Attributed to Helen Frankenthaler, no coa, private collection, medium: oil measurements: 30"wx40"h no frame, mint condition Biography: Helen Frankenthaler was an American abstract expressionist painter. She was a major contributor to the history of postwar American painting. Having exhibited her work for over six decades, she spanned several generations of abstract painters while continuing to produce vital and ever-changing new work. Active as a painter for nearly six decades, Frankenthaler passed through many phases and stylistic shifts.Initially associated with abstract expressionism because of her focus on forms latent in nature, Frankenthaler is identified with the use of fluid shapes, abstract masses, and lyrical gestures.She made use of large formats on which she painted, generally, simplified abstract compositions.Her style is notable in its emphasis on spontaneity, as Frankenthaler herself stated, "A really good picture looks as if it's happened at once."Frankenthaler's official artistic career was launched in 1952 with the exhibition of Mountains and Sea.Throughout the 1950s, her works tended to be centered compositions.In 1957, Frankenthaler began to experiment with linear shapes and more organic, sun-like, rounded forms.In the 1960s, her style shifted towards the exploration of symmetrical paintings, as she began to place strips of colors near the edges of her paintings. Her style grew to be more simplified.She began to make use of single stains and blots of solid color against white backgrounds, often in the form of geometric shapes. Beginning in 1963, Frankenthaler began to use acrylic paints rather than oil paints because they allowed for both opacity and sharpness when put on the canvas.