Henriette Simon Picker (b. Jersey City, March 28, 1917, d. Poughkeepsie, Jan 5, 2016) studied drawing and painting with Alexander Brook and Louis Bouché at the Art Student’s League of New York (1939 - 41) while pursuing a successful career as a shoe designer. She was hired by world famous I. Miller Shoes of New York at the age of 16 and for the next 45 years designed women's high fashion shoes full time there and for many other major companies throughout the U.S under the names Henriette Simon and Simone. During the 1950's and '60's she ran her own shoe companies and her designs were illustrated by many well known artists including Andy Warhol. (See the Simone scrapbook, page 23 in the Shoes section on this website)
HS Picker’s catalogue of some 450 paintings spans the years 1935 - 2015. Between the ages of 92 and 99 she produced 160 of her most vibrant, lively pieces: brilliant sunrises, landscapes, penetrating portraits rendered in a rich palette of colors in Picker’s distinctive style. Her work began to enter distinguished private collections beginning with her first solo exhibition at the age of 95 at The Hudson River Studio in 2012 and again when she was the subject of a retrospective exhibition at PMW Gallery in March 2013. She subsequently had solo exhibitions at The Cooperstown Art Association and View Arts in Old Forge, NY. She also exhibited at the Waxlander Gallery in Santa Fe and the Carter Burden Gallery in Chelsea. In her last years Picker accepted numerous portrait commisisons. She was passionate about her art and spent up to 7 hours a day working in her studio in Dutchess County. She passed away after a very short illness toward the end of her 99th year putting down her brush for the last time only 6 days before her death.
HSPicker.com brings Henriette Simon Picker's work before the public for the first time. The Gallery provides a fascinating and moving journey through 80 years of Picker's lifework.
A book chronicling her work entitled Henriette Simon Picker - A Century of Painting was published posthumously and is available through Amazon.com
