After Mountains and Sea

Description

In 1952, at the age of 23, Helen Frankenthaler created her legendary painting Mountains and Sea. She poured thinned-down pigment directly onto unprimed canvas to be absorbed into its fibers. This large painting, the first in which Frankenthaler used her soak-stain technique, synthesized the influences that had informed her work to that point and announces her arrival as a mature artist. Published to accompany a 1998 exhibition at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, this book focuses on Mountains and Sea and other groundbreaking paintings of Frankenthaler's early career. In this period, Frankenthaler drew upon Cubism, the abstractions of Arshile Gorky and, especially, those of Jackson Pollock, whose radical technique inspired her to reject easel painting. Frankenthaler herself became associated with the second generation of the New York School and her unique method and experimental use of materials influenced her contemporaries and subsequent generations of artists

Description

In 1952, at the age of twenty-three, Helen Frankenthaler created her legendary painting Mountains and Sea. Comprised of translucent washes of thinned-down pigment embedded in unprimed canvas, this large-scale painting was the first in which she used her soak-stain technique. Frankenthaler's mixture of oil and turpentine or kerosene, which she poured directly onto an unprimed canvas, seeped into and through the raw cotton fibers, evoking a sense of openness and atmospheric space without relying on traditional illusionism. Published on the occasion of an exhibition organized by the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, this book explores Frankenthaler's artistic maturation, from the groundbreaking achievement of Mountains and Sea to the extraordinary paintings created from 1956 through 1959. Beautifully illustrated with full-color reproductions of Frankenthaler's luminous works, this elegant volume offers a conversation between the artist and Julia Brown, Curator of Special Exhibitions, revealing Frankenthaler's artistic process and the influences that inspired her; an essay by Susan Cross, Curatorial Assistant, providing a broader historical perspective on Frankenthaler's contribution to a pivotal period in art history; and a poetic tribute by Brown to Frankenthaler's work.

Subjects

Genres

• Exhibitions.

Other Editions

• After Mountains and Sea: Frankenthaler 1956-1959.Guggenheim Museum1998-01-01
• After Mountains and SeaHardcoverHarry N. Abrams1998-09-01