Heather Gaudio Fine Art in partnership with Moss Galleries is pleased to present The Paintings of Beate Wheeler, on view January 31 – March 7, 2026. The exhibition will feature 15 paintings by the late Abstract Expressionist artist dating from the 1960s to the 1990s. Although largely overlooked in her time by the mainstream art market, Wheeler was an active Abstract Expressionist, and an indelible part of the complex narrative of American art in the 20th century.
“We are so proud to present to current fine art audiences and local art enthusiasts the opportunity to discover and learn about an epochal and under-recognized female artist,” states Heather Gaudio.
“From my experience working with the estates of Lynne Drexler and Judith Rothschild,
the female Abstract Expressionists achieved more sophisticated and ultimately more exciting color relationships through abstraction than their male counterparts,” adds Elizabeth Moss, Founder of Moss Galleries.
Beate Wheeler (1932-2017) was born in Berlin and fled Nazi Germany with her family, arriving at Ellis Island in 1938. Wheeler earned her BFA from Syracuse University in 1954, followed by an MFA from the University of California, Berkeley under the tutelage of Abstract Expressionist painter Milton Resnick. She later moved to New York City where, alongside Robert Beauchamp, Elaine de Kooning and Patricia Passlof, she established the March Gallery (1958-1960). March Gallery was one of the eight artist cooperative galleries that formed the 10th Street Galleries in the East Village. These galleries showcased avant-garde contemporary art and offered alternative spaces to the more conservative Madison Avenue and 57th Street galleries. Today, galleries and artists working in the Tenth Street Co-ops are considered to have played a significant role in the growth and diversification of styles in the history of American art. Many of the artists in Wheeler’s circle have since become well-known (Lois Dodd, Lynne Drexler, Alex Katz, Mark DiSuvero and Alice Neel, among others), though Wheeler and others remain under-recognized. Lack of recognition, however, did not detract Wheeler from dedicating herself fully to her practice. She managed an incredible output of paintings and drawings over her decades-long career. Wheeler’s work was exhibited in various galleries during her lifetime, including the National Arts Club, and she sold many paintings to private collectors, including Nelson Rockefeller. ARTnews dubbed her an “artists’ artist.”
Wheeler’s approach to painting was introspective–her rich palette led her to explore color theory and composition with a distinctive style. Color, light and form are balanced in her paintings, with autographic gestures and pictorial marks rendering beautiful lyrical abstractions. Earlier paintings from the 1960s and 70s are more tightly rendered than later executions from the 1980s and 90s, but unified by her emphasis on process and mark-making. Brushstrokes reveal themselves throughout, whether as smaller woven webs of pigment or more painterly accident. The sense of the material in her approach to painting is clearly evident. Wheeler’s myriad strokes of color offer an impressionistic language, with visual references to a floral lexicon. Acting much like characters of color arranged in coded forms, the dynamic optical fields offer no focal point or compositional center. The paintings are galvanized with unexpected color relationships, some with atmospheric backgrounds, others with bold hues and brushstrokes. While a fluid spontaneity appears to make up most of the gestures, there is a system to Wheeler’s mark-making that renders an evocative cohesiveness to the overall colorful composition.
This exhibition was made possible with the generous collaboration of Moss Galleries in Maine, an early champion of the Beate Wheeler estate.
Heather Gaudio Fine Art specializes in emerging and established artists, offering painting, works on paper, photography, and sculpture. The gallery provides a full-range of art advisory services, from forming and maintaining a collection, to securing secondary market material, to assisting with framing and installation. The focus is on each individual client, selecting art that best serves his or her vision, space, and resources. The six exhibitions offered every year are designed to present important talent and provide artwork appealing to a broad range of interests. Gallery hours are Tuesday through Saturday; 10:30am to 5:30pm; and by appointment.
Over the course of more than two decades, Elizabeth Moss and her team have guided Moss Galleries to a place of national and international repute. Building on Maine’s natural magnificence and rich artistic legacy—from celebrated American masters to the Abstract Expressionists who summered here in the 1950s and ’60s—Moss Galleries
represents the state’s leading contemporary artists whose work is exhibited and collected worldwide. Moss sees beauty as an essential structure of human experience—a vital framework through which meaning emerges and awareness expands. Our mission is to highlight the critical role Maine plays in American art, and to celebrate beauty as a vital tenet of a fulfilling life.
