(1922-2012)
(born Helen Elizabeth Pousette-Dart), Nantucket painter and poet.
Brother of Richard Pousette-Dart (1916-1992), New York School abstract painter
Daughter of Nathaniel Pousette-Dart (1886-1965) (Valhalla, New York), painter and printmaker
Her interesting life in her own words, from her Nantucket studio:
“I was born on Feb.11, 1922 in Valhalla, N.Y. and was named Helen Elizabeth Pousette-Dart. My Father was an artist and my Mother a poet. They were an idyllic combination. I had a sister, Dovey, and a brother Richard six and seven years older than me, and I think because of that I grew up fairly fast, always wanting to do what they were doing. In High School I sang with a number of dance bands, and later in New York City I won a Deb singing contest at the El Morocco, a very elegant nightclub for several summers, and then decided that it was not the kind of life that I wanted. I spent a season at the Waldorf Astoria, dancing with a handsome partner in the Rainbow Room, until my parents met him, and that was the end of that adventure! Next I worked for my Father, who had an Advertising Agency in New York. It was fun for a while and then ceased to interest me. I traveled to Hollywood to spend some time with my Brothers x-wife who was under contract to Paramount. We were great friends and it was an eye-opening experience, but it didn’t take me long to know that it was not the place that I wanted to be. At 21 I married Walter Pickett Lewisohn, a close friend of my brothers. It only lasted three years, possibly because of a 13-year age difference. I then went to work at a commercial photographers studio in New York City, as a photo stylist. My job was to book models, select clothes, furnish sets, find props etc. I really enjoyed the job and it lasted until I met Stan Meredith at a friend’s house in the country. I fell madly in love instantly! We married shortly after and a year later we had our first child Greg. Three years later we had Chris. One winter I accompanied Stan on a job in Arizona. It was to work on a film, highly controversial, called “Salt of The Earth” and proved to be one of the most fascinating times of my life. Stan had flown four engine planes during the war, so shortly after we married he bought a plane of his own. That was how we wound up buying a house in Nantucket. Shortly after we moved to Nantucket I had my first show at the Little Gallery on the advice of a gallery owner, who thought it was time for me to do so. A year or so later I went to George Vigouroux’s (Lobster Pot) Gallery, and remained there for a number of years, showing at his Palm Beach Gallery during the winters. Later on I changed to (Reggie Levine’s) Main St. Gallery, then to a new gallery started by Norman Kauffman. I showed there for several years, and then went to the Sailors Valentine Gallery. After a couple of years there I decided that I wanted to have my own studio in my own home.”