Helen Frankenthaler

American painter

Helen Frankenthaler (1928–2011) was an American painter.

Helen Frankenthaler
Born(1928-12-12)December 12, 1928
New York City, US
DiedDecember 27, 2011(2011-12-27) (aged 83)
EducationDalton School
Bennington College
Known forAbstract painting
MovementAbstract expressionism, Color Field painting

Biography

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Frankenthaler was born in New York City on December 12, 1928.[1] She began studying art when she was 15 years old. She went to the Dalton School in New York City. She then went to Bennington College.[2]

Frankenthaler moved back to New York City in 1948. Frankenthaler met important New York Abstract painters including Willem de Kooning, Lee Krasner, Jackson Pollock, and Franz Kline. In the early 1950s Frankenthaler developed a style of painting she called "soak-stain"[2] She made paintings by putting canvas on the floor and applying thin paint to the canvas. This would create a "stain" of color. The stained canvases were very large.[3]

Frankenthaler's style influenced other painters like Morris Lewis and Kenneth Nolan. Their painting style was called Color Field painting.[1] Frankenthaler is also known for her printmaking, including lithographs, etchings and screen prints.[4]

In 1958 Frankenthaler married the painter Robert Motherwell.[4] They divorced in 1971.[1]

In 1960 Frankenthaler had a very big solo show at the Jewish Museum in New York City. In 1969 Frankenthaler had another big show at the Whitney Museum of American Art.[4] In 1989 the Museum of Modern Art held a retrospective exhibition titled Helen Frankenthaler: A Paintings Retrospective.[5]

Frankenthaler died in Darien, Connecticut on December 27, 2011.[1]

Frankenthaler's paintings and prints are in many museums and collections including the Art Institute of Chicago,[6] the Museum of Modern Art,[7] the National Gallery of Art,[8] the National Museum of Women in the Arts,[9] the Philadelphia Museum of Art,[10] the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art,[11] the Smithsonian American Art Museum,[12] and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum,[13]

References

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  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 "Helen Frankenthaler". Britannica. Retrieved 26 August 2023.
  2. 2.0 2.1 "Frankenthaler Paintings, Bio, Ideas". The Art Story. Retrieved 26 August 2023.
  3. "Helen Frankenthaler". National Museum of Women in the Arts. Retrieved 26 August 2023.
  4. 4.0 4.1 4.2 Glueck, Grace (27 December 2011). "Helen Frankenthaler, Abstract Painter Who Shaped a Movement, Dies at 83". The New York Times. Retrieved 26 August 2023.
  5. "Helen Frankenthaler: A Paintings Retrospective | MoMA". The Museum of Modern Art. Retrieved 26 August 2023.
  6. "Helen Frankenthaler". The Art Institute of Chicago. 1928. Retrieved 26 August 2023.
  7. "Helen Frankenthaler". The Museum of Modern Art. Retrieved 26 August 2023.
  8. "Spiritualist | Artwork". National Museum of Women in the Arts. Retrieved 26 August 2023.
  9. "Helen Frankenthaler". Philadelphia Museum of Art. Retrieved 26 August 2023.
  10. "Frankenthaler, Helen". SFMOMA. Retrieved 26 August 2023.
  11. "Helen Frankenthaler". Smithsonian American Art Museum. Retrieved 26 August 2023.
  12. "Helen Frankenthaler". The Guggenheim Museums and Foundation. Retrieved 26 August 2023.