Helen Frankenthaler, Off White Square, 1973. Estimate $3-4 million. 20th Century & Contemporary Art Evening Sale, New York. All works © 2020 Helen Frankenthaler Foundation, Inc. / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.
Helen Frankenthaler is among the most significant masters of post-war abstraction, whose influence over the 20th century art historical canon cannot be overstated. —Robert Manley, Co-Head of 20th Century & Contemporary Art
One of the most influential artists of post-war abstraction, Helen Frankenthaler created brilliantly evocative paintings that reinterpreted her personal experiences and memories in a unique visual language. In 1952 at only 23 years old, she pioneered her revolutionary “soak-stain” technique of pouring thinned-down paint onto unprimed canvas, which opened the door to the Color Field paintings of Morris Louis, Kenneth Noland, and Jules Olitski — expanding the possibilities of abstraction for generations of artists.
Detail: Helen Frankenthaler, Off White Square, 1973. Estimate $3-4 million. 20th Century & Contemporary Art Evening Sale, New York. All works © 2020 Helen Frankenthaler Foundation, Inc. / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.
This display includes four important paintings from one of the most pivotal decades of Frankenthaler’s career. A masterpiece of her mature style, Off White Square features the expressive expanses of pure color which characterize the highly-acclaimed body of work she created during the period. The painting — which is one of the largest the artist ever made — is part of an ambitious group of monumental horizontal works executed in 1973-1974, including Moveable Blue and The Sound of the Bassoon. While showcasing Frankenthaler’s signature use of diluted paint, Off White Square betrays a renewed assurance and shift in focus to all-over composition.
This visual dynamism is echoed in two other monumental works she executed in the following years: Untitled, 1978, and Tethys, 1981. Though they reveal a variety of sources and approaches, they all provide a look into Frankenthaler’s transition from gestural abstraction to paintings filled with large areas of refined color and tonal nuance.
Helen Frankenthaler, Untitled, 1978. All works © 2020 Helen Frankenthaler Foundation, Inc. / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Available for Private Sale.
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