STOWE – The Front Four Gallery in Stowe is having a significant exhibition entitled Inner Landscapes: Discovering the Lifework of Peter Heller (1927-2002) which is a retrospective of over thirty of his paintings and drawings, along with intriguing sculptures by his wife Alexandra Noble Heller (1932-2024). Peter taught art at the University of Vermont and then at Johnson State College from 1961 until his retirement while Alexandra sculpted and ran the Brick House Bookshop in Morristown Corners.
Peter Heller was born in Berlin, Germany, the only child of composer Hans Heller (b. 1898) and Ingrid Heller (b.1906), a concert pianist. The family was forced to move to France in 1931 due to the rise of Nazi fascism, as his father was Jewish. They lived in Paris until the Nazi invasion and occupation of France, when Hans was arrested and sent to a forced labor camp. Ingrid and Peter went to a Protestant village in the Massif Centrale of France where they were protected by the villagers. Hans escaped twice, only by sheer chance, avoiding being sent to a death camp. Their stories of this period are harrowing and haunting.
The family migrated to the United States in 1946, thanks to a relative, Richard Goetz (1874-1954), who had an important art gallery in New York City, as well as a letter of recommendation from none other than Albert Einstein. Peter went to the Columbia School of Painting and Sculpture where he met Alexandra Noble, and they married upon graduating in 1957. They moved to the Burlington area in the early 1960s and then bought the Brick House in Morrisville in 1967.
The paintings and drawings in this exhibition are untitled but are differentiated by numbers, in consistency with their general abstractedness but also encouraging viewers to go beyond words to a more intense level of seeing.
One could argue that all painting of whatever era is abstract, in that no matter what the nameable subject, they are all ultimately paint on a flat surface, and that what is really important are the dynamics of the composition, the harmony of colors, an exacting sense of proportion, the rhythm of the forms, the balance of light and dark areas. In fact, Heller’s work has the suggestion of recognizable objects with some frequency, but they are often camouflaged by surrounding details.
No. 919 of c. 1972 is a sizable oil on panel divided into two sections by a rough diagonal from the lower left connecting to the upper right, and what emerges from the predominately dark background is a horizontal body in the lower half, hands clutching the chest and legs spread apart, to which each person might give a different interpretation. The receding blue-greens of the upper half, with some floating objects, almost make the scene look underwater. There is clearly delight in Heller’s handling of the details of the body, the way the various patches of color touch each other.
No. 417 of April 2002 is some thirty years later, juxtaposing linear forms with more solid matter in a strong sense of space in the overlapping planes. A ladder-like central vertical plays with a background diagonal swath of light blue that could be seen as flowing water. An orange circle to the left of center helps anchor the whole composition.
No. 875 (July, 1998) has a certain symmetry in the lower portion, with two very sharp toothed jaws facing away from each other, all quite menacing. Are these like the creations of the fertile imagination of our dreams that come up with images we would never invent consciously?
Quite impressive are the scale of two large drawings of ink on paper, which cover whole wall areas of the gallery. One consists of six panels from September, 1986, built up of innumerable short strokes with small areas of light colors, but nevertheless it appears to have overall coherence. A figure lies horizontally across the lower half, while vertical shapes in red may or may not be blades. Considerably larger is a drawing of ink on 12 panels of paper from September, 1982, which gives many rhythms and textures for our eyes to explore, with round and spiky forms interacting. There are a number of much smaller ink drawings, which by their short marks could almost be taken for etching on engraving prints. #PP9 (July, 1967) has a small yellow area amid black vibrating surroundings, while another one of the same date has a similar circle but in red and a richness of graphic forms below, all well held together.
Probably inspired by a medieval altar piece, No. 4408 is a pentaptych of oils on panel that takes the shape of two side folding doors over the main center piece. There is a lot of active visual movement in the main section, with bright colors dramatically popping out from the darker blues behind, a startling composition.
A number of paintings, such as No. 871 of 1988 have a distinct, mysterious floating quality, where organic forms seem to defy gravity, much like Tiepolo’s gods and goddesses in their ethereal realms. Detached from the edges of the paintings, against a neutral background, they are like drifting fragments that could bring to mind disintegration and death or the possible generation of new life. Whatever, these paintings are replete with beautiful details and compositions full of movement that are richly rewarding when seen both from a distance and close up.
This is necessarily a brief sampling of the some three hundred works that Heller produced over a period of thirty years, an amazing legacy.
Alexandra Noble Heller’s sculptures are a marvel of welding technique and original, imaginative conceptions. “Dragonflies Mating” has two forms on top of each other, each with spiral eyes, connected by long legs, very elegant in its archetypal dance of life. “Elephant Eye” combines effectively two basic traits of the animal, the recessed eyes (with a round stone encased by the steel) and the trunk, embodying the very meaning of the word abstract, which is to take out what is most essential.
“Mangrove Woman” depicts a human face with long tapering legs below, like the roots of those plants on the oceans edge, all with smoothly flowing forms having a fine polished patina. Somewhat similar are two mask-like faces looking in opposite directions but connected by long filaments of metal, which could be interpreted variously.
This exhibition at the Front Four Gallery at 349 Mountain Road in Stowe will continue for the next two weeks. During this busy leaf-peeping season it will probably be open every day, but one should check by phone at (802) 279-8240 or online at [email protected]. The pamphlet put together by Gallery Director and Artiste Estate Manager Jack Morris and others on Peter Heller is excellent and shows deep insight into the artists mind and work and its continuing relevance for our time.
Editor’s note: An earlier version should have referred to The Front Four Gallery. It also should not have referred to a concentration camp because Hellert was in a forced labor camp only and Tiepolo’s name was misspelled. In that same paragraph “some positions” is now “compositions.”
David K. Rodgers
David K. Rodgers is a writer, mason and card carrying dilettante, who dabbles and babbles in art. He has lived in East Craftsbury for the past 40 years.
I am very thankful for David Rogers for his written reviews along the great tradition of reviewing fine arts and performing arts in newsprint form. In this particular case, for myself and my family these two reviews become archival for both my father, Harold Arthur Drury and my uncle Peter Heller. They create a historical significance and will go into the portfolios of both renowned artists. David Rogers writes from a intelligent and intuitive perspective adding to the richness of the works. Referencing great works of past artists as well as historical significance offers significant analysis and helps put these two great artists of the area on the map.