My essay: How does Helen Frankenthaler’s ‘Mountains and Sea’ (1952) relate to the context in which it was made?
Helen Frankenthaler’s piece ‘Mountains and Sea’ (1952) abstractly depicts a rocky landscape inspired by her trip to Cape Breton. Frankenthaler was as abstract expressionist artist, who used her own ‘Soak Stain’ technique to create two dimensionality to her work which later inspired Morris Louis and Kenneth Noland who used the same technique. Frankenthaler appears to rendered this piece with no intention to describe the subject but rather to lead with her subconscious mind, a key feature of the Abstract Expressionist movement inspired by Surrealism. Alfred H. Barr Jr said in the exhibition catalogue for ‘The New American Painting’ exhibition that Abstract Expressionists ‘do nothing deliberately in their work to make ‘communication’ easy’. (Unknown, 1958)
Irving Sandler said that Abstract Expressionism was a ‘Triumph of American painting’ (Auping, 1987 pg 10) and America’s most important contribution to the history of art as it began to challenge the European avant garde. It first made its appearance in New York in the 1940s after World War two and the depression. Some said the movement came about when large American art institutions like MoMa joined with the political interests of the CIA and critics like Clement Greenberg, and a series of exhibitions like the ‘The New American painting’ were introduced around Europe during the Cold War. (Florencio, 2016) At this time art was made for a purpose such as advertising or marketing, this was far from the objective of abstract expressionist art which aimed to step away from realism and achieve individual creative freedom.
Helen Frankenthaler influenced the Abstract Expressionist through her notorious ‘Soak Stain’ technique. This developed Colour Field Painting later used by artists Mark Rothko and Clyfford Still. Clement Greenberg named this new form of painting as ‘Post Painterly Abstraction’. (Auping, 1987 pg 11) The ‘Soak Stain’ technique involved pouring thinned down paint onto a unprimed canvas on the floor which stained the weave of the material (National Gallery of Art Podcast, 2016). In ‘Mountains and Sea’ the thinned paint has formed pools on the canvas where Frankenthaler has allowed it to form its own shape without her control, a classic feature of the movement. Frankenthaler embraced this new aesthetic saying ‘there are no rules. That is how art is born, how breakthroughs happen. Go against the rules or ignore the rules. That is what invention is about’ (Frankenthaler, unknown date). Subconscious mark making can be found in the use of biomorphic charcoal lines in ‘Mountain and Sea’ which respond to the organic landscape in Cape Breton. These lines do not appear to follow the curves of the pools of paint on the canvas and seem individual. This spontaneous form of line can also be found in early surrealist work by Joan Miro or Arshile Gorky.
These techniques gave a new look and feel to the surface of the canvas which birthed a radically new spontaneous aesthetic which was fundamental to the development of the movement and a step away from figurism. Similar to Jackson Pollock’s paintings, the subject of Frankenthaler’s work can barely be distinguished, she claimed that when painting she is ‘trying to get at something - I didn’t know what until it was manifest’ (Frankenthaler, unknown date). Similarly, Pollock said that when working on his paintings ‘it is only after a sort of ‘get acquainted’ period that I see what I have been about’ (Auping, 1987 pg 10). Here it can be seen that both artists use an approach to creating work which channels ‘philosophic painting’ and subconsciousness and rejects emotional, mythic or religious content (Tate, 2018). Therefore Frankenthaler’s use of line, form and process relates to the attitude at the time where work was created with no intention of aesthetic outcome.
Abstract Expressionism thrived in America after Franklin Roosevelt’s ‘New Deal’ which was a series of programs aimed to achieve prosperity for Americans. Government funds went towards employing artists who were struggling after the Depression. This was a major help for the development of the movement for male artists. However, women struggled to find opportunities to exhibit their work and they still received criticism from male members of the Cedar Bar and Eighth Street Club. Clement Greenberg supported the movement but still criticised Grace Hartigan after she included figures in her work, brandishing her as ‘not even a painter’ (Marter, 1997 pg 21) and in his essay on Abstract Expressionism written in 1955 he excluded the works of female artists (Anfam, 2016). However, in 1951 the development of the Ninth Street Show allowed some women to exhibit their work annually and in the historical context of the movement women such as Frankenthaler and Joan Mitchell came to the fore.
The abstract expressionist movement received a lot of criticism because it destroyed the conventions of painting, some critics even calling the mark making ‘primitive’. The mark making in ‘Mountains and Sea’ and other paintings by Frankenthaler could be viewed in this way. In 1942, critic Lincoln Kirstein wrote in Harper’s Magazine that painting ‘was now about shapes and strokes instead of figures and portraits’ (Pirollo, 2015). He also argued that ‘what painting lacks today is what bad painting always lacks: adequate intellectual capacity and manual skill’ (Pirollo, 2015). Alternatively, Greenberg hugly supported the movement, claiming that it represented the most ‘advanced’ form of Western art (Florencio, 2016). He believed that the European avant garde could not progress in the same way as the abstract expressionists because Europe was being hindered by tradition. Additionally, Harold Rosenberg coined the term ‘Action Painters’ for artists like Pollock and De Kooning who would splash the paint onto the canvas. He believed that the action of creating art should itself be considered a work of art and this process should be worthy of dialogue. Frankenthaler’s approach to creating a painting from placing her canvas on the floor to moving around its edges pouring the paint can be seen as an entirely creative action and process.
In conclusion Frankenthaler’s piece ‘Mountains and Sea’ reflects its context in many ways. The application of paint and charcoal is reminiscent of the spontaneous attitude to mark making that Abstract Expressionism boasted. Additionally, the performative nature of creating this painting relates to other ‘action painter’ artists at the time. This ties in with the idea that in New York in the 1950s, the purpose of painting was to express the abstract subconscious and as Robert Hobbs said create ‘an aura in their work that would take the viewers away from the contemplation of a painting as an object and evoke the mystery of being’ (Wesleyan University, 2018) and take the first steps away from the European traditional avant garde.
Bibliography:
Anfam, D, (2016) How Abstract Expressionism changed modern art RA Magazine [Online] Available at: https://www.royalacademy.org.uk/article/abstract-expressionism-beyond-the-image
Accessed: 29/10/2018
Auping, M, (1987) Abstract Expressionism Mishawaka, Harry N Abrams Inc
Accessed: 31/10/2018
Barr, Alfred H, (1958). The New American Painting [exhibition catalogue], The international council for the museum of modern art, New York
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Florencio, J, (2016) Abstract Expressionism: How New York overtook Europe to become the epicentre of Western art [Online] Available at: https://theconversation.com/abstract-expressionism-how-new-york-overtook-europe-to-become-the-epicentre-of-western-art-65820
Accessed: 29/10/2018
Marter, J, Chanzit, G, Hobbs, R, Landau, E Landauer, S (1997) Women in Abstract Expressionism Yale University Press
Accessed: 03/11/2018
Pirollo, N (2015) Abstracted an artists journey Unknown publisher
Accessed: 30/10/2018
Shaffer, J, (2018) Helen Frankenthaler artist overview and analysis [Online] Available at: https://www.theartstory.org/artist-frankenthaler-helen.htm
Accessed: 02/11/2018
Tate, (2018) Abstract Expressionism [Online] Available at: https://www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms/a/abstract-expressionism
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Unknown author, (2016) Mountains and Sea, Frankenthaler [Podcast] Available at: https://www.nga.gov/audio-video/audio/collection-highlights-east-building-english/mountains-and-sea-frankenthaler.html
Accessed: 31/10/2018
Unknown author, (2017) Helen Frankenthaler Foundation [Online] Available at: http://www.frankenthalerfoundation.org/helen/biography
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Wesleyan University (2018) Reactions to the rise of Abstract Expressionism [Online] Available at: http://chum338.blogs.wesleyan.edu/reactions-to-the-rise-of-abstract-expressionism/
Accessed:29/10/2018
Image reference:
WikiArt (2018) Mountains and Sea (1952) Helen Frankenthaler, [Online] Available at: https://www.wikiart.org/en/helen-frankenthaler/mountains-and-sea-1962
Accessed: 29/10/2018