The Peter Helck Scholarship in Realism Established at the The Arts Students League of New York
Roz and Howard Kroplick are pleased to announce the establishment of the Peter Helck Scholarship in Realism at The Arts Students League of New York. The scholarship is in honor of artist and historian Peter Helck for his pioneering contributions to automotive art and auto racing history.
Enjoy,
Howard Kroplick
The Peter Helck Scholarship in Realism
As described in peterhelck.com, Peter Helck's training in art began in 1910 when at 17 he attended The Art Students League in Manhattan. Accordingly, it is very appropriate that this important art school will be the recipient of the Peter Helck Scholarship in Realism.
The annual $1,000 scholarship will be granted on the basis of merit to a student who is currently enrolled at the League. The Peter Helck Scholarship will be listed in the annual catalogue and on materials pertinent to the League's scholarship competition. It will also be included in the League's website and their bi-annual magazine Lines from the League. The first award will be made at the upcoming scholarship competition in May 2017. Artwork from the awardee will be featured in the League's Merit Scholarship Winners Exhibition.
Jeanne Lunin, Director of Development for The Art Students League of New York, has commented: "By establishing the Peter Helck Scholarship you will help ensure that the League's most promising students are able to pursue their training, while giving our community the opportunity to learn more about Peter Helck and his work. We are most grateful for your gnerosity."
Comments
Great idea. In an era when the nature of art can be confusing, thank you for recognizing the value of realism and sharing all the great work and accomplishments of Peter Helck.
A marvellous and generous gesture which, as well as giving financial help to an art student, will keep the name and hopefully the work of Peter Helck alive.
Students at the League have been very diverse. From abstractionist Jackson Pollick to realist Norman Rockwell have attended the ASL. Many pulp fiction cover designers came from the School in the forties and fifties. Probabably the most famous being Everett Raymond Kinstler who also painted portraits of presidents, astronauts and other well known personalities. I myself was a student there. The school prides itself on painting the human form from life. Most classes have a live model. George Bridgeman a past League instructor of anatomy wrote a famous instructional book titled the Human Machine what I would consider the perfect link between the Art Students League and Peter Helck’s illustrative work. The illustrations in Bridgeman’s book interpret physical anatomy as metal parts of a machine.
In the mid 1970s is was on the Board of Control (Board of Directors) and served as Men’s Vice-President for one year.
Funny, I think back now and the late Stuart Klonis director of the league for more than fifty years once offered me his black with white interior 1960 thunderbird convertible that he kept in a barn at the Woodstock campus. I did not have the space to store it, my 1970 Mustang Fastback and a company car. It was a beauty but it was not the performance type vehicles that I enjoyed at that stage of my life.