About
Nancy G, Heller is a Professor Emerita of modern & contemporary art history at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia. She has also taught at the University of Maryland, Texas A & M @ Commerce, and (part-time) Georgetown University.
Dr. Heller's principal books are "Why a Painting is Like a Pizza: A Guide to Understanding and Enjoying Modern Art" (Princeton University Press) and "Women Artists: An Illustrated History" (Abbeville Press). She has also contributed chapters to several books about flamenco dance, and to the catalogue accompanying "Sargent and Spain"--a 2022 exhibition at the Washington, DC National Gallery of Art.
Heller gives invited guest lectures for museums, clubs, and other organizations; in addition she has presented scholarly papers at art and dance-history conferences across the U.S. and in Lisbon, London, Seville, Rome, and Cluj (Romania).
She has received awards from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Smithsonian Institution, the American Association of University Women, the Richard C. von Hess and Christian R. & Mary F. Lindback Foundations, and the government of Spain. Since 1984 Heller has been a student, teacher, and performer of Spanish dance, and a writer/lecturer on related subjects.
Featured Work
"Why a Painting is Like a Pizza; A Guide to Understanding and Enjoying Modern Art"
A richly illustrated, highly accessible volume intended to encourage readers to approach odd-seeming, recent visual art with more knowledge and more confidence.
Twenty years after its initial publication this book remains in print, and has been adopted by a number of U.S. art museums as a training resource for their docents.
