The Work of Helen Frankenthaler and Sol Lewitt at VFA

Helen Frankenthaler (1928-2011) became one of the most influential artists of the twentieth century when she expanded the limits of Abstract Expressionism by pouring turpentine-thinned paint onto unprimed canvas. It was not only her technique that was unique, but also the style and subjects of her work.

 

Unlike Jackson Pollock, and other Abstract Expressionists, who poured and brushed paint onto the canvas to express emotion, Frankenthaler used her ‘soak-stain’ technique to create luminous Color Field landscapes and seascapes.

 

In 1961 Frankenthaler was invited to try printmaking at the newly opened Universal Limited Art Editions (ULAE) printshop in New York. She began by working with a lithography stone and eventually added intaglio and woodcutting to her repertoire. She continued to work at ULAE for many years. She expanded her printing practice and materials and, over the years, continued to create dynamic works that reflected her mastery of color and composition.

 

Frankenthaler’s works continue to amaze and inspire. The largest Italian exhibit of her work will open on September 27, 2024 at the Palazzo Strozzi in Florience. Helen Frankenthaler: Painting without Rules will not only present dozens of the artist’s works on loan from international museums and private collections, as well as the Helen Frankenthaler Foundation; it will also include works from Frankenthaler’s own private collection and work by some of her contemporaries like Jackson Pollock, Robert Motherwell and Mark Rothko. The exhibit will run through February 2, 2025.

 

Her works are currently part of a group exhibit at the Kunsthalle Bielefeld in Bielfeld, Germany and the Bruce Museum in Greenwich, Connecticut.

 

The exhibit at the Kunsthalle Bielefeld: Action, Gesture, Paint: Women Artists and Global Abstraction 1940-70 has traveled from the Whitechapel Gallery in London and the Fondation Vincent Van Gogh in Arles, France. The exhibit examines works by 70 international female artists whose works were often overlooked in the mid-twentieth century. The exhibit runs through March 3, 2024.

 

Tracing Lineage: Abstraction and its Aftermath, at the Bruce Museum, examines the way in which abstract art gained momentum in the United States and influenced the course of art history. The exhibit runs through March 17, 2024. Along with work by Frankenthaler, the exhibit includes works by Conceptual artist Sol Lewitt (1928-2007), who believed that the conception and production of a work off art was a work of art in itself. 

 

Works by Helen Frankenthaler and Sol Lewitt are available at VFA.

 

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February 7, 2024