Point Reyes Light, July 28, 2005
Acclaimed painter Jesse Reichek dies at 88
By Larken Bradley
Longtime West Marin resident Jesse Reichek, 88, a retired UC Berkeley professor and internationally acclaimed painter who belonged to the transatlantic school of abstract expressionists, died Monday, July 18, in his Point Reyes-Petaluma Road home on Red Hill. Though he was in good health, Mr. Reichek made the decision to pass from this world, and deliberately stopped eating and drinking.
Remarked his son, Joshua Reichek, "he died as he lived, by his own will and conscious decision."
A retrospective exhibit of more than 2,000 of Mr. Reichek’s paintings will be shown at the Marin French Cheese Company beginning August 27. A series of changing exhibitions will be mounted every eight weeks over the next year.
For the last 25 years of his life, Mr. Reichek devoted himself to the study of esoteric subjects including the I Ching, the Kaballah, and the great myths of the world. At the centerpiece of the retrospective will be I Ching, a series of 64 paintings inspired by the Chinese Book of Changes.
Worldwide exhibitions
Mr. Reichek’s work has been shown in galleries and museums in cities throughout the world including Paris, Florence and Tokyo. The late Saul Bellow, author and Nobel laureate, commented on his work, noting, "there is a quiet but substantial sense of humor in these works, as if Reichek were aware of being one of God’s understudies."
A great fighter for civil rights, as a professor of design at UC Berkeley in the departments of architecture and city planning, he was instrumental in securing the appointment of the first African-American, Hispanic and women faculty members.
In the 1960s he marched in Mississippi and was arrested in protests against the Vietnam War and apartheid.
Born in Brooklyn on August 16, 1916, Jesse was one of three children of Morris Reichek, an orthodox Judaic scholar. Jesse’s introduction to art came at age 15 when he boarded the wrong bus in Brooklyn, landing at a stop outside the Metropolitan Museum of Art. "He went in, and his life was changed," said his son. "He knew there was a world much larger than Brooklyn or even New York City...It was the world of art."
A life in art, begun by accident
Mr. Reichek went on to study in Chicago at the New Bauhaus, the design institute. He became an instructor there and at the Armor Institute, later the Illinois Institute of Technology.
During World War II he served in the US Army Air Corps as an officer in charge of camouflage at a number of air bases.
He later moved to Paris and at a corner bistro in the City of Light met his future wife Laure, a young woman from Central France. Though they could each barely speak the other’s language, romance instantly blossomed. Reflected his son, "they’ve had the most loving and supportive relationship...of any couple I have ever known."
In the early 1970s the family bought property next to the McEvoy Ranch on Red Hill Road. Then a senior professor at UC Berkeley, Mr. Reichek commuted to the campus a day or two a week and maintained office hours in West Marin the remaining days.
Remembered by his family as an intellectual giant, "he had little tolerance for stupidity while being fundamentally concerned for human dignity," said his son.
The children of nine family friends have been named Jesse in his honor.
Mr. Reichek is survived by his wife, Laure Reichek of Red Hill Road; and sons and daughters-in-law, Joshua and Elizabeth Reichek; and Jonathan and Carla Reichek, all of Berkeley.
An opening reception for the year-long retrospective of his work will be held from 4:00 to 7:00 p.m., Saturday, August 27, at the Marin French Cheese Factory, 7500 Red Hill Road, Petaluma 94952.