Helen Frankenthaler - Style and technique, Influences

Abstract painter, born in New York City, USA. She studied under the Mexican painter Rufino Tamayo and at Bennington College, Vermont. She developed a technique of applying very thin paint to unprimed canvas, allowing it to soak in and create atmospheric stains and blots on the surface. Her best-known picture is ‘Mountains and Sea’ (1952).

Helen Frankenthaler (born December 12, 1928) is an American post-painterly abstraction artist. Born in New York City, her work is influenced by Jackson Pollock with whom she also was involved in the 1946-1960 Abstract Art Movement.

Style and technique

Her career was launched in 1952 with the exhibition of Mountains and Sea. This painting is large - measuring seven feet by ten feet - and has the effect of a watercolor, though it is painted in oils. In it, she introduced the technique of painting directly on to an unprepared canvas so that the material absorbs the colors. She heavily diluted the oil paint with turpentine or kerosene so that the color would soak into the canvas. This technique, known as "soak stain" was adopted by other artists (notably Morris Louis and Kenneth Noland) and launched the "Color Field" school of painting. This method would leave the canvas with a halo effect around each area that the paint was applied...

Influences

One of her most important influences was Clement Greenberg, an important art and literary critic.

The first Jackson Pollock show Frankenthaler saw was at the Betty Parson's Gallery in 1951. She had this to say about seeing Pollock's paintings Autumn Rhythm, Number 30, 1950 (1950), Number One (1950), and Lavender Mist:

"It was athere.

In 1960 the term Color Field Painting was used to describe the work of Frankenthaler. The Color Field artists set them selves apart from the Abstract Expressionists because they eliminated the emotional, mythic or the religious content and the highly personal and gestural and painterly application.

Some of her thoughts on painting:

"A really good picture looks as if it's happened at once.