Helen West Heller. American. 1872-1955
Bankrupt. c. 1928. Woodcut. 4 3/8 x 2 1/2 (sheet 4 7/8 x 3 1/2). Printed on cream wove paper. Signed in pencil. $275.
Baseball. 1928. Woodcut 6 3/4 x 8 5/8 (sheet 10 5/8 x 14 1/2). Printed on sturdy mulberry paper. Signed, dated and titled in pencil. $950.
Centaurs. c. 1927. Woodcut. 3 3/4 x 2 5/8 (sheet 5 1/8 x 3 5/8). Printed on sturdy Japanese mulberry paper. Signed in pencil. $325.
Cop. 1927. Woodcut. 12 x 7 1/2 (sheet 16 1/2 x 10 1/2). Printed on Japanese mulberry paper. Signed, dated and titled; signed and annotated 'Chicago' verso. $850.
Creation. 1928. Woodcut. 7 3/8 x 8 3/4 (sheet 10 1/2 x 12 3/8). Printed on sturdy Japanese mulberry paper. Signed, dated and titled in pencil. $750.
Dune. 1927. Woodcut. 7 9/16 x 12 (sheet 12 1/8 x 15 5/8). Printed on sturdy Japanese mulberry paper. Signed, dated and titled in pencil. $600.
Flogging. 1927. Woodcut. 8 3/8 x 9 (sheet 16 5/16 x 12 7/16). Printed on Japanese mulberry paper. Signed, dated and titled in pencil. $750.
Ghost on the Stair. c. 1927. Woodcut. 4 5/16 x 2 1/2 (sheet 7 5 1/6 x 5 5/16). Printed in sturdy Japanese mulberry paper. Signed and titled in pencil. $325.
Hall Bedroom. 1928. 2 x 1 1/4 (sheet 3 7/8 x 3 1/4). Printed on 'Hand {Made}' wove paper. Signed in pencil. $175.
Hand and Rose. 1928. Woodcut. 1 3/4 x 1 3/8 (sheet 4 1/2 x 3 3/4). Printed on grey laid paper. Signed in pencil. $175
Hooves. 1927. Woodcut. 7 1/2 x 12 (sheet 11 7/8 x 15 1/8). Printed on heavy Japanese mulberry paper. Signed, dated and titled in pencil. $850.
In the Last Day the Sea Will Be Master. 1940. Woodcut. 3 7/8 x 2 1/2. (sheet 5 1/4 x 4 1/2). Printed on sturdy Japanese mulberry paper. Signed in pencil. $325.
March. c.1927. Woodcut. 4 5/16 x 2 5/16 (sheet 8 7/8 x 6 3/4). Printed on cream wove paper. Signed in pencil. $275.
Mother Earth. 1928. Woodcut. 8 1/4 x 6 1/4 (sheet 14 7/16 x 10 1/2). Signed, dated and titled in pencil. $850.
November Twilight. 1928. Woodcut. 4 5/16 x 6 (sheet 7 1/4 x 10). Printed on sturdy Japanese mulberry paper. Signed, dated and titled in pencil. $650.
Pisces. 1928. Woodcut. 8 3/8 x 7 5/16 (sheet 14 9/16 x 10 1/2). Illustrated: Print Collector's Quarterly 29 (1942): 164. Printed on sturdy Japanese mulberry paper. $850.
Pont and War. c.1927. Woodcut. 5 x 4 (sheet 9 x 6 7/8). Printed on thick fibrous Japanee mulberry paper. Signed in pencil. $500.
Prairie Child. 1926. Woodcut printed in colors. 9 1/4 x 8 3/8 (sheet 13 1/2 x 10 3/4). Signed and titled in pencil. $750.
Saint Francis Singing. 1928. Woodcut. 8 9/16 x 6 3/4 (sheet 4 5/16 x 10 1/2). Illustrated: Print Collector's Quarterly 29 (1942): 266. Printed on Japanese mulberry paper. Signed, dated and titled in pencil. $650.
Secret. Woodcut. 5 x 4 (sheet 8 7/8 x 6 3/4). Printed on fibrous Japanese mulberry paper. Signed in pencil. $475.
Silence. Woodcut. 4 5/16 x 2 7/16 (sheet 7 9/16 x 6 1/8). Printed on fibrous Japanese mulberry paper. Initialed in the plate. Signed in pencil.$475.
Helen West Heller was born in Rushville, Illinois, and became interested in painting at a very young age. 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 for the most part 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.
John Taylor Arms described her as "A woman of high intellectual attainments, unusual emotional intensity, and keen sensitivity of feeling, she has been able to combine all these qualities in her work and by long years of self-discipline, training and practice has developed a technical mastery of her tools and her medium which gives her fluent expression of them.That spiritual quality, that affinity between the artist and the mood of the subject, which raises the level of a sound piece of craftsmanship or a bit of intellectual objectivity and endows it with the spirit of true art, is present in every one of Helen West Heller's wooodcuts..." Woodcuts U.S.A. Oxford University Press, 1947.
She exhibited in a number of group shows throught her career, including several in Europe: at the Hagenbund in Viennna, the Salon s'Automne in Paris, and The Meatyards in London.
To order or to be placed on the email list, please contact Jane Allinson (allinson@earthlink.net).