About Leonard

Leonard Breger (1920-2013)

    Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., Leonard received his BSS degree from City College of New York in 1941, and his MFA degree in 1963 from the California College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland, CA.

    In 1965, Breger experienced an artistic epiphany while visiting the Altamira caves in Spain. He states, “I was overcome by the organic relationship between the shapes of the painted animals and the convolutions of the walls and ceilings. I was transported, and felt at-one with those pre-historic artists.” Since then, his paintings have spilled out onto the walls where they hang. They run, leap, dance, amble, fly or simply rest. Cut along the contours of the painted forms, his art-creatures intimately interact with the viewer and the environment. His subjects can be serious, serene, or quirky, but are basically life-affirming.

    He worked as an art teacher, art therapist, and art director for the stage and taught for the University of California Extension Program, Whitman College, San Francisco State University, Lick-Wilmerding High School, The College of San Mateo and numerous community centers. For over 40 years, Breger held several Master Class critique groups throughout the Bay Area. While Leonard led these groups, he also encouraged everyone in the group to give their views and reactions to the work. He did not teach techniques, he left that to others. His push was to help people to evolve to the next level of their OWN potential.

  He lived and taught in the Bay Area for over 50 years. During that time, he exhibited in galleries and museums, churches and coffee shops. Shows include major one-man exhibitions at the De Young Museum, the Palace of the Legion of Honour, both in San Francisco, and most recently at the Marin Museum of Contemporary Art.