Larry Stanfel

The Complete Poetry of Helen West Heller Larry Stanfel

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.