Halloween Postcards : Freixas

Jason Freixas

Jason Freixas is another of the much-collected postcard and valentine artists about whom very little is known. It does seem to be a fairly common recurring theme. Perhaps it was a lack of respect for the work of ephemera artists because of its commercial nature? Perhaps just different times with much narrower public interest in the private lives of publicized names? For whatever reason, though he was very successful, selling quite a number of cards, interest in the man himself while he was active was quite limited to non-existent. Such basic information such as birth and death dates are unknown. He is said to be Canadian-American in some sources, but I have not found any concrete information to support this or any particular heritage.

His work for John O. Winsch is probably his most popular, with his Halloween cards for Winsch topping those. There are dimensional cards that combine the artwork of Freixas with another popular Winsch artist, Samuel L. Schmucker. While there are die-cut cards that are said to have been published by Winsch, these do not bear the company name. Only a few of his cards were signed by Freixas.

Children were Frexias's main subject. Some of his figures can bear a remarkable resemblance to the work of Grace Drayton. Careful consideration of the faces, paying great attention to the eyes, can help distinguish between the two artists.

Some of the cards to be found with recognizable Frexias children were created by unknown publishers, who lifted bits of work by him and other artists like Frances Brundage, to use in their own cards. Usually the print and paper quality will be diminished on these. This practice, while dubious, was not uncommon among small publishers in the early part of the 19th century.

When looking for his work, be aware of the variations on the spelling of his last name out there. It is often spelled differently, changing the placement of the vowels, in some source books.

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Companies Jason Freixas is Known to Have Worked For:

(this list may not be complete)

John O. Winch

Gibson Art Co

Pink of Perfection (Fairman)

Gottschalk, Dreyfus and Davis

GOM (Gebrueder Obpacher, Muenchen)

Stecher

Henry Heiningen Co NY

source:

Vintage Valentine Museum