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Helen Frankenthaler, 'Freefall', 1993 (Radical Beauty exhibition)

 


The eye-opening exhibition of woodcuts by artist Helen Frankenthaler at Dulwich Picture Gallery from 15 Sept 2021-18 April 2022 encouraged a closer look by the eye at this often neglected medium. Obvious images that come to mind from the word 'woodcut' might be associated with Albrecht Durer or the works of the German Expressionists. But Frankenthaler goes a stage further, giving her woodcuts a radical yet beautiful twist, as the title of the exhibition so aptly described.

Right at the start of the exhibition, the eye is engulfed by Freefall. Already the name of the piece resonates with an amateur studying woodcuts; the viewer plunges themselves into the abyss of this relatively underexplored medium, freefalling into the mind of the artist herself. The title also implies a freedom of expression. As a prominent second generation Abstract Expressionist and pioneer of the colour-field painting technique, Frankenthaler's better-known paintings tend to evoke a feeling rather than representing a rational object or concept. Freefall is just the same, not obviously representing anything. This, coupled with the lack of obvious finish to the piece, with edges that are not symmetrical, makes viewing these woodcuts a personal experience.

But the exact processes behind Frankenthaler's works are difficult for the amateur to grasp. Frankenthaler had a large team of people working with her; woodblock cutters, artists working on initial designs as well as on the many proofs before the final product. This may be a personal experience for the viewer, but the complex processes make us question whether this was an equally personal experience for Frankenthaler, and whether the automatism of Abstract Expressionsim has been lost in the meticulous making processes. Freefall is a twelve-coloured woodcut made from twenty-one woodblocks on hand dyed paper. The sheer time and effort taken to create the final Freefall displayed in the exhibition is almost impossible for the viewer to digest. Nevertheless, it shows the artist's skill, and it elevates the medium of woodcut from traditional beliefs of it being a 'primitive' and limited medium.

Freefall is big, immediately instilling a feeling of massiveness and monumentality at the start of the exhibition. Placed on the centre of a stark white wall, the rich, ultramarine blue surrounds the viewer, engulfing them and bringing them right into the heart of the exhibition space, enveloped into the world of woodcut. The exhibition as a whole continues to be just as immersive as this first woodcut that is displayed, furthering the suggestion of careful planning in making the space and placement of Frankenthaler's works complement each other. But the ultramarine blue of Freefall is not without its imperfections. Upon closer inspection, the grain of wood is visible which brings a tangibility to the piece, a suggestion of the artist's hand. There are streaks and lines breaking up the cool sea of blue, disrupting the rhythms of this colour. At the bottom of the woodblock the eye is startled by a sudden line of bright yellow, at odds to the central theme of blue. What does the line represent? Or more importantly, how does the yellow line make the viewer feel? Perhaps this is some sort of landscape, bringing the viewer back to reality. You cannot be in freefall forever. 

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