(CDMedia will soon publish the book mentioned in this article by the book's author, Johannes Froebel-Parker. --Ed.)
When one thinks of Catskill, New York in the Hudson River Valley of New York State, one thinks of the renowned Catskill Mountain House, painters Thomas Cole and Frederick Church, and, more recently, boxing trainer Cus (Constantine) D’Amato and his protégé, boxer Mike Tyson.
Froebel Gallery artist (https://www.froebelgallery.net/) Barbara Korr Green, and her husband, painter and photographer, Francis Eugene (F.E.) Green, were often in the gym drawing, painting and photographing aspiring athletes, trainer Cus D’Amato, and young Mike Tyson.
When D’Amato died, Barbara was asked to design his gravestone, with boxing gloves hanging over the ropes of the ring. Gloves that Mike had used for sparring were given to Barbara to use in her drawing.
When the author, J (Johannes) Froebel-Parker, asked Barbara to paint a formal portrait of HIH Anastasia Nicholaevna Romanov, Grand Duchess of Russia, she was a bit skeptical. It was unlike other portraits she had done, while it was going to be a challenge to paint an adult Anastasia Romanov, when many historians, theologians, and mavens of “Romanovia” assured the world that all the Romanovs had died in Yekaterinburg, Urals, Russia during the Russian Communist Revolution.
Utilizing historical photos of the youngest Romanov grand duchess compared and contrasted with 2D and 3D visual face recognition analyses of Anastasia and alias “Evgenia Smetisko” Green saw a face emerging which was true to both the young noblewoman and the seemingly penniless immigrant from Eastern Europe.
It now graces the front over of the book Grand Duchess Anastasia: Still a Mystery? (histriabooks.com/product/grand-duchess-anastasia)
Artist Bio
BARBARA GREEN, nee Korr
Barbara Green, nee Korr was born in Brooklyn, New York and
graduated in the same class from Erasmus High School as another
well-known personage in the arts – Barbra Streisand. Her
undergraduate training was at New York University, followed by two
years at the Instituto Allende in San Juan de Allende, Mexico. There
she studied printmaking, stone lithography, and etchings. She
completed her MFA at Allende. Known for expertise in figure work,
she gained invaluable experience with Harvey Dinnerstein at the
National Academy of Design (New York) and the Arts Student
League (New York). Perhaps her most unique live figure experiences
were in the boxing gym run by Cus Damato in Catskill, New York,
where the young Mike Tyson honed his skills. Her portraits of
Romanov personages include HIH Anastasia Nicholaevna Romanov,
HRH Maria Pavlovna Romanov Grand Duchess von Sachsen-Weimar-
Eisenach, HSH Ekaterina Ivanovna Konstantinova Romanov, and a
double portrait of HIH Alexandra Feodorovna with Catherine the
Great (anno 2020). Froebel Gallery has enjoyed a relationship with
Barbara Korr Green and her artist husband, Francis Eugene Green, since the
1990s.
