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In the The Originals: Women in Art series, the contributions of American women artists are examined. The unique color effects of Helen Frankenthaler's paintings in the early '50s were the result of her "soak-stain" technique. This involved using oil paint, thinned to a consistency that almost resembled watercolor and applied to raw canvas. Portrait of an Artist: Frankenthaler -- Toward a New Climate explores the works of this original artist, whose influences were Arshile Gorky and Jackson Pollock. Frankenthaler, in turn, influenced painters such as Ken Noland and Morris Louis.