Frankenthaler at her studio in Provincetown, Massachusetts, in the summer of 1968 with the paintings Summer Banner hanging upside down on the wall; Spices, in her hand; and, in the foreground, Summer Core.
Archive: Helen FrankenthalerOn the legacy of artist Helen Frankenthaler—a self-described “square” and the pioneer of the freewheeling, feeling-focused Color Field movement.
Archive: Helen FrankenthalerOn the legacy of artist Helen Frankenthaler—a self-described “square” and the pioneer of the freewheeling, feeling-focused Color Field movement.
There’s an early photograph by Life magazine’s Gordon Parks of artist Helen Frankenthaler in a corner of her studio, with the walls and floor covered in her outsized canvases, large washes of blues, grays, pinks and browns. Dressed in a blouse and skirt, legs tucked under her, Frankenthaler has a faraway, dreamy expression and almost looks like a mermaid in an undersea fantasy. It’s an image that symbolizes the intense, immersive quality of Frankenthaler’s paintings, drawing the viewer into an irresistible maelstrom of color. “People say to me, ‘How do you feel in the middle of making a picture?’” the American painter once said. “I can’t answer. I think something takes over… you’re lost in it.”
Frankenthaler died in 2011 at the age of 83 after a career that spa...
