American
b. December 12, 1928, Manhattan, New York ⏤
d. December 27, 2011, Darien, Connecticut
Lived and worked in Darien, Connecticut and New York, New York

Helen Frankenthaler is regarded as one of the major painters of postwar American Abstract Expressionism. Inspired by American Abstract Expressionism, especially by the work of Jackson Pollock, Frankenthaler began to experiment with pouring paint directly onto canvas. However, unlike Pollock, she used thinned paint on untreated canvases, creating the effect of a large watercolor. This revolutionary technique launched the second generation of the Color Field school of painting.

Even though Frankenthaler’s poured works appear nonrepresentational, they are often based on real or imaginary landscapes. In addition to her two-dimensional work, Frankenthaler produced welded steel sculptures and explored ceramics, prints, and illustrated books.

Representing the United States’ Abstract Expressionism movement, Helen Frankenthaler’s paintings were exhibited in the Documenta II, 1959, in Kassel, Germany. She has been featured in numerous international exhibitions, including important retrospectives at the Whitney Museum of American Art and the Museum of Modern Art in New York.