CORY REYNOLDS | DATE 12/14/2024

A fascinating new study of Helen Frankenthaler & Co.

“Western Dream” (1957) is from Helen Frankenthaler: Painting without Rules—published to accompany the critically acclaimed retrospective on view now at Palazzo Strozzi in Florence. Featuring 150 color reproductions of artworks, ephemera, portraits and documentary photographs, this sweeping overview examines Frankenthaler’s work and life in context of her artistic influences and friendships—including Robert Motherwell, Kenneth Noland, Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko and Anne Truitt. “Friendship is pivotal to this project,” Douglas Dreishpoon writes. “It is another way to see and contextualize Frankenthaler’s own innovations. The painter chose her inner circle carefully, and those fortunate enough to be included were nurtured, feted, and sustained. As friends they visited one another’s studios, attended openings, celebrated successes, and kept up with life events. When tragedy struck, they came together to commiserate. Before fax machines, computers and email, Frankenthaler and her friends wrote to each other, sharing life’s ups and downs through chatty, at times serious, letters, postcards and notes.” These documents add depth to our understanding of Frankenthaler as an artist and a highly connected human being.