Gertrude Bleiberg

Gertrude Bleiberg
Born	Gertrude Tiefenbrun March 1921 New York City, New York, United States
Died	August 10, 2001 Palo Alto, California, USA
Nationality	American
Known for	Painting

Gertrude Bleiberg (1921-2001) was an American visual artist. Encouraged by Jay DeFeo, who recognized her talent, Bleiberg started working as an artist at the age of 50.^[1] She earned a BFA and MFA degrees from the San Francisco Art Institute and developed a unique expressionist style, most notable for monumental depiction of the details of her domestic life: family, home, and friends. In a 25-year retrospective catalog of her work, Fred Martin, former Dean of the San Francisco Art Institute, noted that Bleiberg shows "that the direct experience of seeing may itself be alive, vivid, and recreated to amuse, to baffle, to give-yes-joy."

Early life

Gertrude Bleiberg was born in New York City in 1921. In 1937 her family moved to Los Angeles. After marrying Donald J. Bleiberg, MD in 1942, she moved to

and operated the Plumas Industrial Hospital. The Bleibergs raised four daughters in Quincy.

In 1965, Bleiberg moved to Palo Alto, California, where Donald practiced emergency medicine with Kaiser Permanente in Santa Clara. The Bleibergs began to travel widely, and Gertrude journaled and sketched during the trips.

In 1969 Bleiberg enrolled in a continuing education art class, taught by Jay DeFeo, who recognized her innate talent and insisted that Bleiberg pursue professional art training. She went on to get a BFA (1975) and MFA (1977) degrees from the San Francisco Art Institute, where she was the oldest student among the young bohemian crowd.^[2] Her teachers were Manuel Neri, Elizabeth Murray, and Robert Colescott.

Career

Bleiberg's prints and paintings have been exhibited in numerous museums and corporate collections, including the

and in 1992, she was given the Women's Caucus for Art, South Bay Chapter, Lifetime Achievement award.

Bleiberg's drawings, prints, and paintings reference the self-taught artist practices. Eccentric line quality, active surfaces, and distorted figures playfully engage with the "naïve" and "primitive" styles. Yet her unique style is consciously cultivated through many years of outstanding professional training and studio work. Her style most closely compares in the history of post-war American art to that of Alice Neel.

References