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Lot Essay
Helen Frankenthaler's broad sweeps of color in White Makes Four reflects her desire to take the style of her abstract expressionist forebears and free it from the egocentric gestures that dominated the work of her male counterparts. With the passages of green, burnt sienna, black and bright white pigment that have been soaked into the very surface of the canvas, Frankenthaler seeks to create her personal vision of the dynamics of nature. White Makes Four is an outwardly simple composition in which Frankenthaler demonstrates her innate ability to absorb influences, yet remaining true to her own vision. This present lot shows the influence of Jackson Pollock's drips and splashes (in the upper right), as well as the big brush painterly passages favored by de Kooning, but has the unerring color sense and touch that is uniquely her own. Beautifully balanced, the four elements that congregate around the edges of the canvas are resolutely abstract, yet succeed in evoking a liberating sense of openness and nature.
White Makes Four was painted during a period when the artist was on the verge of profound change, both artistically and in terms of her critical reception. In 1969 she was celebrated in an impressive retrospective at the Whitney Museum in New York. Then, in 1972, she was the subject of a major monograph by Barbara Rose. That study justly praises Frankenthaler's achievements: "In her life as in her art, Frankenthaler has said that she is interested primarily in growth and development. Throughout her career, she has been faithful to these principles. As one traces the course of her work, one sees a steady maturation and an unwillingness to rest with any solution -- no matter how successful. Coupled with this resistance to the facile is an iron-willed determination to face and confront the issues of the moment. Courage and staying power are rare in any age. In our own, Frankenthaler's combination of these qualities is an incalculable asset not only to American art but to the future of painting in general. Her paintings are not merely beautiful. They are statements of great intensity and significance about what it is to stay alive, to face crisis and survive, to accept maturity with grace and even joy" (B. Rose, Frankenthaler, New York, 1972, p. 105-6).
White Makes Four was painted during a period when the artist was on the verge of profound change, both artistically and in terms of her critical reception. In 1969 she was celebrated in an impressive retrospective at the Whitney Museum in New York. Then, in 1972, she was the subject of a major monograph by Barbara Rose. That study justly praises Frankenthaler's achievements: "In her life as in her art, Frankenthaler has said that she is interested primarily in growth and development. Throughout her career, she has been faithful to these principles. As one traces the course of her work, one sees a steady maturation and an unwillingness to rest with any solution -- no matter how successful. Coupled with this resistance to the facile is an iron-willed determination to face and confront the issues of the moment. Courage and staying power are rare in any age. In our own, Frankenthaler's combination of these qualities is an incalculable asset not only to American art but to the future of painting in general. Her paintings are not merely beautiful. They are statements of great intensity and significance about what it is to stay alive, to face crisis and survive, to accept maturity with grace and even joy" (B. Rose, Frankenthaler, New York, 1972, p. 105-6).