Written by: Jacqueline Yu
Frankenthaler was a key figure of mid-20th century American art. Often seen as the original color field painter, Frankenthaler is renowned for her command of color and powerful abstract landscapes. Frankenthaler was born on December 12, 1928 to a wealthy Manhattan family. Her parents were supportive of her artistic career from a young age and sent her to many progressive, experimental schools. During the summer, her family often took trips, and the scenery she saw on these vacations would later influence Frankenthaler’s deep love of landscape. Her father, a judge on the New York State Supreme Court, died when she was 11, which launched her into a four year depressive period accompanied with intense migraines. When she was 15, she studied under the painter Rufino Tamayo at the Dalton School in New York. By 16, she had decided to become an artists and enroll in Bennington College in Vermont where she studied under Paul Feeley who was well accustomed to the abstract expressionists. Frankenthaler returned to New York in 1947 to study at the Art Students League. In 1950, she met Clement Greenberg at an exhibition, and she pursued a romantic relationship with him. Greenberg, a famous art critic, was instrumental in introducing Frankenthaler to leading abstract expressionist artists like Willem de Kooning, Lee Krasner, and Jackson Pollock. 1952 was Frankenthaler’s big break when she painted Mountains and Sea after a trip to Nova Scotia. This work featured the first appearance of her “soak-stain” technique which consisted of laying a massive, unprimed canvas on the ground and then applying oil paints thinned with turpentine using window wipers, sponges, and charcoal. Her work centered around capturing a feeling of a location through abstraction rather than a proper representation. Morris Louis and Kenneth Noland were introduced to Frankenthaler through Clement Greenberg and were inspired by Mountains and Sea. This interaction between artists marked the beginnings of color field painting. In 1957, Frankenthaler married Robert Motherwell, a fellow artist that deeply influenced her work from that point forward. They were nicknamed “the golden couple” due to their success at such a young age. The 1960s marked a period of experimentation for Frankenthaler as she replaced her signature diluted oil paint with acrylic paint and began toying around with woodcut printmaking. This switch led to brighter colors in her works. Frankenthaler had numerous successes like her exhibitions at the LA County Museum of Art in 1964, the Venice Biennale in 1966, and the International and Universal Exposition in Montreal. Frankenthaler divorced Motherwell in 1971 and traveled to the American southwest to explore the landscapes there. Her work was greatly inspired by the scenes that she saw and experienced. Frankenthaler continued to make work until the last years of her life. She branched out into clay, steel sculpture, and even set and costume design. In 2011, Frankenthaler died in her home in Connecticut. She left behind a great legacy as the entire color field movement can be attributed to her momentous feats in Mountains and Sea. She inspired countless influential artists and perpetuated, and continues to perpetuate, her beliefs in the power of color and simplicity through her works.
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ContributorsJACQUELINE YU is the co-founder of the MLWGS art history online magazine. She is an incredible artist and devotes much of her time to both participating in, experiencing, and appreciating art. Archives
April 2019
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