- Design Credit: Samantha Todhunter Design Ltd., Photo Credit: Oliver Clarke. Dimensions: H 22.25 in. x W 27.5 in.
- Design Credit: Lucy Harris Studio, Photo Credit: Francesco Bertocci. Dimensions: H 22.25 in. x W 27.5 in.
- Design Credit: Timothy Godbold, Photo Credit: Karl Simone. Dimensions: H 22.25 in. x W 27.5 in.
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Helen FrankenthalerLilac Sweep2006
2006

About the Item
- Creator:Helen Frankenthaler (1928, American)
- Creation Year:2006
- Dimensions:Height: 22.25 in (56.52 cm)Width: 27.5 in (69.85 cm)
- Medium:
- Movement & Style:
- Period:
- Condition:
- Gallery Location:New York, NY
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU118526581972
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.
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- The Red SeaBy Helen FrankenthalerLocated in New York, NY1978 Lithograph in colors, on pink handmade paper Sheet: 23 1/4 x 27 22/25 inches Edition of 58 Signed, dated and numbered in pencil Framed, mint conditionCategory
1970s Abstract Expressionist Abstract Prints
MaterialsLithograph
Price Upon Request - Snow PinesBy Helen FrankenthalerLocated in New York, NY2004 Thirty-four color Ukiyo-e woodcut printed from 16 woodblocks on Torinoko paper and mounted onto Fabriano Classico paper Image/sheet: 37 1/2 x 26 inches Edition of 65 Signed and ...Category
Early 2000s Abstract Expressionist Abstract Prints
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Price Upon Request - Weeping CrabappleBy Helen FrankenthalerLocated in New York, NY2009 Thirty-one color ukiyo-e woodcut 25 1/4 x 37 1/4 in. (64.1 x 94.6 cm) Edition of 50 Signed, dated and numbered in pencil Unframed, pristine conditionCategory
Early 2000s Abstract Expressionist Abstract Prints
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Price Upon Request - Weeping CrabappleBy Helen FrankenthalerLocated in New York, NY2009 Thirty-one color ukiyo-e woodcut Sheet: 25 1/4 x 37 1/4 in. (64.1 x 94.6 cm) Edition of 50 Signed, dated and numbered in pencilCategory
Early 2000s Abstract Expressionist Abstract Prints
MaterialsWoodcut
Price Upon Request - Soho DreamsBy Helen FrankenthalerLocated in New York, NY1987 Color etching, aquatint, drypoint Sheet: 15 3/4 x 18 3/4 in. Edition of 71 Signed, dated and numbered in pencil, lower marginCategory
1980s Abstract Expressionist Abstract Prints
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Price Upon Request - Bronze SmokeBy Helen FrankenthalerLocated in New York, NY1978 Screenprint in colors Sheet: 31 1/2 x 22 1/2 in. Edition of 38 Signed, dated and numbered in pencil, lower marginCategory
1970s Abstract Expressionist Abstract Prints
MaterialsScreen
Price Upon Request
- The Red SeaBy Helen FrankenthalerLocated in New York, NY1978 Lithograph in colors, on pink handmade paper Sheet: 23 1/4 x 27 22/25 inches Edition of 58 Signed, dated and numbered in pencil Framed, mint conditionCategory
1970s Abstract Expressionist Abstract Prints
MaterialsLithograph
Price Upon Request - Weeping CrabappleBy Helen FrankenthalerLocated in New York, NY2009 Thirty-one color ukiyo-e woodcut 25 1/4 x 37 1/4 in. (64.1 x 94.6 cm) Edition of 50 Signed, dated and numbered in pencil Unframed, pristine conditionCategory
Early 2000s Abstract Expressionist Abstract Prints
MaterialsWoodcut
Price Upon Request - Japanese MapleBy Helen FrankenthalerLocated in New York, NY2005 Sixteen color Ukiyo-e style woodcut Image/sheet: 26 x 38 in. Edition of 50 Signed, dated and numbered in pencil, lower marginCategory
Early 2000s Abstract Expressionist Abstract Prints
MaterialsPaper, Woodcut
Price Upon Request - Weeping CrabappleBy Helen FrankenthalerLocated in New York, NY2009 Thirty-one color Ukiyo-e style woodcut Image/sheet: 25 1/4 x 37 1/4 in. Edition of 50 Signed, dated and numbered in pencil, lower marginCategory
Early 2000s Abstract Expressionist Abstract Prints
MaterialsHandmade Paper, Woodcut
Price Upon Request - Snow PinesBy Helen FrankenthalerLocated in New York, NY2004 Thirty-four color Ukiyo-e woodcut printed from 16 woodblocks on Torinoko paper and mounted onto Fabriano Classico paper Image/sheet: 37 1/2 x 26 inches Edition of 65 Signed and ...Category
Early 2000s Abstract Expressionist Abstract Prints
MaterialsPaper, Woodcut
Price Upon Request
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1970s Abstract Expressionist Abstract Prints
MaterialsPaper, Lithograph
Price Upon Request - AltitudesBy Helen FrankenthalerLocated in Saint Augustine, FLAn original signed lithograph on light yellow-pink J.B. Green Hayle Mill Bodleian handmade paper by American artist Helen Frankenthaler (1928-2011) titled "Altitudes", 1978. Hand pen...Category
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1980s Abstract Expressionist Abstract Prints
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1990s Abstract Expressionist Abstract Prints
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