Nature Abhors a Vacuum

1973

Helen Frankenthaler

Painter, American, 1928 - 2011

This nearly abstract painting is created with flowing bands and triangular forms of mostly single colors in caramel brown, pine and spring green, apricot orange, plum purple, or fuchsia, with some bands of unpainted canvas in this horizontal painting. A wide, tan-colored band rises from the lower left corner toward the upper right. There are triangular forms in pumpkin orange to our left and another near the lower right. With the brown band, they recall hills along a valley. Pink, orange, deep purple, and fuchsia are painted in bands in the lower right corner and across the bottom. Above the tan band, a wide swath of spring and dark green may suggest hills beyond, with swirling yellow, black, pink, and blue under a patch of lavender purple that spans the top edge of the canvas, which could be the sky. The painting is signed and dated at the lower right corner, “Frankenthaler ’73.”
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Artwork overview

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

The artist; purchased 1973/1974 by André Emmerich, New York; private collection, Philadelphia; purchased by Audrey and David Mirvish, Toronto; purchased 8 November 2004 through (M. Knoedler & Company, New York) by NGA.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1973

  • Helen Frankenthaler, André Emmerich Gallery, New York, 1973, brochure.

1974

  • Berenice Abbott--Helen Frankenthaler--Tatyana Grosman--Louse Nevelson, Smith College Museum of Art, Northampton, Massachusetts, January-March 1974, no. 22.

  • Twelve American Painters, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, September-October 1974, repro. 33.

  • Exhibition of Work by Newly Elected Members and Recipients of Honors and Awards, National Institute of Arts and Letters, New York, 1974, no. 5.

1975

  • Helen Frankenthaler: Paintings 1969-1974, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; Seattle Art Museum Pavilion; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, 1975, no. 23, color repro.

1986

  • An American Renaissance: Painting and Sculpture Since 1940, Museum of Art, Fort Lauderdale, 1986, unnumbered catalogue, pl. 30.

1989

  • Helen Frankenthaler: A Paintings Retrospective, Museum of Modern Art, New York; Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth; Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Detroit Institute of Arts, 1989-1990, no. 25, color repro.

Bibliography

1973

  • Loercher, Diana. "Has Modern Art Run Out of Ways to Be Abstract?" The Christian Science Monitor (6 December 1973): 30.

  • Von Baron, Judith. "Helen Frankenthaler." Arts Magazine 48 (December 1973): 72.

1974

  • Russell, John. The Meanings of Modern Art. New York, 1974-1975: color repro. 357.

1975

  • Guest, Barbara. "Helen Frankenthaler: The Moment and the Distance." Arts Magazine 49 (April 1975): 59.

  • Holmes, Ann. "Frankenthaler's Canvases Soar with Buoyancy." Houston Chronicle 21 (October 1975): section 1:12.

  • Russell, John. "Art: Helen Frankenthaler at Corcoran." The New York Times (2 May 1975): 20.

1989

  • Elderfield, John. Helen Frankenthaler. New York, 1989: 235, color repro. 212.

  • McGuigan, Cathleen. In Pursuit of Beauty. Newsweek (12 June 1989): 63, repro.

2015

  • "Art for the Nation: The Story of the Patrons' Permanent Fund." National Gallery of Art Bulletin, no. 53 (Fall 2015): 23, repro.

Inscriptions

lower right: Frankenthaler / '73; center left stretcher bar reverse: 103 1/2 x 112 AUG.-73; center right strether bar reverse: AUG-73 103 1/2 x 112 A/C; center stretcher bar reverse: "Nature Abhors a Vacuum"

Wikidata ID

Q20197520

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