Tribal Sign, Helen Frankenthaler, 1987
Helen Frankenthaler, portraitHelen FrankenthalerAmerican, 1928–2011

Tribal Sign

1987 · Print

Can I see it?

Not on view at present

Where is “Tribal Sign” now? Collection: National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. Not on view at present. Checked September 29, 2026.

National Gallery of Art

Washington, D.C., United States

It belongs to the collection, but is not on display at present.

Checked
In this state since
Source
The museum

Details

Accession number
2022.35.14

What it shows

In the catalog

Sources

In the life of Helen Frankenthaler

The whole life
  1. 1985–1992

    The National Council on the Arts

    From 1985 to 1992 she serves, as a presidential appointee, on the National Council on the Arts, which advises the chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts.

  2. 1986

    The New York City Mayor’s Award for Arts and Culture

    She receives the New York City Mayor’s Award of Honor for Arts and Culture.

  3. 1989

    A New York Times commentary on NEA funding

    In a commentary for The New York Times she writes that censorship and government interference in the directions and standards of art are dangerous and not part of the democratic process, while controversial grants to Andres Serrano, Robert Mapplethorpe and others reflect a trend of supporting work of increasingly dubious quality. She thus takes a highly public stance in the late-1980s “culture wars”.

  4. 1989–1990

    Painting retrospective: Fort Worth and MoMA

    The retrospective “Helen Frankenthaler: a Painting Retrospective” opens at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth (1989–90) and then travels to the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the Detroit Institute of Arts.

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On view at National Gallery of Art

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