Helena Dunlap was best known for her involvement in the California Impressionist and Post-Impressionist movements, and her paintings are a reflection of both disciplines. Considered a radical at the time in the early 1900's, she helped pave the way for future modernist painters. Although her early style was noticeably based on the Impressionistic values of a bright palette and deliberate brush strokes, her later work reflects a shift to Modernism.

Dunlap was a native Californian, born in Los Angeles in 1876. She attended both the Art Institute of Chicago and the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art, studying under William Merritt Chase in New York and later with Andre L'hote in Paris. Dunlap exhibited some of her paintings when she returned to Los Angeles from Paris in 1911 and was immediately labeled a "Modernist". She shocked the local art scene with her controversial painting style, which her critics considered "unrealistic". She painted everyday objects that were composed of layers of color. Dunlap was criticized for painting a woman with hair that was blue because this was realistically how it appeared to her.

Sticking to a truly Modernist approach, Dunlap painted scenes, giving more attention to line, color and composition, not just subject. She was part of an elite corps of California Impressionists who had difficulty getting their works recognized by the California Arts Club of Los Angeles. As a contradiction, in 1915 she was awarded a gold medal for a painting she submitted in the Panama-California Exposition in San Diego, California. Soon after, in 1919, Dunlap led what was labeled as the California Progressive Group, which acted as an alternative to the California Arts Club. She and her colleagues, Jack Stark, Detlef Sammann, Bruce Nelson, and Karl Yens were gradually earning the recognition they deserved, much to the chagrin of the California Arts Club.

Dunlap was the co-founder of the Modern Art Society in Los Angeles and between 1915 and 1917 held solo exhibitions at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Chicago Art Institute and the National Academy of Design, New York. Dunlap stayed in the Los Angeles area throughout the later part of her life, living in Whittier, California until her death in 1955.

Source:
Phil Kovinick and Marian Yoshiki Kovinick, Women Artists of the American West

Born on a ranch in Whittier, CA on Oct. 9, 1876, Helen Dunlap studied at the Art Institute of Chicaog, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and with William Merritt Chase in New York, and Andre Lhote in Paris.

Returning to Los Angeles in 1911, she became active in the local art scene. During this period her avant-garde approach to painting was highly praised by the local press. Considered a modernist, her work is rooted in Impressionism.

She traveled extensively and lived in Paris for many years before establishing a home in Laguna Beach in the early 1950s. Returning to Whittier, she died on May 1, 1955.

Exhibitions:
Paris Salon, 1908-25; Steckel Gallery (LA), 1911 (1st solo); California Art Club, 1914-29; Panama Pacific International Exhibition, 1915; Panama-Calif. Expo (San Diego), 1915 (gold and silver medals); Los Angeles Museum of History, Science & Art, 1914, 1915, 1917, 1923 (solos); National Academy of Design; San Francisco Art Association, 1916-25 (medals); Modern Art Society (LA), 1919-25; Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, 1919; Stendahl Gallery (LA), 1922 (solo); Oakland Art Gallery, 1922; California Water Color Society, 1923; Cannell & Chaffin Gallery (LA), 1924; Califrnia State Fair, 1926; Painters & Sculptors of Los Angeles, 1928.

Collections:
Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Santa Fe Railway Collections (Chicago); Irvine (CA) Museum; Huntington Gallery (San Marino); Southwest Museum (LA); San Diego Museum.

Helena Dunlap was born in Los Angeles, California in 1876. She was very well studied, having attended the Art Institute of Chicago, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art, and in Paris. Returning to Los Angeles in 1911, Dunlap exhibited her Modernist paintings, earning awards throughout California.

Helena Dunlap died in Whittier, California, in 1955, where she kept a studio on her orange ranch.