Revisiting Robert Heilman
Eat Well & Buy More Art is pleased to present Revisiting Robert Heilman for the Lancaster Arts Hotel’s Twentieth Anniversary Gallery Exhibition. Bob was one of the first artists ever exhibited at the LAH Gallery, so we are indeed revisiting, and we could not be more glad to have him back.
Heilman works in oils on panel, drawing from the tradition of late 19th and early 20th century American Realism. He paints the everyday and the familiar, from spare rural landscapes to quiet city street corners. The beauty of his work lives in its contrasts, light falling at a particular hour of the day in a particular season, accentuating form, shape, and color in ways that feel both grounded and quietly extraordinary. As Bob puts it, “I strive to create work that is more about presence and the substance of a place, than a photo-realistic rendition of it.”
There is a stillness to these paintings that pulls you in. A street corner before the city stirs. A neighbor’s car sitting in the driveway. A dog barking somewhere down the block, the sound of a passing truck, the deep autumnal shadows spreading across a spent field, the chill settling into a winter evening just before you turn toward home. The lamp poles hold their steady watch, and the warm glow from a porch light reminds you that someone is nearby. These are the moments Bob captures, and they stay with you long after you have moved on.
His work draws natural comparisons to Edward Hopper, the Hudson River Valley realist of the early 1900s, known for solitary subjects and moody night scenes. Hopper was a frequent theatergoer, and a cinematic quality ran through everything he made. That same quality shows up in Heilman’s paintings. A Broad Street Review reporter once wrote of his work, “everything is like a stage set, waiting for the play to begin. He’s able to achieve drama regardless of the painting’s dimensions.”
“Robert Heilman, for his part, captures in paint the ‘shade’ that shines upon the vernacular landscape and architecture of his native Lebanon. The artist’s nocturnes capture a modernist sensibility of quietude and suspended moments amid the mystery of night. In interpreting Heilman’s paintings, it is important to not conflate night with gloom, or darkness with desolation. To the contrary, the artist’s works are uplifting in their ability to cull a wide range of universal associations.”
Leo Mazow, Director, Suzanne H. Arnold Art Gallery, Annville, Pennsylvania, 2000
The full collection will be available to preview at eatwellandbuymoreart.com the day before the opening. Works can be purchased online, in person, or by reaching out directly to curator Lisa HB Clemens at lisa@eatwellandbuymoreart.com.
