Lot 11 N

The expressive work on paper by Helen Frankenthaler offered here was created in 1968 as the title illustration for the poetry collection “The blue stairs” by the poet and art critic Barbara Guest (1920-2006). Guest was a representative of the New York School of Poets, a group of poets close to the visual artists of the New York School, whose spontaneous and humorous poems were influenced by literary Surrealism and Abstract Expressionist painting.
As a small format, the monochrome work condenses the light, minimised and immensely powerful aura inherent in Frankenthaler’s works on paper and shows the characteristics that also determine her paintings: the colour that penetrates the painting ground in an organic way, the unpainted paper that, like the raw canvas of her paintings, contributes significantly to the picture’s message, and finally the subtle references to natural shapes. “What is striking is the single-mindedness of Frankenthaler’s concerns at this time; the notions she explored in watercolors, gouaches, graphics, book cover studies and large canvases are remarkably consistent. Even a small and modest work, such as the study for the cover of Barbara Guest’s book of poetry (1968) contains all of Frankenthaler's preoccupations and strengths in miniature,” writes Karen Wilkin on this work (Karen Wilkin, in: Frankenthaler, Works on paper 1949-1984, New York 1984, p.70).
Frankenthaler’s works on paper are of extraordinary importance for her oeuvre. As an expression of her mastery of drawing and colouring, they are never merely a preparatory stage, but are equally valid alongside her large-format paintings. For this reason, the Museum Folkwang Essen is dedicating the exhibition “Helen Frankenthaler. Malerische Konstellationen [painterly constellations]” to her works on paper, commencing December 2022.