Fred Terna (October 8, 1923 – December 8, 2022) was a Holocaust survivor and painter living and working in Brooklyn, NY. Terna was born in Vienna, and lived in Prague from 1926-1940. From 1941-1945, he was an inmate in German concentration camps, among them Theresienstadt, Auschwitz, and Dachau. Terna moved to Paris in 1946 and informally studied at the Academie de la Grande Chaumiere and the Academie Julien, where he was inspired by the work of the Cubists and post-Impressionists.
After eventually settling in New York in 1952, Terna elaborated on the prevailing modes of Abstract Expressionism with a personal style that infused textural elements into his compositions. Using folded canvas, sand, and pebbles, Terna sought to activate the tactile senses, layering fields of depth and creating visual tricks. Terna’s canvases seek to address the psychological space of trauma, often incorporating the charged symbols of chimneys and ash to abstract effect.
Over the course of his 60 year career, Terna lectured extensively and exhibited his work in numerous solo and group shows. His work is included in a variety of private and public collections including the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington, DC; Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC; The Albertina Collection, Vienna, AT; The Ghetto Fighters’ House, Western Galilee, IL; and Yad Vashem Museum, Jerusalem, IL.
Recent solo exhibitions were at the Czech Center Gallery, New York, NY (2022); 321 Gallery, Brooklyn, NY (2018); the Museum of Arts and Culture at New Rochelle High School, New Rochelle, NY (2017); St. Francis College, Brooklyn, NY (2017); and a solo booth with 321 Gallery at the NADA New York Art Fair (2016). Recent group shows took place at Jack Barrett (2019) and the Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts (2017), both New York, NY.
Fred Terna, Brooklyn, 2012. Photo by Daniel Terna.
Solo Exhibitions
2022 Flame Paintings, Czech Center Gallery at the Bohemian National Hall, New York, NY
2018 Sketches, Photographs, and Paintings, 321 Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
2017 The Fiddle, The Museum of Arts and Culture at New Rochelle High School, New Rochelle, NY
2017 Processing Chaos, Recurring Echoes, St. Francis College, Brooklyn, NY
2016 321 Gallery Solo Booth, NADA Art Fair, New York, NY
2007 Fred Terna: Survivor and Master of his Art, Carol Shen Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
2006 From Darkness to Light, Please Touch, St. Joseph’s College, Brooklyn, NY
1989 Hebrew Union College, New York, NY
1989 Queensboro Community College, New York, NY
1986 Jewish Community Center, Edison, NJ
1985 The Ghetto Fighters’ House Museum, Israel
1985 Jewish Holocaust Survivors Gathering, Philadelphia, PA
1980 Hebrew Tabernacle, New York, NY
1980 Rutgers Hillel, New Brunswick, NJ
1979 See and Sanctify, Yeshiva University Museum, New York, NY
1979 The Judaic Abstracts of Fred Terna, Center Art Gallery, JCC, Cherry Hill, NJ
1979 Art and Design Atelier, Sag Harbor, NY
1977 Millburn, NJ
1976 Buyways Gallery, Sarasota, FL
197X House of Living Judaism, New York, NY
1974 Union of American Hebrew Congregation, New York, NY
1974 Park Avenue Gallery, Mount Kisco, NY
1972 Buyways Gallery, Sarasota, FL
1972 Berg Memorial Gallery, New York, NY
1972 Mari Galleries, Larchmont, NY
1970 Altman Art Gallery, New York, NY
1969 Coalescence, Gillaspie Gallery, New York, NY
1968 Gillaspie Gallery, New York, NY
1968 Gallery Ten, Newsweek Building, New York, NY
1968 Altman Art Gallery, New York, NY
1967 Gillaspie Gallery, New York, NY
1967 Doubleplay-Variations on a Theme, Marcia London Gallery, New York, NY
1966 Owls-Variations on a Theme, Marcia London Gallery, New York, NY
Selected Group Exhibitions
2019 Place/Image/Object, Anna Plesset, Fred Terna, and Daniel Terna, Jack Barrett, New York, NY
2018 Ausstellung Kunst und Widerstand im Ghetto Theresienstadt, The Volkskundemuseum Wien/Austrian Museum of Folk Life and Folk Art, Vienna, AT
2018 Crane Game, Cul de Sac, Brooklyn, NY
2018 Meaning Making Through Art Making: From the Holocaust to Contemporary Art Therapy Practices, Gormley Gallery, Norte Dame of Maryland University, Baltimore, MD
2017 Progeny!, Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts, New York, NY
2010 Virtues of Memory: Six Decades of Holocaust Survivors' Creativity, Yad Vashem, Jerusalem, IL
1991 Seeing Through "Paradise": Artists and the Terezin Concentration Camp, Massachusettes College of Art, MA
1981 Spirit and Expression, Art and Design Atelier, Sag Harbor, NY
1980 Contemporary Ceremonial and Biblical Art, Art and Design Atelier, Sag Harbor, NY
1977 Artists from the Jewish Yellow Pages, Woodbridge Main Library, Woodbridge, NJ
1977 Art in Black and White, Rhoda Sande Gallery, New York, NY
1976 Buyways Gallery, Sarasota, FL
197X Reece Galleries, New York, NY
1973 Artists Equity Association, New York, NY
1967 Marcia London Gallery, New York, NY
1967 April Flowers, Marcia London Gallery, New York, NY
1966 Art Cavern Gallery, New York, NY
1966 The Gallery Inc., Norwalk, OH
email: studio@frederickterna.com