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Fierce Poise: Helen Frankenthaler and 1950s New York
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About This Book
A dazzling biography of one of the twentieth-century's most respected painters, Helen Frankenthaler, as she came of age as both an artist and a woman in the vibrant art world of 1950s New York At the dawn of the 1950s, a promising young painter named Helen Frankenthaler, fresh out of college, moved to New York City. By the decade's end, she had succeeded in establishing herself as an important American artist of the postwar period. In the years in between, she made some of the most daring, head-turning paintings of her day and also came into her own as a woman: traveling the world, falling in and out of love, and engaging in an ongoing artistic education. She also experienced anew--and made her mark on--the city in which she had been raised in privilege as the daughter of a judge, even as she left the security of that world to pursue her artistic ambitions. Brought to vivid life by acclaimed art historian Alexander Nemerov, these defining moments--from her first awed encounter with Jackson Pollock's drip paintings to her first solo gallery show to her tumultuous breakup with eminent art critic Clement Greenberg--comprise a portrait as bold and distinctive as the painter herself. Inspired by Pollock and the other male titans of Abstract Expressionism but set on charting her own course, Frankenthaler was an artist whose talent was matched only by her unapologetic determination to distinguish herself in a man's world. Fierce Poise is an exhilarating ride through New York's 1950s art scene and a brilliant portrait of a young artist through the moments that shaped her.
Reviews
"While some may disagree with the author's assumption about audience appreciation of Frankenthaler's oeuvre, this book will appeal to those interested in the developmental years of a 1950s artist, and her creative process."
"Reading this book, I found myself wondering whether Mr."
"The book also greatly enriches our knowledge of a critically important decade in American art."
"[A] vibrant, sympathetic portrait ..."
"His narrative combines an intense infatuation for his subject with his own autobiographical confessions, and the result is a dazzling collage of impressions and interpretations that leaves the reader spellbound ..."
"With reverence and irreverent wit, nimble narration, pertinent art history, and a vibrant cast of characters, Nemerov chronicles the first round in Frankenthaler's extraordinary artistic adventure."
"Nemerov describes the artist's 'radiance' in this moment, but without context the conclusion rings a bit hollow."
"This was a dazzlingly productive era with obvious appeal for the scholar and reader."
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