By Ellen Braunstein
Harriet Freyde Sommer, a longtime painter and art therapist, whose compassion and creativity brightened the lives of family, friends and strangers alike, passed away on June 20, just shy of her 92nd birthday.
A lifelong Philadelphian and a member of Temple Sinai in Dresher and later Reform Congregation Keneseth Israel in Elkins Park, Sommer was born July 1, 1933, in the Overbrook neighborhood of West Philadelphia, the youngest daughter of Mollye and J. Richard Barnett. She remembers sketching at four years old – a spark, her family said, that lit a lifelong passion for art.
“My mom believed in the power of art,” said Caren Sommer-Lazar. “She chose to focus on the beauty in the world, rather than what could often be just the opposite. She felt that art healed her — and she used it to heal others.”
A gifted student, Sommer graduated from Overbrook High School with strengths not only in art but in English and history. She was awarded a scholarship to Beaver College but chose instead to study fashion illustration and textile design at the Philadelphia College of Art. There she began to define her visual sensibility, rooted in the elegance of line and the boldness of color, deeply influenced by the likes of Matisse.
After meeting and marrying Ralph F. Sommer, a Holocaust survivor who had emigrated from France in 1946, Harriet Sommer set aside her studies to raise their three children — Michele, Caren and Richard — and to support Ralph in running the family’s business, Barnett Brothers Radio Company.
Yet art never left her. From their home in Mount Airy and later Wyncote, Harriet continued her art work, taking classes at Allen’s Lane Art Center with noted artist Paul Gorka, and later at the Cheltenham Center for the Arts, where she remained an active member for decades.
Margaret Griffin, executive director of the Cheltenham Center for the Arts, remembers her as “a thoughtful, kind watercolorist with a beautiful eye for color.”
She created vibrant floral works and was a “warm, collaborative presence in our painting group,” Griffin added.
Sommer’s later influences included the work of groundbreaking women artists like Alice Neel and Helen Frankenthaler, women who refused to be boxed in to abstract trends and instead painted directly from life.
“She admired their courage and their realism,” said her son, Richard Sommer. “That spoke to her.”
She believed in observing what was around her and rendering it with heart and honesty, he added.
In the 1980s, after her children had left home, Sommer returned to the Philadelphia College of Art to complete her degree, this time in art therapy.
“Can you imagine going back to art school in your late 40s, surrounded by 18- to 22-year-olds in critique sessions?” said Richard Sommer.
His mother did it all, painting, composition, writing papers, and she finished with a degree in something that brought all her passions together, he said.
With her new credentials, Sommer embarked on a second career, working as an art therapist with seniors in nursing homes and assisted-living facilities throughout Montgomery County, and eventually Rydal Park, where she would one day reside herself.
As an art therapist, she was “an extremely empathetic person” who knew how to “bring people out of their shells,” her son said.
“She worked with people who were sometimes forgotten — who had dementia or illness — and she helped them express feelings they couldn’t put into words,” Sommer-Lazar said. “She brought light and joy into their lives and that, in turn, brought joy into hers.”
Even as she aged, Sommer remained deeply engaged with art. She had a solo show at Rydal Park at the age of 87, where she gave an artist talk.
“She mounted the whole exhibit herself,” said her daughter Michele Sommer-Shapiro.
“She painted until the very end,” Sommer-Lazar said. “The day before she passed, she was rushing to an art activity. We found watercolors and drawings she had recently been working on.”
Sommer’s family saw firsthand how her love of creativity shaped generations. Sommer-Shapiro became a high school art teacher and collage artist. Sommer-Lazar attended the same art school as her mother, becoming an art director and exhibiting artist. Richard Sommer pursued architecture, teaching at the university level. Among Sommer’s grandchildren and great-grandchildren are animators, designers, goldsmiths and painters.
“Art is her lasting legacy,” Sommer-Lazar said. “She touched all of us with it from generation to generation.”
Their home growing up reflected that same creative spirit.
“Her artwork was always on the walls,” Sommer-Lazar said. “She arranged every object in the house like a composition. I was never afraid to draw or paint as a child because she showed us it could bring joy.”
One painting in particular, a small oil canvas of daffodils and violets, has become a symbol of resilience and renewal for her daughter.
“It captures the essence of early spring,” Sommer-Lazar said. “It’s gotten me through some of my darkest hours.”
Harriet Sommer was also active with her husband in the Jewish community, attending Temple Sinai and KI. She designed posters for charity fundraisers and volunteered her time and artistic skills to benefit local Jewish organizations.
“Harriet was strong, courageous, intelligent, independent, incredibly talented, kind, loving and empathetic,” Sommer-Lazar said. “She was a gifted teacher of both art and life.”
“She saw beauty in a world” that could be harsh, Sommer-Lazar added. “She didn’t just create art. She lived artfully, compassionately. She shared her unique way of seeing the world through her love of line, color, form and light. Art is her lasting legacy.”
Ellen Braunstein is a freelance writer.
