Frederic James (1915-1985) was an American painter who specialized in watercolors. He was associated with the Regionalist art movement. He was born in Kansas City, Missouri in 1915. His father was master of the Santa Fe Railroad yards. James showed an early talent for painting, and in 1934, the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City accepted one of his watercolors for their Midwestern Exhibition.

James attended the University of Michigan and majored in architecture. Upon his graduation, he was awarded an architecture scholarship to the Cranbrook Academy of Art, where he was close friends with Eero Saarinen, Ralph Rapson, and Charles and Ray Eames. Working in a partnership with Saarinen and Rapson, he won a national competition, ...