West Coast artist Z. Vanessa Helder seems to have been prepared from the start to pursue an independent course in art. Her full name, Zama Vanessa Helder, curiously was chosen by her parents to represent a town in North Africa and the name of a former music teacher, respectively, but she preferred the more mysterious Z. Vanessa Helder, or more simply “Zelma.” She was born in Lynden, Washington, a small town near Spokane. Her mother, Anna Wright Helder, was an artist, so it is not surprising that she started painting at a young age, and that she decided early on to pursue a career as a professional artist.
Helder enrolled at the University of Washington, Seattle, where she received her first formal studies. Following her graduation, Helder began her professional career in Seattle, where she established herself as a specialist in watercolor. She was recognized for her artistic talents in 1934, when she was awarded a two-year scholarship by the Art Students League, New York. She was one of only ten outstanding artists from the United States so awarded. At the League, she studied with Frank Vincent DuMond, George Picken, and Robert Brackman. Helder’s course of study at the Art Students League proved to be enormously influential. She not only refined her watercolor technique, but also added oil painting and lithography to her repertoire. Furthermore, her exposure to contemporary American modernism, which was then the dominant mode in the New York art world, had a decided impact on the development of her own work.
Soon after her arrival in New York City and subsequent matriculation at the Art Students League, Helder’s career accelerated rapidly, in a way only possible in the New York art world. In 1935, she began to participate in a number of group shows in New York galleries and clubs, including the New York Watercolor Club, and she was elected that year to the National Association of Women Painters and Sculptors. In 1937, she was given her first “one-man” show at the Grant Studios, New York, an institution with which she maintained a relationship for several years.
During this period in New York, Helder frequently sent works to Seattle for exhibition. She remained the darling of Seattle’s art society, with frequent reports of her activities in New York appearing in the local newspapers. After she completed her studies at the Art Students League, Helder returned to Seattle, where for many years she was a popular local figure, noted as much for her art as for her idiosyncratic behavior, which included walking “Sniffy,” her pet skunk, prominently throughout the streets of Seattle. She also worked locally as a WPA artist, painting murals in various civic buildings. She exhibited annually at the Seattle Art Museum from 1936 to 1941, capped by winning a prize in 1936, and holding a solo exhibition there in 1939. Helder also participated in exhibitions throughout the West, including at the San Francisco Museum of Art, California, in 1936-37; the Portland Art Museum, Oregon, in 1936; and the Denver Art Museum, Colorado, in 1938 and 1940.
About 1939, Helder moved to Spokane, where she helped found the Spokane Art Center, an art school at which she was an instructor in both watercolor and lithography. She spent three productive years there until 1941, when the federal government, which had funded the center from its inception, canceled its financial support. Later that year, Helder returned to New York, and soon after married Robert S. J. Paterson, an industrial architect. Helder, ever the individualist, retained her distinctive maiden name. In 1943, the couple moved to Los Angeles, California, where she remained until her death in 1968. She was as active as ever, exhibiting annually at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, from 1945 to 1948, as well as at a number of Southern California institutions until the late 1950s. Throughout her career, she remained a committed watercolorist, exhibiting regularly at the American Water Color Society, from 1936 to 1958, and the California Water Color Society, from 1939 to 1958. Today her work is held in a number of museum collections, including the Newark Museum, New Jersey; the High Museum of Art, Atlanta, Georgia; the American Academy of Arts and Letters, New York; and the Cheney Cowles Museum, Spokane.
Helder’s style is notable for the sharp, almost austere precision of her drawing and her coolly modulated palette. Her work certainly suggests a Precisionist linearity and objectivity that one normally associates with artists such as Charles Sheeler and Ralston Crawford. However, unlike these artists, who typically isolate elements of machinery and architecture from nature, Helder usually juxtaposes man-made objects with natural ones, treating all elements with the same cold, objective treatment. Her best works are winter scenes, which, because of the naturally stark character of the season, are complemented by her uncompromising eye.
The high point of Helder’s career came in 1943, when she was represented by 12 watercolors in “American Realists and Magic Realists,” a huge exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art, New York. The exhibition included work from past American masters, such as Rembrandt Peale, Thomas Cole, Thomas Eakins, and Winslow Homer, and contemporary artists, including Edward Hopper, Charles Sheeler, Louis Lozowick, Ben Shahn, and Andrew Wyeth. The fact that Helder was represented alongside these artists is a testament to the popularity of her art and the singularity of her vision.
(Biography provided by Hirschl & Adler)
Spring Snowfall Seattle
By Zama Vanessa Helder
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Spring Snowfall Seattle, 1937, watercolor on paper mounted on panel, signed lower right, 16 ½ x 17 ½ inches (image) 17 x 22 ½ inches (panel), ), title, measurements and Helder’s addr...
Watercolor, Illustration Board
Red Earth and Spotted Cows
By Zama Vanessa Helder
Located in New York, NY
Watercolor on paper
Paper, Watercolor
$800
H 13.82 in W 16.25 in D 0.5 in
Mid Century Modern Mixed Media Painting -- Day at the Beach
Located in Soquel, CA
Wonderful mid century mixed media coastal/figurative in loose/painterly style by Irmal Gertrude Attridge (American, 1894-1962), circa 1950. Signed lower right. Presented in vintage frame under glass (included as-is). Image size: 9"H x 12"W. Irma Gertrude Attridge was born in Chicago and studied at Chouinard Art Institute in Los Angeles with Henry McFee and Oscar Van Young. Member of Calif. AC; AEA; Cal. WC. Soc.; Women Painters...
Ink, Watercolor, Color Pencil, Laid Paper
#3
By Russ Havard
Located in Fairfield, CT
Represented by George Billis Gallery, NY & LA --The process of endless building and reconfiguring transcends the mere physical and encompasses the spiritual and symbolic. The scars a...
Paper, Watercolor
Head to Sea, Modernist sailing scene
By Ralph Eugene Della-Volpe
Located in New York, NY
A vibrant and yet romantic sailing scene which was a favorite series by Della-Volpe. His compelling colorist approach has made his works desirable as he was one of the few artists post-war to be representative in style like Milton Avery and Wolf Kahn. Head to Sea has the hallmark intense and lovely coloration for which Della-Volpe is known. He came out of Abstract Expressionism in the New York school but then pivoted, like Milton Avery to representational, colorist work. The frame is a silvered gold leaf float frame of quality and has a rubbed, antiqued surface...
Oil, Board
$345
H 29.75 in W 23 in D 1.25 in
A Charming Mid-Century Modern WC of Pirate's Alley, New Orleans, Vieux Carre
Located in Chicago, IL
A Charming 1940s Mid-Century Modern Watercolor of Pirate's Alley, New Orleans by Arlene S. Ezickson (Am. 1927-2003). Titled "Vieux Carre, New Orleans" the artwork is watercolor and ...
Paper, Ink, Watercolor, Board
$900
H 40 in W 83 in
Floral Triptych of Large Floral Bouquet, Botanical Cyanotype in Classic Blue
By Kind of Cyan
Located in Barcelona, ES
This series of cyanotype triptychs showcases the beauty of nature scenes, including stunning beaches and oceans, as well as the intricate textures of water, forests, and skies. These...
Watercolor, Lithograph, Paper
$175,000
H 28.5 in W 32.5 in D 2 in
"Skating Party" WPA Regionalism American Scene Mid 20th Century Modern Realism
By Roger Medearis
Located in New York, NY
"Skating Party" WPA Regionalism American Scene Mid 20th Century Modern Realism Roger Medearis (1920 – 2001) "Skating Party" 20 x 24 inches Tempera on board, 1949 Signed Medearis and...
Oil, Board
Quart and a Half
By Andrew Wyeth
Located in Palm Desert, CA
"Quart and a Half" is an American Realist abstract landscape watercolor on paper painting by Andrew Wyeth in 1961. The artwork is 21 x 29 1/4 inches and is 33 3/4 x 42 1/4 x 1 inches...
Paper, Watercolor
$39,000
H 29 in W 37 in
Building the 6th Avenue Subway NYC WPA American Scene Industrial Men Working
Located in New York, NY
Building the 6th Avenue Subway NYC WPA American Scene Industrial Men Working Cecil Bell (1906-1970) Building the 6th Avenue Subway 22x 30 inches Egg Temera on board Signed and dated...
Egg Tempera, Board
$16,500
H 30 in W 40 in
New York Skyline from Brooklyn Heights, Oil on Board, Mid-20th Century
By Francis Vandeveer Kughler
Located in New York, NY
FRANCIS VANDEVEER KUGHLER "New York Skyline C. 1940" - oil on Masonite, 30"x40" Unframed, Signed lower center Born in New York City in 1901, Francis Vandeveer Kughler attended Co...
Oil, Board
After Sunset
By Francis DiFronzo
Located in Fairfield, CT
Born in San Pedro, California in 1969, Francis DiFronzo has been painting and exhibiting his artwork in the United States for more than thirty years. "I discovered at a young age that art had the ability to transport me out of my world and into the lives of artists I admired. When I looked at paintings by Andrew Wyeth or Edward Hopper, I felt as though I was momentarily living in the worlds they created. I wanted to do the same thing. I wanted my work to have that power." After receiving his B.F.A in 1994 from California State University, Fullerton, DiFronzo moved to Philadelphia, PA where he continued his studies in drawing and painting at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. There he worked and learned under the guidance of artists Murray Dessner, Jan Baltzell, Sidney Goodman, Vincent Desiderio and Irving Petlin...
Oil, Watercolor, Gouache, Wood Panel
Post Anthropocene
By Francis DiFronzo
Located in Fairfield, CT
Born in San Pedro, California in 1969, Francis DiFronzo has been painting and exhibiting his artwork in the United States for more than thirty years. ...
Oil, Watercolor, Gouache, Wood Panel
$2,500
H 12.75 in W 16.88 in D 0.1 in
Post War Bay Area Figurative - Original Watercolor Painting "Beach Day" Signed
By Omer Ferdi Sahingil
Located in Soquel, CA
Post War Bay Area Figurative - Original Watercolor Painting "Beach Day" Vibrant watercolor of three figures on the beach by Turkish-American artist Ömer Şahingil (Turkish/American,...
Watercolor, Illustration Board
Circus Wagons
By Millard Sheets
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This watercolor is part of our exhibition America Coast to Coast: Artists of the 1930s Circus Wagons, 1927, watercolor on paper, signed and dated lower left, 10 x19 ¾ inches (sight), provenance includes Stary-Sheets Art Gallery (Gualala, CA); J. Ralph & Louis Stone Foundation; presented in a newer metal frame behind glazing About the Painting Millard Sheets was only twenty years old and in his third year of studies at the Chouinard Art Institute when he painted Circus Wagons. Despite his youth, Sheets was already an accomplished artist who had publicly exhibited his work and won prestigious prizes. Within several years, he would have his first solo exhibition at one of Los Angeles’ premiere galleries and become a painting instructor at his alma mater. In Circus Wagons we already see Sheets deft handling of the watercolor medium and his interest in the California Scene. In this case, Sheets captures a back lot view of a traveling circus, a subject he sometimes returned to, including in a color screen print in the collection of the National Gallery. Sheets made a career by painting what he knew and observed firsthand. This approach allowed Sheets to capture with authenticity the details of each narrative. Even with a narrowly limited palette and an economy of brushstrokes, Sheets effectively depicts the southern California scene with its strong and mysterious shadows, as well as the workers and circus animals. Seen through the hindsight of his six-decade long career, Circus Wagons offers a fascinating insight into the early development of California Scene painting which would by the mid-1930s become the best recognized style on the West Coast. About the Artist Millard Sheets was the dean of California watercolorists. His list of accomplishments is so extensive that his entry in Who was Who in American Art is over forty lines. Born in Pomona, California, Sheets became a painter at an early age, winning a prize at the Los Angeles County Fair in 1918. By the mid to late-1920s, Sheets became a regular at art exhibitions in the western part of the United States, winning several additional prizes before he reached the age of twenty-five. Sheets studied at the prestigious Chouinard Art Institute from 1925 through 1929 with Frank Tolles Chamberlin and Clarence Hinkle and had his first solo show with Los Angeles’ Dalzell Hatfield Gallery in 1929. During the 1930s, Sheets was invited to exhibit at almost every major American Museum and in many ways, his work came to represent the California watercolor school...
Watercolor
American Modernist Snowscene
Located in Buffalo, NY
A modern 1940s American oil painting depicting a rural landscape in winter. This work comes housed in a rustic barn wood frame likely original to the piece
Board, Oil
$35,000
H 20 in W 22 in
"6th Avenue El" American Scene Social Realism Mid-20th Century New York City
By Ernest Fiene
Located in New York, NY
"6th Avenue El" American Scene Social Realism Mid-20th Century New York City Ernest Fiene (1894-1965) "6th Avenue El" 12 1/4 x 14 1/4 Oil on canvas board, c. 1940s Signed lower righ...
Oil, Board
Rural Factory
By Zama Vanessa Helder
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Rural Factory, c. 1940s, watercolor on paper, 12 ¾ x 15 ¼ inches, signed lower right; titled verso; newly framed About the Painting Like many other precisionist painters, Vanessa Helder had a particular affinity for architectural and industrial subjects. The hard edges, clean lines and broad expanses of color worked well with the prevailing Machine Age aesthetic of the 1930s and 1940s. Rural Factory fits squarely into this aesthetic. It bares comparison to Helder’s most important body of work, her Grand Coulee Dam Series (1939 – 1941), portions of which were included in the Museum of Modern Art’s 1943 exhibition, American Realist and Magic Realists, and are currently in the collection of Northwestern Museum of Arts & Culture/Eastern Washington, State Historical Society in Spokane. Like Charles Sheeler’s paintings of Ford’s River Rouge plant, Helder’s Grand Coulee Dam paintings celebrate the industrial and engineering accomplishments of the United States and the optimism afforded by technological innovation. Unlike Sheeler’s River Rouge paintings, however, Helder’s works also explore the stark contrast between man-made objects and the surrounding natural environment. In the foreground of Rural Factory, Helder paints a large, severely pruned tree, an iconic but shorn symbol of the natural world, against the walled-off and windowless factory buildings in the distance. The cut limbs are stacked neatly beneath the tree waiting to be fashioned into lumber and used to create wooden buildings like the one on the right side of the composition. The color palette, combination of architectural and natural elements, and the use of clear but mysterious shadows are iconic Helder conventions of the type we see in the Grand Coulee Dam series. About the Artist Vanessa Helder was one of the most important female West Coast artists during the 1930s through 1950s and the only nationally recognized woman on the West Coast working consistently in a crisp, precisionist aesthetic. She was born in Lynden, Washington and studied at the University of Washington and later, as a scholarship winner, at the Art Students League in New York with Robert Brackman, George Picken...
Watercolor