35 Items in this Learning Collection
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Copyright
All Rights Reserved ()

Sunset Corner

Accession Number
1973/1.813

Title
Sunset Corner

Artist(s)
Helen Frankenthaler

Artist Nationality
American (North American)

Object Creation Date
1969

Medium & Support
acrylic on canvas

Dimensions
121 in. x 92 7/8 in. x 1 1/2 in. ( 307.34 cm x 235.9 cm x 3.81 cm )

Credit Line
Museum Purchase

Label copy
Helen Frankenthaler is one of the most important pioneers of postwar American painting. A major figure in the Color Field movement, which features large expanses of strong, abstract colors, Frankenthaler experimented with poured pigments and staining techniques in order to focus attention on color values and eliminate the potential distractions of brushwork for the viewer.
In "Sunset Corner," highly saturated blocks of intense color are "freed" from the crafted bounds of figurative shapes and surface textures. The result is a purely visual experience, not unlike viewing a spectacular sunset. Color Field work like Frankenthaler’s is frequently put to the service of chromatic sensation—something the viewer can experience through a sustained and concentrated immersion in the colored areas of this painting.
(A. Dixon, 20th Century Gallery installation)

Subject matter
The subject matter of this Color Field painting is primarily the visual experience of the colors, their relationships to one another. With its title, "Sunset Corner," the painting prompts the viewer to reflect on the oranges and yellows of sunset and the vastness of the sky.

Physical Description
A vast surface of orange yields in the very bottom of the painting to a swath of yellow, under which there is a line of white and green, and under that a thin black line.

Primary Object Classification
Painting

Primary Object Type
abstract

Collection Area
Modern and Contemporary

Rights
If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please visit http://umma.umich.edu/request-image for more information and to fill out the online Image Rights and Reproductions Request Form.

Keywords
Color-field
Lyrical Abstraction
Non-Representational Art
abstraction
acrylic painting (technique)
modern and contemporary art
sky
sunlight
sunset

13 Related Resources

Tour: Seasons
(Part of: Touring & Teaching)
Art of interest to Judaic Studies
(Part of 3 Learning Collections)
First Grade Tour: Spring into Art
(Part of: Visit UMMA: Curricular Tour Descriptions for Teachers)
Writing Activity: Research, Summary, Paraphrase
(Part of: Writing + Art Enrichment Activities)
First Grade: Spring Into Art! Weather, Seasons, and Art
(Part of: Docent Curricular Tours)
Mood in Landscape Tour
(Part of: Docent Thematic Tours)
Seasons Tour
(Part of: Docent Thematic Tours)
Docent Materials for Abstraction, Color, and Politics
(Part of: Docent Information From Training Continuing Education Sessions)
Abstraction, Color, and Politics in the Early 1970s
(Part of: Abstraction, Color, and Politics)
Abstraction, Color, and Politics in the 1960s & 1970s
(Part of: Abstraction, Color, and Politics)
Abstraction, Color, and Politics in the 1960s & 1970s: Kaleidoscope
(Part of: Abstraction, Color, and Politics)

& Author Notes

All Rights Reserved

On display

UMMA Gallery Location ➜ FFW, Mezzanine ➜ M02 (Joan and Robert Tisch Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art)