Henriette Simon Picker (28 March 1917 – 5 January 2016) was an American painter, fashion designer, and inventor.

Biography

Henriette Simon Picker was born on March 28, 1917, to German-Jewish émigrés in

Jersey City, New Jersey Jersey City is the List of municipalities in New Jersey, second-most populous

. In 1928, after a failed business venture, her father, William, moved his family to Berlin. There Picker graduated from the Paul-Natorp-Gymnasium and later attended the

Lette-Verein Lette-Verein (Lette Association or Lette Society) is a German educational organization for applied arts. Founded in 1866 in Berlin, the idea of Dr. Wilhelm Adolf Lette, it was initially a technical school for girls. Its motto was "Dienen lerne bei ...

. After fleeing Germany following the rise of Hitler, the family resettled in New York, where Picker studied drawing and painting with Alexander Brook and

Louis Bouché Louis George Bouché (March 18, 1896 – August 7, 1969) was an American artist, muralist, and decorator. He was a 1933 Guggenheim Fellow. Life Bouché was born in New York City. He traveled to Paris at age thirteen in 1909 to live with famil ...

at the

Art Students League of New York The Art Students League of New York is an art school in the American Fine Arts Society in Manhattan, New York City. The Arts Students League is known for its broad appeal to both amateurs and professional artists. Although artists may study f ...

while pursuing a career as a shoe designer. At the age of sixteen, she became the first woman designer hired by I. Miller, a shoe company. In 1952 Picker opened her own business called "Simone Shoes To Match" with her brother Regi Simon, designing and manufacturing shoes for women to match their handbags and dresses. In the October 1952 issue of MaCall's, her shoes were illustrated by a then 24 year old

Andy Warhol Andy Warhol (;''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''"Warhol" born Andrew Warhola Jr.; August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987) was an American visual artist, film director and producer. A leading figure in the pop art movement, Warhol ...

. In the 1960s she formed one of the first shoe import businesses in the US, and designed her own line, “Simone Shoes, Made in Italy.” In 1982, Picker retired from shoe design to care for her then-ailing husband, Julian Picker. Soon thereafter, in 1983, Picker was commissioned to create the cover for the January 1983 issue of

Footwear News ''Footwear News'' (sometimes referred to as ''FN'') is a weekly print publication on the topic of women's, men's, and children's footwear. Founded in 1945, its coverage is for the fashion design and fashion retail industries. It was originally p ...

. Over the course of her career, Picker patented numerous shoe designs. Picker produced the bulk of her paintings in her nineties. Her first solo exhibition was at the age of 95 at The Hudson River Studio in 2012, and shortly after was the subject of a retrospective exhibition at PMW Gallery in March 2013. She subsequently had solo exhibitions at The Cooperstown Art Association and View Arts in Old Forge, NY. She also exhibited at the Waxlander Gallery in Santa Fe and the Carter Burden Gallery in Chelsea. Picker's final years were almost entirely focused upon portraiture, including

Ruth Bader Ginsburg Joan Ruth Bader Ginsburg ( ; Bader; March 15, 1933 – September 18, 2020) was an American lawyer and jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1993 until Death and state funeral of Ruth Bader ...

, Mikael Karlsson (composer),

Richard Croft (tenor) Richard Croft is an American opera singer who is often characterized as a lyric tenor or " Mozart tenor." Richard Croft debuted in the United States (including at the Metropolitan Opera, the Houston Grand Opera, the Washington Opera and Dallas), b ...

, Ida Rohatyn, and

Charles Wuorinen Charles Peter Wuorinen (, ; June 9, 1938 – March 11, 2020) was an American composer of contemporary classical music based in New York City. He also performed as a pianist and conductor. Wuorinen composed more than 270 works: orchestral music, c ...

. A book chronicling her work entitled ''Henriette Simon Picker: A Century of Painting'' was published posthumously. In 1940, she married Julian Picker who was a

newswriter A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

for CBS TV. They had three children, Ida Picker, Jon Picker, and

Tobias Picker Tobias Picker (born July 18, 1954) is an American composer, pianist, and Conductor (music), conductor, noted for his orchestral works ''Old and Lost Rivers'', ''Keys To The City (orchestral work), Keys To The City'', and ''The Encantadas (orches ...

Paintings

References

External links

H. S. Picker's Website and Online Gallery
{{DEFAULTSORT:Picker, Henriette Simon 1917 births 2016 deaths Jewish women painters Jewish American painters Artists from New York (state) Painters from New York (state) Artists from Jersey City, New Jersey People from Poughkeepsie, New York American fashion designers Shoe designers American women fashion designers Jewish fashion designers American people of German-Jewish descent 20th-century American painters 20th-century American Jews 20th-century American women painters