Phillips To Showcase Works By Helen Frankenthaler

Phillips is pleased to announce “Helen Frankenthaler: Paintings, 1973-1981,” an exhibition dedicated to the work of Helen Frankenthaler in the auction house’s recently-opened Southampton outpost. On view from September 17 to October 4, the exhibition will showcase a selection of works that are available for private sale alongside a major highlight from Phillips’ “November Evening Sale of 20th Century & Contemporary Art.”

Robert Manley, Phillips’ Co-Head of 20th Century & Contemporary Art, said, “Our Southampton location, which opened just last month, has already seen an outpouring of enthusiasm from the community, and we are very much looking forward to hosting our first thematic exhibition in the space, ‘Helen Frankenthaler: Paintings, 1973-1981.’ Helen Frankenthaler is among the most significant masters of post-war abstraction, whose influence over the 20th century art historical canon cannot be overstated.”

During her lifetime, Frankenthaler created brilliantly evocative paintings that reinterpreted her personal experiences and memories in a unique visual language. In 1952 at only 23 years old, she pioneered her revolutionary “soak-stain” technique of pouring thinned-down paint onto unprimed canvas, which opened the door to the Color Field paintings of Morris Louis, Kenneth Noland, and Jules Olitski — expanding the possibilities of abstraction for generations of artists.

On view alongside the Frankethaler show is the recently announced star lot from Phillips’ October Evening Sale of 20th Century & Contemporary Art — Georg Baselitz’s monumental “Das letzte Selbstbildnis I (The last self-portrait I).” This large-scale canvas comes directly from the renowned Collection of Marcel Brient, Paris, where it has been for 20 years. Painted in 1982, the painting will be on view in Southampton from September 17-21, before traveling to Paris from September 29 to October 5, and finally to London for viewing before the auction.