Helen S. Torr (1886–1967); early American Modernist painter. Known as "Reds" because of her hair color, Torr worked alongside other artists, namely her husband Arthur Dove and friend Georgia O'Keeffe, to develop a characteristically American style of Modernism in the 1920s. Born in Philadelphia in 1886, she studied at Drexel University and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. Her first marriage was to the cartoonist Clive Weed. Torr's work was shown at Alfred Stieglitz's gallery An American Place in 1933 as part of a group show. Her work was exhibited publicly only twice during her life. In 1972 the Heckscher Museum organized a show of her work, and in 1980 the Graham Gallery in New York held a solo exhibition of her work. Torr met fellow artist Arthur Dove in Westport, CT, 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, NY, 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. The cottage was acquired in 1998 by the Heckscher Museum of Art in Huntington, NY and in 2000, was accepted into the Historic Artists’ Homes and Studios Program administered by the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Throughout their life the couple suffered from economic hardship and lived in extreme poverty. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helen_Torr] Torr's early art does not survive, so her radical modernism of the mid-1920s seems to come from nowhere. She was frequently ill and dejected about her art, doubting its worth. Dove encouraged her, praising her to his dealer, Alfred Stieglitz. While Stieglitz often disparaged Torr's output, his wife, Georgia O'Keeffe, admired it -- indeed, her work resembles both Torr's and Dove's, and the three artists likely influenced each other. Torr was thrilled... [http://www.tfaoi.com/aa/10aa/10aa636.htm] undefined

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