Berk was born in Wichita, Kansas on January 9, 1919 and died in Oakland, California on January 15, 1990. Family moved from Wichita to San Francisco when she was very young. Berk graduated from the Polytechnic High School in San Francisco and attended San Francisco State College and the California College of Arts and Crafts were she studied with Richard Diebenkorn and Harry Krell. Known for her use of bold colors. One of her paintings was shown in the 1967 movie Guess Who's Coming to Dinner? and hangs in the U.S. Embassy in Peru.

Exhibitions: Oakland Art Museum, 1960-66; San Francisco Museum of Art 1962, 1963; De Young Museum, 1962; Mills College 1965; Carter Gallery, Los Angeles, 1966; De Saisset Art Gallery, Santa Clara, CA, 1971. Collections: Telfair Museum of Art.

Born in Wichita, Kansas, Henrietta Berk was the daughter of a seamstress and spent much of her childhood in an orphanage. She moved to the Bay Area in the 1950's and studied at the California College of Art in Oakland. Berk was famed for her still-life paintings of flowers, interiors and abstract landscapes, and her work was exhibited in galleries from New York to Tokyo. Celebrities including Julie Andrews, Blake Edwards, Kim Novak and Edward G. Robinson collected her works. One of her paintings, which was shown in the 1967 movie "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?," still hangs in the U.S. Embassy in Peru.

Berk is still remembered in the Bay Area for a 1972 publicity stunt benefitting the Oakland Symphony where she dressed as Lady Godiva and rode through Jack London Square wearing a body stocking and several wigs to "cover the entire situation," as she put it. In her later years, Henrietta Berk suffered from blindness caused by diabetes.

Source:
Anonymous Source

Additional note from Susan Craig, Art & Architecture Librarian, University of Kansas:
According to the obituary in the 1990 issue of the San Franciso Chronicle, Henrietta Berk died on January 15, 1990.

Henrietta Berk was an important American painter whose vibrant landscapes and expressive still lifes represent a distinctive continuation of the California plein-air tradition into the mid-twentieth century. Known for her bold color, energetic brushwork, and modern compositional sensibility, Berk developed a unique style that bridged traditional California Impressionism with the evolving modernist influences of the postwar era. Today her work is increasingly recognized for its vitality and originality, and she is regarded as one of the most compelling painters working in California during the second half of the twentieth century.

Berk was born in 1919 in Wichita, Kansas. From an early age she demonstrated a strong interest in art and pursued formal training at the Wichita Art Association School, where she studied painting and drawing. During her early years she worked in a variety of artistic fields, including commercial illustration and design, gaining valuable technical experience while continuing to develop her personal artistic voice. In the late 1940s Berk relocated to California, a move that would profoundly shape her artistic development.

The dramatic landscapes of the West Coast—its coastal cliffs, eucalyptus groves, deserts, and agricultural valleys—provided an endless source of inspiration. California’s brilliant sunlight and rich natural color encouraged Berk to embrace a more expressive approach to painting, characterized by dynamic brushwork and vibrant palettes. Berk’s paintings are distinguished by their bold, rhythmic compositions and heightened color relationships. Rather than pursuing strict naturalism, she often interpreted the landscape through a more expressive lens, emphasizing pattern, movement, and emotional response to place. Her hillsides, trees, and skies are frequently rendered with sweeping gestures of paint that create a sense of vitality and energy across the canvas. This expressive approach reflects the influence of modernist painting while remaining rooted in direct observation of nature.

Throughout her career Berk painted a wide range of subjects, including landscapes, still lifes, and garden scenes. Her still lifes—often depicting flowers, fruit, or everyday objects—demonstrate her remarkable command of color and composition. Like her landscapes, these works are characterized by bold brushwork and a strong sense of structure, transforming simple subjects into vibrant painterly arrangements. Berk’s work also reflects a deep engagement with the California landscape tradition established by earlier painters such as Edgar Payne, William Wendt, and Guy Rose.

While her style evolved toward a more modern and expressive aesthetic, her commitment to painting from nature and her fascination with the light and atmosphere of California connect her to this earlier generation of artists. During her lifetime Berk exhibited widely and built a devoted following among collectors. Her paintings were included in numerous exhibitions and were admired for their distinctive blend of Impressionist color and modern expression. In recent decades, renewed scholarly and market interest has brought greater recognition to her work, highlighting her significant contribution to the continuing evolution of California landscape painting.

Henrietta Berk died in 1990, leaving behind a body of work that continues to resonate with collectors and art historians alike. Her paintings remain celebrated for their bold color, expressive vitality, and their unique interpretation of the California landscape. © Steven Stern Fine Arts • Los Angeles