Gagosian Gallery organized a terrific survey of Helen Frankenthaler's paintings last year, I posted on it here. Not to be outdone the Turner Contemporary in Margate has curated an exhibition of JMW Turner and Helen Frankenthaler!
Emyr Williams reviewed the exhibition for Abstract Critical
This is an eye-catching exhibition pairing the initially curious twosome of JMW Turner and Helen Frankenthaler – separated by over a hundred years but united in their… in their… handling of paint? Response to landscape? Exploration of light? The romantic sublime? According to curator and Turner scholar James Hamilton: it started out as ‘Ten artists and Turner’ and as time passed names began being shed until a final playoff which saw Frankenthaler win through. A sort of painterly X Factor then. Upon consideration though one can see the logic and it was more about a “gut feeling” of two artists that could work rather than an explicit relationship of say, style, theme or geography. Curation by gut feeling – now that is a novelty!
![Making Painting: Helen Frankenthaler and JMW Turner, installation view at Turner Contemporary. Photo Stephen White]()
Emyr Williams reviewed the exhibition for Abstract Critical
This is an eye-catching exhibition pairing the initially curious twosome of JMW Turner and Helen Frankenthaler – separated by over a hundred years but united in their… in their… handling of paint? Response to landscape? Exploration of light? The romantic sublime? According to curator and Turner scholar James Hamilton: it started out as ‘Ten artists and Turner’ and as time passed names began being shed until a final playoff which saw Frankenthaler win through. A sort of painterly X Factor then. Upon consideration though one can see the logic and it was more about a “gut feeling” of two artists that could work rather than an explicit relationship of say, style, theme or geography. Curation by gut feeling – now that is a novelty!
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| Installation view |
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| Installation view |
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Helen Frankenthaler, Overture, 1992©Helen Frankenthaler Foundation, Inc./Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York and DACS, London 2013 |
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Helen Frankenthaler, Hotel Cro-Magnon. Courtesy of Milwaukee Art Museum ©Helen Frankenthaler Foundation, Inc./Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York and DACS, London 2013 |
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Joseph Mallord William Turner, The Evening Star |