Helen Frankenthaler

Born into a prominent Jewish family in New York City, Helen Frankenthaler's father was a New York Supreme Court justice, and her mother was a German Jewish immigrant. She grew up with all the advantages a well-heeled Manhattan upbringing could provide, though it seems her formal Jewish identity mostly ended at the family tree.

While her lineage was undeniably Jewish, Frankenthaler herself showed little public interest or involvement in Jewish life or religious practice. Her artistic universe was far more concerned with color, form, and the revolutionary possibilities of paint on unprimed canvas than with synagogue attendance or gefilte fish.

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