Helen Frankenthaler
dal 23/2/2004 al 21/3/2004
Segnalato da
23/2/2004
Helen Frankenthaler
Leslie Sacks Fine Art, Los Angeles
In 1960 Frankenthaler made her first prints. Since then, she has worked with a variety of printmaking techniques in addition to painting. Although her works are abstract, a strong suggestion of landscape is often apparent, and they have been praised for their lyrical qualities.
Helen Frankenthaler was born in New York in 1928, where she has spent most
of her life. She studied at a number of art schools and by 1950 she had met
many of the main figures of Abstract Expressionism. In 1958 she married the
painter Robert Motherwell.
Frankenthaler became the first American painter after Jackson Pollock to see
the implications of the color staining of raw canvas, in which she pours
paint directly onto the unprimed surface of a canvas, allowing the color to
soak into its support, rather than painting on top of an already sealed
canvas as was customary. According to the critic, Clement Greenberg,
'Mountains and Sea" (1952), Frankenthaler's first 'stained painting,' was
the 'first monument of Post-Painterly Abstraction,' and it is certainly one
of the most important works in the 'Colour-Field' style.' This highly
intuitive process, "stain painting," became the hallmark of her style and
enabled her to create color-filled canvases that seemed to float on air. She
took from Pollock the notion of fusing drawing and painting, translating
this idea into her own suggestive, mysterious calligraphy.
In 1960 Frankenthaler made her first prints. Since then, she has worked with
a variety of printmaking techniques in addition to painting. Although her
works are abstract, a strong suggestion of landscape is often apparent, and
they have been praised for their lyrical qualities.
Hours, Monday  Saturday, 10am  6pm
Helen Frankenthaler, 'Vacation 4', 1975,
acrylic on canvas board, 24 x 18 inches
Leslie Sacks Fine Art
11640 San Vicente Blvd. (Brentwood), Los Angeles, CA 90049
310.820-9448, Fax 310.2071757