Weeping Crabapple

Frankenthaler continually returned to Japanese motifs throughout her career. The calligraphic mark making and reference to Zen Buddhism in A Little Zen reflect the tendency of Frankenthaler and her contemporaries to look to Eastern philosophy for artistic inspiration. Two years before her death, Frankenthaler and longterm collaborator Yasu Shibata (b. 1968) completed the final print of her career, Weeping Crabapple. Frankenthaler's respect for Shibata's mastery of ukiyo-e, or traditional Japanese woodblock prints, led to a continuation of their partnership at Pace Prints, where the two had begun working together in the 1990s.