Haidee Becker at TEW Galleries, Atlanta, June 2022

Haidee Becker at TEW Galleries, Atlanta, June 2022

HAIDEE BECKER

HAIDEE BECKER

A long association Discovering a new artist is one of the most exciting moments for a gallerist. In my own career spanning some thirty-five years, I have found quite a few. However, some of those experiences stand above the rest because my response to the art was so powerful. Looking back, I realize these encounters were telling me that who and what I was discovering would be important to me for years to come, perhaps even after my death. This was certainly the case with Haidee Becker, whom I discovered at a Los Angeles art fair in 1989. I still recall the day vividly. It was rather momentous, like seeing paintings by Matisse, Picasso, Degas, Manet, Van Gogh, and Balthus, to name a few, in person for the first time. I immediately wanted to acquire her work. In fact, thirty-three years later I own seven of her paintings.

Haidee was born in Los Angeles in 1950 to an actress mother from Louisiana and a writer/art dealer/civil-rights-activist father from Chicago. From the age of two, Haidee lived abroad, initially in Rome, then Vienna, and later in London. Due to her parent’s artistic influence, she knew by the age of sixteen that she was going to be a painter. Since I have known Haidee, her subject matter has been flowers, still life, and portraits—primarily of people whose countenance inspires her. Her rare, classical technique, one not taught in art schools for decades, was acquired by working one-on- one with highly respected artists in their ateliers. For example, she sat with her mentor Uli Nimptsch seven days a week, six hours a day, for several years, just learning to draw. This is the level of dedication she brings to her work. When we first met, her paint application was dense, the brushwork loose and expressionistic, and the colors vivid, though not without a dark undertone. These works were followed by a period where her palette turned somber and the brushwork tighter . It took me a moment to adjust to these changes, since the paintings began to convey a sadness that wasn’t evident before. But as Haidee explained in the April 2022 article in House and Garden UK , “My work has always been about death really – but also about

defeating it, in that moment, through paint.” This extraordinary statement expresses her belief in the power of paint and what a painting can communicate. Of all the artworks in my collection by various artists, a favorite is one of hers from this more austere era. It is a truly gorgeous painting of flowers, depicted largely in dark blue, a blue so dark you must light the painting to reveal the rich reds, golds, and greens present there. More changes followed and as the work evolved, I noticed an almost complete abandonment of her bravura brushwork—only to be replaced by smooth, sparing paint and delicate mark making. Haidee’s color palette also grew more luminous and somewhat otherworldly, all the while taking on a purplish-grey cast. I found myself having to adjust once again, mainly because I was expecting expressionistic form and Haidee was busy quieting down. Nonetheless, the soft, poetic intensity of the work made it clear that she was onto something good. About six or seven years ago, Haidee made yet another shift, and she added delightful touches of light yellow, green, blue, and orange to her palette. At this point, her color became so innately personal, there was nothing comparable to it. She had in fact become a poet with paint. This is what it is has been like to watch, follow, and collaborate with Haidee Becker, an artist whom I’ve been growing with for thirty-three years. As such, I’m more than ever

convinced that Haidee’s paintings will be collected well after my life is over, largely because she chose to stand outside fashion trends and chart her own course. But this has always been the case for artists who possess her kind of creative spirit, sensibility, refinement,

and world view. - Timothy Tew

*Portrait of Haidee Becker by Matthew Hollow

Haidee Becker, 1986

Haidee Becker Pot of Anemones , 1986 oil on canvas 18” x 24”, 23.5” x 28” framed CST 54-HB 113 $9,600.00

Haidee Becker, 1991

Haidee Becker Eluned Resting , 1991 oil on linen 14” x 29, 21 x 36” framed CST 40-HB 62 $9,900.00

Haidee Becker, 1995

Haidee Becker Blue Delphiniums , 1995 oil on canvas 57” x 46, 65.5” x 55.5” framed CST 55-HB 134 $28,000.00

Haidee Becker, 2004

Haidee Becker Lilac II , 2004 oil on canvas

80” x 62 HB 330 $36,000.00

Haidee Becker, 2005

Haidee Becker Agapanthus , 2005 oil on canvas 36” x 24”, 43” x 30” framed HB 441 $14,000.00

Haidee Becker, 2006

Haidee Becker Anemones in Ochre Jug , 2006 oil on canvas 22” x 20”, 27” x 25” framed HB 405 $13,200.00

Haidee Becker, 2007

Haidee Becker Blue Jugs , 2007 oil on canvas 26” x 26”, 26.5” x 26.5” framed HB 443 $10,400.00

Haidee Becker, 2007

Haidee Becker White Vase , 2007 oil on canvas 24” x 20”, 30” x 25” framed HB 444 $9,800.00

Haidee Becker, 2011

(Detail)

Haidee Becker Lilies in Green Vase , 2011 oil on canvas 59” x 36”, 66” x 42” framed HB 437 $29,400.00

Haidee Becker, 2015

(Detail)

Haidee Becker Delphinium & Chocolate Cosmos , 2015 oil on canvas 80” x 49”, 82” x 52” framed HB 442 $34,000.00

Haidee Becker, 2017

Haidee Becker Nicotiana in Blue Cup , 2017 oil on canvas 6” x 6”, 8” x 8” framed HB 438 $2,500.00

Haidee Becker, 2019

Haidee Becker Pansies in Egg Cup , 2019 oil on canvas 6” x 6”, 6.25” x 6.25” framed HB 427 $2,500.00

Haidee Becker, 2020

Haidee Becker Egg Cup & Quail’s Egg , 2020 oil on canvas 9” x 8”, 11” x 10” framed HB 440 $3,300.00

HAIDEE BECKER, as seen in

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I look and I look, and I look I work through and from the shadows, apply the paint searching for the weight of the thing, through form, colour, texture If it isn’t right, I scrape it off, and start again looking, peering, yearning for the thing in front of me Haidee Becker, 2022

ATLANTA TEW Galleries is located at 425 Peachtree Hills Avenue NE, #24, Atlanta, GA 30305 Tel: 404 869-0511 / www.tewgalleries.com / Contact. [email protected] LOS ANGELES In Los Angeles, TEW Galleries collaborates with Studio Balestra, where a group of carefully curated works by select artists may be viewed by appointment with Timothy Tew, or Adriano Balestra. The Atlanta Gallery will be happy to coordinate appointments. Studio Balestra is located at 767 1/2 N. La Cienega Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90069

www.tewgalleries.com