Helen Frankenthaler (1928-2011) shook up the art world in the mid-20th century as she launched an entirely new direction on painting. She was influenced by Jackson Pollock, Franz Kline, David Smith, and Willem and Elaine de Kooning. To read more on Helen, you can find the information online or better yet, in Issue 43 of The Palette Magazine by Christopher Schink and Skip Lawrence. That back-issue is available for purchase using the link just provided.
“There are no rules. That is how art is born, how breakthroughs happen.
Go against the rules or ignore the rules. That is what invention is about.”
— Helen Frankenthaler
“Every so often every artist feels, I’ll never paint again. The muse has
gone out the window. In 1985 I hadn’t painted at all for three months,
and it was agonizing … I stared at Matisse. I stared at old Masters …
And I thought to myself — Don’t push it! If you try too hard to get at
something, you almost push it away.
— Helen Frankenthaler