Regardless of their influences, there is no doubt that Americans have always marched to the beat of their own drum.
During the Italian Renaissance, art evolved and set the standards for European art in general. At this point, the Americas, which had been discovered, had not yet been colonised.
By the end of the Renaissance, in about 1700, the Spanish, French and English were battling each other for the best land in the New World.
From these conflicts, American culture, which resisted outside influence and thrived on the invention and establishing of their own ideas began to develop.
Through this fierce independence which gave rise to a unique style of American painting, doors opened for many explore their artistic expression.
In this article, you will find out about artist Helen Frankenthaler who is known for establishing the soak-stain technique.
Who Was Helen Frankenthaler?
Fortunately, there are many facts available about Helen Frankenthaler. Born into a well to do family in 1928 (the year before the Wall Street crash) she was the daughter of a Supreme Court judge for the State of New York and a sophisticated German mother.
As the youngest of three daughters who all benefited from private school education, the Frankenthaler children were well prepared for professional life.
Further facts about Helen Frankenthaler was that she finished her secondary school education at the exclusive Dalton School and then continued her tertiary education at Bennington College in Vermont.
One thing that is not clear is how Helen initially developed an interest in art.
One suggestion is that Helen's artwork may have been inspired by Gloria, her sister and tapestry artist who worked with many painters and weavers.
One of the most profound and well-documented facts about Helen Frankenthaler was how she was influenced by the work of artist Jackson Pollock. Upon being exposed to his work at 22 years old she declared that she wanted to “live in the land he created and learn its language.”
Pollock’s trademark style of applying paint on canvasses was unique. Even when he was painting representation art, like a self-portrait or still life, he preferred trowel, sticks and palette knives to apply paint.
Eventually, he moved on to ‘the drip method’, a technique where he would place a large, unprimed canvas on his studio floor and proceed to drip or splash paint all over it.
At the time Helen was making inroads into the art world through Clement Greenberg and this unusual method of abstract painting certainly impacted the future of Helen Frankenthaler artwork.
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What Was Helen Frankenthaler Known For?
Inspired by the work of Jackson Pollock, Helen also placed large, unprimed canvases on the floor of her studio.
However, instead of using the house paints and heavy oils used by Pollock, she used turpentine to dilute her oil paint. Achieving the desired consistency, she would then carefully pour it onto her canvas.
This dilution method, had the effect of softening colours. In addition, because her canvasses were not sealed with primer, they absorbed the colours to create unusual hues.
This was called soak stain painting.
The only downside to this technique was that the oil in the paint made the canvas discolour and eventually rot. By the 1970’s Helen Frankenthaler's artwork was devoid of the soak stain painting that she pioneered.
Like Frida Kahlo who also loved colour and found her style through many trials and errors, Frankenthaler moved on to thicker acrylic paints. As she progressed her bright colours and vivid work became reminiscent of painters like Henri Matisse.
Helen Frankenthaler Artwork: Abstract Expressionism
For American painters to take centre-stage in western art, it was all about timing, this included Helen Frankenthaler art.
Helen grew up during the hard times of the Great Depression which was a time when a large proportion of the population was starving. While threats of the Great War brewed in Europe and impacted all aspects of life, the artistic community suffered with many artists taking refuge in America.
After the Second World War, the United States, specifically New York, surpassed Paris as the main centre for progressive art.
These events, and particularly the hard times for Europe, opened the way for Americans like Pollock, de Kooning, Gorky and later, artist Helen Frankenthaler, to take the lead in bringing about the next art movement.
The new style of the generation gave birth to a modernist art movement that included elements of fauvism, impressionism and most of all, surrealism.
While art critics dubbed the style abstract expressionism, it was not a new movement, or even a new term, because it had been used to describe expressionism in Germany as far back as 1919.
It’s also worth noting that art historian Alfred Barr used it to describe the work of Wassily Kandinsky in 1929.
The reason it became more remarkable in the 1940s was the unique American spin placed on it by many in the United States, including Helen Frankenthaler.
After the turn of the century and especially after World War 2, the sculpture and painting produced in America had a feeling of anarchy to it. For some, it represented an American spirit of nihilism and rebellion.
When considered in those terms, people like the artist Helen Frakenhalther who poured paint on canvasses as opposed to standing upright at an easel producing measured brush strokes seems to fit right in.
All About Action Painting
Helen’s soak stain painting as well as Pollock’s splash or drip technique are hard to define or relate to any style of American painting movement.
As a style it certainly connects the physical interaction of the artist and a canvas. It is almost an assault of the pristineness of it or a passionate expression resulting in flying paint that lands wherever it may.
Some call it action painting, others refer to it as avant-garde, while others label it simple and contrived.
Regardless of what you want to call it, it is a style that continues to intrigue and many examples like those of artist Helen Frankenthaler are on permanent display or loan at the Tate or Museum of Modern Art in New York.
Still, even though the expressionist movement made great waves in art circles, not every talented American artist imitated it or indeed Helen Frankenthaler art. One famous female artist who did not was Georgia O’Keeff who became known as the ‘mother of modernism’.
Why Did Helen Frankenthaler Start Painting?
Soak stain painting aside, a final look at the information about Helen Frankenthaler tells us that there are not that much at all!
It is unclear what inspired her to become an artist and unlike Artemisia Gentileschi and countless other artists from Picasso to da Vinci, Helen’s parents did not seem to help nurture her artistic career.
She was also unlike the other extreme example of Mary Cassatt who defied her own father as well as the art world and society at large for having the impertinence to want to paint. So passionate was her ambition that she gave up marriage, financial security and children declaring that she would ‘paint or die.’
Artist Helen Frankenthaler didn’t make the same sacrifices and while she may have lacked the mentoring of her parents who were not artists, she did benefit from the guidance of many big art names including Paul Feeley and Ruffino Tamayo.
We cannot overlook the positive influence that her long term relationship with art critic Clement Greenberg had on her career. Greenberg, who was considerably older than her, had cultivated deep ties within art circles prior to their meeting. It was thanks to him that her work was included in the 1964 exhibition of Post-Painterly Abstraction.
In contrast, Mary Cassatt would have balked at the concept of having the sponsorship of a man to ensure her art would be seen!
Even so, Helen Frankenthaler's art became well-known and she made a living from her work. She was also applauded for using more than one medium and mastering more than just one form of artistic expression.
Her novel uses of paint contributed to abstract expressionism and invited other artists to take the plunge and pioneer new ideas.
Even towards the end of her career and life, artist Helen Frankenthaler did not give in to convention. She did not use paintbrushes to depict her portraits, landscapes, portraits or even historical-religious work.
Helen Frankenthaler art was unique in the field of visual art, even Jackson Pollock did not take the concept of dripping paint onto canvasses to the level that this artist did.
It was her innovation as well as her extraordinary talent that earned her a worthy place in art history and amongst the names of great women who painted.
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