Helen Frankenthaler

Helen Frankenthaler (1928-2011) is an American abstract expressionist painter who was born in 1928. Her work was influenced by Jackson Pollock, Clement Greenberg, and Hans Hoffman. She studied under Rufino Tamayo at Bennington College in Vermont. Her work has spanned the length of five decades and has exhibited shows since the 1950s.  Frankenthaler was able to create the effects of watercolor but using oils to do so. She would dilute the oils with turpentine and would paint directly on an unprepared canvas so the material would soak up all the color. This technique, known as “soak-stain,” was adopted by other artists as well. These artists were known as the Color Field artists.