Pompeii

Inscriptions

Signed and dated, in graphite, lower right: Frankenthaler/'76; inscribed, in graphite, lower left: 35/42

Label

This lyrical, abstract work features lines of varying densities that seem to divide the paper into different zones. Various scuffs and rubbings disrupt the flow and give us a sense of the artist’s hand—literally, in the upper center, as she used her fingers as well as a brush to manipulate the colors. The print’s title likely stems from “Pompeii tint,” a burnt sienna from Tuscany that was one of the five different inks she used to create the print. A gestural meditation on pinks, reds, orange, and violet, Pompeii could also evoke an aged wall from Herculaneum, the ancient Roman city destroyed by a volcanic eruption in 79 CE whose ruins were protected by the layer of ash that covered them.

From the 2024 exhibition Immersive Worlds: Real and Imagined, curated by Amelia Kahl, Barbara C. & Harvey P. Hood 1918 Senior Curator of Academic Programming and Neely McNulty, Hood Foundation Curator of Education

Course History

Art History 7.05, Pompeii: Antique & Modern, Ada Cohen - OPEN HOURS, Winter 2023

Art History 7.05, Pompeii: Antique & Modern, Ada Cohen - OPEN HOURS, Winter 2023

Art History 7.05, Pompeii: Antique & Modern, Ada Cohen - OPEN HOURS, Winter 2023

Exhibition History

Contemporary American Graphics, Lower Jewett Corridor, Hopkins Center Art Galleries, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, June 3-September 5, 1977.

Immersive Worlds: Real and Imagined, Churchill P. Lathrop Gallery, William B. Jaffe and Evelyn A. Jaffe Hall Galleries, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, October 2-December 15, 2024.

The Image Impressed, Lower Jewett Corridor, Hopkins Center Art Galleries, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, January 25-July 31, 1985.

Provenance

The Struve Gallery, Chicago, Illinois; sold to present collection, 1977.

Catalogue Raisonne

Helen Frankenthaler Prints: 1961-1979, New York: Harper & Row, Publishers, no. 57.

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Subjects