Frankenthaler woodcuts & 3 favourites from the permanent collection at Dulwich Picture Gallery
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So much admiration for Frankenthaler. Woodcuts do not disappoint. Central to her ethos is ‘no rules’ – experimentation and respect for the unexpected are key to her process, she is at play, a very attentive play.
The framing spec however is shocking with glazing that’s highly reflective. I was hoping for a good catalogue, another disappointment as it’s an odd overdesigned thingee of strange proportions and the image reproduction is incredibly dull.
Regardless, I am interested in how she works with colour and form – noted the organised layout of ink options in the video of her printmaking – (make things easy for ourselves with clarity). There’s a great deal of life and interplay and energy in her abstraction. I’m attracted to the freedom in the expression, her daring. 20th century American confidence? I’ve noticed before that her titles will reference myth, she doesn’t shy away from narrative in her work despite it being abstract – that’s perhaps a more manly thing to do, to proclaim you have invented it all.
/ Above are my photos demonstrating the hellish glazing, below are from Dulwich Picture Gallery:
Then walked through permanent collection as I enjoy it, know it pretty well from multiple trips when I lived much closer…a few old favourites:
Venetia Digby just moments after her death…that faded flower, her husband has Van Dyke, a close personal friend, paint a last portrait of his beloved just after he finds her dead in her bed. Apparently they had a legendary love of one another. There’s a historical novel/biography, Viper Wine, I enjoyed about Venetia written by someone who was inspired to write her story after seeing this painting. It was taking concoctions to preserve her beauty that ultimately poisoned and killed her. Ironic was to anti-age, and here her beauty is everlasting in this painting of her deathbed.
How beautiful is he in red and blue with golden skin? The tiny buildings in the background, his strands of hair and the loose painting of the tunic details. I just love this painting, the simplicity of the composition is gorgeous but even more so in the context of the rest of the collection which features a lot of theatre like Baroque compositions with lots and lots of action and actors.
There was some confusion about who painted this, for a time it was attributed to Leonardo da Vinci, now it is attributed to Piero di Cosimo. Whoever did it…thanks, it’s stunning.
The composition and use of colour in the piece makes me think it’s an old cousin to Frankenthaler ~ the artists have shared impulses & intuitions around use of colour.
Joan Alleyn. Black was expensive back then, she rocked it. Those sleeves. This painting makes me want to time travel. Another brilliant composition that’s impactful and non-fussy but rich with the juicy details.
A few reference links:
