Barbara de Groot

1935 - 2015

Barbara de Groot

Barbara de Groot died peacefully in her home on November 15, of complications related to Parkinson's Disease. The daughter of Lillian and Sol Brenner, Barbara was born on June 29, 1935, in Brooklyn, NY. She earned her B.A. from Hunter College and M.F.A. from Trinity College, Washington, DC. She began her art education under the direction of Leon Friend, the chairman of the art department at Abraham Lincoln High School in Brooklyn, NY. She attended the Brooklyn Museum of Art School during her High School years where she studied with Isaac Soyer, one of three talented artist brothers who became known for figurative painting. At Hunter College she learned basic printmaking with noted printmaker Gabor Peterdi, painting with William Baziotes and Raymond Parker. Barbara was foremost a devoted and loving mother to David de Groot, who resides in San Francisco, and Marc de Groot (deceased), and a soul mate and life companion to her adored and adoring husband Louis de Groot, to whom she was married for 59 years. Before settling in Berkeley, California, Barbara and Louis lived in New York City, The Netherlands, upstate New York, and for two extended periods in Paris, France. Barbara studied painting at the Vrije Academie in The Hague. She attended the Académie GÂœtz in the Montparnasse district of Paris where she learned many of her special printmaking skills. She also studied printmaking with Ricardo Licata, an instructor from the École des Beaux-Arts. Barbara's artistic creations are the means by which she met her great personal need to express emotions about the human condition, i.e. racial inequality, poverty, hunger, personal relationships, persecution and prejudice. Themes with a social conscience were most endearing to her. Reflecting on the loss of almost all of her father's immediate family in the Holocaust she created the Holocaust series of monotypes which she donated to the Holocaust Center of Northern California and which are on permanent display at the Helen and Joe Farkas Center of Mercy High School in San Francisco, CA. Her work is in many private collections and has appeared in many exhibits in various galleries here and abroad and is archived in the Women's Museum and the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, DC. Barbara was licensed to teach Art in the New York City and New York State High Schools. After earning her credential to teach art in the California Community Colleges and Adult Education Schools, she enjoyed teaching in senior centers and nursing homes. Locally, she showed with the San Francisco Women Artists in San Francisco, CA where she received several merit awards, with Expressions Gallery in Berkeley, CA , with the California Society of Printmakers, and the Marin Society of Artists where she also earned merit awards. She exhibited her work at, among others, the Architects' Building, Coop Gallery on Union Street, and the Crown Zellerbach Building in San Francisco. In Paris, Barbara's work was exhibited at numerous galleries and salons, including the Galerie Raymond Duncan, Galerie Jacques Massol, La Mandragore Internationale Galerie D'Art, the Salon d'Automne and Salon de la Jeune Peinture at the Grand Palais, Salon du Dix au Quinze at the Mairie du 4ème Arrondissement de Paris (invitational), and the 100ème Salon de l'Union des Femmes Peintres et Sculpteurs at the Musée du Luxembourg.. Barbara is survived by her husband Louis and son David, her brother Philip Brenner and wife (Betsy Vieth), her niece Liliana Martinez and husband (Marcos Sosa), her nephew Isaac Brenner, her grandnephew Teo Sosa, her cousins Philip Chomak and wife (Joan ), Ezra Chomak, Anita Moyal and husband (Howard), Heidi Karagianis and husband (Tracy), David Topper and wife (Sharon), Emily Chomak, Sheryl Schwartz and husband (Sid), Debra Chomak, and Ira Volodarsky and husband (Misha).