Helen Frankenthaler

André Emmerich Gallery, Inc., New York
Adam Middleton Gallery, Dallas
Private Collection
Sotheby's, New York, 20 November 1996, Lot 135
Acquired from the above sale by the present owner

This work is in excellent condition overall. The canvas is unlined. There is evidence of some light dust accumulation on the surface. Under close inspection, there is evidence of some light wear and handling to the corners and turning edges. Under very close inspection, there is evidence of minor pigment separation at the center of the composition and a few scattered areas of stray medium and minor studio debris on the surface due to the artist's choice of medium and working method. Under Ultraviolet light inspection, there are a few scattered areas which fluoresce lightly but do not appear to be as a result of restoration. Framed.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

“From the very earliest to the most recent published statements, two interrelated themes consistently arise when Helen Frankenthaler speaks about her painting practice. One is spatial ambiguity and the other is landscape.” (Alison Rowley, Helen Frankenthaler: Painting History, Writing Painting, p. 45)
An enthralling example of Helen Frankenthaler’s mature “abstract climates,” Haze literalizes concept through form by presenting the viewer with a scene in which suggestions of form and landscape are visible but blurred, preventing evident shapes from emerging while hinting at their existence. With the color field technique that she pioneered, the present work mimics the phenomenon in nature central to its own subject, as it softens and heightens the ambiguity of forms that lie ahead.

The artist’s signature abstraction was something she executed through the process of diluting paint with turpentine, allowing it to fully soak into the fibers of a raw canvas. The thinned-paint would thus fuse with its material support, drawing focus to the canvas as an integral part of the art itself. Debuted in 1952 with Frankenthaler’s masterpiece, Mountains and Sea, the technique represents a departure from the materiality of paint pivotal to the prevailing artists of the time – notably Abstract Expressionists such as Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning, and Richard Pousette-Dart.

Unlike the more violent or distorted abstractions employed by her male counterparts, Frankenthaler’s approach was delicate, ethereal and obscured the line between paint and subject. The effect she was able to achieve was rich yet luminous color and forms that play with the consciousness of space. The singularity of this gesture was felt by many and therefore constitutes a milestone in art history, as reflected by a generation of artists she influenced, beginning with Kenneth Noland, Morris Louis and Jules Olitski.

With poetic blues and intermittent dabs of soft colors, Haze evokes the stillness of a boat surrounded by fog at dawn or the lulling view of a rainy day contemplated from a misty window. Nonetheless, the weight of Frankenthaler’s craft stems from the tendency to conjure and deny such images simultaneously. As quoted by Alison Rowley in Helen Frankenthaler: Painting History, Writing Painting (p. 46), the artist states: “my feeling [is] that a successful abstract painting plays with space on all different levels, different speeds, with different perspectives, and at the same time remains flat... For me the most beautiful pictures of any age have this ambiguity.” It is the feeling that the work is somehow purposefully incomplete, or holding something back in quasi-existential fashion that enthralls the viewer to continue searching for meaning among the shapes.

Made a year before Frankenthaler’s historic solo show at the Whitney Museum of American Art, and just five years before her Museum of Modern Art retrospective, Haze is made at the culmination of her artistic career and stands as a prime example of her groundbreaking explorations.