For six decades, Henry worked in the studio, sketching, painting, sculpting. Recognition was never the point; what came next always was.
Henry Villierme was born in San Francisco in 1928 and studied under Richard Diebenkorn and Harry Krell at the California College of Arts and Crafts. In 1957, Diebenkorn invited him to join the landmark "Contemporary Bay Area Figurative Painting" exhibition at the Oakland Art Museum. The show gathered a group of Bay Area painters whose return to the human figure marked a notable departure from Abstract Expressionism.
Story continues →From the Oakland Art Museum and the San Francisco Museum of Art in the 1950s to a series of solo exhibitions in San Francisco from the early 1990s through the early 2000s, Henry's work has been exhibited across six decades, with a return to public exhibition beginning in the late 1980s after years of quiet, private work.
Exhibition history →"We feel this exhibition will be one of the most important to be held in some time in the bay region."
In April 1957, curator Paul Mills personally invited Henry to join "The Next Direction," a landmark exhibition alongside Elmer Bischoff, Richard Diebenkorn, and David Park.
Read the letter →
