1976, Helen Frankenthaler, Crusades -- de Young Museum (San Francisco)
From the museum label:
A member of the second generation of postwar American abstract artists, Helen Frankenthaler is recognized for her distinctive "soak-stain" technique, which bolstered the achievements of the Color Field movement. After thinning her paints with turpentine, Frankenthaler poured her colors directly onto unprimed canvases spread on the floor. The resulting vibrant, lyrical abstractions feature areas of lush color defined by natural, irregular boundaries.
During the 1960s and 1970s, Frankenthaler transitioned from oil to acrylic paint, and her works began to include larger fields of consolidated color. Crusades features radiant swaths of green and orange forms whose outlines seemingly refer to landscapes or cartography. However, such references to the natural world were often incidental. As Frankenthaler stated, "What concerns me when I work, is not whether the picture is a landscape, or whether it's pastoral, or whether somebody will see a sunset in it. What concerns me is-did I make a beautiful picture?"
1976, Helen Frankenthaler, Crusades -- de Young Museum (San Francisco)
From the museum label:
A member of the second generation of postwar American abstract artists, Helen Frankenthaler is recognized for her distinctive "soak-stain" technique, which bolstered the achievements of the Color Field movement. After thinning her paints with turpentine, Frankenthaler poured her colors directly onto unprimed canvases spread on the floor. The resulting vibrant, lyrical abstractions feature areas of lush color defined by natural, irregular boundaries.
During the 1960s and 1970s, Frankenthaler transitioned from oil to acrylic paint, and her works began to include larger fields of consolidated color. Crusades features radiant swaths of green and orange forms whose outlines seemingly refer to landscapes or cartography. However, such references to the natural world were often incidental. As Frankenthaler stated, "What concerns me when I work, is not whether the picture is a landscape, or whether it's pastoral, or whether somebody will see a sunset in it. What concerns me is-did I make a beautiful picture?"