PITTURA/PANORAMA—PAINTINGS BY HELEN FRANKENTHALER, 1952–1992—an exhibition at Palazzo Grimani—is the first presentation of her work in Venice since the 33rd Biennale in 1966.
Curated by John Elderfield, the show features fourteen works and “focuses on the artist’s development of the pittura (painting) and the panorama: the interplay between works like easel paintings, although made on the floor, and large, horizontal paintings that open onto shallow but expansive spaces, in the way that panoramas do.”*
“There are no rules. I’d rather risk an ugly surprise than rely on things I know I can do. Art has a will of its own. You have to know how to use the accident, how to recognize it, how to control it, and ways to eliminate it so that the whole surface looks felt and born all at once.” — Helen Frankenthaler
PITTURA/PANORAMA—PAINTINGS BY HELEN FRANKENTHALER, 1952–1992*
Through November 17.
Palazzo Grimani
Ramo Grimani 4858, Venice.
From top: Helen Frankenthaler, Riverhead, 1963, acrylic on canvas; Frankenthaler (center) in Venice in 1966 for the 33rd Biennale; Helen Frankenthaler, Maelstrom, 1992, acrylic on canvas; Helen Frankenthaler, For E.M., 1981, acrylic on canvas (“E.M.” is Édouard Manet); Frankenthaler pouring paint—her “soak-stain” technique—onto a large unprimed canvas, photographs by Ernest Haas (2): images from the exhibition catalog Pittura/Panorama: Paintings by Helen Frankenthaler, 1952–1992, published by Gagosian, 2019 (3); Helen Frankenthaler, Open Wall, 1953, oil on unsized, unprimed canvas; Frankenthaler in her studio at Third Avenue and East 94th Street, New York City, with Mediterranean Thoughts (1960, in progress, left) and Figure with Thoughts (1960, in progress, center), March 1960, photograph by Tony Vaccaro. Images of Frankenthaler works were photographed by Rob McKeever and are courtesy and © the Helen Frankenthaler Foundation, Inc., Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York, and Gagosian, 2019.
