HENRY VILLIERME 1928-2013

Described as a kind of Rip Van Winkle of the art world, Henry Villierme was an active part of the Bay Area Figurative Movement with Richard Diebenkorn and David Park in the 1960s and then disappeared from the art scene. In the late 1990s, he re-surfaced having been found by an art dealer living in Ojai, CA. He was on the verge of retiring from a non-art related job and was taking up painting again, referring to this period in his life as the "whipped cream on top."

Henry Villierme was born in California but returned to his father's family in Tahiti when his mother died when he was age three. His father remarried when the young man was eleven, and the family reunited in California. His stepmother recognized his art talent and sent him to art school.

After serving in the Korean War, Villierme used his GI Bill money to attend the California College of Arts and Crafts where he earned a fine arts degree. He credits Richard Diebenkorn as being his biggest influence relative to opening the door to just go and paint.

Henry Villierme received much recognition, but domestic responsibilities took him to manual labor jobs with regular income and to Southern California. In the 1980s, he and his family moved to Ojai where he was a maintenance worker at a private school.