“There are no rules, that is one thing I say about every medium, every picture &hellip

“There are no rules, that is one thing I say about every medium, every picture … that is how art is born, that is how breakthroughs happen. Go against the rules or ignore the rules, that is what invention is about.”

Happy Birthday to Helen Frankenthaler, born on this day in 1928!

To create “Painted on 21st Street,” (1950-51), Frankenthaler used oil paint, sand, plaster of Paris, and coffee grounds. This is one of her early works, which reflects her looking at Abstract Expressionist painters such as Jackson Pollock, who often included non-art materials – cigarette butts or enamel house paints, for example, in Pollock’s case – in their work. It is not typical of the artist’s most recognized technique of pouring paint on unprimed canvas, which led to her being associated with Color Field artists. See this piece on view in Masterworks from the Hirshhorn Collection.