Connected by Joy

1968

The Temple Gold Medal

She receives the Temple Gold Medal of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia.

1969

Solo exhibition at the Whitney Museum

The Whitney Museum of American Art holds a solo exhibition of Frankenthaler’s work; it then travels to the Whitechapel Gallery in London, the Orangerie Herrenhausen in Hanover and the Kongresshalle in Berlin.

1971

Divorce from Robert Motherwell

Her marriage to Robert Motherwell, which began in 1958, ends in divorce; both born of wealthy parents, they were known as “the golden couple” for their lavish entertaining, and from the marriage Frankenthaler gained two stepdaughters, Jeannie and Lise.

1972

Mary Beth Edelson’s collage “Last Supper”

In Mary Beth Edelson’s collage “Some Living American Women Artists / Last Supper”, the heads of notable women artists, Frankenthaler among them, are placed over the heads of Christ and the apostles in Leonardo’s “Last Supper”; she herself does not consider herself a feminist and says that being a woman painter was never an issue for her.