Screenprint and offset lithograph in colours, 1990, on wove paper, signed in pencil, numbered from the edition of 72 (there were also 9 Artist’s Proofs), published by Lincoln Centre, New York, 106.7 x 81.3 cm. (42 x 32 in.)


 Perhaps one of the most influential female Abstract Expressionists, Helen Frankenthaler made the colour staining process one of her signature techniques over the course of her career. Whereas other Abstract Expressionists such as Jackson Pollock or Mark Rothko would use a primed canvas and drip paint onto this, Frankenthaler would instead lather the un-primed canvas with paint and allow it to soak in before proceeding to create the piece. This became known as the Colour Fielding or ‘Soak and Stain’ technique and inspired a future of generation of artists to experiment with pre-treatment of canvases.


‘Mary, Mary’, a combination of screenprint and offset lithograph, is an excellent example of the colour fielding process and the results it can have. Her stained canvas and typical fluid-like composition, highlights her bohemian role in the Abstract Expressionist movement. She developed signature techniques to break the mould of how the canvas can be approached; instead of painting onto the canvas, the canvas becomes the painting.