Bruce Stephen Weinberg Biography

Bruce Stephen Weinberg

American

1942-1994

Biography

Printmaker Bruce Weinberg, a master printmaker and longtime resident of the San Francisco Bay Area, was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on March 10, 1942 to Harry and Mollie Weinberg. He studied Interior Design at the Philadelphia College of Art and Architectural Space Planning at Temple University. During the 1970's he studied printmaking and drawing at San Francisco's Fort Mason Art Center.

Bruce created limited edition etchings as well as monoprints on his handmade paper. He was best known for multi-plate color hand pulled etchings of rugs and tapestries, which appear three dimensional with folds, fringes and turned up corners. Etchings were executed by use of traditional hard and soft ground etching technique. Employing multiple copper etching plates, these images were printed on fine rag paper, some with embossed borders.

Truly mixed media works, Weinberg went through many stages and processes to create the finished designs. His works are rich in texture and color and show an incredible attention to detail. Weinberg's early artwork was influenced by design elements found in Middle Eastern textiles, architecture, exotic animals and an enchantment with Southwestern and American Indian design.

In 1985 Weinberg began experimenting with techniques to produce paper for his etching plates. These papers were free flowing colored cotton pulps, beautifully textured with repeat patterns or marbleized, sometimes enhanced with gold, silver and copper leaf. Artworks in themselves, they constituted the base for his color etching on handmade paper.

In 1990 he created "Tokyo Suite", his contemporary interpretation Japanese art. "Tokyo Suite" is composed of ten abstract etchings on handmade paper. These pieces may be considered a single art work of ten or any combination of individual etchings. In 1992 he produced the series "Ancient Masters", a group of four etchings based on sculptured heads typical of Assyrian, Greek, Cambodian and Italian Renaissance styles. Weinberg in his later years became involved in the creation of monoprints. These artworks carry bold, abstract, geometric and calligraphic designs which further explore American Indian motifs and postmodern architecture.


Bruce S. Weinberg died in San Francisco, California on January 26, 1994. Weinberg's work resides in the permanent collections of the following list of museums and corporations:

ATT
Bank of America
Chevron Chemical
Chubb Pacific Insurance
Fairmont Hotel
Fantasy Records
Indianapolis Museum of Art
Itel Corporation
Kaiser Corporation
Lucas Film
Princeton University Museum
Rockwell Industries
San Francisco Museum of Art
Stanford University
University of the Arts - Philadelphia
(Partial List)

EXHIBITS: SOLO AND GROUP SHOWS

1979: Walnut Creek Art Center, Walnut Creek, CA
1980,'82: World Print Council, San Francisco, CA
1981: Studio Associates, Philadelphia, PA
1981,'84,'91: Editions Limited, Indianapolis, IN
1981,'84, '88, '92: Editions Limited, San Francisco CA
1982: College of Notre Dame, Belmont, CA
          San Jose Museum of Art, San Jose, CA
          University of California, Davis, Davis, CA
          University of Illinois, Chicago, IL
1983 to 1993: Art Expo, Los Angeles, CA
1983 to 1994: Art Expo, New York, NY
1984: San Rafael Art Center,San Rafael, CA
1985, '86, '88,' 90: Mary Bell Gallery, Chicago, IL
1985: Montvalco Center for the Arts, Saratoga, CA
          Swen Parson Gallery-Chicago, IL
1986: Deanza College, Cupertino, CA         
          Tokyo Museum of Art, Tokyo, Japan
1986, '87: Jewish Museum, San Francisco, CA
1987: Marian Parlow Gallery, Olympia, WA
          Gallery 500, Jenkintown, PA
          Lisa Harris Gallery, Seattle, WA
1988: Marin Civic Center Gallery, San Rafael, CA
1989: Devin Galleries, New Hope, PA
          C.G. Rein Gallery, Scottsdale, AZ
1994: Joanne Chappell Gallery, San Francisco, CA
          Synteh Gallery, Palo Alto, CA
(Partial list)