This evaluation is a part of a brand new collection of Should-See exhibits, wherein a author delivers a snapshot of a present exhibition
In 1953, on the invitation of the critic Clement Greenberg, Morris Louis and Kenneth Noland visited Helen Frankenthaler’s studio. Because the story goes, each painters had been shocked by her soak-stain method, which crystallized in considered one of her first summary work, Mountains and Sea (1952). She had utilized diluted paint to an unprimed canvas positioned on the ground, permitting the pigment to soak into the material, fusing illustration and floor right into a single, expansive entity. Jackson Pollock’s affect was plain in her technique, which she integrated with out ego, embracing the steering of color all through the method. Frankenthaler’s motto, ‘transfer and make’, is now the title of an exhibition of her work at present displaying on the newly inaugurated Museum Reinhard Ernst.
Tire (1961) stands as an early articulation of this strategy, influenced by the artist’s 1953 go to to the prehistoric cave work in Altamira. Right here, earthy hues evoke primitive modes of illustration whereas the kinds herald an rising fusion of determine and floor in her follow alongside the mixing of brown into her common palette of pastel blues, greys and pinks. In her 2011 New York Instances obituary of Frankenthaler, Grace Glueck recounts that the artist’s work was not unanimously praised, with some critics seeing her technique as ‘too candy in color and too “poetic”’. These observations underlined a subjective denial of Frankenthaler’s inventive confidence in a follow that embraced spontaneity and openness.
Color and instinct have additionally been the guiding forces for Reinhard Ernst, from whose expansive assortment of summary artwork the works on this present are drawn. For Hiroshige (1981) – considered one of his first Frankenthaler acquisitions – pays tribute to the Japanese grasp of woodblock printing. The work’s thick layers of white, gold and dijon paint present a brighter, earthy palette creating kinetic, three-dimensional results that amplify the artist’s attribute flat dynamism. Ernst’s predilection for Japanese artwork led him to find lesser-known facets of Frankenthaler’s follow, main him to construct the richest assortment of her work thus far.
‘Transfer and Make’ contextualizes a private collection of Frankenthaler’s oeuvre by way of her private relationships. Inexperienced Moon (1984), as an example, sees the artist honour her early supporter Adolph Gottlieb by mimicking his signature circles. Presenting a formidable physique of labor by a grasp colourist, this retrospective proposes an intensive studying of Frankenthaler’s oeuvre, spotlighting her affect each in her personal time and past.
Helen Frankenthaler‘s ‘Transfer and Make’ is on view at Museum Reinhard Ernst, Wiesbaden, till 28 September
Predominant picture: Helen Frankenthaler, After Hours, 1975, acrylic on canvas, 1.5 × 4.3 m. Courtesy: © Helen Frankenthaler Basis Inc. / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2025
