Helen Frankenthaler

Late Works, 1990-2003

Helen Frankenthaler working on Untitled (1991) in her studio, Saddle Rock Road, Shippan Point, Stamford, CT, July 1991. Helen Frankenthaler Foundation Archives, New York. Photograph by Vincent Dion. Artwork © 2022 Helen Frankenthaler Foundation, Inc. / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.

September 6 – February 5
Located on the second floor of The Baker Museum

Helen Frankenthaler (1928-2011) played a defining role in the history of postwar American painting. Her innovative soak-stain technique inaugurated the shift from Abstract Expressionism to Color Field Painting and influenced artists such as Morris Louis, Jules Olitski, Friedel Dzubas and Kenneth Noland. In Louis’ words, Frankenthaler’s work was “a bridge between [Jackson] Pollock and what was possible.” In the 1950s, Frankenthaler created saturated, luminous surfaces by applying thinned oil paint onto raw, unprimed canvas. For more than 60 years, she never stopped experimenting with new materials and tools to expand painting’s possibilities—on canvas, paper and prints.

Helen Frankenthaler: Late Works, 1990-2003, the first museum exhibition dedicated to the last phase of the painter’s prolific career, features 20 paintings on paper and 10 paintings on canvas. These works demonstrate the artist’s long-standing interest in the relationship between landscape and abstraction and reveal her continued sensitivity to the emotional effects of color.

Helen Frankenthaler: Late Works, 1990-2003 features 20 works on paper and 10 canvases, all on loan from the Helen Frankenthaler Foundation.

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Selected Works