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Take Off

1956
Not on view
After seeing a show of Jackson Pollock’s recent work in New York in 1950, Frankenthaler worked to extend Pollock’s drip-and-pour method to include large collagelike forms of color. The year after she made this picture, Frankenthaler commented "I am involved in making pictures 'hold' an explosive gesture, something that is moving in and out of landscapelike depths but lies flat in local areas—intact but not confined . . . "

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Take Off
  • Artist: Helen Frankenthaler (American, New York 1928–2011 Darien, Connecticut)
  • Date: 1956
  • Medium: Oil and enamel on canvas
  • Dimensions: 54 3/4 × 25 in. (139.1 × 63.5 cm)
  • Classification: Paintings
  • Credit Line: The Muriel Kallis Steinberg Newman Collection, Gift of Muriel Kallis Newman, 2006
  • Object Number: 2006.32.17
  • Rights and Reproduction: © 2026 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
  • Curatorial Department: Modern and Contemporary Art

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