Basque Beach
Date
1958
Artist
Helen Frankenthaler, American, b. New York City, 1928–2011
Provenance
The artist, St. Jean de Luz, France, July 1958
Joseph H. Hirshhorn, New York, October 1958-17 May 1966
Gift of Joseph H. Hirshhorn, 1966
Exhibition History
ADELPHI COLLEGE, Garden City, New York. "May Festival," 30 April-22 May 1959.
MUSEUM OF MODERN ART, São Paulo, Brazil. "V Bienal," 21 September-1 December 1959, no. 63.
HIRSHHORN MUSEUM AND SCULPTURE GARDEN, Smithsonian Institution,
Washington, DC. "Inaugural Exhibition," 4 October 1974-15 September 1975 (work on display: 12 April-15 September 1975- hung halfway through to replace Jimmy Ernst, Papageno).
ROSE ART MUSEUM, Brandeis University, Massachusetts. "Frankenthaler: The 1950s," 10 May-28 June 1981, no. 36, p. 45.
DUKE UNIVERSITY MUSEUM OF ART, Durham, North Carolina. "Paintings of the 50s: Another Look, a Loan of Twenty-one Paintings from the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden," 3 October-27 November 1983, p. 16.
SOLOMON R. GUGGENHEIM MUSEUM, New York. "After ‘Mountains and Sea’: Frankenthaler 1956–1959," 16 January-3 May 1998, cat. Tour: MUSEO GUGGENHEIM BILBAO, 6 June-4 October 1998.
HIGH MUSEUM OF ART, Atlanta. "Morris Louis Now: An American Master Revisited," 4 November 2006-24 January 2007, cat. [not included; shown at HMSG only] Tour: MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART SAN DIEGO, 17 February-6 May; HIRSHHORN MUSEUM AND SCULPTURE GARDEN, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, 20 September-6 January 2008.
MUSEO THYSSEN-BORNEMISZA, Madrid. "Monet y la Abstraccion," 23 February-30 May 2010.
MUSEE NATIONAL DES BEAUX-ARTS DU QUEBEC. "America. Between Dreams and Realities: Selections from the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden Collection," 9 June-5 September 2022, color ill. p. 52.
Published References
ROSE, BARBARA. Frankenthaler (New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1972), fig. 59, p. 129.
MINEMURA, TOSHIAKI. "When Illusion Becomes a Painting," Mizue 6/879 (June 1978), ill.
SANDLER, IRVING. The New York School: The Painters and Sculptors of the Fifties
(New York: Harper and Row, 1978), fig. 29.
PARK, EDWARDS. Treasures of the Smithsonian (Washington, DC: Smithsonian Books, 1983), ill.
CHAPPARO, JACQUELINE and MARY ANN TROST. Reading Literature (Evanston,
Illinois: McDougal, Littell & Company, 1985), p. 276.
ELDERFELD, JOHN. Frankenthaler (New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1989), p. 125.
SMITH, ROBERTA. "Showing the Way to the Vanguard at the Guggenheim," New
York Times (16 January 1998).
UNSIGNED. Guggenheim Bilbao promotional pamphlet for "After ‘Mountains and Sea’: Frankenthaler 1956–1959" (1998), cover.
See more items in
Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden Collection
School
Abstract Expressionism (Second Generation)/Formalist Abstraction
Credit Line
Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, Gift of Joseph H. Hirshhorn, 1966
Data Source
Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden
Accession Number
66.1935
Type
Painting
Medium
Oil and charcoal on canvas
Dimensions
58 5/8 × 69 5/8 in. (148.8 × 176.8 cm)
