Helen Frankenthaler, New York City, 1974. Photograph by Alexander Liberman
Source: International Center for Photography
Helen Frankenthaler (1928-2011) is one of the most important and influential postwar painters, whose abstract compositions, featuring brilliant expanses of color and light, have inspired generations of artists and changed the course of art history. She led the way from Abstract Expressionism to a new and vital form of painterly lyricism that heralded the Color Field movement. On view in this exhibition are some twenty major large-scale paintings that celebrate the New York-born artist’s formidable, six-decade career. A classic Frankenthaler work, Swan Lake II (1961), filled with ethereal pools of electric blue, grays, and deep red, against a neutral ground, is a quintessential example of her unparalleled achievement. Helen: Frankenthaler: Selected Paintings will be on view through May 18 at Yares Art 745 5th Ave.