From 1984: Abstract expressionist Helen Frankenthaler

In this report originally broadcast on "CBS Sunday Morning" September 16, 1984, correspondent Eugenia Zuckerman met with one of the most important of American post-war painters, Helen Frankenthaler (1928-2011), as she prepared for an exhibition of her abstract expressionist work at the André Emmerich Gallery in New York City, and talked about her artistic process, which she described as "a kind of magic."
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[@carolwilliams7052]

Years back, an artist friend took me to the Los Angeles Temporary Contemporary. Upon entering, one of the 1st pieces I cast my eyes upon was like the size of The Last Supper - - maybe 18' H x 45' W. It looked as if the canvas had been positioned at a slight slant and the "artist" had thrown buckets of paint at it. There were big round & oval splashy globs and some drips running down from each. The colors were primary & jewel tones. After viewing it for a while I said that I didn't understand, that I myself could've made that. My friend was in nirvana and simply said, "Ahhh, but HE did it first." When Michaelangelo was asked how he carved such magnificent statues, he simply said something like "you just chip away everything that is NOT the statue". Artists clearly just think differently - - it's possible that they owe their creativity to an ability (that is better than most) to tap into other dimentions and/or alternate universes.

[@mr.reconstruction3593]

Carol Williams - But this isn’t Christian art, but rather lazy 00Jish $HIT! Yuck!

[@carolwilliams7052]

@@mr.reconstruction3593 - - my comment was intended to depict how many artists just think differently. Who says art has to be Christian, and I don't know what you mean by "00Jish" ???

[@cherylerome-beatty4677]

Mr Recontruction - what kind of stupid statement is that? Christian art???

[@biocykle]

Also - note how that particular painting & experience stuck with you

[@donthepainter480]

Thanks for this rare and insightful interview.

[@jennatamazing]

she is just AWESOME

[@gintonic4201]

Me gusta mucho la pintura abstracta te da esa libertad para pintar lo que se te venga en gana, eso sale de tus emociones mismas...to paint a picture is the same like bring the feelings out .

[@inkblizzard7949]

Your work carves out spaces that reminds of German abstract artist I quite can’t put my finger on it - Greta Elissa or something like it….you remind me of her which is not a bad thing

[@cherylerome-beatty4677]

I think her work was amazing and am surprised at the negative statements I'm reading. However, I realize that these statements are not meant for just H Frankenthaler but any abstract artist. I'm not sure why these people even watched this video as they seem to think art must be "Christian" or representational in order to not be "junk". Please stay off the feed if you aren't interested in understanding the artist.

[@khambrelgreen]

AMEN

[@tonyfubu]

I think people watch because they were curious and open to persuasion... and yet many (as you can see) remain unconvinced and unmoved

[@jaiiskii2262]

Facts

[@mytinplaterailway]

I think she was a great artist, but I don't think this was close to her best work - in the show at the start.

[@heroncabo3756]

Boa noite 🙏🏻🙏🙏🕊️🇧🇷 abençoado por Deus 🙏🕊️🙏 parabéns ok

[@KpxUrz5745]

I have considered the well-known artists of her period for decades, and must conclude that Frankenthaler is one of the least interesting of the group. Her paintings are mildly decorative, but I do not see meaningful form, composition, or content. If I were acquiring abstract paintings, or advising on such acquisitions, I would reserve the funds for more substantial works of art.

[@davemenard5089]

Your comments are so elegantly formed they are almost art

[@reallybigsaladbowl]

Which artists would you prefer?

[@KpxUrz5745]

@@reallybigsaladbowl Arshile Gorky, deKooning, Picasso, Motherwell, and a bit earlier: Mondrian.

[@oltedders]

Judging by what is shown here, Frankenthaler is a 3rd tier voice in the modern movement. This is not world-class art.

[@heroncabo3756]

Aí e uma galerias de exposições....eu gostaria de fazer minha exposições ..no país ok.abraco agradeço pela atenção okok

[@geostk3659]

great decoration art

[@bille77]

What a haughty-daughty dame.

[@rayemartineau8644]

❤☝🌹🌈👀 5/31/22

[@joeswampdawghenry]

I am the greatest living artist in the world..

[@yuandi8129]

She is looking for shortcuts... and she found it !

[@struckfire-de7or]

My two-year-old could do better than this lady at Art. Also I cannot stand how she talks like she's supreme god of all art. Being lazy and terrible as she is. I cannot stand people like this

[@davidmayhew8083]

She was NOT an abstract expressionist!!! She was a color field painter!

[@biocykle]

Lots of overlap

[@bille77]

Such a priggish madam.

[@joeswampdawghenry]

Helen... Call daddy

[@edyann]

Lovely but I have to admit- never understood abstract painting. :/

[@rachelsstudiodotcom]

Do you paint? If you ever try to do one, maybe you will see the allure. It's pure artistic creation without having to be hobbled by reality and its rules. You can just play with color, design, dimension, line, and form with abandon. It's a high.

[@gigi-qh2dz]

a lot of people who aren’t in to art don’t understand abstract, it’s more about the emotion that it holds or gives off.

[@epictetus9221]

Pure beauty

[@pbspbs4882]

Chiming in 2 years too late, finding it lovely is understanding it, in my opinion. It is like a good poem it opens the door into another world forever captured within the picture and the individual perciving it and some of those worlds maybe only can be understood on an emotional level.

[@anodyne57]

Do you understand nature? The shimmery way the beach looks...of the sand after a wave has washed over it, or the shadows creeping over trees in a forest, and jagged peaks of mountains separating the trees from the sky?This is all abstract. Abstract painters remove the words from that experience...no mountain, beach, wave, or sky...but the shapes, the textures, the light and shadow of it all. This is abstract art at its heart.

[@skvdm6808]

The Emperor’s New Clothes.... perhaps

[@ellenhair]

Each to their own - some of us get it. Appreciate what you appreciate 😢

[@eek412]

Or a cold war psyop

[@jinxmas]

Some of her work is skeptical. I can understand the art. But not everything is genius.

[@epictetus9221]

Skeptical work then

[@jeffreyolson2139]

It doesn't have to be. The important thing is does it move you or create an emotional response? The word genius is often overused &, of course, subjective.

[@biocykle]

Where did you get the notion that art is _supposed_ to be "genius"?

[@jmlfa]

Recognition came early... Thank you daddy.

[@oltedders]

Obviously NOT a high point in her artistic career.

[@ricardobenavides4114]

Otro fraude en el mundo del arte!

[@hattorihanzo8385]

Celebration of mediocrity.

[@karllieck9064]

Awful. Just awful.

[@MaineOffGrid.]

Trash