Rome, Gagosian's exhibition of Helen Frankenthaler's painting on paper

The Gagosian Gallery in Rome announces the exhibition Helen Frankenthaler: Painting on Paper, 1990-2002 visitable from September 30 to November 23, 2024. Presented for the occasion are eighteen large-scale works on paper that are part of the latest production of artist Helen Frankenthaler (New York City, 1928 - Darien, 2011). The works in the exhibition reveal the investigation into the compositional possibilities of her work on paper: new types of color combinations often made on a smoother surface than canvas emerge. “I have always painted on paper, but I didn’t think I could elevate it to the format of my canvases...this was a fundamental evolution for me,” the artist observed in 1996. Frankenthaler had previously added denser brushstrokes to the innovative soak-stain technique she pioneered in the early 1950s. After working directly on the floor during the first four decades of her career, Frankenthaler began painting on the top of large, tall tables.

The works Santa Fe XIII of 1990 and New Mexico of 1995 are inspired by his residencies at the Santa Fe Art Institute. With earthy tones and variegated greens, 1995’s End of Summer evokes a sunlit landscape. The dark shadows and layered luminosity of 2002’s White Owl make it one of the most expressive works of recent years. In others, however, an almost monochromatic palette is employed, placing emphasis on variations in tone, application and layering. Contentment Island from 2002 is named after the neighborhood on the Connecticut coast overlooking Long Island Sound. With turquoise and blue tones, the work recalls his observation “on some days, the horizon line disappears completely. The sky seems to fall into the water.”

In contrast, the dark purplish black of 2002’s Port of Call suggests a nocturnal seascape while a thin line of bright blue evokes a distant horizon. In addition to this, a catalog with an essay by curator and art historian Isabelle Dervaux will be published on the occasion of the exhibition. In conjunction with the exhibition in Rome, Helen Frankenthaler: Painting Without Rules opens at Palazzo Strozzi in Florence on Sept. 27, 2024, and can be visited until Jan. 26, 2025. The exhibition, the largest ever held in Italy, features thirty paintings spanning the artist’s career along with paintings and sculptures by contemporary artists in her circle. In the fall, Gagosian, in collaboration with the Helen Frankenthaler Foundation, will also publish the revised edition of Frankenthaler by John Elderfield, extensively updated with more than 300 color reproductions of paintings, works on paper, prints, and sculptures, including many never before published in color, as well as more than 100 comparative illustrations and documentary photographs.

Notes about the artist.

Helen Frankenthaler was born in New York in 1928 and died in Darien, Connecticut in 2011. Her work is included in major public and private collections worldwide, and her work has been the subject of numerous solo exhibitions, including Jewish Museum, New York (1960); Whitney Museum of American Art, New York (1969); Works on Paper 1949-1984, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York (1985); A Paintings Retrospective, Museum of Modern Art, New York (1989); Paintings on Paper (1949-2002), Museum of Contemporary Art, North Miami, FL (2003); Painting/Panorama: Paintings by Helen Frankenthaler, 1952-1992, Museum of Palazzo Grimani, Venice (2019); Radical Beauty, Dulwich Picture Gallery, London (2021-22); Painterly Constellations, Kunsthalle Krems, Krems an der Donau, Austria (2022); and Museum Folkwang, Essen, Germany (2022-23).

Rome, Gagosian's exhibition of Helen Frankenthaler's painting on paper

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