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Yellow Span

1968
Not on view
Frankenthaler is celebrated for her "soak-stain" paintings, whose aesthetic she translated for prints such as Yellow Span, her first intaglio work. Rather than incise the printing plate with an etching needle, she used aquatint, a method that allowed her to paint a sugar solution on the plate’s surface and create the sheer stains and layered washes of color she was known for. Undulating forms seem suspended in space, mirroring the gravity-defying stains Frankenthaler made in her paintings by working with the canvas on the floor. This print shows Frankenthaler’s mastery of color. It is dominated by a vibrant yellow that floats atop billowing waves of blue, green, and orange. Traces of white from the paper support provide a thin outline for the colored forms, preventing them from bleeding into each other.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Yellow Span
  • Artist: Helen Frankenthaler (American, New York 1928–2011 Darien, Connecticut)
  • Publisher: Universal Limited Art Editions
  • Date: 1968
  • Medium: Sugar-lift aquatint
  • Dimensions: sheet: 19 13/16 x 26 1/8 in. (50.3 x 66.4 cm)
    plate: 13 7/8 x 18 11/16 in. (35.2 x 47.4 cm)
  • Classification: Prints
  • Credit Line: John B. Turner Fund, 1970
  • Object Number: 69.610.1
  • Rights and Reproduction: © 2025 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
  • Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

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