H. S. (Helen) Moynihan

(1902, Marcus, IA - 1994,  )

Helen Moynihan (known professionally as H.S.) was born in Marcus, Iowa in 1902. She was raised in Chicago, where she attended the Chicago Art Institute and Chicago Academy of Fine Arts and the Art Institute of Chicago. Moynihan worked as a commercial artist until she moved with her husband and children to Milwaukee in the thirties. There, she studied under Robert von Neumann, Charles Thwaites, Armin O. Hansen, and fellow artist Hulda Rotier Fischer. Highly influenced and working alongside some of Milwaukees's notable artists of the period like Schomer Lichtner and Joe Friebert.

Moynihan was most active during the forties and fifties. She painted the world she saw around her in a palette composed of "dark sooty jewel tones" of the industrial age. Fully aware of the booming New York Art scene, she applied it to the grit and glamour of the Milwaukee scene. 

Best known for her portraiture and landscapes, completed through direct observation in Plein Air and photographs. She worked for the joy of creation, experimentation, and assembled a body of work of over 800 pieces. The artist worked with a variety of media including ink, conte, pastel, casein, oil, tempera, and drybrush. Painting prolifically for almost six generations, Moynihan provides significant insight into the life of a woman who worked daily to balance her passion for creating artwork with family responsibilities.

Moynihan exhibited both nationally and internationally including the Art Institute of Chicago and the Milwaukee Art Institute. She was a member of Wisconsin Painters & Sculptors and the Milwaukee Art Center. From December 2007 - January 2008 the Charles Allis Art Museum held an impressive H.S. Moynihan retrospective as part of their Wisconsin Masters Series.

SOURCE:

Photo Credit: Self Portrait by H.S. Moynihan, circa 1930s..

Museum of Wisconsin Art (MOWA) archives: http://www.wisconsinart.org/archives/artist/helen-schadel-moynihan/profile-2413.aspx