Helen Frankenthaler: Un Poco Más (A Little More)

Helen Frankenthaler, Weeping Crabapple, 2009. Woodcut on paper, artist’s proof 2/12, 25 1/2 × 37 3/8 inches (64.77 × 94.93 cm). Collection of the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University. Gift of the Helen Frankenthaler Foundation, 2019.27.18. © Helen Frankenthaler Foundation, Inc. — Helen Frankenthaler, *Weeping Crabapple*, 2009. Woodcut on paper, artist’s proof 2/12, 25 1/2 × 37 3/8 inches (64.77 × 94.93 cm). Collection of the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University. Gift of the Helen Frankenthaler Foundation, 2019.27.18. © Helen Frankenthaler Foundation, Inc.

Helen Frankenthaler (1928–2011) is most known for her bold, colorful abstract paintings. Raised in New York City, she was a trailblazer in Abstract Expressionism, an art movement initiated in the late 1940s that emphasized spontaneous, expressive, large-scale painting. Armed with commercial paints and housepainters’ brushes, Frankenthaler and her contemporaries rebelled against restrictive political and artistic norms by using techniques considered revolutionary for the time.

Frankenthaler was one of the few women artists within the male-dominated art scene and became especially renowned for her drive for experimentation throughout the six decades of her career. In the 1960s, she began to pursue printmaking, a medium that similarly allowed for great experimentation and one in which she would work for the next fifty years. Each print in this exhibition was made at a different studio and with a distinct technique, chronicling Frankenthaler’s varied methods and the numerous printmakers with whom she collaborated.

Helen Frankenthaler: Un Poco Más (A Little More) champions the significance of printmaking within Frankenthaler’s artistic practice. It explores the cooperative, exploratory process through which the artist worked and highlights the six proofs (test prints) and final edition print of Un Poco Más (1987), completed during a period of time the artist spent in Barcelona, Spain. Un Poco Más, as both work and exhibition, invites viewers to imagine the lively and dynamic conversations between Frankenthaler and the printmakers with whom she partnered as they shared techniques and encouraged themselves to give “a little more” to reach their artistic visions.

These are the first works by Frankenthaler to enter the Nasher Museum’s collection and were a recent gift from the artist’s foundation.

This exhibition is co-organized by four undergraduate students in the Curatorial Practicum: Exhibition Development and Design course in the Museum Theory & Practice Concentration, taught by Ellen C. Raimond, Assistant Curator of Academic Initiatives at the Nasher Museum. The student co-curators are Claire Hutchinson ’22, Alana Hyman ’22, Tristan Kelleher ’22, and Andrew Witte ’22.

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This project is supported by the Helen Frankenthaler Foundation.

Helen Frankenthaler, A Little Zen, 1970. Pochoir and screenprint on paper, trial proof H/C 3/6, 22 1/8 × 30 7/8 inches (56.2 × 78.42 cm). Collection of the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University. Gift of the Helen Frankenthaler Foundation, 2019.27.2. © Helen Frankenthaler Foundation, Inc.
Helen Frankenthaler, Altitudes, 1978. Lithograph on paper, edition 3/42, 22 1/2 × 30 1/2 inches (57.15 × 77.47 cm). Collection of the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University. Gift of the Helen Frankenthaler Foundation, 2019.27.4. © Helen Frankenthaler Foundation, Inc.
Helen Frankenthaler, Bay Area Wednesday I, 1982. Monotype on paper, 25 × 30 1/2 inches (63.5 × 77.47 cm). Collection of the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University. Gift of the Helen Frankenthaler Foundation, 2019.27.5. © Helen Frankenthaler Foundation, Inc.
Helen Frankenthaler, Ganymede, 1978. Soft ground and sugar lift etching and aquatint on paper, artist’s proof 4/12, 22 1/2 × 16 1/2 inches (57.15 × 41.91 cm). Collection of the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University. Gift of the Helen Frankenthaler Foundation, 2019.27.3. © Helen Frankenthaler Foundation, Inc.
Helen Frankenthaler, Guadalupe, 1989. Mixografia print on paper, edition 13/74, 69 × 45 inches (175.26 × 114.3 cm). Collection of the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University. Gift of the Helen Frankenthaler Foundation, 2019.27.16. © Helen Frankenthaler Foundation, Inc.
Helen Frankenthaler, Tout-à-coup (All-at-once), 1987. Etching, aquatint, and drypoint on paper; edition 7/46; 87 3/4 × 41 3/4 inches (222.89 × 106.05 cm). Collection of the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University. Gift of the Helen Frankenthaler Foundation, 2019.27.6. © Helen Frankenthaler Foundation, Inc.
Helen Frankenthaler, Un Poco Más (A Little More), 1987. Lithograph on paper, edition 13/60, 27 1/4 × 37 1/8 inches (69.22 × 94.3 cm). Collection of the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University. Gift of the Helen Frankenthaler Foundation, 2019.27.7. © Helen Frankenthaler Foundation, Inc.
Helen Frankenthaler, Un Poco Más (A Little More), 1987. Lithograph, graphite, and crayon on paper, working proof 1/5, 27 × 39 1/4 inches (68.58 × 99.7 cm). Collection of the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University. Gift of the Helen Frankenthaler Foundation, 2019.27.11. © Helen Frankenthaler Foundation, Inc.
Helen Frankenthaler, Un Poco Más (A Little More), 1987. Lithograph on paper, working proof 2/5, 27 1/2 × 39 1/4 inches (69.85 × 99.7 cm). Collection of the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University. Gift of the Helen Frankenthaler Foundation, 2019.27.12. © Helen Frankenthaler Foundation, Inc.
Helen Frankenthaler, Un Poco Más (A Little More), 1987. Lithograph and pastel on paper, working proof 3/5, 27 1/2 × 39 1/4 inches (69.85 × 99.7 cm). Collection of the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University. Gift of the Helen Frankenthaler Foundation, 2019.27.13. © Helen Frankenthaler Foundation, Inc.
Helen Frankenthaler, Un Poco Más (A Little More), 1987. Lithograph, pastel, color pencil, and Scotch tape on paper, working proof 4/5, 33 1/2 × 37 1/2 inches (85.09 × 95.25 cm). Collection of the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University. Gift of the Helen Frankenthaler Foundation, 2019.27.14. © Helen Frankenthaler Foundation, Inc.
Helen Frankenthaler, Un Poco Más (A Little More), 1987. Lithograph on paper, working proof 5/5, 27 × 37 inches (68.58 × 93.98 cm). Collection of the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University. Gift of the Helen Frankenthaler Foundation, 2019.27.15. © Helen Frankenthaler Foundation, Inc.
Helen Frankenthaler, Untitled, 1967. Screenprint on paper, edition 92/100, 25 3/4 × 18 inches (65.41 × 45.72 cm). Collection of the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University. Gift of the Helen Frankenthaler Foundation, 2019.27.1. © Helen Frankenthaler Foundation, Inc.
Helen Frankenthaler, Weeping Crabapple, 2009. Woodcut on paper, artist’s proof 2/12, 25 1/2 × 37 3/8 inches (64.77 × 94.93 cm). Collection of the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University. Gift of the Helen Frankenthaler Foundation, 2019.27.18. © Helen Frankenthaler Foundation, Inc.
Selected Works

Helen Frankenthaler working on Venice II (1969-72) with Bill Goldston at Universal Limited Art Editions (ULAE), West Islip, NY, March 1972. Helen Frankenthaler Foundation Archives, New York. © Edward Olecksak.