Rediscovering Beate Wheeler: A Pioneer of Abstract Expressionism
“Glory is fleeting, but obscurity is forever,” believed Napoleon Bonaparte. Fortunately, that theory doesn’t hold water for the Abstract Expressionist Beate Wheeler (1932–2017). Recently, the shadows of obscurity have thankfully evaporated to reveal a painter of teeming, resplendent color. Beate Wheeler’s Abstract Rhythms: 1960s on 10th Street, a vibrant retrospective of the artist, is on view June 13 through August 9 at Moss Galleries in Falmouth, Maine.
“Beate Wheeler’s work feels like a revelation — vivid, emotionally charged, and visually expansive,” said Elizabeth Moss, owner and director of Moss Galleries. “She represents the best of what Abstract Expressionism could offer: freedom, depth, and deeply personal innovation.”
Born in Berlin, Wheeler fled Nazi Germany with her family in 1938 and went on to study at Syracuse University and the University of California, Berkeley, where she came under the influence of Milton Resnick. In New York, she became a founding member of the influential March Gallery along with Pat Passlof, Elaine de Kooning, and Robert Beauchamp, which was part of the Tenth Street cooperative scene. Despite being immersed in this heady world of experimentation and exchange, Wheeler remained committed to a uniquely introspective practice.
With paintings that shift from dense fields of deep, saturated color to lighter, more impressionistic strokes, Wheeler’s canvases reveal a deft command of color theory and composition. Her works were spontaneous in spirit, yet crafted with a precision that reflects both formal training and fearless intuition. The effortless melding of colors in Wheeler’s paintings — evocative of seamless choral harmonies, inner melodies of the mind, and intuition — earned her praise at the National Arts Club, Downing Street Gallery, and beyond. Nelson Rockefeller collected her work, and Artnews dubbed her an “artists’ artist.”
Now Elizabeth Moss, long a champion of women artists of this era — including Lynne Drexler and Judith Rothschild — aims to bring Wheeler back into the light where she belongs.
To learn more, visit elizabethmossgalleries.com.
