Bronze Smoke

Artist Helen Frankenthaler (1928 - 2011)

Date1978

MediumColor lithograph

Dimensions25 x 18 7/8 in.

ClassificationsLithograph

Credit LineDavidson & Leventhal Fund and Friends Purchase Fund

Terms

Object number1983.52

DescriptionAlthough oil and acrylic have been the primary media in Frankenthaler's work, she has also worked extensively in woodcut and lithography. Her color lithograph "Bronze Smoke" embodies its name, as Frankenthaler titled it after the fact, as she did with all her works. Lithography uses the viscosity of grease and ink to form an image on stone, which then produces a mirrored impression on paper. For this particular lithograph, she chose light brown paper with barely noticeable hints of red and black. The ink was absorbed into the paper, merging with it to create "accidents." The work is about the relationship of medium to surface, as was the case in her stain paintings. Greenberg noted that the use of this technique allows "the eye to sense the threadedness and wovenness of the fabric underneath. But 'underneath' is the wrong word. The fabric, being soaked in paint rather than merely covered by it, becomes paint in itself, color in itself, like dyed cloth: the threadedness and wovenness are in the color." (4)
The texture of the paper surface shows through in "Bronze Smoke", just as the "threadedness and wovenness" shows through in Frankenthaler's paintings. The stain technique was employed here to create lightly outlined, organic forms that look like coffee stains on the first layer of the print. The second layer, made noticeable by the overlay, is composed of broad, vertical brushstrokes. The imperfections generate intricate details that are reminiscent of a topographical map. There are sections that look like wave marks on sand and, more important, others that look like smoke. The smoky qualities produced by the contrasting dark and light shades of "bronze" are the source of the title. These undeniably beautiful features evoke awe in the viewer. Frankenthaler's conscientious accidents prove yet again to be the preeminent component of her work.

C.J.

NOTES:

4. Quoted in ibid., p. 70.

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