FIERCE POISE Helen Frankenthaler and 1950s New York

Narrator Alison Fraser's ability to deliver character voices and accents is on display in this appreciative biography of mid-twentieth-century painter Helen Frankenthaler. A gifted mimic, Fraser captures the times with excellent imitations of psychologist Erich Fromm's German-inflected English and art critic Clement Greenberg's subtle Bronx accent. But her most impressive work is her emulation of Frankenthaler's airy upper-class-sounding speech. The lovely and talented Frankenthaler was an innovative member of the New York-based abstract expressionists, who set the standards for that movement. The social class of the Bennington grad contributed to her ability to travel and to make art. Narrator Fraser enlivens this impressive study of the New York avant-garde art scene in the 1950s. A.D.M. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2021, Portland, Maine [Published: APRIL 2021]