On View
Helen Frankenthaler
Late Works, 1990–2003
Through May 23, 2021
New Britain Museum of American Art, Connecticut
nbmaa.org
Marking the first museum presentation dedicated to the late work of Helen Frankenthaler, this exhibition features twenty-two works on paper dating from 1990 to 2003, some measuring more than six feet. Through her invention of the soak-stain technique, Frankenthaler expanded the possibilities of abstract painting while referencing figuration and landscape in unique ways. In later years, her practice continued to evolve through her use of diverse media and processes, as she shifted from painting canvas on the floor to using larger sheets of paper that were laid out on the floor or on tabletops for easier accessibility. The continuity, in terms of content and execution, between the late work (post-1990) and what came before is striking. Graced with memorable encounters, a vast art historical image bank, and technical prowess, the aging artist moved in whatever direction suited her mood and imagination.
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Helen Frankenthaler, Solar Imp, 1995, Helen Frankenthaler Foundation, New York © 2021 Helen Frankenthaler Foundation, Inc./Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photo: Roz Akin
Albert Oehlen: In the Studio
This film by Albert Oehlen, with music by Tim Berresheim, takes us inside the artist’s studio in Switzerland as he works on a new painting.
Now available
Gagosian Quarterly Spring 2021
The Spring 2021 issue of Gagosian Quarterly is now available, featuring Gerhard Richter’s Helen (1963) on its cover.
In Conversation
Albert Oehlen and Mark Godfrey
Albert Oehlen speaks to Mark Godfrey about a recent group of abstract paintings, “academic” art, reversing habits, and questioning rules.
Gerhard Richter
Hans Ulrich Obrist traces the history behind Richter’s Cage paintings and speaks with the artist about their creation.
The Grand Chalet: An interview with Setsuko
On the twentieth anniversary of Balthus’s death, Setsuko gives an intimate tour of the Grand Chalet and reflects on how the 1754 Swiss mountain home enriched their lives as artists.
Work in Progress
Adriana Varejão: In the Studio
Join Adriana Varejão at her studio in Rio de Janeiro as she prepares for her upcoming exhibition at Gagosian in New York. She speaks about the inspirations for her “tile” paintings, from Portuguese azulejos to the Brazilian Baroque to the Talavera ceramic tradition of Mexico, and reveals for the first time her unique process for creating these works.
Compass
A short story by Cleyvis Natera, published here on the occasion of the Quarterly’s collaboration with pen America.
The Art of Biography: Mark Stevens and Annalyn Swan
Mark Stevens and Annalyn Swan, coauthors of the 2005 Pulitzer Prize–winning biography of Willem de Kooning, speak with Michael Cary about the research and revelations that went into their forthcoming biography of Francis Bacon.
On Ming Smith: A Life of Magical Thinking
An interview by Nicola Vassell.
In Conversation
Sir David Adjaye OBE and Zoë Ryan
Architect David Adjaye discusses his archival project Adjaye Africa Architecture: A Photographic Survey of Metropolitan Architecture with Zoë Ryan, Daniel W. Dietrich, II Director of the Institute of Contemporary Art at the University of Pennsylvania. For this decade-long project, published in seven volumes, Adjaye traveled to the capital city of every major African country to photograph the continent’s built environment.
Twombly and the Poets
Anne Boyer, the inaugural winner of the Cy Twombly Award in Poetry, composes a poem in response to Twombly’s Aristaeus Mourning the Loss of His Bees (1973) and introduces a portfolio of the painter’s works accompanied by the poems that inspired them.
A Day in the Life of The Lightning Field
In the first of a two-part feature, John Elderfield recounts his experiences at The Lightning Field (1977), Walter De Maria’s legendary installation in New Mexico. Elderfield considers how this work requires our constantly finding and losing a sense of symmetry and order in shifting perceptions of space, scale, and distance, as the light changes throughout the day.