A Midwestern farm girl, one of America's all-time, premiere artists was also a prolific poet. Called by some critics our greatest woodcut artist, Helen West Heller (1872-1955) published over one hundred poems in literary magazines and newspapers. A longtime radical activist and Communist sympathizer, she won prestigious awards for her woodblock prints and pushed the medium to new heights of innovation, yet died alone, on welfare, and practically forgotten in her home town.
Now, eighty-eight years after the artist's final poem appeared, a complete collection of her poetry vibrantly highlights her life and experiences, spanning the years 1899 to 1927. Carefully edited and arranged by Heller's leading biographer, Dr. Larry Stanfel, The Complete Poetry of Helen West Heller includes more than one hundred works, reflecting on everything from the philosophy and history of art, to early twentieth-century culture, life, aging, and death.
Pairing each poem with a piece of Heller's art, including woodcuts, watercolors, and drawings, this entertaining collection is a thought-provoking look inside the creative life of an artist, at once prolific and innovative-but tragically unrewarded.
Articulate and thought-provoking, Heller's poems and pictures showcase a keen mind constantly churning with bright observations about art, philosophy, and the world around her.
About the Author: Larry Stanfel, PhD, is the foremost expert on artist-poet Helen West Heller and the author of the only comprehensive biography about her life: Uncompromising Souls: The Lives and Work of Artist Helen West Heller and Husband Roger. In 2016 he will co-curate a Heller exhibit at the Birger Sandzen Memorial Gallery in Lindsborg, Kansas, titled Helen West Heller: The Art of a Prairie Child.
A graduate of Northwestern University, Dr. Stanfel has published approximately eighty articles, most of which were peer reviewed and single-authored, along with four other books. A valued consultant in government and private sectors, he has earned two postdoctoral fellowships for research abroad and has spoken and lectured in countries around the world, including Japan, Sweden, China, Israel, Argentina, Austria, Greece, Switzerland, Norway, Russia, Australia, and New Zealand.
Currently Dr. Stanfel lives with his wife Jane on a small ranch near Roundup, Montana.
