John Heliker sketchbooks

John Heliker (1909-2000) was born in Yonkers, New York. He first started studying art on his own after dropping out of high school in 1923, and later attended the Art Students League from 1927 to 1929. Heliker taught art for many years, first at the Colorado Springs Art Center and then for 27 years at Columbia University as a Professor of Art. He also taught at his own former school, the Art Students League, and the New York Studio School, of which he was a founding faculty member, as well as in the MFA Painting Program at Parsons School of Design. His works have been exhibited in major survey exhibitions at the Carnegie Institute, the Brooklyn Museum, the Cleveland Museum, the Corcoran Gallery, the Museum of Modern Art, and are held by the Metropolitan Museum, the Walker Art Center, the Philadelphia Museum, the Whitney Museum, and the aforementioned Museum of Modern Art and Brooklyn Museum. Heliker was awarded the Prix de Rome in 1948, a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1951, three Ford Foundation Purchase awards, and several awards from the National Academy of Design. His work gained Heliker a retrospective exhibit at the Whitney Museum, as well as a Gold Medal for Merit, a Purchase award, and a grant from the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 1967. Heliker held Honorary Doctorates from Colby College in Maine and Bard College in New York. He died in Bar Harbor, Maine, in February of 2000.

Sources: Smith, Roberta. “John Heliker, 91, Versatile Painter and Teacher.” The New York Times. The New York Times, 28 Feb. 2000. Web. 16 Jun 2014. “Heliker + LaHotan.” The Heliker-LaHotan Foundation. The Heliker-LaHotan Foundation, Inc., n.d. Web. 16 Jun 2014.