Helen Torr

Helen Torr studied at Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and Drexel University. The recorded working language is English. The field of work recorded is painting. Residence is recorded at Arthur Dove-Helen Torr Cottage. Work by Helen Torr is recorded in the collections of Art Institute of Chicago, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Museum of Modern Art and Metropolitan Museum of Art.

• Name — Helen Torr • Born — 22 November 1886 • Birthplace — Roxborough, Philadelphia • Died — 8 September 1967 • Place of death — Bayshore, Long Island • Spouse — Arthur Dove and Clive Weed • Field — Painter • Education — Drexel Institute and the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts • Movement — Modernism

Torr was born in Roxborough, a neighborhood in Philadelphia, in 1886. In 1906, Helen Torr won a scholarship to the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, where she studied under William Merritt Chase. She also studied at Drexel University.

Throughout her career, Torr tended to focus on the creation of both oil paintings and charcoal-based drawings. Torr's work was exhibited publicly only twice during her life, one of those at Alfred Stieglitz's gallery An American Place in 1933 as part of a group show. Torr was reluctant to put her works in exhibitions and found encouragement through her friendships. Most of her work was not shown during her lifetime. Torr outlived her husband Arthur Dove by 21 years but never resumed painting, and requested that all her paintings and drawings be destroyed. Instead, her sister donated much of her work to the Heckscher Museum, which exhibited a show of her work in 1972. In 1980 the Graham Gallery in New York held a solo exhibition of her work. Some of her works are currently held in the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. The cottage in which she and Dove resided was acquired in 1998 by the Heckscher Museum of Art in Huntington, New York. In 2000, it was accepted into the Historic Artists’ Homes and Studios Program administered by the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Torr was reluctant to put her works in exhibitions and found encouragement through her friendships. Most of her work was not shown during her lifetime. Throughout her career, Torr tended to focus on the creation of both oil paintings and charcoal-based drawings.

Her first marriage was to the cartoonist Clive Weed. Torr met fellow artist Arthur Dove in Westport, Connecticut, which resulted in both artists leaving their first marriages. Around 1924, the couple settled aboard a sailboat anchored in Halesite on Long Island. In 1933, they moved to Dove's hometown, Geneva, New York, where they lived until 1938 when they moved to a cottage in Centerport on Long Island. They lived in the cottage until Dove's death in 1946. Throughout their life the couple suffered from economic hardship and lived in extreme poverty. Torr died in Bayshore, Long Island, New York, in 1967. • Illustration — Arthur Dove-Helen Torr Cottage

• Image — Title of Work — Information • — Ship's Mast — Medium: Charcoal on wove paper Dimensions: 510 x 484 mm (20 1/16 x 19 1/16 in.) Creation date: 1920-35 • — Evening Sounds — Medium: Oil on composition board Dimensions: 36.19 x 25.4 cm (14 1/4 x 10 in.) Creation date: 1925-30 • Crimson and Green Leaves — Medium: Oil on plywood Dimensions: 14 1/8 x 12 1/2 in. (35.9 x 31.8 cm) Creation date: 1927 • — Purple and Green Leaves — Medium: Oil on copper mounted on board Dimensions: 20 1/4 x 15 1/4 in. (51.4 x 38.7 cm) Creation date: 1927 • — Houses on A Barge — Medium: Oil on canvas Dimensions: 16 x 21 in. (40.6 x 53.3 cm) Creation date: 1929

There are many public collections in the Heckscher Museum of Art, Huntington Long Island, New York; New Jersey State Museum, Trenton, New Jersey; Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, California; and the Sheldon Museum of Art, Lincoln Nebraska. • Huntington, New York. "Helen Torr: 1886-1967," June 3, 1972–July 9, 1972. • New York. Graham Gallery. "Helen Torr," January 30, 1972–February 21, 1998. • New York. Graham Gallery. "Helen Torr, 1886–1967. In Private Life, Mrs. Arthur Dove," March 25–May 17, 1980, no. 7 (lent by the Estate of Helen Torr). • New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "American Still Life: 1915–1950," February 1, 1995–January 28, 1996, no catalogue. • New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Arthur Dove/Helen Torr: Land and Water," February 14–June 14, 1998, no catalogue. • Albany. New York State Museum. "Twentieth-Century American Landscapes from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," May 29–November 4, 2001, no catalogue. • Oxford, England. Ashmolean Museum. "America's Cool Modernism: O'Keeffe to Hopper," March 23–July 22, 2018, no. 84.