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Helen Frankenthaler
1928 - 2011

American
Abstract Expressionism/ New York School
Painters
Helen Frankenthaler was among the most influential artists of the mid-twentieth century. Introduced early in her career to major artists such as Jackson Pollock and Franz Kline (and Robert Motherwell, whom she later married), Frankenthaler was influenced by Abstract Expressionist painting practices, but developed her own distinct approach to the style. She invented the "soak-stain" technique, in which she poured turpentine-thinned paint onto canvas, producing luminous color washes that appeared to merge with the canvas and deny any hint of three-dimensional illusionism. Her breakthrough gave rise to the movement promoted by the influential art critic Clement Greenberg as the "next big thing" in American art: Color Field painting, marked by airy compositions that celebrated the joys of pure color and gave an entirely new look and feel to the surface of the canvas. Later in her career, Frankenthaler turned her attention to other artistic media, most notably woodcuts, in which she achieved the quality of painting, in some cases replicating the effects of her soak-stain process.
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External Resources
    Archives of American Art Oral History Interview
    Director Terrie Sultan speaks about the Parrish Collection on NYC- ARTS
Organizations and Events
  • Art Students League
    (was attended by)
  • Universal Limited Art Editions
    (associate)
  • the Eighth Street Club The Club
    (member)
  • Venice Biennale
    (was included in)
  • The Stamp of Impulse: Abstract Expressionist Prints
    (was included in)
  • Print Makers of Long Island
    (was included in)
  • Art from Southampton Collections
    (was included in)
  • Twentieth Century American Paintings from the Metropolitan Museum of Art
    (was included in)
  • Parrish Perspectives: 20th Century American Drawings and Watercolors
    (was included in)
  • Drawing Highlights: Eric Fischl, Roy Lichtenstein, Esteban Vicente, and Selections from the Collection
    (was included in)
  • Connections and Context (Permanent Collection Installation)
    (was included in)
Social Networks
  • Jane Freilicher
    (friend)
  • Larry Rivers
    (friend)
  • Roy Lichtenstein
    (friend)
  • Grace Hartigan
    (friend)
  • Frank O'Hara
    (friend)
  • Lee Krasner
    (host)
  • Jackson Pollock
    (host)
  • Conrad Marca-Relli
    (host)
  • Miriam Schapiro
    (friend)
  • Joan Mitchell
    (associate)
  • Hans Hofmann
    (teacher/ student)
  • Peter Howard Selz
    (associate)
  • Robert Motherwell
    (spouse)
  • Friedel Dzubas
    (friend)
Artists from same movement
  • Ernest Briggs
  • Michael Goldberg
  • Agnes Martin
  • Melville Price
  • Joe Stefanelli
  • Kenneth Koch
  • David Budd
  • Adolph Gottlieb
  • Matta [Roberto Antonio Sebastian Matta Echaurren]
  • Robert Rauschenberg
  • Hedda Sterne
  • Bill Berkson
  • Fritz Bultman
  • John Graham
  • George McNeil
  • Ad Reinhardt
  • Clyfford Still
  • Mary Callery
  • John Button
  • Grace Hartigan
  • Fred Mitchell
  • Milton Resnick
  • Mark Tobey
  • Harriette Joffe
  • Lawrence Calcagno
  • Stanley William Hayter
  • Joan Mitchell
  • Robert Richenburg
  • Bradley Walker Tomlin
  • Mark Di Suervo
  • Nicolas Carone
  • Carol Hunt
  • Kyle Randolph Morris
  • Larry Rivers
  • Stanley Twardowicz
  • Giorgio Cavallon
  • Paul Jenkins
  • Robert Motherwell
  • James Rosati
  • Jack Tworkov
  • John Chamberlain
  • Buffie Johnson
  • Roy W. Nicholson
  • Frank Roth
  • Irving Ramsey Wiles
  • Dan Christensen
  • Lester Johnson
  • Costantino Nivola
  • Mark Rothko
  • Frank Wimberley
  • Christo Coetzee
  • Matsumi Kanemitsu
  • John Opper
  • Miriam Schapiro
  • Manoucher Yektai
  • Mary Clyde Abbott
  • Elaine de Kooning
  • Franz Kline
  • Alfonso Ossorio
  • Sonja Sekula
  • Adja Yunkers
  • Dennis Ashbaugh
  • Willem de Kooning
  • Lee Krasner
  • Charlotte Park
  • Kimber Smith
  • Wilfrid Zogbaum
  • Alice Baber
  • John Ferren
  • Ibram Lassaw
  • Betty Parsons
  • Sasson Soffer
  • Larry Zox
  • William Baziotes
  • Perle Fine
  • Alfred Leslie
  • Charles Pollock
  • Syd Solomon
  • James Schuyler
  • Norman Bluhm
  • Helen Frankenthaler
  • Vincent Longo
  • Jackson Pollock
  • Giorgio Spaventa
  • Ruth Kligman
  • Ilya Bolotowsky
  • Joseph Glasco
  • Alvin Loving
  • Richard Pousette-Dart
  • Theodoros Stamos
  • Peggy Guggenheim
Places
  • Springs
    (visited, 1952)
  • Bolton Landing
    (visited, 1957)
  • West Islip
    (visited, 1961 - 2006)
  • Universal Limited Art Editions, 5 Skidmore Place, West Islip
    (visited, 1961)
  • Fireplace Road, East Hampton
    (lives in, 1961)
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