I THOUGHT I KNEW MORE ABOUT THIS PERIOD...
Will it ever stop ? I ask myself and the immediate reply, is « I hope not ».
The name Helen Frankenthaler, an American (1928-2011) meant nothing to me but the picture I saw in one of my many art magazines told me I must go along and discover.
Which I did at the Gagosian gallery - empty - waiting for me. At least there was one point in my favour. There had not been a retrospective of her work in France for 50 years or more.
Her career spanned six decades and in the States she is recognised as one of the great American artists of the 20th century. I thought I knew the most prominent artists belonging to the Abstract Expressionism and Colour Field painting. Apparently not despite my rushing around trying to see so many of the American artists I like so much. Pollock, De Kooning - will I go on? The list is long. Both the mentioned artists influenced her work.
A technique which I knew about, soak-stain - but I did not know that Helen had developed it. Rather than using paint thickly and opaquely so that it sits upon the surface of the canvas, Frankenthaler thinned her oil paint with turpentine to the consistency of water-colour.
She then painted it onto unprimed canvas, which were laid on the floor instead of propping vertically on an easel or against a wall. The paint soaked into the canvas. The unprimed canvas absorbed the paint, with the oil spreading out, sometimes creating a halo-like effect. Then by pouring, dripping, sponging, using paint rollers, and sometimes house brushes, she manipulated the paint. Sometimes she would lift the canvas and tilt it various ways, allowing the paint to puddle and pool, soak into the surface, and move over the surface in a manner that combined control and spontaneity.
I watched her using this technique in a short documentary film while at the gallery.
The pictures displayed below are part of a lesser known work picking up the period at the end of her career. As I didn't know her work at all, this didn't matter. Since I have looked up her paintings on Internet. I could see at once that the brushstrokes were bold and striking and even if there was no real realistic image that corresponded to a title she seemed to be "looking for a different way to get a more luminous quality in her painting. While she emulated Jackson Pollock's gesture and technique of working on the floor, she developed her own style, and a focus on shapes, color, and luminosity of paint, resulting in vivid fields of color.
The only really figurative painting I saw
Her works on paper were acrylic on Paper. They came later in her life and didn't have the same energy as her painting but gentle and caressing in a sense - but not easy to photograph.
The name Helen Frankenthaler, an American (1928-2011) meant nothing to me but the picture I saw in one of my many art magazines told me I must go along and discover.
 |
| First Creatures - 1959 |
Her career spanned six decades and in the States she is recognised as one of the great American artists of the 20th century. I thought I knew the most prominent artists belonging to the Abstract Expressionism and Colour Field painting. Apparently not despite my rushing around trying to see so many of the American artists I like so much. Pollock, De Kooning - will I go on? The list is long. Both the mentioned artists influenced her work.
A technique which I knew about, soak-stain - but I did not know that Helen had developed it. Rather than using paint thickly and opaquely so that it sits upon the surface of the canvas, Frankenthaler thinned her oil paint with turpentine to the consistency of water-colour.
She then painted it onto unprimed canvas, which were laid on the floor instead of propping vertically on an easel or against a wall. The paint soaked into the canvas. The unprimed canvas absorbed the paint, with the oil spreading out, sometimes creating a halo-like effect. Then by pouring, dripping, sponging, using paint rollers, and sometimes house brushes, she manipulated the paint. Sometimes she would lift the canvas and tilt it various ways, allowing the paint to puddle and pool, soak into the surface, and move over the surface in a manner that combined control and spontaneity.
I watched her using this technique in a short documentary film while at the gallery.
The pictures displayed below are part of a lesser known work picking up the period at the end of her career. As I didn't know her work at all, this didn't matter. Since I have looked up her paintings on Internet. I could see at once that the brushstrokes were bold and striking and even if there was no real realistic image that corresponded to a title she seemed to be "looking for a different way to get a more luminous quality in her painting. While she emulated Jackson Pollock's gesture and technique of working on the floor, she developed her own style, and a focus on shapes, color, and luminosity of paint, resulting in vivid fields of color.
 |
| Untitled - 1959-60 |
 |
| Celebration bouquet - 1962 |
 |
| The Red Sea - 1959 |
 |
| Italian Beach - 1960 |
 |
| Mediterranean Thoughts - 1960 |
 |
| Winter figure with black overhead -1959 |
 |
| Hendaye - 1958 |
 |
May Scene - 1961 |
 |
| Eight in a Square - 1961 |
 |
Blue Window - 1961 |
 |
| Swan Lake in Blue - 1962 |
 |
| Alice B. Toklas & Gertrude Stein at the Fireplace -1959 |
 |
| The Last Swan Lake - 1962 |
 |
| Black Shapes on Black - 1961 |
 |
| Madridscape - 1958 |
The only really figurative painting I saw
 |
| Untitled - 1980 |
Her works on paper were acrylic on Paper. They came later in her life and didn't have the same energy as her painting but gentle and caressing in a sense - but not easy to photograph.
 |
| Untitled - 1983 |
 |
| Untitled - 1994 |
 |
| Untitled - 1980 |
 | ||||
| Untitled - 1981 |
Now
why on earth hadn’t I ever come across her work before today? I will
never know. Even so, I find it very exciting to discover a painter of a
period that I think I know something about…but apparently not too much.
|
Commentaires