A Life Shaped by the West Born in Reutlingen, Germany, in 1907, Helmut Naumer, Sr. moved to New York City at seventeen. By 1926, he had arrived in the United States, eventually finding his way to California to study at the Frank Wiggins Trade School and the Otis Art Institute in Los Angeles. Before settling into a life of painting, he spent six years working in the Merchant Marines. The sea provided a period of movement and distance before he returned to Santa Fe in 1932. The landscapes of New Mexico became his primary focus. He lived for many years in the San Sebastian Ranch area near Santa…