Tales of Genji VI - Helen Frankenthaler

A sophisticated woodcut print from Helen Frankenthaler's 1998 series, inspired by the Japanese literary classic The Tale of Genji.

Tales of Genji VI is a woodcut print produced by Helen Frankenthaler in 1998. This work belongs to a series inspired by the eleventh-century Japanese literary classic, The Tale of Genji. Frankenthaler collaborated with master printers at Tyler Graphics to push the technical boundaries of the woodcut medium. She utilised multiple woodblocks to achieve the fluid, painterly effects typically associated with her soak-stain canvases.

The composition features a warm, earthy palette dominated by ochre, sienna, and soft cream tones. The wood grain of the blocks remains visible, providing a textural quality that interacts with the layered ink applications. Frankenthaler employed a subtractive process, carving into the wood to create organic shapes that appear to float across the surface. The print avoids rigid geometry, favouring instead the gestural marks and atmospheric washes that defined her career.

In this series, Frankenthaler sought to capture the emotional resonance of the source material rather than illustrating specific narrative scenes. The interplay between the raw paper and the translucent ink layers creates a sense of depth. The work demonstrates her ability to translate the spontaneity of abstract painting into the controlled environment of printmaking. By treating the woodblock as a flexible tool, she achieved a balance between the deliberate nature of the carving process and the unpredictable quality of the ink transfer. This print reflects her late-career focus on materiality and the subtle modulation of colour, resulting in a composition that feels both grounded in its physical construction and ethereal in its visual impact.