Helen Butler Wells - Mediumistic Art

Helen Butler Wells (1854-1940) was an American medium for over 25 years. Her interest in Spiritualism began after the tragic deaths of her mother in 1901, her husband in 1910 and her beloved son Bertrand in 1913. With two other women she established a home circle in New York and witnessed demonstrations of spirit phenomena that convinced her of its reality. Soon after, in 1916, Helen developed a talent for automatic writing and clairaudience. In this latest development she was assisted by numerous spirit guides including Bishop Cornelius Jansen, founder of the Jansenites, Dr Alonzo Mathewson, a teacher of astronomy and a chemist called Dr Wilbur Stoddard.

Around 1920, Helen’s automatic writing expanded to automatic drawing. Under the artistic influence of a spirit called Eswald she drew several portraits of her spirit guides, and with a continuous line of the pencil drawings depicting ethereal faces and flowers.

Helen took a prominent role in the Spiritualist community when she became the President of the Spiritual and Ethical Society of New York (Est.1898). After devoting over 25 years to spiritual causes Helen died in New York in 1940 at the age of 86.

Works by Helen Butler Wells can be see at the Cavin-Morris Gallery in New York and in the ABCD Collection in Paris. Visit our artists page for more work by mediumistic artists like Helen.