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Zanne Hochberg (1931-2001) Abstract Expressionist


Zanne Hochberg (1931 - 2001)

Abstract Expressionist


2/25 Artist Proof, Signed and Dated 1992

Zanne Lee Rosenthal Hochberg as an artist is well-known to my Texas readers.  She is esteemed for her abstract expressionist work in an area of the country that did not produce many noted abstract artists.  While noted for her colorful abstract canvases that looked similar to Helen Frankenthaler work, few knew her as a printmaker.  

She accomplished some great prints during her lifetime.  The one above has an ideogrammic expression that has a tendency to become calligraphic as soon as the symbols establish themselves.  These unreadable kanji characters become a pattern of light and dark which she tried to ideogrammize.  The print possesses hair lines that need to be examined up close as well as bold gestural strokes, yet all lines, thick or thin with dark spots, are fight to stay within the boundaries of the composition.  Just like her noted abstract paintings, this print has an air of spontaneity.  

Hochberg was born on July 11, 1931, into a Jewish family that supported her creativity. As a child she studied piano at the Eastman School of Music, in her native Rochester, NY.  Eastman exposed Hochberg to jazz that influenced her paintings.  She went on to study art and got her BA from the University of Florida in 1953.  

At the University of Florida she studied partially under the tutelage of Carl Holty.  Holty introduced her to European Modernism.  Holty was taught by Hans Hofmann.  For those of you who know art history, you can begin to understand Hochberg’s paintings/prints and her instructional artistic influences.

In 1953 she moved to New York City, and then in the late 1950s she moved to Texas.  Those five plus years in New York had an impact on her art that had her fully committed to abstraction by the 1970s. Perhaps it was while she was working on her MFA at Southern Methodist University that it all came together.  She was one of the first women to get her MFA at SMU.    

While not greatly known outside of Texas, she is connected to the second generation of women abstract painters.  Unfortunately, some her greatest exhibits happened after her death, such as a major retrospective that was held at the San Angelo Museum of Art in 2011. She has exhibited at several public institutions such as the Denver Museum of Art,  the Oklahoma Art Center and the Butler Institute of American Art.  She also exhibited at numerous commercial galleries like the Marin-Price Galleries, Chevy Chase, MD, 1993.  

Her work is in both public and corporate collections including the Dallas Museum of Art, Blanton Museum of Art, University of Texas, Austin Museum of Art and American Airlines.   

Hochberg brought post WWII cutting edge abstract expressionism to the interior of America.  We are now just beginning to understand how great her work is.  As Ariel Evan’s essay implied by title, Zanne Hochberg:  Rediscovering a Texas Modernist, we should have paid more attention while you were busy being creative.   


Example of Signature (Pencil Signed)
Z. Hochberg '92

A blindstamp in the form of a flower with 5 petals is impressed at the upper right under the mat. 

Zanne Hockberg Exhibit Notification
ARTnews Magazine, Sept. 1993
Trans World Publishing Co., Inc. 
_______________________________

©2020. Waller-Yoblonsky Fine Art is a research collaborative, working to track artists that got lost and overlooked due to time, changing styles, race, gender and/or sexual orientation. Our frequent blogs highlight artists and art movements that need renewed attention with improved information for the researcher and art collectors. The photos in this blog were created by Mr. Waller and all written materials were obtained by the Fair Use Section 107, of The Copyright Act.

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