Barbara Berger

My paintings are influenced by John Singer Sargent, Edward Hopper, the artists of the Ashcan School such as George Bellows and John Sloan, and German Expressionism.

Most of my figurative works include some type of self-portrait, in the Renaissance fashion, presenting the artist as an omnipresent observer looking out from the picture plane. The paintings that depict interior spaces are constructed to accentuate the emotions of the figures portrayed within, as well as transport the viewer to a specific milieu: these include cabarets, fashion shoot sets, backstage dressing rooms, burlesque stages, and circuses.

For the past fifteen years I have focused mostly on landscapes and cityscapes, mostly without figures. These are meant to communicate a sense of space and place through the use of perspective, line, strong color, or contrasts of light and dark: a time of day or year, the feeling of nostalgia for a remembered or archetypal vista.

I have had exhibitions in New York including at CBGB’s gallery and the Salmagundi Club (where I have painted regularly for almost two decades), and have also done editorial illustration for the New York Times.