The Artistic Greenbergs
Did you know we have a painterly artistic gene that runs through our family?
It’s prevalent on the Greenberg side. What started with Morris, continued with his daughter Gerry, then his granddaughter, Nina and her daughter, his great granddaughter, Cara. I’ll talk about Nina and Cara next week.
For now we’ll focus on Morris and Gerry.
L to R : Sylvia Pseny Mink, Morris Greenberg, Sam Mink
As a child growing up in Philly, Morris attended Fleisher Art Memorial and the Academy of Fine Arts. He married Celia (nick name Ceil) Ersner and eventually put down roots in Coatesville, PA. There, he successfully ran a women’s clothing store and raised his family. After he retired, they moved back to Philadelphia and he was able to focus on his art.
At 60, he was the first male student to be admitted to Moore College of Art.
I remember the story of his graduate art exhibit- Morris’s contribution was a self portrait titled “Self Portrait.” It was the first picture displayed when you walked into the gallery. People were taken aback to see a self portrait of a man thinking it was a women only school. They didn’t know they had accepted a man into the program. Morris was a trailblazer, breaking gender boundaries.
Side note - I also remember him being a fun person to be around. We called him Uncle Gramps ( he was my great uncle) and he was always kidding with us and making jokes. He would take a napkin and tie it up in the shape of a mouse and the mouse would run up and down his arm. As a kid it was pure magic. We all watched in awe and wanted to know how he did that! He also had a puppet named Monkey who was always talking to you and wanting to be your friend.
Now back to his art. He distributed his art work amongst family members, and his prolific art practice landed him a cover story in the Jewish Exponent, when he was 89.
Jewish Exponent Cover
Jewish Exponent Article
Morris Greenberg
Morris Greenberg -Debbie here: This is painting of my mom ( Judi) & me.. I actually think it looks more like Me & Ever. Maybe Morris could see the future generations too.
Morris Greenberg Full Moon
Morris Greenberg Palette
Morris Greenberg
Big thanks to Bob & Rose Edith Morgan for sharing these paintings from three generations of Greenbergs. Morris did the snow covered cabin. Irving Freedman, Morris’s nephew, painted the picture of the Morgan’s cabin in Georgia. Nina Klein, Morris’s granddaughter did her interpretation, more impressionistic, of the same cabin.
Morris Greenberg
Irving Freedman
Nina Klein
Geraldine (Gerry) was Morris’s oldest child born July 23, 1921. She inherited his artistic talent. Gerry went to the University of Pennsylvania and was a member of the Delta Phi Epsilon Sorority and I am not sure where / if she studied art. She married Morton Folkman in 1948 and they moved to Reading, Pa where they started a family and owned a maternity dress shop. Not only did Gerry follow in Morris’s footsteps artistically, she did so career wise as well.
This picture was at taken at my Bar Mitzvah 4/9/1960. Can you name all the people sitting at the table? I’ll give you a hint besides Gerry, there are two Norberts in this picture. This may have been the first and last time two Norberts were at the same table! Drop the rest of the guest’s names in the comments below.
Actually, all of Morris’s kids owned clothing stores:
Allen owned a woman’s clothing store in Wilmington, Delaware.
Bertie the youngest daughter, owned a dress shop in Philadelphia on 13th St. for plus size women. Way ahead of the body positive trend!
Gerry and Morton had two children, Marsha and Howard. Morton died in 1954 at the age of 39 from melanoma. Gerry then married Norbert Salpeter who adopted Marsha and Howard. Gerry died, 10 years after Morton, in 1964 of breast cancer. So Norbert went on to raise Marsha and Howard.
I was lucky enough to get two pictures of Gerry’s paintings:
The water color is from Howie Salpeter, Gerry’s son.
The Nude is from Stephen Klein, Nina’s husband ( Nina is Morris’s granddaughter who was also an artist who I will write about next week.)
Gerry Salpeter
Thanks so much for sending the photos my way.
Comment time! Did you inherit any of the Greenberg painterly talent? What do you think of the paintings? Do you know the names of the guests at the Bar Mitzvah table? Leave your comments below.
