Helen Breger

Helen Breger studied at Art Students League of New York, San Francisco Art Institute and San Francisco State University. Training under John Ihle is recorded. The recorded working language is Austrian German and English. Employment is recorded with California College of the Arts. Work by Helen Breger is recorded in the collections of Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Binghamton University Art Museum, California College of the Arts Library and Brooklyn Museum. Distinctions recorded are MacDowell Fellowship.

• Name — Helen Breger • Other Names — Helen Hamerman Breger, Helen Hamerman • Birth Name — Helen Hammermann • Born — 1918 • Birthplace — Vienna, Austria-Hungary (now Austria) • Died — October 22, 2013 • Place of death — Berkeley, California, U.S. • Education — Art Students League of New York, San Francisco State University, San Francisco Art Institute, California College of Arts and Crafts (MFA) • Occupation — Printmaker, ceramist, draftsperson, illustrator, sculptor, watercolorist, educator • Known for — Etching • Spouse — Leonard Breger (divorced) • Children — 2 • Mother — Esther Hamerman • Awards — MacDowell Fellowship (1967)

Helen Hammermann was born in 1918, in Vienna, Austria-Hungary (now Austria), to Jewish parents Esther (née Waschmann) and Baruch Hammermann. Her mother was a Polish-born folk art painter, under the name Esther Hamerman. Her sister Juana Nadja Merino–Kalfel (also known as Nadja Kalfel), was a noted fashion illustrator and sculptor. In 1938, after Anschluss when the Federal State of Austria into the Nazi German Reich, the Hammermann family fled to Trinidad, and were interred by the British for six years. During the internment, Helen Hammermann worked as a fashion illustrator and modified her designs for the tropics in Trinidad. In 1944, the family was permitted to move to New York City. She was educated at the Art Students League of New York. Helen married an American soldier named Leonard Breger, and they had two children. In 1950, the Breger family moved to San Francisco prior to divorcing. She continued her education at the San Francisco Art Institute; and received a M.F.A. degree in 1970 from the California College of Arts and Crafts (now California College of the Arts). She also attended classes at San Francisco State University.

From 1954 to 1960, Breger worked as a freelance illustrator for the San Francisco Chronicle. She would draw for the newspaper the newest fashions found in local luxury department stores such as I. Magnin and Joseph Magnin. She taught drawing at the California College of Arts and Crafts (now California College of the Arts) in Oakland, California, from 1959 until 1988. She also taught drawing at the University of California, Berkeley in the environmental design department. Breger was known for her drawings, etchings and aquatints. But she worked in many other mediums, including watercolor, ceramics, and bronze sculpture.

Breger, Helen Hamerman, Helen Hammermann and Helen Hamerman Breger. She was the child of Esther Hamerman.