Colette Pope Heldner, 1902-1990, a resident of New Orleans, Louisiana, was known for her paintings of the city and surrounding southern landscape. Her style was Impressionist and personal, as seen in paintings like "Patio, Little Theater, New Orleans," and "St. Augustine City Gates, " depicting vegetable and flower vendors in a park-like city environment.

Source:
http://www.trocadero.com/hernhous/catalog30.html
http://www.carolinagalleries.com/index.cfm?pagename=gallery&placeid=144

DOROTHY COLETTE POPE HELDNER (1902-1990)

When women marry fellow artists, their careers are often overshadowed by those of their husbands, a subordination that was particularly true throughout the twentieth century. Such was the case for Dorothy Colette Pope Heldner, who married her art teacher, Knute Heldner. Born in Waupaca, Wisconsin, Colette was raised in Duluth, Minnesota. Fiercely independent and headstrong, she unsuccessfully attempted to leave home at the age of fourteen, cutting her hair, and obtaining a job as a delivery “boy” for Western Union. She took art lessons at the Rachel McFadden Art Studio in Duluth while working as McFadden’s secretary. It was there that she met Knute, a charismatic Swede twenty-five years her senior. After eloping in 1923, the couple visited New Orleans, eager to escape the brutal Midwestern cold. For much of their married life, they alternated between the two cities, enjoying winters in the South and spending summers up north.

The Heldners traveled abroad between 1929 and 1932, a sojourn underwritten by grant funds from the city of Duluth and prize money Knute had won at the Chicago Art Show. They especially enjoyed the Latin Quarter in Paris, and their paintings began to reflect the influence of the Impressionists. Colette delighted in the bohemian life Paris offered and depicted urban street life in lighthearted caricature sketches. Back in New Orleans, the pair settled in the French Quarter. The neighborhood’s energy and eccentricity captivated Colette, who described the milieu as “compelling, completely fascinating, narrow streets, balconies, plants, [and] clotheslines by the galleries.” She rendered colorful cityscapes that reflected her enchantment. It was around this time that she began to sign her objects simply as “Colette,” a practice presumably inspired by the bold French writer. Colette also took part in New Orleans’ active cultural community which included several other female artists—Caroline Durieux, Ida Kohlmeyer, and Helen Turner—as well as the playwright Tennessee Williams, among others.

Southern artists had long been in the habit of capturing Louisiana’s sultry bayous on canvas. Both Colette and Knute approached the subject with fresh perspective, creating what she called “swamp idylls.” In the early 1950s, the Heldners’ marriage became strained. Some sources note the couple as having separated, while others contend they divorced; Colette was not listed among Knute’s survivors in his 1952 obituary. Following his death, Colette’s paintings became bolder, characterized by richer colors and expressionistic brushwork.

The Johnson Collection, Spartanburg, South Carolina
thejohnsoncollection.org

Colette Pope Heldner (1902-1990) was married to the noted Swedish-born artist Knute Heldner (1877-1952). He had been established in Duluth, Minnesota, before they settled in New Orleans in 1923, residing on St Peters Street in the French Quarter (Vieux Carre).

She was known for her impressionist style, painting scenes of the city's picturesque courtyards and favorite haunts of the local artists and musicians, plus darker atmospheric landscapes of the surrounding countryside, sometimes with figures included but not predominant.

A number of her works bore the title Swamp Idyl - Louisiana Bayou Country, but were varied in content, some with a small dwelling or boat or dock, others composed only of cypress trees in the waters of a bayou. These are not numbered or dated. Besides her full three-name signature, some early works were signed only "by Colette".

Colette Pope Heldner has received renewed critical acclaim in recent years, in such retrospecive exhibitions as "In a New Light: America's Brush with Impressionism", held March through May 2005 at the Morris Museum of Art in Augusta, Georgia, -- where her work was included with that of about thirty luminaries such as Wm J Glackens, Wm Merritt Chase, and Ernest Lawson.

A number of public and private collections own works of hers, including the LSU Museum of Art, the Ogden Museum of Southern Art, the Mr. and Mrs. Amon Carter Evans Collection in Columbia, Tennessee, and others.