Message from Degas
View Similar Items
Helen FrankenthalerMessage from Degas1974
1974
About the Item
- Creator:Helen Frankenthaler (1928, American)
- Creation Year:1974
- Dimensions:Height: 14 in (35.56 cm)Width: 17 in (43.18 cm)
- Movement & Style:
- Period:
- Condition:
- Gallery Location:London, GB
- Reference Number:Seller: HF165071stDibs: LU26222301823
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.
- Senza Titolo II (Untitled II)By Sam FrancisLocated in London, GB86 x 107 cms (33 7/8 x 42 1/8 ins) Edition of 66Category
1980s Abstract Expressionist Abstract Prints
MaterialsColor, Etching
- The Basque Suite: UntitledBy Robert MotherwellLocated in London, GBColour screenprint on J.B. Green paper 104.1 x 71.7 cms (41 x 28 1/4 ins) Edition of 150Category
1970s Abstract Expressionist Abstract Prints
MaterialsColor, Screen
- Senza Titolo IIIBy Sam FrancisLocated in London, GB125 x 135.5 cms (49.21 x 53.35 ins) Edition of 76 76 numbered impressions and 14 artist's proofs Fabriano Rosaspina paper Signed in pencil, inscribed 'Bon a tirer'. Published ...Category
1980s Abstract Expressionist Abstract Prints
MaterialsAquatint, Color, Etching
- UntitledBy Sam FrancisLocated in London, GB67.3 x 88.9 cms (26.5 x 35 ins) Edition of 50 Signed lower right, numbered lower left. Published by Nantenshi Gallery, Tokyo. Printed by Harumi Sonoyama at Gendai hanga Kobo Co...Category
1980s Abstract Expressionist Abstract Prints
MaterialsColor, Lithograph
- Senza Titolo IBy Sam FrancisLocated in London, GB125.5 x 135.5 cms (49.41 x 53.35 ins) Edition of 58 Signed in pencil, inscribed 'Bon a tirer'. Published by 2RC Edizioni d'Arte, Rome Printed by Vigna Antoniniana, Rome, with t...Category
1980s Abstract Expressionist Abstract Prints
MaterialsAquatint, Color, Etching
- BastosBy Robert MotherwellLocated in London, GBEdition of 49 plus 12 artist's proofs 158.4 x 101.6 cms (62.4 x 40 ins) Published by Tyler Graphics Ltd., Bedford Village, New YorkCategory
1970s Abstract Expressionist Abstract Prints
MaterialsLithograph
- BeaconBy Adolph GottliebLocated in New York, NYA very good impression of this color lithograph on Arches. Signed, dated and numbered 14/100 in pencil by Gottlieb. Published by Marlborough Graphics, Inc., New York. Catalogue refe...Category
1960s Abstract Expressionist Abstract Prints
MaterialsColor, Lithograph
- Untitled (SF-297)By Sam FrancisLocated in New York, NYA very good impression of this color lithograph on Rives. Signed and numbered 4/50 in pencil by Francis. Printed and published by The Litho Shop, Inc., Santa Monica, with the blind s...Category
1980s Abstract Expressionist Abstract Prints
MaterialsColor, Lithograph
- The Basque Suite #10By Robert MotherwellLocated in New York, NYA very good impression of this color screenprint on J. B. Green paper. Initialed and numbered 115/150 in pencil. Printed by Kelpra Studio, London, with the ink stamp verso. Published...Category
1970s Abstract Expressionist Abstract Prints
MaterialsColor, Screen
- De Kooning Breaks ThroughBy Red GroomsLocated in New York, NYA very good impression of this three-dimensional color lithograph on Rives BFK wove paper, cut-out, glued and mounted on original white plastic base. Signed and numbered 18/75 in red...Category
1980s Abstract Expressionist Abstract Prints
MaterialsColor, Lithograph
- Chrome GreenBy Adolph GottliebLocated in New York, NYA very good impression of this color screenprint on Arches. Signed, dated and numbered 125/150 in pencil by Gottlieb. Printed by Kelpra Studio, London, with the ink stamp verso. Publ...Category
1970s Abstract Expressionist Abstract Prints
MaterialsColor, Screen
- The Basque Suite #2By Robert MotherwellLocated in New York, NYA very good impression of this color screenprint on J. B. Green paper. Initialed and numbered 134/150 in pencil by Motherwell. Printed by Kelpra Studio, London. Published by Marlboro...Category
1970s Abstract Expressionist Abstract Prints
MaterialsColor, Screen