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    Artist

  • Heller, Helen, 1919-1974

    • Title

  • Bust of Ludwig Münz

  • Physical Description

    1 bust : plaster, acrylic paint ; 14 in high x 13 in deep x 10 in wide; 35.5 cm high x 33 cm deep x 25.4 cm wide

  • Date

    later 20th century

  • Notes

    Initials of the artist are featured on the back.

  • Summary

    Portrait bust of an older man from the tops of the shoulders upwards. He is depicted with a wrinkled brow and a full head of hair. The bust is made out of a strong dental plaster favored by the artist, with black matte paint.

  • Depicted

    Münz, Ludwig, 1889-1957

  • Subject

    Men, Portraits

  • Genre

    Portraits

  • Medium

    Sculpture; Heads

  • Part Of

    Hans Heller Collection, AR 25858

  • Accession Number

  • URL

Biographical/Historical Information

Ludwig Münz (1889–1957) was an art historian, particularly known as a scholar of Rembrandt. Because he was Jewish, he was forced to leave Austria in 1938, settling in England with the help of friends. Münz was interned in 1940 as an enemy alien, though was released in 1941 because of assistance from the Warburg Institute. During the war, Münz continued his research about Rembrandt, and at the conclusion of World War II, Münz was recalled to Austria by the ministry of education to be the director of the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna. He set about rebuilding the Academy, figuratively and literally from war damage. He also published a major work about Rembrandt in 1952. Münz died in 1957 while giving a speech before colleagues.

Helen Heller (1919-1974) was born as Helen Olive Ek in Pearl River, NY, the fourth child of Swedish immigrants who came to America in the early 1900s. Helen married Hans Heller in 1946. She studied photography, dance, and sculpture, often combining the disciplines in her creative efforts. She studied sculpture in the United States and at the Academy of Applied Arts in Vienna. The subjects of her art works included portrait busts of emigre colleagues and friends, modern dancers, Austrian famers, mothers with their children, and victims of the Vietnam War. Heller exhibited sculpture and dance photography in several shows in New York City and in West Chester, NY. She also published two children's books and taught interpretive dance to poor and underserved children at the Ossining Children’s Center. Her art and life reflected her commitment to multiculturalism, racial equality, acceptance of people with different sexual preferences, early feminism, and anti-war imagery. She died of cancer in 1974. Helen Ek Heller is not the same artist as Helen West Heller. For more information about the artist: helenekheller.com

Related Works in the LBI Catalog

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Citation

Heller, Helen: Bust of Ludwig Münz, Leo Baeck Institute, 2025.56.