Peter Helck (17 June 1893 - 22 April 1988) was an American

illustrator An illustrator is an artist who specializes in enhancing writing or elucidating concepts by providing a visual representation that corresponds to the content of the associated text or idea. The illustration may be intended to clarify complicat ...

who specialized in depicting

racecar Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles for competition. Auto racing has existed since the invention of the automobile. Races of various sorts were organise ...

s. He estimated that he had produced more than 600 sketches, drawings and paintings during his career.

Biography

He was born on 17 June 1893 in

Manhattan, New York City Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the List of co ...

. Helck developed an early interest in automobiles, and as a boy caught rides with the race car driver who tested

Simplex In geometry, a simplex (plural: simplexes or simplices) is a generalization of the notion of a triangle or tetrahedron to arbitrary dimensions. The simplex is so-named because it represents the simplest possible polytope in any given dimension. ...

cars. He attended the

Vanderbilt Cup The Vanderbilt Cup was the first major trophy in American auto racing. History An international event, it was founded by William Kissam Vanderbilt II in 1904 and first held on October 8 on a course set out in Nassau County, New York, Nassa ...

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United Sta ...

in 1906. He studied art in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, where he could observe the new automobiles displayed in showrooms. His first sale was to the Brighton Beach Motordrome, and he was soon receiving commissions from the

Sheepshead Bay Sheepshead, Sheephead, or Sheep's Head, may refer to: Fish * ''Archosargus probatocephalus'', a medium-sized saltwater fish of the Atlantic Ocean * Freshwater drum, ''Aplodinotus grunniens'', a medium-sized freshwater fish of North and Central Am ...

Speedway. Helck worked for many of the major automobile magazines, in particular ''

The Autocar ''Autocar'' (originally ''The Autocar'') is a weekly British automobile magazine published by the Haymarket Media Group. It was first published in 1895 and refers to itself as "the world's oldest car magazine". There are now several internationa ...

'', which took him to

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

and to major races in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

and

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

. In the 1930s Helck was commissioned by the

Sinclair Oil Sinclair Oil Corporation was an American petroleum corporation, founded by Harry F. Sinclair on May 1, 1916, the Sinclair Oil and Refining Corporation combined, amalgamated, the assets of 11 small petroleum companies. Originally a New York corp ...

Company to produce a large format road map. This map did much to build Sinclair's reputation and to promote driving for pleasure. In the mid-1940s, he was commissioned by Esquire magazine for eight paintings depicting early motor racing. These did much to further interest in the old car hobby. In 1941, Helck acquired the famous Locomobile ''Old 16'' racecar, which had won the 1908 Vanderbilt Cup, the first American-made car to win a race against international competition. Helck kept the car in its original paint. ''Old 16'' was given to Helck's son Jerry, who later sold it to the

Henry Ford Museum The Henry Ford (also known as the Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation and Greenfield Village, and as the Edison Institute) is a history museum complex in the Detroit suburb of Dearborn, Michigan, United States. The museum collection contains ...

. In 1945, he was elected into the

National Academy of Design The National Academy of Design is an honorary association of American artists, founded in New York City in 1825 by Samuel Morse, Asher Durand, Thomas Cole, Martin E. Thompson, Charles Cushing Wright, Ithiel Town, and others "to promote the fin ...

as an Associate member, and became a full Academician in 1950. He died on 22 April 1988 in Boston Corner, New York.

Legacy

Helck was one of the founding faculty for the

Famous Artists School Famous Artists School is an art Distance education, correspondence course institution, in operation since 1948. The school was founded by members of the New York Society of Illustrators, principally Albert Dorne and Norman Rockwell. History T ...

. He also wrote and illustrated many articles, along with two books, ''The Checkered Flag'' and ''Great Auto Races''.

References

Peter Helck Paintings
- retrieved July 1, 2008
Peter Helck Biography
- retrieved August 3, 2006

- retrieved August 3, 2006
Tribute to Peter Helck

External links

20th-century American illustrators 1893 births 1988 deaths {{US-illustrator-stub