Items Similar to "Scribbler in Autumn" Modernist, Figures in Landscape, Abstract elements
Want more images or videos?
Request additional images or videos from the seller
1 of 5
Helen West Heller"Scribbler in Autumn" Modernist, Figures in Landscape, Abstract elements 1952
1952
About the Item
Helen West Heller
Scribbler in Autumn, 1952
Monogrammed and dated lower left; signed, titled and dated on the reverse
Oil on board
47 x 38 inches
After growing up close to nature as a child in Illinois, Heller spent much of her adult life in urban centers. She studied at the St. Louis School of Fine Arts in the 1890s and later at the Art Students League in New York. In the early years she struggled for recognition, and when her work was rejected for conventional exhibitions, she became a founding member of the Chicago No-Jury Society for artists outside the establishment. In 1928 she published her poetry and her images in a small book, The Migratory Urge.
An activist during the volatile period of the 1930s, Heller was a member of several left-leaning artists’ organizations and attended the first American Artists’ Congress, Artists Against War and Fascism, in 1936. The group selected her woodcut “Reforestation” as one of 100 prints featured in its publication, America Today, and circulated it nationwide in a series of exhibitions characterized by socially conscious images that reflected the world outside the artist’s studio. She created paintings, prints, and murals for the Works Progress Administration’s Federal Art Project during the Great Depression. Participation in the WPA gave her some much-needed exposure, and by the late 1930s Heller exhibited her work more widely at museums and galleries.
In 1947 the Oxford University Press issued Woodcuts U.S.A., a publication with 20 of Heller’s prints and quotes from American writers. The following year she was recognized as an associate member of the National Academy of Design. The Smithsonian showed 35 of her prints in a solo exhibition in 1949, in generous recognition of which she presented eight titles now in the museum’s Graphic Arts Collection: “Alabama Biochemist,” “American Soil” (triptych), “Baseball: A Close Decision,” “Companioned,” “Milennium,” and “Nocturne.” Her work is represented in the collections of the Brooklyn Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Indianapolis Museum of Art, and the Library of Congress, which purchased her prints through its prestigious Pennell Prize program.
Over her career, Heller worked in mosaics, oils, and murals, but she is best known for her woodcuts, which feature elaborate textures and patterns. Her artistic credo, as outlined in a letter to Smithsonian curator Jacob Kainen at the time of her 1949 exhibition, focused on composition. “Composition is a science: in its lower levels it is a branch of mathematics, in its exalted uses it is a branch of psychology. Next in importance is powerful line, simple enough to be penetrating, not so simple as to become static.” Her woodcuts demonstrate the power of line, and the overflowing patterns of her compositions carry many levels of meaning. They are never static but convey action, movement, and a celebration of humanity.
- Creator:Helen West Heller (1872 - 1955, American)
- Creation Year:1952
- Dimensions:Height: 48 in (121.92 cm)Width: 39 in (99.06 cm)
- More Editions & Sizes:Unique piecePrice: $15,000
- Medium:
- Period:
- Condition:
- Gallery Location:New York, NY
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU1841214454342
Helen West Heller
Helen West Heller was born near Rushville, Illinois. From 1876 she lived in Canton, Ilinois. At a very young age, she became interested in painting. Although she received some art education at the School of Fine Arts in St. Louis and the Art Students League in New York, she was largely self-taught. As an adult she moved back and forth between Chicago and New York several times, before settling in New York for the last twenty-five years of her life. She worked in a distinctly individual style, and was intensely productive and unwaveringly committed to her artistic passions. In 1923, during a period of great poverty, she turned to the affordable materials of wood block and linoleum, often printing her results on wrapping paper. From then until the end of her life she produced more than six hundred woodcuts, and spent a great deal of time studying art and history, and writing. She was very active in artists' social and political affairs, and in 1948 was elected an associate of the National Academy of Design. She often brings figures and settings together in a mosaic of patterns that reflect both Eastern and Western block print traditions.
About the Seller
5.0
Platinum Seller
These expertly vetted sellers are 1stDibs' most experienced sellers and are rated highest by our customers.
Established in 2021
1stDibs seller since 2022
63 sales on 1stDibs
Typical response time: <1 hour
- ShippingRetrieving quote...Ships From: New York, NY
- Return PolicyA return for this item may be initiated within 3 days of delivery.
More From This SellerView All
- "Jackson Pollock, " Red Grooms, New York School Pop Art PortraitBy Red GroomsLocated in New York, NYRed Grooms (American, b. 1937) Jackson Pollock, 1986 Pastel on paperboard 9 1/4 x 9 1/4 inches Signed and dated lower right Provenance: Hirschl & Adler Modern, New York Charles Rog...Category
1980s Pop Art Portrait Paintings
MaterialsPastel, Board
- "Self Portrait" Female Self Portrait, Early American, Robert Henri SchoolBy Theresa BernsteinLocated in New York, NYTheresa Bernstein Self Portrait, circa 1915 Signed upper right Oil on canvas 22 3/4 x 21 1/4 inches Theresa F. Bernstein was born in Philadelphia in 1895 to cultured, middle-class ...Category
1910s Figurative Paintings
MaterialsCanvas, Oil
- "The Pensive Beauty, " Carl Nordell, American Impressionism, Female PortraitBy Carl NordellLocated in New York, NYCarl Nordell (1885 - 1957) The Pensive Beauty Oil on canvas 40 x 32 inches Signed lower left Nordell was born in Copenhagen on 23 September 1885. In 1892 the Nordell family settled in Westerly, New Jersey, where Carl Johan, one of several children, received his education. Reportedly, a local gambler and art collector, Richard Canfield was so impressed with young Nordell's talent that he assisted him to gain admittance to the Rhode Island School of Design. Carl was a tireless student and serious in his studies of art, literature, and philosophy. Friends nicknamed him "The American Frans Hals," as a result of his study of that Dutch master. After graduating from the school in 1905, Nordell continued his training at the Art Students League in New York City for the following two years. There he received criticism and instruction from George Bridgman (1864-1943), a noted teacher of anatomy, and Frank Vincent DuMond (1865-1951), a landscapist associated with Old Lyme. The popularity of Impressionism in America at this time had reached its peak, and the style was of paramount influence in Nordell's advanced studies. Around 1906, Nordell visited an exhibition of paintings by the Ten, most of whom were American Impressionists. Moved by the work of Tarbell and Joseph R. De Camp, he sought instruction from them at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Nordell worked diligently under Tarbell and experimented with the genre of women in interiors, or Intimism. In 1909, Nordell received the Paige Traveling Scholarship, which provided for two years of continued study in Europe. He became one of the hundreds of Americans to receive criticism from Jean-Paul Laurens at the Académie Julian in Paris. From this base, he made study trips to visit major museums and galleries in Italy, Holland, Spain and Germany and during this period Nordell's style reached a level of uniqueness, though he definitely remained under the general influence of French Impressionism. By the time of his return to Boston in 1911, Nordell had successfully incorporated the use of broken color, a high-keyed palette, and the practice of working en plein air to achieve an accurate representation of light and atmosphere. In October of that year, the Boston Art Club presented eighty-seven of Nordell's watercolors and oils to the viewing public. Some of the watercolors seem revolutionary in their spontaneity. Nordell continued his career in Boston at Fenway Studios and exhibited in national competitions, including the annuals of the National Academy of Design, the Art Institute of Chicago; at the 1912 biennial of the Corcoran Gallery he won the fourth Clarke Prize. Nordell's finances were augmented by portrait commissions of some of Boston's affluent citizens. The artist was so intent on recording the sitter's likeness that in this genre, he deviated from his usual impressionist technique. In the women-in-interior genre, he frequently depicted a fully draped woman seated in profile or at an oblique angle to the picture plane. These pensive and attractive young ladies usually gaze into space and become an integral part of the pleasant ambiance of the scene. In this way, Nordell remained within the Genteel Tradition as it was manifest in Boston. The artist exhibited several such works in the Panama-Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco in 1915, and won a silver medal for his efforts. In 1918, a one-man exhibition of fifty works was presented at the Boston Art Club. Nordell remained active in the Boston area art clubs and societies through the early 1920s. In the winter of 1921 Babcock Art Galleries presented him with yet another one-man show. During this period, Nordell increased the production of prints and won the Salmagundi Club's Shaw Prize for etching in 1923. Sometime after 1927 he began taking summer sketching trips to Chautauqua Lake...Category
Early 20th Century American Impressionist Figurative Paintings
MaterialsCanvas, Oil
- "Teenagers, Coney Island" Outdoor Scene, Figures in Landscape, Beach, New YorkBy Philip ReismanLocated in New York, NYPhilip Reisman Teenagers, Coney Island Signed lower left Watercolor on paper 12 3/4 x 10 3/4 inches When he was four years old, Reisman fled Polish pogroms with his mother and thre...Category
20th Century Realist Figurative Paintings
MaterialsPaper, Watercolor
- "Child in an American Landscape" James Gantt, Midwestern Regionalism, MissouriLocated in New York, NYJames Britton Gantt (1911 - 1984) Child in an American Landscape, 1940 Egg tempera on board 17 1/2 x 14 inches Signed and dated lower right Provenance: Private Collection, San Francisco Regarding this painting, the artist's daughter said, "The subject matter of your painting reflects my father's propensity for presenting minority figures with dignity, as well as an admiration for the contributions of hard-working people. The painting's background packs in details reminiscent of the technique he used working on mural projects." Painter, printmaker, muralist. Born in Lawrence, Douglas County, Kansas (some sources wrongly indicate Kansas City), the son of Euphemia Lane Fox Blackburn (1883 – 1929) and Charles Whittle Gantt (1881 – 1952). He was the grandson and namesake of Judge James Britton Grant (1845 – 1912), a former Chief justice of the Supreme Court of Missouri. His father, Charles, though trained as a lawyer, suffered from alcoholism and instead worked for the railroad. James Gantt...Category
1940s American Realist Portrait Paintings
MaterialsBoard, Oil
- "Marilyn Monroe, " Ludvic, 20th Century Pop Art, Beautiful Celebrity PortraitLocated in New York, NYLudvic (Egyptian/Canadian, b. 1944) Portrait of Marilyn Monroe Oil on paper 30 x 35 inches Signed lower right Having been featured in a multitude of museum and gallery exhibitions n...Category
Late 20th Century Pop Art Portrait Paintings
MaterialsPaper, Oil
You May Also Like
- Family Portrait Mother with Children Playing Coins Framed Antique Oil PaintingLocated in Stockholm, SEFamily genre scene late 19th early 20th century. The boy, tired of posing for a portrait painter, decided to play by spinning a coin on the table, this game greatly impressed his you...Category
Early 20th Century Realist Figurative Paintings
MaterialsWood, Oil, Cardboard
- Striking abstract portrait by Modern British artist Ewart Johns of 'Athene'Located in Petworth, West SussexA bold and striking portrait of 'Athene' by the notable Modern British artist Ewart Johns. This painting is characterised by strong red / brown colours, highlighted by whites and bl...Category
20th Century Abstract Portrait Paintings
MaterialsOil, Board
- 19th century Irish portrait of a man, smoking a Pipe, seated in a barn interior.Located in Woodbury, CTlate 19th-century Irish school portrait of a seated man smoking a pipe in a barn interior. A very well-painted and skillfully composed portrait of a wor...Category
1890s Victorian Portrait Paintings
MaterialsOil, Board
- "Woman with Pearls" Impressionistic Oil Painting of Figure SeatedBy Cindy ShaoulLocated in New York, NYA depiction of a young woman wearing long pearls and a loose dress. A romantic air is felt throughout this piece with a dreamy atmosphere and lush colors. She has dark black hair, we...Category
2010s Impressionist Figurative Paintings
MaterialsOil, Board
- Dad's Lesson / oil on canvas - skateboard father and sonBy William RushtonLocated in Burlingame, CAFather and son skateboard together. One wonders who is teaching who, in this vibrant impasto painting by William Rushton. Oil on canvas and framed in a clear maple hardwood floater f...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Figurative Paintings
MaterialsOil, Board
- Ice Cream Picnic by Orovida Pissarro - Oil paintingBy Orovida PissarroLocated in London, GBIce Cream Picnic by Orovida Pissarro (1893-1968) Oil on board 101 x 76 cm (39 ¾ x 29 ⅞ inches) Signed and dated lower left Orovida 1953 Provenance Richard Pissarro, gifted by the ar...Category
1950s Modern Figurative Paintings
MaterialsOil, Board
