Helene Herzbrun

Helene Herzbrun (1921–1984) was an American artist who lived and worked within the art community in Washington, D.C. A student and friend of Jack Tworkov, she was a second-generation abstract expressionist who developed a personal style that set her apart from the Color School movement of her time. She was known for abstract landscapes having bold colors and employing gestural brushwork. She was also said to possess an ability to create the illusion of depth without employing graphical perspective. As well as painting, Herzbrun enjoyed a long career gallery administrator and professor of art at American University.

Helene Herzbrun
Born
Helen Eichenbaum

(1921-10-05)October 5, 1921
Chicago, Illinois
DiedMarch 14, 1984(1984-03-14) (aged 62)
Washington, D.C.
NationalityU. S. citizen
Known forArtist

Early life and training

Herzbrun was born in Chicago on October 5, 1921. Her birth name was recorded as Helen Eichenbaum.[1] She became Helene McKinsey after her first marriage in 1942 and then Helene Herzbrun after her second marriage in 1961.[2][3][note 1] After graduating from Hirsch High School in Chicago, she briefly attended Beloit College and subsequently the University of Chicago where she studied art and from which she obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree in English.[note 2] She also took classes at the Art Institute of Chicago.[6] In the late 1940s she worked as an advertising copy writer and designer.[9] In the early 1950s, now living in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area, she studied at American University under Jack Tworkov, Robert Gates, and Joe Summerford, all of whom became colleagues and friends during her subsequent career.[10][note 3] Gates and Summerford were year-round instructors at the school while Tworkov taught there during the summer months between 1948 and 1951.[8][12][note 4]

Career in art

In 1952, during the last year of her studies at American University, Herzbrun participated in a group a group exhibition at the Whyte Gallery in Washington.[14][note 5] The gallery's owner assembled the show by soliciting recommendations from local newspaper art critics. At the time a critic for the Washington Post wrote that Herzbrun's painting, "Andante," was a well-composed abstraction.[16] Another critic said she showed "unusual competence and understanding of a difficult medium."[14] In 1953 she was the only Washingtonian to have work included in the 23rd Corcoran Biennial held that year.[17][18] In 1954 she showed a small group of paintings in a suburban movie theater, an exhibition that was notable only in the review it drew from a local critic who called Herzbrun an outstanding artist.[19] Two years later she was featured in a two-artist exhibition at the Watkins Gallery.[18][note 6]

In 1957 Herzbrun helped found an artists' cooperative called the Jefferson Place Gallery. She and a fellow student at American University originally came up with the idea for what became the first gallery in Washington to be collectively owned and run by local artists. Eight others joined with them, all of them abstract artists.[note 7] At the time, Herzbrun wrote Tworkov that the venture was an "honorable" place to exhibit: a gallery run by artists among the city's bookshops, espresso cafés, and jewelry stores.[10] Herzbrun participated in group and solo exhibitions in the gallery from the time it opened until 1974 when it closed.[22]

Between 1953 and 1958 Herzbrun managed American University's Watkins Gallery[9] Thereafter she joined the art faculty at the university, beginning a career that lasted until her death in 1984.[8] In 1958 she was given a solo exhibition at the Stable Gallery in New York.[22] The following year her paintings appeared in a three-person exhibition at the Corcoran Gallery in which almost all her paintings were either sold or reserved by collectors.[9] A year later the Poindexter Gallery gave her a solo show that resulted in the sale of a big painting to Lila Wallace for the Reader's Digest art collection.[10][23][note 8][note 9]

In 1969, roughly at the midpoint of her career, Herzbrun expressed her dislike for the commercial requirements of a career in art. On December 7 of that year she wrote Jack Tworkov "After a year—to change subject abruptly—I almost have enough paintings for a show, some of which I'm really pleased about. But I have doubts about showing them, only because I really don't want the guff. I hate to have to argue their value or defend their merit having done all I could by painting them. But I probably will." [10]

The following year one of Herzbrun's paintings was included in a Baltimore Museum of Art exhibition that was intended to give a comprehensive overview of the Washington scene over the previous two decades.[27] Paul Richard, a critic for the Washington Post, gave this show an intemperate review, calling it insensitive, haphazard, and incoherent. In it he said Herzbrun's painting was an "eye-curdling canvas."[28] His view of a solo exhibition of hers some four years later was considerably more positive, describing the show as a happy one and her paintings as "colorful and free and bright."[29] Two years later the Corcoran chose Herzbrun along with John Robinson and Alma Thomas for a show called "Contemporary Washington Art" that was sponsored by the American Revolution Bicentennial Administration.[30][note 10] In 1978 she was given a solo exhibition and in 1980 a three-person exhibition at D.C.'s Rasmussen Gallery.[32][33][note 11] The following year cancer forced her to give up painting. Although she made collages for a time, the disease did not leave her and eventually brought about her death in 1984.[37] Posthumous exhibitions include a retrospective at the Watkins Gallery and a 2019 presentation called "Grace Hartigan and Helene Herzbrun: Reframing Abstract Expressionism" at the American University Art Museum.[37][38]

Artistic style
Helene Herzbrun, Landscape (Rising from Purple), about 1958 , oil on canvas, 50 1/4 x 68 1/4 inches
Helene Herzbrun, Aeroplat, 1970, acrylic on canvas, 70 x 73 2/4 inches
Helene Herzbrun, Counter Plane, 1977, acrylic on canvas, 50 x 44 inches

Herzbrun made gestural painting in an abstract expressionist style. When a painting of hers was selected for the 23rd Biennial held at the Corcoran Gallery in 1953 critics commented on the circumstances—as noted above, she was the only local artist selected—but not on her style.[17] Three years later, however, a critic for the Washington Post gave a thorough examination to Herzbrun's technique in reviewing a two-person exhibition at the Watkins Gallery. She recognized that, despite their abstraction, the paintings derived from a lyrical view of natural subjects. While earlier ones had possessed "a quality of light and sunshine, with flickering, rapidly moving patters," she said the more recent ones were looser and more expressionist, having bolder patterns and stronger color.[18] Regarding a three-person show at the Corcoran in 1959 this critic commented on Herzbrun's ability to establish the illusion of depth without employing graphical perspective. She said, "Every brush stroke counts as it describes a push-and-pull of tensions in space. She achieves a great sense of depth and distance without recourse to receding planes or colors in the academic sense."[9] A year later a critic for the New York Times saw an "innate refinement" in her work despite an obvious affinity for the loose organization and casual brushwork of the abstract expressionists.[23] Her early painting, "Landscape (Rising from Purple)," shows both the freedom of her gestural brushwork and her ability to convey the illusion of depth (shown at left). A later painting, "Aeroplat," (1970, at right) shows her handling of bold patterns and bright colors, while "Counter Plane" (1977, at left) demonstrates her use of receding planes of color.

In 1961 Herzbrun said she wanted to be more definite in her approach in order to bring out "the idea that's hiding" in her paintings.[10][note 12] Regarding a two-person exhibition at Jefferson Place Gallery, held two years later, the Washington Post critic said Herzbrun's work showed integrity and was "unchanged and uninfluenced by the new little 'isms' that sweep the art world each season." She stressed the confidence with which Herzbrun remained committed to her painterly approach with its fresh, clear color and "strong slashing brush strokes" and noted her ability to "create a world of her own" and make it work.[39] Regarding a solo show a few years later a critic for the Washington Star admired the joyful spirit of Herzbrun's abstract landscapes and saw in them "the broad strokes of totally confident painting echoing the ancient simplicities of fold, fallow and field."[40] Commenting on this show, another critic stressed her technique, saying that Herzbrun produced a fresh surface of bright colors using "matte finish, glazes, impasto areas and delicate lines" all on the same canvas without sacrificing unity.[41] During the following decade Herzbrun turned from painting on canvas to a printing technique called monotyping in which each sheet pulled was unique.[29] She painted on glass and applied paper to the surface while the pigments were still wet. A review praised the resulting prints as fresh, colorful, free, and bright.[32]

Beginning in 1981, after cancer and subsequent surgery prevented her from painting or making monotypes, she created collages for a time. The disease continued to attack, however, and on March March 14, 1984, it brought about her death.[37]

Art teacher

In 1958, after completing her studies and ending her service as head of the Watkins Gallery, Herzbrun joined faculty of American University as an art instructor.[42] She advanced to assistant professor and professor and was granted emerita status after her death in 1984. She served as head of the art department in 1962, 1966 to 1968, 1972 to 1974 and 1976 to 1978.[6]

After her death her husband, Philip, established the Helene M. Herzbrun Art Scholarship to provide financial support to art students selected by the art faculty.[43]

Personal life and family

Herzbrun was born in Chicago on October 5, 1921.[1] Her father was Edward Eichenbaum (1894–1982), an architect known for designing 1920s movie palaces and for his skill at dramatic readings.[44] Her mother was Lillian Smith Eichenbaum (born about 1891, died 1969), a housewife and officer of the South Shore Women's Club.[45][46] She had no brothers or sisters. A transcription of her birth certificate gives her name as Helen Ruth Eichenbaum.[1] In 1941 Herzbrun, then known as Helene Eichenbaum, was an artist and member of the Ida Noyes Council at the University of Chicago, an organization that staged the university's annual student art show.[7] In 1942 she married a fellow student, Robert James McKinsey, in a chapel on campus at the university of Chicago.[47] He was then studying for a law degree. He later earned his living as a lawyer and raced sports cars as an avocation.[14] In the summer of 1961 she divorced McKinsey and that fall married Philip Herzbrun, an English professor at Georgetown University. Herzbrun wrote her friend Tworkov that when she provoked the divorce, McKinsey was nice about it and there were few recriminations.[10] The ceremony, which took place in Moorefield, West Virginia, drew attention as the first civil ceremony ever performed in that state.[3]

As noted above, Herzbrun was afflicted with cancer in 1981, underwent surgery, and, on March 14, 1984, succumbed to the disease.[6][37]

Other names

Although Helen sometimes appeared in print as Herzbrun's given name, Helene was more common. During her first marriage she was called Helene McKinsey. During the second one she was called either Helene Herzbrun or Helene McKinsey Herzbrun.[4] If she had a middle name, it was either Ruth, as shown on the transcribed birth certificate, or Marie, as given in a legal notice from her estate in 1983 and on the West Virginia wedding registry.[4][48]

Notes
  1. A transcription of Herzbrun's birth certificate gives her name as Helen Ruth Eichenbaum.[1] During her life her given name appeared as both Helen and Helene. After her second marriage she was sometimes called Helene McKinsey Herzbrun.[4]
  2. "Hirsch,"[5] "Beloit" and "University of Chicago,"[6] "studied art,"[7] "degree in English."[8]
  3. On returning from World War II service in the U.S. Navy, Summerford studied at the Phillips Gallery Art School which was then operated in association with American University. After winning a Fulbright fellowship to study in Paris he joined the American University faculty in 1949. Although known as Joe, his birth name was Ben Long Summerford. He specialized in oil paintings of table top still lifes and spent his entire teaching career at the university.[11]
  4. The American University full- and part-time faculty in 1948 consisted of William Calfee (head), Sarah Baker, Robert Gates, Pietro Lazzari, Leo Steppat, Joe Summerford, John Galloway, and Jack Tworkov.[13]
  5. Specializing in 20th-century paintings, the Whyte Gallery was founded in 1938 by Donald Whyte. It was located over a bookstore run by his brother James and was said to be the first "first-rate" gallery in Washington.[15]
  6. In 1945 American University founded the Watkins Gallery following the death of art professor and department chair, C. Law Watkins. Its foundational holdings came from donations by collector and gallery owner, Duncan Phillips, and, through his influence, from the collection of Katherine Dreier. With the opening of the Katzen Arts Center in 2005, the gallery's collections were made part of the new American University Museum.[20]
  7. The other artists were Robert Gates, Mary Orwen, Lothar Brabansky, William Calfee, Colin Greenly, Ken Noland, George Bayliss, and Shelby Shackleford.[21]
  8. Elinor Poindexter opened the Poindexter gallery in 1955 and closed it in 1978. She specialized in showing new work by lesser-known abstract artists outside the mainstream including West Coast artists and a significant number of women.[24][25]
  9. Beginning in the 1940s and continuing until her death in 1984, the magazine's co-owner, Lila Acheson Wallace, amassed a collection of modern art that included works by Cézanne, Braque, Bonnard, Chagall, and many other famous artists. Maintaining that beauty and business could coexist, Wallace had the paintings hung throughout the Reader's Digest headquarters in hallways, reception areas, conference rooms, and offices.[26]
  10. John N. Robinson (1912–1994) was an African-American realist painter who depicted scenes of home life in Washington, D.C.'s Anacostia neighborhood. Largely self-taught, he achieved recognition and success in the local art world while earning his living in the kitchens of St. Elizabeths Hospital.[31]
  11. Jack Rasmussen operated the gallery that bore his name between 1978 and 1983. He was later appointed to direct the art museum at the Katzen Arts Center, American University.[34][35] The gallery promoted the careers of then unknown regional artists such as William Dutterer, and Mindy Weisel.[36]
  12. This statement appears in a letter she wrote to Jack Tworkov on June 13, 1961. She told him of a surge of painting energy and, regarding works shown in a recent show, said "I want to see if I can be even more definite; make something of the idea that's hiding in those pictures."[10]

References
  1. "Lillian Smith in entry for Helen Ruth Eichenbaum, 05 Oct 1921". "Illinois, Cook County, Birth Certificates, 1871-1940," database, FamilySearch; Chicago, Cook, Illinois, United States, reference/certificate 44128, Cook County Clerk, Cook County Courthouse, Chicago; FHL microfilm 1,379,026. Retrieved 2019-10-04.
  2. "Miss Eichenbaum Is Bride". Hammond Times. Munster, Indiana. 1942-09-02. p. 11.
  3. "D.C. Professors Wed in Civil Rite". Washington Post. Washington, D.C. 1961-11-15. p. B13.
  4. "Legal Notice". Washington Post. Washington, D.C. 1984-05-17. p. DC6.
  5. "High Schools to Graduate 717". Southeast Economist. Chicago, Illinois. 1939-01-16. p. 1.
  6. Paul Richard (1984-03-16). "Obituaries: Helene M. Herzbrun". Washington Post. Washington, D.C. p. C6.
  7. "Cat Carved Out of Bowling Pin Is on Exhibit; University of Chicago 10th Annual Art Show Now Underway on Campus". Suburbanite Economist. Chicago, Illinois. 1941-04-09. p. 25.
  8. "Helene Herzbrun Papers [finding aid]". American University, Washington, DC. Retrieved 2019-10-04.
  9. Leslie Judd Ahlander (1959-07-19). "Three Area Artists at Corcoran". Washington Post. Washington, D.C. p. E7. Miss McKinsey is an action painter of the abstract persuasion. Every brush stroke counts as it describes a push-and-pull of tensions in space. She achieves a great sense of depth and distance without recourse to receding planes or colors in the academic sense.
  10. "Jack Tworkov Papers, circa 1926-1993". Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. Retrieved 2019-10-05.
  11. Richard Paul (2008-03-02). "Capitalizing the Canvas; Ben L. Summerford's Works Resonate With Distinctly D.C. Qualities". Washington Post. Washington, D.C. p. M3.
  12. "Jack Tworkov Chronology". jacktworkov.org; estate of Jack Tworkov. Retrieved 2019-10-04.
  13. Jane Watson Crane (1948-08-29). "On Power of Orozco's 'Jrarez'". Washington Post. Washington, D.C. p. L3.
  14. "Recorded at Random". Chicago Tribune. Chicago, Illinois. 1953-04-25. p. 15. Something of a record has just been set by Helene McKinsey, young Washington artist. She is the only local painter whose work, submitted in open competition to the Corcoran Biennial, was accepted by the jury for inclusion in the exhibition. This is all the more remarkable when it is remembered that out of 890 works submitted from all over the country, only 42 were selected.
  15. Jane Watson (1938-11-20). "Cezanne's "Three Skulls" Comes to Washington: Capital Gets a First-Rate Gallery Has a Small but Choice Collection; A Background of Contemporary Art". Washington Post. Washington, D.C. p. TS6.
  16. Leslie Judd Portner (1953-03-29). "New Show 'Alive With Promise'". Washington Post. Washington, D.C. p. L3.
  17. Leslie Judd Ahlander (1953-03-29). "Two Exhibitions on View at Phillips Gallery". Washington Post. Washington, D.C. p. L3.
  18. Leslie Judd Portner (1956-11-18). "Abstract Painting vs. Traditional". Washington Post. Washington, D.C. p. E7. Although her paintings are abstract, they derive very closely from nature and from the artist's lyrical view of it. For the past few years the canvases have been predominantly yellow in color, full of a quality of light and sunshine, with flickering, rapidly moving patters. Now, however, the painting have become much looser, more expressionist in style, with bolder patterns and stronger color running into blue and purple and green.
  19. Leslie Judd Portner (1954-09-26). "New 'Find' In District Galleries". Washington Post. Washington, D.C. p. SA11.
  20. Leslie Judd Portner (1957-10-13). "D.C. Gets a New Kind of Gallery". Washington Post. Washington, D.C. p. E7.
  21. "Jefferson Place: A Timeline". Jefferson Place Gallery. Retrieved 2019-10-14.
  22. Dore Ashton (1960-05-12). "Two One-Man Displays Open Here". New York Times. New York, New York. p. B41. Helene McKinsey in her first New York one-man show at the Poindexter Gallery, 21 West Fifty-sixth Street, is, in terms of the loose organization of her compositions and deliberately casual application of paint, an abstract expressionist. Yet her innate refinement is apparent at every turn. Most of her horizontal compositions leave no doubt that they are inspired by landscapes or seascapes. The artist has been most moved by oblique light, foggy spaces, obscured masses that take on the poetry of oriental watercolors. Several smaller paintings, especially "Red Calm," have an immediacy and freshness that the larger, more ambitiously constructed compositions lack.
  23. "Elinor Poindexter, An Art Dealer, 88". New York Times. New York, New York. 1994-11-10. p. B36.
  24. "About Art and Artists: Show at the Poindexter Gallery Offers an Index to Contemporary Trends". New York Times. New York, New York. 1955-12-21. p. 59.
  25. "Lila Wallace, Who Bestowed Reader's Digest Wealth, Dies: Lila A. Wallace, Philanthropist and Reader's Digest Co-Founder, Dies at 94". New York Times. New York, New York. 1984-05-09. p. A1.
  26. "Major Spring Show at the Museum". Baltimore Sun. Baltimore, Maryland. 1970-03-22. p. 112.
  27. Paul Richard (1970-05-17). "A Depressing Exhibition of Washington Artists' Work: A Depressing Show of Washington Artists". Washington Post. Washington, D.C. p. H1.
  28. Paul Richard (1974-03-16). "Brush Applied to Canvas". Washington Post. Washington, D.C. p. B2. The works displayed are monotypes, prints that are unique. She paints on sheets of glass, and while the pigments are still wet she presses paper to the glass. The resulting image is always just a bit surprising, for both the artist and the viewer. "The only impression is one of possibilities," she writes, quoting Paul Valery's fine response to the monotypes of Degas. Her works are colorful and free and bright. This is a happy show.
  29. American Revolution Bicentennial Administration (1977). The Bicentennial of the United States of America: A Final Report to the People; Volume III. American Revolution Bicentennial Administration. p. 254. ISBN 978-0-9601232-6-1.
  30. Paul Richard (1994-10-19). "John Robinson, Noted Artist, Dies: SE Painter Depicted Quiet Life". Washington Post. Washington, D.C. p. B1.
  31. Jo Ann Lewis (1978-10-14). "Surprise and Intrigue of Tom Dineen". Washington Post. Washington, D.C. p. B7. Herzbrun's strong suit is her expressive way with color, and it is when she subverts the "push-pull" spatial considerations to the larger goal of expressed mood that she best succeeds, as in "Counter Plane," a worthy descendant of Nicholas de Stael without the impasto. In "Bent 1978" the increased looseness and directness of these recent works has been disciplined into a delicious small painting which has, incomprehensibly, been hung at the back.
  32. "Galleries & Museums". Washington Post. Washington, D.C. 1980-12-05. p. W5.
  33. "National Small Works Exhibition, 2014" (PDF). Washington Printmakers Gallery, Washington, D.C. Retrieved 2019-10-15.
  34. Jo Ann Lewis (1984-04-05). "An Artist's Testament: Galleries". Washington Post. Washington, D.C. p. D7.
  35. "Grace Hartigan and Helene Herzbrun: Reframing Abstract Expressionism". American University, Washington, DC. Retrieved 2019-10-04.
  36. Leslie Judd Ahlander (1963-03-10). "Helene Herzbrun in One-Man Show". Washington Post. Washington, D.C. p. D27. The categorical honesty and directness of this statement are characteristic of this artist as a painter and as a person. The vital, painterly approach she has used has been a signature from the beginning, unchanged and uninfluenced by the new little "isms" that sweep the art world each season. The strong slashing brush strokes are laid on with a strength and vigor that admits of no compromise; there are no blurred or uncertain corners in this painting.
  37. "Art; Jefferson Place". Washington Star. Washington, D.C. 1964-11-01. p. E11. Landscape after landscape is seen and seen again in colors out of the sun and shapes reduced to the very edge of recognition. The artist has occupied a thin strip between representation and abstraction and manages it with aplomb. The sharp angle of one particular meadow recurs as a literal landmark, but otherwise the earth turns from picture to picture, with the broad strokes of totally confident painting echoing the ancient simplicities of fold, fallow and field.
  38. Andrea S. Halbfinger (1964-11-01). "Blake Art Demands a True Believer: Art Notes". Washington Post. Washington, D.C. p. G10. She combines matte finish, glazes, impasto areas and delicate lines on one canvas without sacrificing unity. Her surface is always fresh. The colors are bright, primarily of the red family, although she also uses blues and greens subtly in "Greenfields." "Boomerang" has the least number of shapes and is also the best composed. It is definitive and indicates one direction the artist might pursue. The picture of a graveyard, drolly titled "Security," is more expressionist and reminiscent of Kokoshka. Some of the pictures are not as controlled as they might be, but all are a feast for the eyes.
  39. "Helene M. Herzbrun Art Scholarship". American University, Washington, D.C. Retrieved 2019-10-05.
  40. "Edward E. Eichenbaum [Death Notice]". Chicago Tribune. Chicago, Illinois. 1982-01-28. p. 65.
  41. "Eichenbaum [Death Notice]". Chicago Tribune. Chicago, Illinois. 1969-10-20. p. 40.
  42. "Planning Fall Club Season". Chicago Tribune. Chicago, Illinois. 1931-09-13. p. 33.
  43. "Helene Eichenbaum Will Be Married on Sept. 14". Chicago Tribune. Chicago, Illinois. 1942-09-02. p. 21.
  44. "Philip Ingram Herzbrun and Helene Marie Mckinsey, 1961". "West Virginia Marriages, 1780-1970," database, FamilySearch; citing Hampshire, West Virginia, United States, , county clerks, West Virginia; FHL microfilm 815,363. Retrieved 2019-10-04.
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