The Clearing
View Similar Items
Helen FrankenthalerThe Clearing1991
1991
About the Item
- Creator:Helen Frankenthaler (1928, American)
- Creation Year:1991
- Dimensions:Height: 24 in (60.96 cm)Width: 32 in (81.28 cm)
- Period:
- Condition:
- Gallery Location:New York, NY
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU554148994
Helen Frankenthaler
Prolific and pioneering painter Helen Frankenthaler said it was “a combination of impatience, laziness and innovation” that drove her to thin her paints with turpentine so that they would seep into the fabric of an unprimed canvas. Her breakthrough in the early 1950s led the way for a spellbinding new style of painting that would come to be known as Color Field.
Although Color Field is often considered a strain of Abstract Expressionism, Frankenthaler’s work differed from the gestural “Action Painting” that typified the paintings of artists like Willem de Kooning and Lee Krasner. Her vast and immersive expanses of color created at a fearless scale captivated art critics and greatly influenced her peers including Morris Louis and Kenneth Noland.
Frankenthaler knew from an early age that she wanted to be a painter. The youngest daughter of a New York State Supreme Court justice, she grew up on Manhattan’s Park Avenue and as a child delighted in the little ways color and form revealed themselves, whether dribbling red nail polish in a sink full of water or drawing her steps from the Metropolitan Museum of Art to her family’s apartment. As a student at Bennington College, her rare vision was enriched by the mentorship of painter Paul Feeley, who gave her lessons in Cubism. After dabbling in art history at Columbia University, she rented a studio downtown and befriended rising New York art stars like Jackson Pollock and Robert Motherwell, whom she later married.
Characterized by “direct, exuberant gestures,” the Abstract Expressionist technique was all about gusto, and Frankenthaler had it in spades. One of the few women of this era to garner widespread critical acclaim, Frankenthaler had a significant impact on the mid-20th-century art world. She exhibited in the high-profile 1951 Ninth Street Show and, in 1957, she appeared in a Life magazine spread on women artists photographed by Gordon Parks. In 1960, the Jewish Museum held her first major museum show, a retrospective of her 1950s work. A 1969 solo exhibition at the Whitney Museum of American Art further introduced Frankenthaler to the broader art world.
While Frankenthaler remains best known for bold, expressive “soak-stain” paintings such as Mountains and Sea (1952), she worked across diverse media for decades, with forays into woodcutting, drawing and printmaking that also pushed boundaries. She also taught at Harvard, Yale and Princeton, fostering generations of artists. She died in 2011.
Find original Helen Frankenthaler art on 1stDibs.
- Ma de Proverbis, Joan MiróBy Joan MiróLocated in New York, NYThis lithograph in colors on Arches paper (with watermark) was created by the artist in 1970. Signed in the stone, (lower right) from the edition of 1000. Available for local pick u...Category
20th Century Surrealist Abstract Prints
MaterialsLithograph
Price Upon Request - Dream & Do IIIBy Ross BlecknerLocated in New York, NYThis 17-color screen print was created by the artist in 1997. Signed in pencil and numbered, from the edition of 75. Available for local pick up from Mic...Category
20th Century Contemporary Abstract Prints
MaterialsScreen
Price Upon Request - Ossipee (from 'Eccentric Polygons')By Frank StellaLocated in New York, NYFrom the artist’s Eccentric Polygons portfolio, created by Frank Stella in 1974, Ossipee is an original color lithograph and screenprint measuring 1...Category
20th Century Abstract Geometric More Prints
MaterialsLithograph, Screen
Price Upon Request - Scholes IBy Al HeldLocated in New York, NYThis screenprint was created by the artist in 1991. Signed in pencil and numbered from the edition of 80 measuring 29 x 34 in. (73.7 x 86.4 cm.). Published by The Metropolitan Museu...Category
20th Century Abstract Geometric Abstract Prints
MaterialsScreen
Price Upon Request - UntitledBy Jasper JohnsLocated in New York, NYA color intaglio created by the artist in 2012, this original etching is hand-signed, dated and numbered in pencil, measures 21 x 16 in. (53.3 x 40.6 cm), unframed and is from the ed...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Abstract Prints
MaterialsAquatint
Price Upon Request - PS IIIBy Ross BlecknerLocated in New York, NYGlowing and contemplative, Ross Bleckner’s work blends abstraction with recognizable symbols to create meditations on perception, transcendence and loss. The artist created PS III -...Category
20th Century Contemporary Abstract Prints
MaterialsScreen
Price Upon Request
- "Erotic Mind IV" 2018 Utopian Sculptures Serial Prints by Fernando Crespo #100By Fernando CrespoLocated in Coimbra, PTF. Crespo author of a world-famous giant sculpture Pope Francis Heart. Makes a first edition of his private and utopian projects. Fernando Crespo is a recognized artist in Portugal. ...Category
Early 2000s Contemporary Abstract Prints
MaterialsInkjet
- "Suspended Lives" 2018 Utopian Sculptures Serial Prints by Fernando Crespo #100By Fernando CrespoLocated in Coimbra, PTF. Crespo author of a world-famous giant sculpture Pope Francis Heart. Makes a first edition of his private and utopian projects. Fernando Crespo is a r...Category
Early 2000s Contemporary Abstract Prints
MaterialsInkjet
- "Fashion Victims" 2018 Utopian Sculptures Serial Prints by Fernando Crespo#100By Fernando CrespoLocated in Coimbra, PTF. Crespo author of a world-famous giant sculpture Pope Francis Heart. Makes a first edition of his private and utopian projects. Fernando Crespo is a recognized artist in Portugal. ...Category
Early 2000s Contemporary Abstract Prints
MaterialsInkjet
- Werkbund – Original Swiss Exhibition PosterLocated in Zurich, CHOriginal Swiss Exhibition poster by Hermann Eidenbenz (lithograph, printed by Art. Institut Grafica in Basel) advertising a show of the Basel section ...Category
1930s Modern Abstract Prints
MaterialsPaper
- Modern Art at the Van Abbemuseum in Eindhoven – Original Vintage Dutch PosterLocated in Zurich, CHOriginal Vintage Poster in bright and crisp colors by the Dutch graphic design legend Wim Crouwel, advertising rather the museum's collection of works by...Category
Mid-20th Century Abstract Abstract Prints
MaterialsPaper
- Ernst Fuchs Sphinx in Pharao Surreal Color Etching Vienna Fantastic Realism 1967By Ernst FuchsLocated in Meinisberg, CHErnst Fuchs (Austrian, 1930 - 2015) Sphinx in Pharao Sheet Nr. 6 from the Folio “Die Sieben Bilder und Sprüche der Sphinx”, published in Autumn of 1967 by Galerie Sydow in Frankfurt, Germany. • Aquatint Etching • Ed. 79/99 • Sheet ca. 59 x 41.5 cm • Plate signed • Signed & numbered by the artist in pencil Worldwide shipping is complimentary - There are no additional charges for handling & delivery. Ernst Fuchs was an Austrian painter, draftsman, printmaker, sculptor, architect, stage designer, composer, poet, and one of the founders of the Vienna School of Fantastic Realism. I discovered him through H.R. Giger ‘s work, who himself was greatly inspired by the creations of Fuchs and on several occasions exhibited his friend ‘s art in his museum, the Château St-Germain, Gruyères, Switzerland. I actually own the original folio box...Category
1960s Surrealist Abstract Prints
MaterialsPaper, Ink, Aquatint, Etching