Renate dollinger biography definition

Renate Dollinger was a landscape painter with a small gallery in Palo Alto, CA, a husband, four children and lots of dogs when, in 1968, at the age of 44, she suddenly turned to painting life in a shtetl. “Cute,” her husband said when he saw the first painting. “Where did that come from?” “I don’t know,” she replied.

Here’s what Renate’s official brochure says: “The rich culture of the shtetl is evoked in Renate’s compelling paintings with their uncanny portrayals …While the scenes are born of the artist’s imagination, they possess a compelling sense of truth … as if they were part of Renate’s own personal experience.”

Here’s what Renate says:

One day in 1968 a woman named Dixie started spending time in Renate’s Palo Alto gallery, sitting in one or the other of two chairs, not saying much, just looking around.

After Renate closed the gallery – business was too slow – Dixie called her at home and Renate invited her over for tea. That’s when Renate Dollinger and Amy Boles – StoryCorps Archive VYK