Helen Frankenthaler - Painting Without Rules.
Did I plan my trip to Bilbao to coincide with the major exhibition of Helen Frankenthaler’s work at the Guggenheim? ….Maybe! I’m a big fan of Abstract Expressionism, and Frankenthaler is one of the pioneering female artists of 1950’s within this movement. She is best known for her invention of the soak-stain technique which played a pivotal role in the transition from Abstract Expressionism to Color Field painting.
The exhibition already had me excited by the title ‘Helen Frankenthaler - Painting without Rules’. Women artists of this time had a hard time getting recognition, exhibitions and generally being taken seriously in a male dominated arena - so I love the fact that she went her own way and painted without rules on massive canvas’. A true trail blazer unafraid to take up space and follow her heart. I’m taking notes… I could learn a lot from her.
Me, absolutely in the zone with ‘Moveable Blue’ 1973 in the background.
The exhibition spans her career from early 1950’s chronologically until 2000’s, (she passed away in 2011), looking at her influences, friendships and pioneering spirit that was always exploring new ways to make abstract art.
I really enjoyed the inclusion and references to the work of some her her peers and friends as it helped me to place her work in context. Frankenthaler’s lightly stained canvas’ , full of light and space offered an alternative approach to the dense abstractions of Jackson Pollock who was front and centre of Abstract Expressionism at this time. She was married to Robert Motherwell for 13 years, (1958-71), and her artistic friendship group included Mark Rothko, Kenneth Nolan, Morris Louis, Anthony Caro and David Smith. The curation showed examples of their works too as reference to the fertile exchange of ideas and influences. What an exciting time!
There was a large collection of metal sculptures that Frankenthaler had created with the help of her close friend and sculptor, Anthony Caro. I hadn’t been aware that she had made sculpture so it was great to see that her creativity stretched into 3D as well - surprises around every corner! I have to be honest though, I wasn’t particularly excited by these sculptures, but they were interesting to see and to understand that she approached sculpture with the same improvised and intuitive process as her painting.
For many years she worked on her large canvas’ on the floor, pooling washes of thinned paint and spreading colour with sponges but eventually by 2000s the work transitioned to large sheets of paper or canvas laid out on tabletops. Helen’s passion for Art was in the pursuit of beauty which she felt reflected the human condition. The final painting in the exhibition was Driving East 2002 (above) reminded me a little of the Rothko painting, ‘Black on Gray’ 1970, which is largely considered to have been his last work. Both dark and moody and perhaps suggesting the finality of life with all the colour drained but in Driving East there is a lightness blended at the threshold of the black along the bottom. In the blurb on the wall it suggested that this could be interpreted either as dawn or dusk which I thought was a beautiful thought to end on.
Requiem 1992
Although Helen Frankenthaler made her name with her soak stained works, in the 50s & 60’s, it was great to see some of her later works where she used the paint much more thickly. Requiem 1992 above shows some of the canvas is left bare while the large areas of deep red and brown are thick and textured as though the paint has been trowelled on, then beautifully contrasted with the watery purple and bright red at the bottom. Exquisite! I would have liked a bench or 2 to sit on so I could have settled in and really spend time with this work…to be fair though, that’s probably why they didn’t put any in, I’d have been there all day!
The exhibition is now finished, but you can experience it with a virtual tour (link below), if my little summary has whet your appetite. The overall feeling from this show was one of absolute joy and freedom. I have soaked it up as much as possible and will endeavour to be more Helen!
Link to exhibition info and virtual tour
Link to previous blog - Arty Trip to Bilbao