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She then frequented the creative avant-garde of Manhattan, in par- ticular Barnett Newman, Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko and of course Robert Motherwell who would become her husband in 1958.
His role was very important for a whole generation of painters. Indeed, she bridged the gap between Abstract Expressionism of the 1950s and the Color Field Painting movement of the 1960s, of which she was the creator.
Thanks to the “soak stain” technique, an innovative technique initiated by her famous painting, Mountains & Sea, when she was only 23 years old. She then created large stained or soaked canvases in very bright colors.
She poured the pigments and paint directly onto her canvas, sometimes using buckets, then spread it using sponges, brushes and her own hands in order to create shapes and spots of color which, in soaking into the frame, brought it to life with effects of astonishing fluidity.
Helen Frankenthaler
The Human Edge - 1967 acrylic on canvas - cm 314.9 × 237.1 - Syracuse, NY, Everson Museum of Art, Museum purchase to honor Director, Max Sullivan on the opening of the IM Pei building, 68.23 -
© 2024 Helen Frankenthaler Foundation, Inc. / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.
