Helen Gleiforst 1903 - 1997 California Painter

Helen Gleiforst  1903- 1997Oil on Canvas, App.  80” x 54 Signed Gleifort

  ,  Helen Gleiforst studied with Nell Walker Warner in the 40's on the Monterey Peninsula.. Born in Crete, Nebraska on February 10, 1903, ,  Helen Gleiforst moved with her family shortly thereafter to San Diego, California. In 1918 her family relocated to Eugene, Oregon, and in 1920 Helen attended the University of Oregon.. It was in the late 1920s that she began to paint and draw. Her teachers included Nicolai Fechin, George Melcher, and John Hubbard Rich. Her instruction with Dedrick Stuber influenced her landscapes and Nell Walker Warner influenced her floral paintings. By the mid-1930s she had established a reputation as an artist. She became a frequent exhibitor at one man shows in local venues. In the 1950s she had an exhibit at Stanford University. In 1960 she travel throughout California where she painted many of her landscapes. She stopped her artistic work in the 1980s because of poor health. These works show the strong modern impressionistic expression of her work that was characteristic of the early plein-air painters of California. ,  Helen Gleiforst died in Los Angeles, California on May 28, 1997.