christiane shertz

Through the 38 years I spent with the artist Max Shertz, I discovered that Art is a universal language, a vehicle of communication on a visual level mastery of the English language. For most of my artist life, my art was executed in a spontaneous, automatic manner with no preconceived ideas, as I was taught by my teacher, Max Shertz, who, himself, was a student of the famous German artist Hans Hofmann, who taught at the New York Art Students League in New York and in Connecticut in the late 50’s. My works of art have been figurative and mostly abstract starting in 1990. At the present time I am doing figurative works, paintings of children as I feel that in this very chaotic world we are living in now children represent not only the future but beauty, innocence, openness and love.

I was born in 1945 in Trouville-Sur-Mer, a charming little town on the Normandy coast, once the refuge of the Impressionists in the late 1800’s. My family moved to Paris when I was a young child and in my early 20’s, after a sojourn of one year in England, I settled in the Montparnasse quarter, favored then by artists and writers. As a student at the Ecoles des Beaux-Arts, I exhibited at the American Center on the left bank where I met Man Ray, the well-known artist and photographer. Swept into the spirit of the students’ revolution in 1968 in Paris, I decided to move to California to experience the cultural revolution of the 60’s in San Francisco. Three years later, in 1971, I met the artist who would change my life, Max Shertz. I moved with Max and his family in a beautiful Victorian house with the view of the San Francisco Bay, on Union and Fillmore, in San Francisco. The next 17 years, I would study with Max, being his protege, muse, and finally his wife in 1990. My studying with Max led me to be his companion in art, painting with him in San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York and in France. During our life time together, I supported my teacher/husband/artist, doing so by working at a regular job, meeting my family obligations, doing my art, and assisting Max with his various projects. I sold paintings from my studio and exhibited occasionally. Max passed away in 2009 and I am ready now to exhibit my works of art