Helen Breger
Helen Breger | |
---|---|
Born | Helen Hammermann 1918 Vienna, Austria-Hungary (now Austria) |
Died | October 22, 2013 Berkeley, California, U.S. |
Other names | Helen Hamerman Breger, Helen Hamerman |
Education | Art Students League of New York, San Francisco State University, San Francisco Art Institute, California College of Arts and Crafts (MFA) |
Occupation(s) | Printmaker, ceramist, draftsperson, illustrator, sculptor, watercolorist, educator |
Known for | Etching |
Spouse | Leonard Breger (divorced) |
Children | 2 |
Mother | Esther Hamerman |
Awards | MacDowell Fellowship (1967) |
Helen Breger (née Helen Hammermann;[1] 1918 – 2013) was an Austrian-born American printmaker, ceramist, draftsperson, fashion illustrator, sculptor, and educator.[2] She taught at the California College of Arts and Crafts (now California College of the Arts) in Oakland, California for over 30 years.
Early life and education
[edit]Helen Hammermann was born in 1918, in Vienna, Austria-Hungary (now Austria), to Jewish parents Esther (née Waschmann) and Baruch Hammermann.[1][3] Her mother was a Polish-born folk art painter, under the name Esther Hamerman.[1] Her sister Juana Nadja Merino–Kalfel (also known as Nadja Kalfel), was a noted fashion illustrator and sculptor.[4]
In 1938, after Anschluss when the Federal State of Austria into the Nazi German Reich, the Hammermann family fled to Trinidad, and were interred by the British for six years.[4] During the internment, Helen Hammermann worked as a fashion illustrator and modified her designs for the tropics in Trinidad.[1] In 1944, the family was permitted to move to New York City.[1] She was educated at the Art Students League of New York.[2]
Helen married an American soldier named Leonard Breger, and they had two children.[2][5] In 1950, the Breger family moved to San Francisco prior to divorcing.[2] She continued her education at the San Francisco Art Institute; and received a M.F.A. degree in 1970 from the California College of Arts and Crafts (now California College of the Arts).[2] She also attended classes at San Francisco State University.[3]
Career
[edit]From 1954 to 1960, Breger worked as a freelance illustrator for the San Francisco Chronicle.[2] She would draw for the newspaper the newest fashions found in local luxury department stores such as I. Magnin and Joseph Magnin.[2]
She taught drawing at the California College of Arts and Crafts (now California College of the Arts) in Oakland, California, from 1959 until 1988.[5] She also taught drawing at the University of California, Berkeley in the environmental design department.[3]
Breger was known for her drawings, etchings and aquatints.[6] But she worked in many other mediums, including watercolor, ceramics, and bronze sculpture.
Death and legacy
[edit]Breger grappled with liver cancer, and died on October 22, 2013, at her home in Berkeley, California.[2]
She was the subject of the documentary Vienna in the Heavenlies (2012), by her daughter Michelle Shelfer.[2][7]
Breger's work is in public collections, including the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco,[8] the Metropolitan Museum of Art,[9] the Philadelphia Museum of Art,[10] the Brooklyn Museum,[11] and the Binghamton University Art Museum.[12]
Publications
[edit]- Breger, Helen (2008). Lines: A Sketched Life.
- Breger, Helen; Foley, Jack (2011). Sketches Poetical (artist book with CD).
References
[edit]- ^ a b c d e Newman, Joanna (2019-09-13). Nearly the New World: The British West Indies and the Flight from Nazism, 1933–1945. Berghahn Books. pp. 132, 276. ISBN 978-1-78920-334-9.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Zinko, Carolyne (October 26, 2013). "Bay Area artist, teacher Helen Breger dies". SFGate.
- ^ a b c Silvers, Emma (March 1, 2013). "Two generations render Holocaust memories through art". J.
- ^ a b Newhall, Edith (2012-03-06). "All in the Family". ARTnews.com. Retrieved 2024-07-02.
- ^ a b "Helen Breger Biography". Annex Galleries Fine Prints. Retrieved 2024-07-02.
- ^ Stiles, Knute (1965-02-01). "Helen Breger". Artforum. Retrieved 2024-07-02.
- ^ "Collections: Jewish family in Vienna, 1938". United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Retrieved 2024-07-02.
- ^ "Collection: Helen Breger". Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco (FAMSF). Retrieved 2024-07-02.
- ^ "Helen Breger, Sightseeing". The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Retrieved 2024-07-02.
- ^ "Children's Games (Part I)". Philadelphia Museum of Art. Retrieved 2024-07-02.
- ^ "Helen Breger". Brooklyn Museum. Retrieved 2024-07-02.
- ^ "Helen Breger". Binghamton University Art Museum. Retrieved 2024-07-02.
- 1918 births
- 2013 deaths
- American women printmakers
- Artists from Berkeley, California
- Artists from Vienna
- Art Students League of New York alumni
- California College of the Arts alumni
- California College of the Arts faculty
- Jewish Austrian artists
- Jewish emigrants from Austria after the Anschluss to the United States
- San Francisco Art Institute alumni
- San Francisco State University alumni
- Holocaust survivors
- Jewish women artists
- MacDowell Colony fellows