About Fredrix

Fredrix® was founded in 1868 by E. H. Friedrichs. Although, he spent much of his time on trains and coaches drumming up business, he was much more than a salesman. He was a businessman, a chemist, an inventor, an innovator and he was the first in America to manufacture artist canvas for the trade.

Although the art of manufacturing artist canvas has changed since the 1800s, the product we make today is very similar to the canvas we made over 140 years ago. The name was changed (Friedrichs to Fredrix®), but our mission has not. Our best selling canvases are universally primed for oil, acrylic or alkyd paints, and we still prime our finest canvas the old fashioned way... picked, pumiced and primed by hand with oil based ground.

Whether your choice is a machine primed canvas with universal acrylic gesso or hand primed canvas with natural glue sizing and oil based ground, you can trust Fredrix® to provide you with your best overall painting experience.

Raw Canvas
Fredrix shops all over the world to find the finest artist grade cottons, linens and blends which are woven to our rigid specifications. 

 

Priming
Fredrix coats more then 10 million square yards of canvas annually.  As an experienced canvas manufacturer, Fredrix® recognizes that it is our unique priming process which is the key to our success today.   All of our canvas is primed in the USA and only Fredrix® Artist Canvas displays an archival seal of quality to guarantee a finished painting that will withstand the test of time.  Most of our canvases are machine primed using state-of-the-art industrial equipment, but we still prime many of our canvas the old fashioned way - by hand! 

Stretcher Bars
All of our pre-stretched canvases are mounted on stretcher bars made from kiln dried SPF grade wood and feature the unique Fredrix interlocking tongue and groove design, which was first developed by our founder, E.H. Friedrichs, in 1875.


Beyond the Brush
A complete handbook to understand and using artist canvas. Include history, types of canvas, how to choose your own canvas, step-by-step instructions on mounting and priming and more. CLICK HERE to view online. 

Archival Quality
The Fredrix archival seal guarantees that your canvas is protected against acidic deterioration. A buffered sizing of non-acid PH prtotects the canvas fibers from direct contact with the final priming. Each canvas is individually inspected to stringent Fredrix quality control specification Your creative efforts deserve the very best. So, to ensure the best overall painting performance and long term archival quality, choose the only canvas that has stood the test of time.