Since 1963, line drawing had disappeared from Helen Frankenthaler’s paintings, though it remained a central part of her artistic practice. In 1965, she explained to a group of students: ‘I do very much believe in drawing, especially when it doesn’t show as drawing.’[1] In the early 1970s, her approach to line fundamentally changed, re-emerging as an independent means of expression alongside painting. In works like Yearning (1973) and The Road to Messina (1971), the drawn line is consciously set in contrast to the colour fields. Drawing no longer serves to outline the painted areas, but instead opens up new possibilities for capturing and energising the colour.
Helen Frankenthaler (1928–2011)
Yearning, 1973
Currently exhibited: Yes (Helen Frankenthaler: Move and Make)
Material: Acrylic paint on canvas
Size: 206 x 244.3 cm
Inv-Nr.: B_387
Image rights: VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn; Copyright: Helen Frankenthaler Foundation, New York
Keywords:
Previous owner: André Emmerich Gallery, New York; Previous owner: Private collection, New Orleans; Sale: Sotheby´s, 18.05.2000, New York
Acquisition: Reinhard Ernst Collection, 2017
[1] Helen Frankenthaler, Hunter College, New York City, 28 April 1965, quoted in Douglas Dreishpoon, ‘It’s a matter of how you resolve your doubts’, in Giving Up One’s Mark: Helen Frankenthaler in the 1960s and 1970s, exh. cat., Albright-Knox Art Gallery Buffalo, New York 2014, pp. 3–25, here p. 6.
