Artist of the Week: Helen Frankenthaler

This artist of the week is the great Helen Frankenthaler. Frankenthaler was a post war abstractionist/abstract expressionist, whose work was on exhibit for six decades. Growing up she went to many art exhibits, and one exhibit that inspired her was Jackson Pollock's. She was quoted saying this in regards to his exhibit: "It was all there. I wanted to live in this land. I had to live there and master the language." Frankenthaler was also inspired by abstract expressionist, Robert Motherwell, who she later married.

"What concerns me when I work, is not whether the picture is a landscape, or whether it's pastoral, or whether somebody will see a sunset in it; what concerns me is - did I make a beautiful picture." -Helen Frankenthaler

Frankenthaler is more well-known for her paintings, but she also worked with woodcutting. She is said to have sparked the Color Field painting technique, by art critic and friend, Clement Greenberg. Color Field painting is when foreground and background become one, there is no mass that stands out from the background, the picture is seen as a "field". Frankenthaler was also known for her "soak stain" technique, where she took turpentine-thinned paint and "soaked" the canvas with it. Her most famous work, Mountains and Sea (1952), is known for her "soak stain" technique. (Her career also launched in 1952.) See below a photo of one of her many works:

Frankenthaler was always looking to challenge herself as an artist. With this mindset she later won the National Medal of Arts. Frankenthaler died at the age of 83 due to an unknown illness. Frankenthaler was, and still is, an influential abstract expressionist. As a female during her time, she had great achievements, sparking many well known techniques that are still used in abstract and modern art. See below an interview with Frankenthaler:

Sources

https://www.flickr.com/photos/toolshed4/13926209805/in/photolist-ndBsZB-4tRZVU-ndBzTe-EMRd7-ndBySg-nbyWgW-ndBuZZ-nbyXad-ndBkqZ-ndBCd4-nbyQtY-ndDGrS-nbyTtm-GCKzr1-ndBCmF-nbyZ1N-nbyY55-nbyNgM-ndDCS7-Hsd8S6-nbyT2j-6noyzr-ndDFe1-nbyQZU-nbyR8y-ndBF9e-ndBr5e-ndBq4B-ndBiBZ-ndBCWD-ndBoR6-ndBAep-ndBtmt-ndBmrM-7Kmars-ndBCug-ndBs3M-nbyRE5-ndBF2F-7KmanQ-nbyVFY-nbyY47-ndDGEN-ndDE69-nbyTSg-nbyUYA-Qekr1e-ndBj8t-nbyVWN-ndBsDr

https://www.flickr.com/photos/103707855@N05/26670166854/in/photolist-nbyTtm-GCKzr1-ndBCmF-nbyZ1N-nbyY55-nbyNgM-ndDCS7-Hsd8S6-nbyT2j-ndDFe1-nbyQZU-nbyR8y-ndBF9e-ndBr5e-ndBq4B-ndBiBZ-ndBCWD-ndBoR6-ndBAep-ndBtmt-ndBmrM-7Kmars-ndBCug-ndBs3M-nbyRE5-ndBF2F-7KmanQ-nbyVFY-nbyY47-ndDGEN-ndDE69-6noyzr-nbyTSg-nbyUYA-ndBj8t-nbyVWN-ndBsDr-45nHjF-JfhtKS-59JUQ3-6MtXy1-uSHvUn-ThYQCq-wLvVRf-Qekr1e-xdtRd9-rjsVy-ndDJCf-ndBEQD-4Wuwtr

http://www.m.theartstory.org/artist-frankenthaler-helen.htm

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=yFjX2Nbf-HM