“Every Picture Somewhat of an Experiment”: Helen Frankenthaler Prints
Friday, July 24, 2026, All Day; additional 29 dates below.
By the age of thirty-two, Helen Frankenthaler (1928—2011) had established herself in a white male-dominated art world as one of the leading American Abstract Expressionist painters of the twentieth century. Her distinctive “soak-stain” technique—applying thinned paint onto unprimed canvases on the floor to produce watercolor-like effects—introduced chance as an integral part of her artistic process. Printmaking, a technical process involving chemistry, collaboration, and repetition, might appear at odds with the spontaneity and physicality of her painting.
Beginning in 1961 through the 2000s, Frankenthaler made more than three hundred print editions, experimenting with etching, lithography, silkscreen, woodcut, and more. In collaboration with workshops including Universal Limited Art Editions, 2RC, Tyler Graphics, Ediciones Polígrafa, and Garner Tullis—each represented in this exhibition—she translated her painterly concerns into print, in her words, “with new materials.” Over the course of her decades-long explorations in print, she distinguished herself not only as one of the few Abstract Expressionists to deeply engage the print medium, but also as an artist who innovated across painting and printmaking, pushing both in new directions.
In 2023, the Henry received a transformative gift of prints and proofs through the Helen Frankenthaler Foundation’s Prints Initiative. Now on view at the Henry for the first time, these works trace the arc of Frankenthaler’s print career from early experiments to later technical innovations. Collectively, they highlight the collaborative ethos of printmaking as a creative practice while revealing how Frankenthaler reimagined the possibilities of both mediums to forge new dialogues.
Two recent works by Analia Saban (b. 1980, Buenos Aires; lives and works in Los Angeles) extend Frankenthaler’s experiments into the present. Saban’s multidisciplinary practice explores how emerging technologies relate to traditional histories of art, sharing with Frankenthaler’s work a commitment to materiality, abstraction, and reconfiguring what a painting—or a print—is.
Upcoming Dates
All Day
- Fri, Jul 24, 2026
- Mon, Jul 27, 2026
- Tue, Jul 28, 2026
- Wed, Jul 29, 2026
- Thu, Jul 30, 2026
- Fri, Jul 31, 2026
- Mon, Aug 3, 2026
- Tue, Aug 4, 2026
- Wed, Aug 5, 2026
- Thu, Aug 6, 2026
- Fri, Aug 7, 2026
- Mon, Aug 10, 2026
- Tue, Aug 11, 2026
- Wed, Aug 12, 2026
- Thu, Aug 13, 2026
- Fri, Aug 14, 2026
- Mon, Aug 17, 2026
- Tue, Aug 18, 2026
- Wed, Aug 19, 2026
- Thu, Aug 20, 2026
- Fri, Aug 21, 2026
- Mon, Aug 24, 2026
- Tue, Aug 25, 2026
- Wed, Aug 26, 2026
- Thu, Aug 27, 2026
- Fri, Aug 28, 2026
- Mon, Aug 31, 2026
- Tue, Sep 1, 2026
- Wed, Sep 2, 2026
- Thu, Sep 3, 2026
- …and 166 more
Hours
Thu: 10 AM – 7 PM
Fri – Sun: 10 AM – 5 PM
Mon – Weds: Closed
The last entry to the museum is 30 minutes before closing.
The Henry is closed on:
Juneteenth
Independence Day
Labor Day
Veteran's Day
Thanksgiving Day
Christmas Day
New Year's Day
The Henry closes at 3 PM on:
Christmas Eve
New Year's Eve