Helen Frankenthaler
Winter Hunt1958

On view:

Broad Contemporary Art Museum, floor 3

Vertical abstract painting with gestural black, rust brown, cerulean blue, and red marks on a cream ground, densely layered in the lower half

Artist or Maker: Helen Frankenthaler
United States, New York, active New York City, 1928-2011
Title: Winter Hunt
Place Made: United States
Date Made: 1958
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 91 × 46 in. (231.14 × 116.84 cm)
Credit Line: Gift of Mr. David Geffen
Accession Number: M.85.157
Classification: Paintings
Collecting Area: Modern Art
Curatorial Notes: In the 1950s, Helen Frankenthaler was among the first women artists working in the emerging Abstract Expressionist movement, along with Elaine de Kooning, Grace Hartigan, Lee Krasner, and Joan Mitchell. Frankenthaler became known for pouring paint directly onto raw, untreated canvases. Her soak-stain technique was popular among artists who considered the complexity of color to be more important than the gestural action painting of Jackson Pollock and other members of the New York School. In Winter Hunt, Frankenthaler allowed the paint to pool and soak into her unprimed canvas, while leaving the top of the painting free of color, creating a counterpoint to the rich stains below.

Wall label, 2021.
Provenance: The artist (1928-2011); [Galleria dell'Ariete, Milan]; Guglielmo A. Cavellini (1914-1990), Brescia, Italy; [Andre Emmerich Gallery, New York]; David Geffen (1943- ), Los Angeles; given in 1985 to LACMA.
Selected Bibliography: Powell III, Earl A., Robert Winter, and Stephanie Barron. The Robert O. Anderson Building. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1986.
Carmean, E.A. Helen Frankenthaler: A Paintings Retrospective. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1989.
Frankenthaler: the 1950s. Waltham, Mass.: Rose Art Museum, 1981.
Goosen, E.C. Helen Frankenthaler. New York: Whitney Museum of American Art, 1969.
Rose, Barbara. Frankenthaler. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1971.
Painted on 21st Street: Helen Frankenthaler from 1950 to 1959. New York: Gagosian Gallery, 2013.
Elderfield, John. Frankenthaler. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1989.
King, Jennifer, ed. Vera Lutter: Museum in the Camera. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Munich: DelMonico Books-Prestel, 2020.
The New York School, 1940-1960: The First Generation of Abstract Expressionism. Reno, Nevada: Sierra Nevada Museum of Art, 1979.
Elderfield, John. Frankenthaler: Revised and Expanded Edition. New York: Gagosian, 2024.
Copyright: © Helen Frankenthaler Foundation, Inc./Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

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Helen Frankenthaler
Winter Hunt1958

On view:

Broad Contemporary Art Museum, floor 3

Artist or Maker: Helen Frankenthaler
United States, New York, active New York City, 1928-2011
Title: Winter Hunt
Place Made: United States
Date Made: 1958
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 91 × 46 in. (231.14 × 116.84 cm)
Credit Line: Gift of Mr. David Geffen
Accession Number: M.85.157
Classification: Paintings
Collecting Area: Modern Art
Curatorial Notes: In the 1950s, Helen Frankenthaler was among the first women artists working in the emerging Abstract Expressionist movement, along with Elaine de Kooning, Grace Hartigan, Lee Krasner, and Joan Mitchell. Frankenthaler became known for pouring paint directly onto raw, untreated canvases. Her soak-stain technique was popular among artists who considered the complexity of color to be more important than the gestural action painting of Jackson Pollock and other members of the New York School. In Winter Hunt, Frankenthaler allowed the paint to pool and soak into her unprimed canvas, while leaving the top of the painting free of color, creating a counterpoint to the rich stains below.

Wall label, 2021.
Provenance: The artist (1928-2011); [Galleria dell'Ariete, Milan]; Guglielmo A. Cavellini (1914-1990), Brescia, Italy; [Andre Emmerich Gallery, New York]; David Geffen (1943- ), Los Angeles; given in 1985 to LACMA.
Selected Bibliography: Powell III, Earl A., Robert Winter, and Stephanie Barron. The Robert O. Anderson Building. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1986.
Carmean, E.A. Helen Frankenthaler: A Paintings Retrospective. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1989.
Frankenthaler: the 1950s. Waltham, Mass.: Rose Art Museum, 1981.
Goosen, E.C. Helen Frankenthaler. New York: Whitney Museum of American Art, 1969.
Rose, Barbara. Frankenthaler. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1971.
Painted on 21st Street: Helen Frankenthaler from 1950 to 1959. New York: Gagosian Gallery, 2013.
Elderfield, John. Frankenthaler. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1989.
King, Jennifer, ed. Vera Lutter: Museum in the Camera. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Munich: DelMonico Books-Prestel, 2020.
The New York School, 1940-1960: The First Generation of Abstract Expressionism. Reno, Nevada: Sierra Nevada Museum of Art, 1979.
Elderfield, John. Frankenthaler: Revised and Expanded Edition. New York: Gagosian, 2024.

Related Unframed

Andell Family Sundays Anytime—The Dogs of LACMA

August 22, 2021
Rosanne Kleinerman