The work for this intimate viewing of Zanne Hochberg’s paintings has been carefully chosen to showcase Zanne Hochberg’s beautiful female figuratives. Hochberg said this of the work, “In my figurative work, I have been influenced by Rodin, Degas, and Edvard Munch. In most of my paintings I am not consciously concerned with making social comment. However, in my figurative work, which deals primarily with the female figure, I think I may reflect some of my concerns about women’s ability to deal with all the roles imposed upon them in contemporary society. I think many of my female figures have a sense of oppression – a sense of being over-burdened or oppressed – a longing for a simpler more serene existence – a yearning for more time to pursue creative interests – to give and receive friendships.”

Zanne Hochberg began a career as a serious painter in the 1950’s and was most influenced by the contemporary abstract expressionist painters of that period: Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning, Franz Kline, Robert Motherwell, and Helen Frankenthaler. She also greatly admired the works of Degas, Toulouse-Lautrec, Modigliani, Gauguin, Cezanne, and Picasso. A pioneer in her own right, Hochberg was a brilliant counterpoint to the Southwest regional art then predominant.

A native of Rochester New York, Hochberg graduated from the University of Florida and went on to become one of the first women to graduate SMU with an MFA. Throughout the course of her career, Hochberg became one of Dallas’ most respected and prolific artists. Her contribution to Texas art and Dallas in particular are immeasurable, with works in many distinguished collections including the Dallas Museum of Art. Upon her death in 2001, there were still unfinished paintings in her studio, a testament to the lifelong work Zanne Hochberg birthed.

Aside from becoming a masterful painter, she was a powerful and passionate mother and wife. Her husband Larry still practices health care law in Dallas and her three children live in Texas: Claudia, Pamela, and Jonathan; Claudia is a mother and the owner of the One-on-One Pilates Studio; Pamela is a mother and childhood learning disability specialist, and Jonathan is a father and the Associate Director and Professor of the Global Leadership Executive MBA program at UTD. She has four grandchildren: Carly, Bennett, Brett and Gabriel.

IR Gallery is committed to showing work by local prolific artists working in all mediums that need space to communicate. Showing Zanne Hochberg’s work is particularly relevant to the mission IR Gallery holds dear: local, prolific artists. This is what it looks like after a lifetime.