began writing articles for ''The Art Interchange'' on art applied to the house, including
monographs on
embroidery
Embroidery is the craft of decorating fabric or other materials using a needle to apply thread or yarn. Embroidery may also incorporate other materials such as pearls, beads, quills, and sequins. In modern days, embroidery is usually seen ...
,
glass painting
Painted glass refers to two different techniques of decorating glass, both more precisely known by other terms.
Firstly, and more correctly, it means enamelled glass, normally relatively small vessels which have been painted with preparations of ...
, and staining, wood-carving, painting on china, designing for carpets and
wallpaper
Wallpaper is a material used in interior decoration to decorate the interior walls of domestic and public buildings. It is usually sold in rolls and is applied onto a wall using wallpaper paste. Wallpapers can come plain as "lining paper" (so ...
, schemes of exterior and interior coloring, and decoration from architects' plans and sketches. She wrote all the answers to queries on house-furnishing and decoration published by ''The Art Interchange'' during the period of 1883–93, as well as the answers to numberless queries on a great variety of subjects. From 1886, Fryatt served as editor-in-chief of ''The Lady's World'', a monthly devoted to the home, conducting eight of its departments, and writing all the editorials and most of the technical articles.
Fryatt had previously occupied the positions of assistant editor and art-editor of the ''Manhattan Magazine'' of New York. Among other work not mentioned may be included Fryatt's articles on art-industry and notes on the fine arts.
After retirement to a suburb of
Brooklyn
Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
, on account of failing health, she built the cottage, "Fairhope". There, she had her private editorial office and library, and kept up her interest in various humanitarian movements. In 1891, Fryatt was elected president of the Ladies' Art Association of New York, and she was re-elected in May, 1892.
Selected works
* "The Children's Hour : A Novel Art-School", in ''Some Curious Schools''
References
Attribution
*
Bibliography
*
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fryatt, Frances Elizabeth
19th-century American writers
19th-century American artists
19th-century American women writers
American magazine editors
Writers from New York City
Artists from New York City
Decorative arts
Women magazine editors
American women non-fiction writers
Year of birth unknown
Year of death unknown
Wikipedia articles incorporating text from A Woman of the Century