Description:

How did Helen Frankenthaler’s work in painting and printmaking inform one another? In this gallery talk, Cora Chalaby (University College London, History of Art) explores the dynamic relationship between these two practices in Frankenthaler’s career. Focusing on her experimental approach to mark-making and materiality, Chalaby will examine how Frankenthaler pushed the boundaries of both paint and print to expand the language of abstraction.

Presented in conjunction with the exhibition Pouring, Spilling, Bleeding: Helen Frankenthaler and Artists’ Experiments on Paper, this program offers insight into Frankenthaler’s bold printmaking innovations and the ways her painterly instincts shaped her work across media.

Block Gallery Talks offer an opportunity for close looking and conversation around select works on view, centering the interdisciplinary perspectives of artists, scholars, students, and community members from across Northwestern and beyond

Participation level – light, participants may choose to share thoughts and questions during the gallery talk.  

Programs are open to all, on a first-come first-served basis. RSVPs are not required, but are appreciated.

Cora Chalaby is a PhD Candidate in History of Art at University College London. Her research explores American late modernist painting by women artists, focusing on the work of Joan Mitchell, Alma Thomas, and Helen Frankenthaler. Cora was a Fall 2023 Visiting Scholar at Yale University where she researched Helen Frankenthaler's Prints. Cora holds a BA in History of Art from the University of Cambridge and an MA in History of Art from the Courtauld Institute of Art. Her writing has been published in the Journal of Contemporary Painting and The Burlington Magazine. Cora’s forthcoming publications include an article in the Fall 2025 issue of the Archives of American Art Journal and a chapter for The Routledge Companion to Contemporary Painting. She has been awarded major research grants including from the Terra Foundation for American Art, Getty Library and University College London.

Pouring, Spilling, Bleeding: Helen Frankenthaler and Artists’ Experiments on Paper is curated by Stephanie S.E. Lee, 2024–25 Art History Graduate Fellow and Corinne Granof, Academic Curator, at The Block Museum of Art. Generous support for the exhibition was provided by the Helen Frankenthaler Foundation. The exhibition is supported in part by The Alumnae of Northwestern University. The Graduate Fellow is generously supported by The Graduate School (TGS), Northwestern University.