As the pace of life in the 21st Century continues to accelerate at breakneck speed, and new electronic devices enable us instantly to tune out our immediate surroundings, directing our attention elsewhere, my ambition has become to slow down in order to observe the land and cityscapes before me.
Rather as a beekeeper in March awaits the special hum indicating the presense of a swarm of bees, I tend to roam with a sketchbook and canvas until I light upon a particular confluence of angles, textures, and objects of contrasting scale.
Once the easel is set up, the objective is to fix an image of the fleeting moment: a blue truck rolling through a new mown hay field, a storm brewing over a late 19th century Midwestern house, a cup of coffee left half empty on the table.
Beyond that moment, in choosing the elements that compose the picture, I seek an essential quality that links grain elevators, tractors, fields of sunflowers, kitchen tables, books, city buildings, to another place, or even another country, sometime in the distant past, or perhaps, the indefinite future.
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2023 Paintings, Villa Francke, Potsdam, Germany
2022 Between Two Worlds,The Demuth Museum, Lancaster, PA
2019 Coming Home, Markham Winery, St. Helena, CA
2018 Interiors/Exteriors, Villa Francke, Potsdam, Germany
2017 Interiors/Exteriors Galerie de l’Arcade, St. Clar, France
2016 Time & Tempo, Marsac, Tarn et Garonne, France
2015 Time & Tempo, Christie’s South Kensington, London, UK
2014 Dialogues, Galerie Deschler, Berlin, Germany
2013 A Restless Harmony, George Krevsky Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2013 The Open Window: Objects, Rooms & Landscapes, Fischbach Gallery, New York, NY
2010 Helen Berggruen: Itinerant Regionalist, George Krevsky Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2009 House and Home, Fischbach Gallery, New York, NY
Haus und Landschaft, Galerie Mutter Fourage, Berlin
2007 I. Wolk Gallery, St. Helena, CA
2006 Elkader Art Center, Elkader, Iowa
2004 I. Wolk Gallery, St. Helena, CA
2003 Galerie Mutter Fourage, Berlin, Germany
2002 Le Monde de l’Intérieur, Fischbach Gallery, New York, NY
2000 Paintings From France and England, I. Wolk Gallery, St. Helena, CA
1999 Recent Paintings, Fischbach Gallery, New York, NY
1997 A passing Reference, Berggruen & Zevi Ltd., London, England
1996 Recent Paintings, I. Wolk Gallery, St. Helena, CA
Machines et Véhicules à Paris, Alliance Française, San Francisco, CA
Machines et Véhicules à Paris, Fischbach Gallery, New York, NY
1993 Fischbach Gallery, New York, NY
Recent Paintings, I. Wolk Gallery, St. Helena, CA
1987 Watercolor + Printed + K488 + 108 Squares, John Berggruen Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1985 The Diner, Yountville, CA
1984 John Berggruen Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1983 The Diner, Yountville, CA
1981 The Diner, Yountville, CA
1975 Napa Valley Theater, Yountville, CA
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2023 The San Francisco Fall Show, Fort Mason Center, S.F., CA
2018 Wonder Women, Berkeley Art Center, Berkeley, CA
Project Peace, Galerie Stuttgart, Stuttgart, Germany
2017 History Becomes Art, St. Helena Historical Society, St. Helena, CA
18, Fischbach Gallery, New York, NY
2016 Think Big, Fischbach Gallery, New York, NY
The Endless Summer, Fischbach Gallery, New York, NY
In Plain Sight/Hindsight, Fischbach Gallery, New York, NY
2015 The Flower Show, Fischbach Gallery, New York, NY
2012 Visions of the Golden Gate Bridge, George Krevsky Gallery, S.F., CA
2011 Contingencies, Napa Valley Museum, Yountville, CA
2010 Summer Reading, George Krevsky Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2009 Everyone Loves Good News, Fischbach Gallery, New York, NY
2006 Midwestern Visions, Cedar Rapids Museum of Art, Cedar Rapids, IA
2005 Made in Iowa, Legion Arts, Cedar Rapids, IA
2003 Color Form & Figure, John Berggruen Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2002 Season Ticket, Fischbach Gallery, New York, NY
2001 Contemporary American Realism III, M.A. Doran Gallery, Tulsa, OK
1997 Ornament & Landscape, Apex Art, New York, NY
1996 Friesen Gallery, Sun Valley, ID
1995 Summer, Fischbach Gallery, New York, NY
Twenty-five Years, John Berggruen Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1994 Fischbach Gallery, New York, NY
Images Gallery, Toledo, OH
1994 I. Wolk Gallery, St. Helena, CA
San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, CA
1993 Fischbach Gallery, New York, NY
Steven Wirtz Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Self Portraits, Edith Caldwell Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1992 Works from Berggruen Gallery, I. Wolk Gallery, St. Helena, CA
1991 Napa Valley Museum, Yountville, CA
Steven Wirtz Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Louis Stern Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Oberon Gallery, Napa, CA
1990 J. Noblett Gallery, Boyes Hot Springs, CA
1988 Works on Paper, John Berggruen Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1984 Gallery Madison 90, New York, NY
COMMISSIONS
1998 Bridges of Napa Valley, Napa Valley Heritage Fund, CA
1996 Triptych for Real Restaurants’ Tomatina, St. Helena, CA
1988 Banquet Room Series for Tra Vigne, St. Helena, CA
COLLABORATION
1997 A Passing Reference (watercolor, engraving, and type), with letterpress printer/writer, Emily McVarish, London
1990 108 Squares (watercolor and type), with letterpress printer/writer, Emily McVarish, Yountville, CA
SELECTED COLLECTIONS
Ms. Toni Atkinson, Colorado
Ms. Nancy Baker, New York, NY
Mr. Richard Barr, New York, NY
Mr. & Mrs. John Berggruen, San Francisco, CA
Beringer Vineyards, St. Helena, CA
Mr. and Mrs. John Bryan, CA
Mrs. and Mrs. Klaus and Ulla Bölling, Berlin, Germany
Dr. and Mrs. Robert E. Carroll, New York
Cedar Rapids Art Museum, Iowa
Chemical Bank of New York
Commerce Bancshares, Missouri
Mr. and Mrs. Francis Ford Coppola, CA
General Electric Company, Connecticut
Ms. Maggy Geiger, New York
Mr. Chan Gordon, North Carolina
Mr. and Mrs. Richard Grace, St. Helena, CA
Ms. Victoria Hochberg, Los Angeles, CA
Kaplan McLaughin Diaz Architects, San Francisco, CA
Mr. and Mrs. Ronald Lorch, Pennsylvania
Mustards Grill, Yountville, CA
Mr. Paul & The Honorable Nancy Pelosi, Washington, D.C.
Mr. Edward E. Robbins, Florida
Mr. F. Dan Scrimger, Toronto
Mr. and Mrs. Howard Shapiro, Vermont
Springfield Art Museum, Springfield, Missouri
Mr. and Mrs. Whitney Smith, Texas
Mr. Peter Vermilye, Massachusetts
Mr. and Mrs. Paul Wilson, CA
Tra Vigne, St. Helena, CA
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
2022 Book Life: paintings by Helen Berggruen, designed by Emily McVarish, A&O
2021 Cover art for Sunshine Bell by Ben Dunlap, FMSBW Press
2020 Cover art for The Book of Householder Koans by Eve Marko and Wendy Nakao
2018 Schneider, Lena . Etwas, das bleibt, Potsdamer Neueste Nachrichten, 1 Sept., p.23
2018 Bauer, Sebastian. Die Schönsten Motive, Berliner Zeitung, 31 August
2018 Ruthe, Ingeborg. Mit Allen Sinnen, Berliner Zeitung, 30 August
2017 Stockwell, Tom. Painting the Past, St. Helena Star, February 2, p. B3
2014 Ruthe, Ingeborg. Mit Expressionisten lässt sich’s gut straiten, Berliner Zeitung, June 30
2013 Smith, Roberta. Helen Berggruen: The Open Window: Ojects, Rooms and Landscapes, Art in Review, The New York Times, May 16
2010 Clark, Erin. The Colors of Helen Berggruen, Art Works Fall 2010, p. 62-69
2009 Sonnenburg, Gisela. Helen Berggruen Paints Against Speed, Berliner Morgenpost, October 24
2009 Ruthe, Ingeborg. Helen in Luck, Berliner Zeitung, October 13, p. 3
2009 Schlachter, Luise. They Seem close to Van Gogh, But they are all Berggruen Originals, Bilt, Oct. 20, p. 7
2008 Local Color, Iowa City Press Citizen, November
2003 vonDuehren, C. Berggruen. Seht her, das hat meine Tochter gemalt, Bilt, Oct.13, p. 7
2003 B Z Berlin, October 7
2003 Conrad, Andrea. Oh, mein Papa, Der Tagesspiegel, October 6, p.11
2003 Meixner, Christiane. Helen Berggruen’s Gardens, Berliner Morgenpost, October 7, p.13
2000 Cover and portfolio, The Gettysburg Review, Summer (V.13 N.2).
1999 Art Guide, The New York Times, Friday, May 14, 1999, E38.
Art Guide: Galleries, The New York Times, Friday, August 6, 1999, p. E38.
1996 Bay City Best, San Francisco Examiner Magazine, February 18
Cover, Nob Hill Gazette, San Francisco, March
1995 Twenty-Five Years, (exh. cat.) John Berggruen Gallery
1994 West Coast Wave, Sutro, D., VNR
1993 Self-Portraits, Zyzzyva Journal, Fall Issue
Brown, Kenneth. Big Apple, Courier Lifestyles, October 25, 1992, pp. 27-28.
1992 A Celebration of Women Artists, Golden Turtle Press
Still Life, Image Magazine, San Francisco Sunday Examiner, June
1990 Turin, David. Painting Portions, St. Helena Star, June 7
1989 Artists’ Assemblage, House and Garden, September
1988 Works on Paper, (exh. cat.) John Berggruen Gallery, San Francisco
1984 Legionnaire, The Drawing Legion, Iowa City