“Truth comes when one is totally involved in the act of painting... somehow using everything one knows about painting materials, dreams, and feelings. Consciously and unconsciously, the artist allows what must happen to happen. That act connects you to yourself and gives you hope... The painter makes something magical, spatial, and alive on a surface that is flat and with materials that are inert. That magic is what makes paintings unique and necessary”
E xecuted in 1974, Jovian Atmosphere is a lyrical symphony of jubilant color and magnificent form that marks a series of momentous changes in Helen Frankenthaler’s life. In 1970, Frankenthaler closed her studio on 83rd Street after a decade of working there, and in 1971, after thirteen years of marriage, divorced from the Abstract Expressionist painter Robert Motherwell. Despite these emotionally trying events, Frankenthaler was also riding a wave of professional successes, which can be seen in the bravado of her canvases. The success of her 1969 retrospective at the Whitney Museum in New York carried the artist through these life events, all while pushing her canvases to new heights. Then, in 1972, she was the subject of a major monograph by Barbara Rose, which remains one of the most celebrated publications. Channeling the tumultuous emotions of this period into her work, Frankenthaler’s canvases of the early and mid-1970s have a particularly bold and expressive nature as if nothing could hold her back from creating these expansive waves of color and form. Barbara Rose praised the artist, saying: "In her life as in her art, Frankenthaler has said that she is interested primarily in growth and development...Her paintings are not merely beautiful. They are statements of great intensity and significance about what it is to stay alive, to face crisis and survive, to accept maturity with grace and even joy" (Barbara Rose, Frankenthaler, New York 1972, pp. 105-106).
In the mid-1970s, Frankenthaler refined her painting technique and committed herself to innovation and experimentation in the studio. She stepped away from line and form, moving toward the expansive saturation of paint on the canvas. Having shifted her chosen medium from thinned oil paints to diluted acrylics, Frankenthaler was able to stain her large-scale canvases with veils and floods of color, as opposed to the soak-staining method she had used in the 1950s and early 1960s. Frankenthaler's paintings never aim to depict a particular reality, but instead hold a mirror to the emotional or conceptual impression and experience of one’s surroundings.
The title Jovian Atmosphere may refer loosely to the classification of planets, called jovian planets. These planets, such as Jupiter, are very large in size and are made primarily of gas, which creates the multicolored, visually marbled surfaces that seem completely otherworldly, as if something never seen before. The 1970s was a time of continued space exploration, with new discoveries and milestones being achieved constantly, and inspiring artists including Alma Thomas who named numerous canvases in reference to these discoveries. In fact, the first Jupiter flyby was achieved by NASA in December of 1973, just months before Frankenthaler painted Jovian Atmosphere. The scale, color and expansive composition of Jovian Atmosphere perfectly encapsulates the interstellar space exploration and the infinite possibilities it presented that Frankenthaler would have been exposed to during this period.
Though possessing a captivating energy, Frankenthaler’s canvases ultimately convey an overwhelming sense of ethereal peace. Jovian Atmosphere is no exception. Over thirteen feet in length, this epically scaled painting engulfs the viewer in swathes of warm oranges and cool greens, placing the viewer in a peaceful cosmic space. Although the composition feels ephemeral, it is anchored by the deep orange and red passages along the periphery. Washes of green, teal and beige become intertwined with one another in an effortless manner, mimicking the ephemerality of the atmosphere, whether interstellar or here on earth.
Describing her paintings, Frankenthaler explained, "A line, a color, shapes, spaces, all do one thing for and within themselves, and yet do something else, in relation to everything that is going on within the four sides [of the canvas]. A line is a line, but [also] is a color. . . . It does this here, but that there. The canvas surface is flat and yet the space extends for miles. What a lie, what trickery—how beautiful is the very idea of painting." (Exh. Cat., New York, Gagosian Gallery, Helen Frankenthaler, Line into Color: Color into line 1962-1987) True to this statement and an ode to the infinite beauty of paint handling, artistry and color, Jovian Atmosphere is a masterful example of Frankenthaler's singular style and visual vocabulary.
