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LOT 202

1928 - 2011
American

Getting Ready II
acrylic and crayon on paper
signed and on verso titled and dated 1983 - 1984 on the gallery label
19 3/4 x 26 in, 50.2 x 66 cm

Estimate: $50,000 - $70,000 CAD

Sold for: $61,250

Preview at: Heffel Toronto – 13 Hazelton Ave

PROVENANCE
Gallery One, Toronto
The Joan Stewart Clarke Collection, Vancouver

LITERATURE
Steve Afif and Helen Frankenthaler, Helen Frankenthaler: Paintings on Paper, 1950s–1980s, Gallery One, 1988, reproduced plate 12, unpaginated

EXHIBITED
Gallery One, Toronto, Helen Frankenthaler: Paintings on Paper, 1950s–1980s, July 14 – August 2, 1988


Helen Frankenthaler was perhaps best known for her pioneering of the “soak stain” method of applying heavily diluted oil paint directly to unprimed canvas to create translucent, delicate effects resembling watercolours. This solidified her status as a pillar among the second generation of Colour Field artists. Frankenthaler was an experimentalist, however, and would frequently vary her methods: she first turned to acrylics in the early 1960s, and she would further utilize drawing, printmaking and woodcuts, reappraising and elevating those media with gestural urgency.

This immediacy is readily seen in Frankenthaler’s works on paper. In Getting Ready II, Frankenthaler demonstrates how her consistency of vision could be expressed in smaller works. A stained background of pink echoes her earlier techniques, while vivid bands of colour are applied in diffused streaks and intentional flows of energy. Clumps of paint are daubed directly on the paper in opaque, chance interruptions. The title evokes the distinct sense that the work is being settled through the act of its making; this work is perhaps better understood as a drawing done with colour, rather than a painting. For Frankenthaler, the process of discovery dissolved the boundaries of traditional painterly abstraction, with stirring results.

For the biography on Joan Stewart Clarke in PDF format please click here.


Estimate: $50,000 - $70,000 CAD

All prices are in Canadian Dollars


Although great care has been taken to ensure the accuracy of the information posted, errors and omissions may occur. All bids are subject to our Terms and Conditions of Business. Bidders must ensure they have satisfied themselves with the condition of the Lot prior to bidding. Condition reports are available upon request.