Beth Eidelberg (1933-2018)

Beth Eidelberg had two passions: art and San Antonio.A painter for most of her life and professionally for half a century, Eidelberg was known for her watercolors of nostalgic scenes in an around San Antonio from flower markets to Jefferson High School to the historic homes in the King William Historic District.Eidelberg died from complications with diabetes on Feb. 14. She was 84.

“She was born with the talent share,” her brother Jay Weidenfeld said. “Beth was, before she was four or five, drawing with quite a bit of skill.”Weidenfeld said her parents made sure she was in classes and schools that fostered her talent all the way through college, but the college format didn’t sit right with her. She graduated and did some commercial work, and she was able to do it, but “it was a more work for her. It was hard for her.”“She was more specifically oriented toward fine art — toward her own individual paintings,” Weidenfeld said. “When she came back to San Antonio, she resolved to be a fine artist with her own studio. She was much more in tune to work from her own inspiration.”Eidelberg first gained recognition for bringing the colors in the flower markets to light.“She was drawn to and skilled with bringing color to things that attracted and appealed to people,” Weidenfeld said. “She was almost magnetically drawn to South Texas.”Her artwork — which is on display in the homes of three generations — is laden with buildings and structures dripping in flowers but also includes the state capitol building and the first Luby’s Cafeteria on Broadway.“Like most artists, she only wanted absolute perfection,” Weidenfeld said. “She was not an art factory and rarely duplicated a painting.”An active member of the San Antonio Art League, she was named the league’s Artist of the Year in 1990.Arty Bentch said she was like a second mom to him since she was more like a sister than a cousin to his mom. He is handling her estate and putting together an art show to celebrate her life and benefit the San Antonio Art League. The bulk of her work has been donated to charity and Bentch said he also has much more than they will display.“We are going to be displaying 17 pieces of her work,” Bentch said. “They are the best representations of her life and her work.”The art show was Eidelberg’s idea nearly a year ago as just another show, so she hired June Hays and Associates to handle the art and plan the show. "She had expressed an interest in doing a show in April,” Bentch said. “By the time we decided to do the show, her health had deteriorated to a point that she would be able to be involved.”The celebration of life will start with a cocktail hour on March 22 at Los Patios and will be hosted an indefinite number of days until all 17 pieces are sold. "She outlived two husbands and two children. She was happiest in the art world,” Bentch said. “She cared so much for other people and the craft and she was all about San Antonio.”

Beth Eidelberg

No one has said it better than John Palmer Leeper, former director of the Marion Koogler McNay Art Museum, when he spoke of the artist: “One enters with pleasure the untroubled, unshadowed world of Beth Eidelberg, whose paintings are exacting yet reassuring.  She has been trained well and her art has grown.  From the slightly somber paintings to the exuberant watercolors of bountiful Mexican markets filled with flowers and swinging piñatas, she is heavily dependent on drawing both in pencil and with a pigment backed brush.  She has a fully orchestrated calligraphy at her command.  Hers is a benign world, yet one presented with firmness and decision and always with a clean sense of structure.”

Eidelberg’s watercolors sparkle with a freshness.  Flower markets around the world are her forte.  Balcony windows beckon, doorways and gates beg to be opened, and cottages invite one inside.  The artist is accomplished in oils as well.  Slightly heavier in texture, these paintings maintain the immediacy of her watercolors.

Community service has distinguished the artist throughout her career.  She has been poster artist for numerous major charities.  Eidelberg has taught students of all ages, privately and in the public school systems.  If sustained superior performance is a mark of success, Beth Eidelberg clearly is successful.


Media: Oil, Watercolor

Education: Monticello College, Alton IL
San Antonio Art Institute
University of Texas, San Antonio, TX
Albert Glassell School of Fine Arts

Associations: Texas Watercolor Society
San Antonio Art League
San Antonio Watercolor Group
Coppini Academy of Fine Arts

Awards: American Watercolor Society, Exhibitor
Western Federation of Watercolor Societies, Exhibitor
San Antonio Art League Artist of the Year, 1990