Ben Uri Research Unit

for the study and digital recording of the Jewish, Refugee and wide Immigrant contribution to British visual culture since 1900.


Stacha Halpern artist

Stacha Halpern was born to Jewish parents in Zolochev, Poland (now Zhovka, Ukraine) in 1919 and studied at the School of Commercial and Fine Art, Lviv until 1939 when he fled the German invasion of Poland. Halpern immigrated to Australia, where he established his own studio in ceramics and painting. Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, he travelled and exhibited across Europe, including a year at the Abbey Art Centre, New Barnett, in 1951, and six months in a studio in Shepherd's Bush in London in 1964; he returned to Australia in 1966.

Born: 1919 Zolkiev, Poland (now Zhovkva, Ukraine)

Died: 1969 Melbourne, Australia

Year of Migration to the UK: 1951

Other name/s: Stanislaw Halpern, Stan Halpern


Biography

Painter and potter Stacha Halpern was born to Jewish parents, Eisig Halpern, an engineer, and his wife Berta (née Gutt), in Zolochev, Poland (now Zhovka, Ukraine) on 20 October 1919. In 1938, he enrolled at the School of Commercial and Fine Art, Lviv, but his studies were terminated by the German invasion of Poland in 1939. With the onset of the Second World War, he fled to Australia, where he was reunited with his brothers who were already living in Perth, before settling in Melbourne. In Melbourne, he befriended the Austrian-Jewish émigré painter Yosl Bergner. While working as a mould-maker in a commercial ceramic factory, he became interested in pottery and established his own home studio and became a full-time ceramist and painter. He continued to train at the George Bell School in Melbourne (1948–49) and on Saturday afternoons painted and drew with Helen Marshall, Fred Williams, Leonard French and Hal Peck. He studied sculpture at the Melbourne Technical College (now RMIT University) for one term and his first solo exhibition of pottery, paintings and sculpture was held at the Stanley Coe Gallery in Melbourne in 1950. His work in clay in the 1940s and early 1950s influenced artists like Arthur Boyd, as did the robust forms of his Tachiste (French abstract) paintings. In 1951 he journeyed to England, where he stayed at the Abbey Art Centre, established by the dealer and gallerist William Ohly, and is recorded at work at the Abbey on a large vertical abstract composition in the British Pathé (1952). In late 1951 Halpern travelled to Italy, Switzerland, and France where in 1952 he visited David and Hermia Boyd at Tourrettes-sur-Loup. He stayed there exhibiting at Galerie Alphonse Chave, Vence, and in a group exhibition Peintres de Tourrettes-sur-Loup. He became well known as an Australian painter in Paris during the 1950s and set up a studio in Comtesse de Baruzy's apartment, Rue de Varenne in 1952. Throughout the 1950s and early 1960s, he continued to travel and exhibit throughout Europe. During this time, his painting developed a richer texture, even a violent sensuousness. In 1960, Halpern's works were featured in a touring exhibition with The Margulies Collection in various UK galleries, sponsored by the Arts Council of Great Britain (Alexander Margulies, then Chairman of Ben Uri Gallery, also gifted a Halpern to the Ben Uri Collection). In February 1961, Halpern participated in a group show at Galerie Jeanne Fillon, Paris, and at the Galerie Quatre Saisons, Paris, la Peinture-Peinture a Paris et New York, organised by Michel Courtois. He held a one man show at Galerie Breteau, Paris, and again exhibited in the Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, in the Salon de Realites Nouvelles XVI, as well as at the Cave de la Libraire Anglaise, Paris.

In July 1961, back in England, Halpern married his second wife, Betty Ann Hamilton, at Brondesbury Synagogue, Middlesex. In 1964, he sold his Paris studio and lived in Shepherd's Bush for six months. Returning to Bouzigues, France, he exhibited in a group show at Galerie Henri Lhong, Toulouse, and in 1965 visited Spain. In the same year he also participated in group shows at Galerie Sept and Galerie Peintres Du Monde, Paris, and in an exhibition Original Lithographs by Painters of the Atelier Clot. In 1966 Halpern returned to Australia, where he remained in the Melbourne suburb of Beaumaris; although his career had flourished during his time in England and Europe, his reputation in Australia after his return was limited. Though the importance of his impact was recognised after his death he primarily earned his livelihood in Australia through his pottery.


Stacha Halpern died of heart disease in Melbourne, Australia on 28 January 1969, aged 50. His works are represented in numerous public collections worldwide including the Ben Uri Collection, London; the Art Gallery of South Australia, Charles Nodrum Gallery, National Gallery of Australia, and the National Gallery of Victoria. A major retrospective was held posthumously at the Charles Nodrum Gallery, Melbourne in 2010.

Related books

  • Walter Schwab and Julia Weiner, eds., Jewish Artists: the Ben Uri Collection – Paintings, Drawings, Prints and Sculpture (London: Ben Uri Art Society in association with Lund Humphries Publishers Ltd, 1994)
  • Jennifer McFarlane, Stacha Halpern: The Return to Australia (Australia: Nolan Gallery, 1989)
  • Lanier Graham, The Spontaneous Gesture: Prints and Books of the Abstract Expressionist Era (Canberra: National Gallery of Australia, 1987)
  • Roger Butler, Australian Prints in the Australian National Gallery (Canberra: National Gallery of Australia, 1985)
  • Genesis of a Gallery, The Collection of the Australian National Gallery (Canberra: Australian Government Publishing Service, 1976)
  • Arthur Boyd et. al., Stanislav Halpern – Retrospective Exhibition (Melbourne: National Gallery of Victoria, 1970)
  • R.V. Gindertael, Halpern – Oeuvres Recentes (Paris: Galerie Blumenthal, 1962)
  • Pierre Restany, Stanislas Halpern (Paris: Galerie Breteau, 1961)
  • Alan Bowness, Margulies Collection (London: Arts Council of Great Britain, 1960–61)
  • Pierre Restany, Lyrisme et Abstraction (Milan: Editions Apollinaire, 1960)
  • George Waldemar, Claude Monet et Le Naturalisme Abstrait (Paris: Galerie Art Vivant, 1959)
  • Pierre Restany, Peintures Du Geste (Rome: Galleria Pogliani, 1959)
  • Raymond Queneau, Halpern Peintures (Paris: Galerie Pascale, 1958)
  • Pierre Restany, Espaces Imaginaires (Paris: Galerie Kamer, 1957)

Public collections

Related organisations

  • Abbey Arts Centre (occupant)
  • George Bell School, Melbourne (student)
  • Melbourne Technical College (student)
  • School of Commercial and Fine Art, Lviv (student)

Related web links

Selected exhibitions

  • Stacha Halpern 1919–1969, Charles Nodrum Gallery, Melbourne (2010)
  • Charles Nodrum Gallery, Melbourne (1993)
  • Nolan Gallery, Canberra (1989–90)
  • National Gallery of Victoria (1970)
  • Stacha Halpern, Arts Council England (1960)
  • Galerie Apollinaire, Milan (1959)
  • Salon des Realites Nouvelles XIV, Musée des Beaux-Arts de la Ville de Paris (1959)
  • Peintres du Geste, Galerie Pogliana, Rome (1959)
  • Claude Monet et le Naturalisme Abstrait, Galerie Art Vivant, Paris (1959)
  • Prix Lissone X, Italy (1959)
  • Paintings at Basle, Paris (1957)
  • Les Plus Mauvais Tableaux, Galerie Prisme, Paris (1955)
  • Phases de l'Art Contemporain, Galerie Creuze, Paris (1955)
  • Stacha Halpern: Paintings, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam (1954)
  • Studio Fachetti, Paris (1954)
  • Galerie Prisme, Paris (1954)
  • Murs, Galerie du Haut Pave, Paris (1954)
  • Peintures, Galerie du Haut Pave, Paris (1953)
  • Ceramics, Galerie Alphonse Chave, Vence (1952)
  • Stanley Coe Gallery, Melbourne (1950)
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Ben Uri archive

Consult items in the Ben Uri archive related to [Stacha Halpern]

Ben Uri library

Publications related to [Stacha Halpern] in the Ben Uri Library