ROBERT HELMER
(American | New Orleans, 1922-1990)

Robert Henry Helmer was a native of Kalamazoo, MI and studied at Western Michigan University. He moved to New Orleans in 1949 and enrolled at the Tulane University School of Architecture. Helmer became active in the arts scene in the French Quarter surrounding the Arts & Crafts Club and the John McCrady School of Art, where he met his future wife, artist Shearly Grode.

From 1952 until his retirement in 1987, Helmer taught architectural design and drawing at the Tulane School of Architecture. Many of his works are created on thick boards with sculptural relief showing the evidence of his architectural background. 

Helmer was truly at the forefront of contemporary art in New Orleans in the 1950s and 1960s. In addition to founding the Orleans Gallery, he also ran the 331 Chartres Street Art School in the French Quarter with George Dunbar, where recently rediscovered talents such as Dusti Bongé took lessons. A founder of the Orleans Gallery in 1956, he was a member until 1967.

Helmer’s works are in the collections of the New Orleans Museum of Art, The Ogden Museum of Southern Art and The Historic New Orleans Collection. 

Blue View, 1965

oil on masonite, signed and dated upper right, Orleans Gallery label en verso, 23 3/8 x 23 1/4 in., framed.

SOLD

White Water & Boat Bones, 1965

oil on panel, signed and dated middle right, titled on Orleans Gallery label en verso, 36 1/2 x 36 3/4 in., framed.

SOLD