HELEN FRANKENTHALER | The Woodcuts

This beautiful book reproduces final editions, working studies, and trial proofs in exacting color for all of the twenty-four woodcuts. 68 color plates in total. Includes "Anatomy of a Woodcut" section, analyzing three woodcut blockings in detail. Formatted in a catalogue raisonne style. Published to coincide with the exhibition "Frankenthaler: The Woodcuts" in 2002.

Dust jacket has sunning/fading to spine. Boards have wear to one corner. Pages are clean and crisp. Near fine book in very good jacket. Very good + overall.

"This publication is the first devoted to Helen Frankenthaler's woodcuts - a body of work that represents a singular achievement by an American painter. Pulished to coincide with an exhibition of these extraordinary prints organized by the Naples Museum of Art, Frankenthaler: The Woodcuts features all editions of the woodcuts she has made to date.

The oldest printmaking technique, the woodcut has experienced a renaissance among American artists. Frankenthaler, winner of a 2001 National Medal of Arts, is one of the most important artists working in the medium today. No other contemporary artist has achieved such painterly results with woodcut, and yet her woodcuts are never simply translations of painting into print. They are, above all, woodcuts, which acknowledge and utilize the properties of the medium to great effect.

Beginning with the delicate East and Beyond (1973), her first woodcut, and concluding with the triptych Madame Buttery (2000), the history of Frankenthaler's woodcuts is traced. Also reproduced are paintings on wood for Madame Butterfy and the series Tales of Genji (1998), inspired by Murasaki Shikibu's classic work and the Japanese ukiyo-e tradi-tion. The working and trial proofs that precede the final editions and the monotype and unique works that follow them are reproduced, as well as the blocks and progressive proofs for several of the prints, which allow the reader to see how they were made.

Internationally celebrated for her role in the development of abstract painting and for her exquisite color-saturated canvases, Frankenthaler holds an established and honored place in contemporary art. Her woodcuts are a landmark in her evolution as an artist and in the evolution of the woodcut medium." - from the dust jacket flap

9.25 x 10.25 inches