In Living Color
(ORIGINAL ART). MALTA, Helen. Sketchbook containing original art. (New York: ca. 1940) [30] leaves. (200 x 125 mm.) Original spiral bound cardboard boards. With 16 gouache and watercolor sketches, 12 ink sketches, and one pencil sketch, plus a couple of pen and pencil trials, one leaf blank. All but five sketches signed by the artist, a few with the location noted, and two dated 1940. Cardboard a bit worn, two leaves detached, otherwise excellent. $1,500
A vibrant record of New York life by a little-known but prodigiously talented female artist associated with the WPA.
Inside this unassuming little sketchbook is a trove of original art capturing the vibrancy of New York through the eyes of a young female artist. Inspired by the hustle and bustle of daily life, Malta's images embody the frenetic energy of the city through splashes of color, bold lines, and a gestural quality that imbue her subjects with immediacy and motion. The color work feels spontaneous, yet the lush hues, richly applied to the paper, are deeply appealing. Notes on some of the leaves here indicate that our artist took her sketchbook all over the city, including locations in Harlem, the Bronx, Yonkers, and Spuyten Duyvil. She seems to have been especially drawn to busy street scenes and urban architecture, but there are also portraits of people sitting at cafes or dozing on the train, and even one still life. Malta was clearly influenced by Cubism and Fauvism, but her work has a voice of its own, and the images in this sketchbook absolutely sing.
We have able to track down little in the way of verifiable biographical information about our artist, Helen Wagner Malta (1912-75), but it is clear from the subjects of her work that she was active in New York during at least the 1930s and '40s. Malta was affiliated with the Works Progress Administration's Federal Art Project, a Depression-era initiative that employed visual artists and craftsmen, and established numerous community art centers. She seems to have been associated with the Harlem Community Art Center in particular—either as a teacher or a student—where she must have been acquainted with printmaker Riva Helfond. A pioneer of silkscreen printing, Helfond was responsible for turning some of Malta's works into prints known as "serigraphs." The two women were among the artists featured at MoMA's "Color Prints Under Ten Dollars" in November 1940, an exhibition staged in connection with Art Week "to stimulate the public's interest in buying American art at moderate prices." In addition to original art and serigraph prints, Malta's output also includes limited edition lithographs and etchings. Her work can be found at institutions such as the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the National Gallery of Art, and the Met. (1031)
