Mountains and Sea (1952)
The masses tend to perceive abstract art as meaningless because it lacks content; however, in the absence of content, form becomes more prominent. Art is inherently expressive, but abstract art focuses on a work’s form to communicate an emotional response. Content refers to the subjects or images of a painting, and form refers to the elements of art–its existence. Helen Frakenthaler was an abstract expressionist artist in the post war period, starting her professional career in the 1950’s. In 1952 she painted Mountains and Sea where she created the soak and stain method. This technique entailed pouring thinned oil paint directly onto an unprimed canvas (Helen Frankenthaler Foundation). This was an influential innovation within the abstract expressionist movement, especially relating to color field painting which is characterized by expansive swaths of unvaried color (Wolfe). Mountains and Sea represents the artist’s shift away from content as her focus on form creates a stronger ephemeral existence, a phenomenon best understood through the lens of Susan Sontag’s argument for an erotics of art, and Walter Benjamin’s conceptualization of aura.
Frankenthaler’s innovative soak and stain method exemplifies the resurgence of a sensuous approach to art. This shift in technique marks a turning point in her career and in the greater abstract expressionist movement. Soak and stain departed from the familiar elements of line and shape, focusing on flat color. This is a key aspect of color field painting which was an emerging sub-movement of abstract expressionism (Wolfe). Because Frankenthaler used unprimed canvas, the thinned paint soaked into the fabric instead of sitting on top of it. This removed much of the texture typical in oil painting. Using this technique, Frankenthaler reduced her work to its most basic elements, making it uninterpretable according to Sontag because it favors form over content (7). After Mountains and Sea, Frankenthaler’s work features fewer recognizable icons and is instead characterized by large deposits of color. This progression exemplifies Sontag’s argument that the abstract artist flees from interpretation (7). By taking the content out of her paintings, Frankenthaler refuses any deeper meaning that might be projected onto them. She forces the viewer to appreciate her works simply for the feelings they invoke.
The emphasis that soak and stain puts on the materials and Frankenthaler’s process urge the viewer to appreciate the work on its surface level, instead of trying to divulge content from her art. For Mountains and Sea, Frakenthaler poured thinned paint onto the canvas and pushed it around with large brushes. This allowed the materials to bind together. Her process reflects what Benjamin refers to as ritual, further affirming our desire for the sensuous approach to art. Frankenthaler’s decision to use such thin paint on raw canvas meant the paintings deteriorated over time. Later in her career, she began using acrylic for soak and stain because the amount of turpentine she used damaged the canvas, making her work ephemeral in quite a literal sense as well.
With a greater attention to ritual and material, both aspects of form, Frakenthaler’s work supports Sontag’s argument against the prescriptive critical response. The best way to view this painting is by taking in the visual grandeur of it, as you would the experience or image that inspired it. Sontag claims that art should be appreciated simply for what it is, “experiencing the luminousness of the thing in itself” (9). When the audience is preoccupied with what a painting means, they miss the simple beauty of the material and what it took to create the work. Frankenthaler was translating her memory onto canvas, and the result was a piece centered on its form not its content. Interpretation trivializes the sensory experience of viewing art (Sontag 9). If the viewer can experience Mountains and Sea without projecting meaning, they allow themselves an emotional response closer to the one Frankenthaler is representing in her painting.
The action of painting contributes to Frankenthaler’s use of form. This approach is part of the artistic tradition of creating singular works for their singular purpose, or ritual (Benjamin 6). The soak and stain method exemplifies Benjamin’s argument that “the unique value of the ‘authentic’ work of art has its basis in ritual, the location of its original use value” (Benjamin 6). For Frankenthaler, painting was a ritual of remembering. Mountains and Sea is a memory of a landscape, meant to capture her experience through the abstract. By pouring the paint, Frankenthaler allows for more influence from gravity. This adds to the spontaneity of abstract expressionism, and the act of painting. The emphasis on process invites the viewer to appreciate the materials and how they interact, manipulated by the artist’s hand.
The size and unique existence of Frankenthaler’s paintings contributes to their aura. Benjamin explains aura as the distance between the artwork and the viewer because of its uniqueness (5). The singularity of a painting makes the experience of viewing it ephemeral. Frankenthaler’s paintings are so large that they cannot be brought to the viewer, the viewer must go to them. The experience of viewing Mountains and Sea in person calls the viewer to appreciate the details that are not transmitted via photographic reproductions. The flatness of the paint and the blurred lines between planes of color stand out to the naked eye in the absence of content. Sontag argues in her essay that we interpret art in order to understand it (5). If we can’t interpret a piece, we can’t digest it, and that sticks with us. Without content to respond to, the emotional impact is more lasting, and the aura of the work is stronger.
Currently, our instinct when analyzing art is to dig for that hidden meaning. Sontag calls on the viewer to appreciate the work’s being for what it is, without projecting our own ideas. Sensuality within the culture of art is being lost, and works like Mountains and Sea try to recover it. We need more works like this that change our approach to creating and viewing art. A departure from content in favor of form. Without a return to sensual appreciation for art, we risk losing the beautiful simplicity of viewing art. It becomes a competition as we create the most meaningful interpretations in order to understand a work.
There must be a revival of sensuality to preserve the original purpose of art, to create an emotional response. This may be through a shift in what artists produce, but it relies more on the viewer’s approach to art. I was able to visit one of Helen Frankenthaler’s works, Western Dream, at the Metropolitan Museum of Art recently, and it was entirely different from what I’d seen in photos. I stood there for 20 minutes trying to take in everything on the expansive canvas. I took dozens of pictures, though I don’t really look back on them because they don’t evoke the same feelings I had in that moment. Now that I’ve read Sontag’s essay, I understand why I stood there for so long. I was overwhelmed by the ineffable. It was striking in its balance of fullness and simplicity. As an artist, I now try to approach works with a critical eye, not to decipher meaning but to analyze form. We gain so much by letting ourselves feel. Give in to the sensuous approach to art, especially if it makes you uncomfortable, and let that feeling stick with you.