Harold Frank (American born in England, 1921-1995). "Three White Figures on Blue" mixed media painting on Crescent mat board, n.d. A mesmerizing composition by Harold Frank depicting three engaging figures - perhaps the artist's interpretation of the Three Graces - their bodies delineated with Frank's signature loose expressive and lyrical brushstrokes in white against a blue and white ground, with some highlights in black and graphite here and there. According to Frank scholar Sandie Stern, "Like his idol de Kooning, Frank chose the human figure, as his principal subject. Variations on women became a lifelong, consistent, ubiquitous theme." (Stern, "H. Frank", p. 16) Size: 13.4" L x 10.125" W (34 cm x 25.7 cm)
Harold Frank immigrated with his family to the US through Ellis Island. Growing up in the tenements of the Lower East Side in New York City during the era of the Great Depression and World War II, Frank found Abstract Expressionism to be the ideal means to explore the angst of his world. He once stated, "I can live with the abstract. Life is a mystery."
Frank studied at the Art Students League in New York, the National Academy of Design, the Pratt Institute, the Chouinard Art Institute, and UCLA where he was a colleague of Richard Diebenkorn (American, 1922-1993), an artist who is oftentimes associated with Abstract Expressionism as well as a pioneer of the Bay Area Figurative Movement. In addition to Diebenkorn, Frank's influences include De Kooning, Picasso, Matisse, and Rouault. While he also created landscapes, non-objective abstract compositions, and still-life paintings, figures and head studies were the predominant theme of his oeuvre.
For more about Harold Frank, see Sandie Stern's monograph "Harold Frank Abstract Expressionist 1921-1995" (2001).
Provenance: private Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA collection, acquired via descent, purchased from artist on June 25th, 1973
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#175898
Condition
A few minor scuffs and stains that are difficult to see. Otherwise excellent. Collection labels on the verso.