Frank StellaRiver of Ponds I1971
1971
About the Item
- Creator:Frank Stella (1936, American)
- Creation Year:1971
- Dimensions:Height: 38 in (96.5 cm)Width: 38 in (96.5 cm)
- More Editions & Sizes:Edition of 78Price: $28,044
- Medium:
- Movement & Style:
- Period:
- Condition:Condition report: It is our opinion that the work is in good condition, with very minor toning to the area of pink and the area of brown printing, pale surface dirt at the extreme sheet edges, otherwise in good condition. Framed.
- Gallery Location:London, GB
- Reference Number:
Frank Stella
Frank Stella was one of the central figures in postwar American art. A proponent of minimalism and non-representational abstraction, Stella was a painter, printmaker and sculptor.
A native of Massachusetts, Stella attended Phillips Academy in Andover and earned a BA from Princeton, where he studied art and color theory with Josef Albers and Hans Hofmann. Stella frequented New York galleries as a student and was intrigued by the work of Jackson Pollock and Franz Kline, both of whom were at the height of their creative powers in the late 1950s.
After moving to New York in 1958, Stella gravitated toward the geometric abstraction and restrained painting style of Barnett Newman and Jasper Johns.
Johns’s flat, graphic images of common objects such as targets and flags prompt viewers to question the essential nature of representation and whether these pictures are really paintings or simply new iterations of the items themselves. Stella pushed Johns’s reasoning further, considering paintings on canvas as objects in their own right, like sculptures, rather than representations. This led him to reject certain formal conventions, eschewing sketches and often using nontraditional materials, like house paint.
In 1959, Stella created his “Black Paintings,” series, in which bands of black paint are separated by thin, precise stripes of bare canvas. At a time when contemporary painting was all about wild gestures, thick paint and formal abandon, these pieces created a sensation. That same year, Stella's work was included in the exhibition "Sixteen Americans" at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and he joined the roster of artists represented by Leo Castelli Gallery. In 1960, he began introducing color into his work and using unconventionally shaped canvases to complement his compositions.
In his “Eccentric Polygon” series, from 1965 and ‘66, Stella embraces asymmetry and bold color, creating forms delineated by painted fields and by the edges of the canvas. This series was followed by the 1967–70 “Protractor” series, characterized by colorful circles and arcs. Named after the ancient cities whose circular plans Stella had noticed while traveling in the Middle East during the 1960s, these works usually comprised several canvases set flush against one another so that the geometric figures in each section came together in a larger, more complex whole.
Also in the mid-1960s, Stella started exploring printmaking, initially working with Kenneth Tyler, of Gemini G.E.L., and later installing printing equipment in his own studio. In 1968, he created the “V” series of lithographs, which included the print Quathlamba I. Following a solo exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in 1970, Stella began working in three dimensions, adding relief elements to paintings, which could almost be considered wall-mounted sculptures.
Stella’s 1970–73 “Polish Village” series was inspired by documentary photos and architectural drawings of Polish synagogues that had been destroyed by Nazis during World War II. The resulting works — composed primarily of paint and cloth on plywood — are more rugged and less polished than his previous series.
Herman Melville's Moby Dick was Stella's muse for a series of three- dimensional works he created in the 1980s in which waveforms, architectural elements and Platonic solids play a prominent role. During this period, Stella embraced a new, exuberant style that is exemplified in "La Scienza della Fiacca."
In 1997, the artist oversaw the creation of the Stella Project, a 5,000-square-foot work inside the Moores Opera House at the University of Houston. A large free-standing sculpture by Stella stands outside the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.
Stella’s work is in the collections of numerous important museums around the world, including New York’s Museum of Modern Art and Metropolitan Museum of Art; the Menil Collection, in Houston; the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, in Washington, D.C.; and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. He was awarded the National Medal of Arts by President Obama in 2009, and was given the Lifetime Achievement Award in Contemporary Sculpture by the International Sculpture Center in 2011.
Find original Frank Stella art for sale on 1stDibs.
- ShippingRetrieving quote...Ships From: London, United Kingdom
- Return PolicyA return for this item may be initiated within 7 days of delivery.
- Yellow JournalBy Frank StellaLocated in London, GBLithograph, 1982, on white Arches Cover, mould-made paper, signed and dated an AP aside the edition of 50, published by Tyler Graphics Ltd., Bedford Village, NY, sheet: 133.5 x 97.8 ...Category
1980s Minimalist Prints and Multiples
MaterialsLithograph
- Paris sans finBy Alberto GiacomettiLocated in London, GBFirst edition, from the edition of 250 copies on Vélin d’Arches from a total edition of 270; large 4to (42.2 x 32 cm); artist’s signature stamp to limitation page, 150 lithographs after Giacometti, loose as issued in publisher's printed wrappers, glassine wrappers, cloth chemise and slipcase. Giacometti’s testament to art and modern life in his beloved Paris. For Tériade it would be a milestone, the last great publication he would see through the press. The two men [Tériade and Giacometti] had maintained a close friendship ever since the Surrealist Years. The one hundred and fifty lithographs are a profoundly interpenetrating view of Giacometti's experience of Paris. He selected the plates to be printed and determined the order of their relationship, numbering each one. The frontispiece shows a nude figure of a woman plunging forward, as though diving into space, and is immediately followed by a quantity of views of city streets, then of interiors familiar to the artist. We come upon views of his studio, of the cafes he frequented, of Annette's apartment in the rue Mazarine and Caroline's in the Avenue du Maine, strangers at cafe tables, passers by, parked automobiles, the towers of Saint-Suplice, bridges across the Seine, The Eiffel Tower. To accompany the hundred and fifty plates, a text of twenty pages was planned, but the artist never got further than a few rough drafts. True, he was a devotee of words, Paris sans fin, however, said too much to the eye to be in need of other symbols (James Lord...Category
1960s Art Nouveau Figurative Prints
MaterialsLithograph
- The Waves: SquidBy Frank StellaLocated in London, GBSilkscreen, lithograph, linoleum block with hand-colouring, marbling and collage, 1989, on T. H. Saunders and Somerset paper, signed, dated and numbered from the edition of 60, publi...Category
1980s Abstract Abstract Prints
MaterialsLithograph, Screen
- The Great BearBy Simon PattersonLocated in London, GBLithograph in colours, 1992, signed, dated and numbered from the edition of 50 in pencil (there were also fifteen artist's proofs), printed by London Underground printers, published ...Category
1990s Pop Art Prints and Multiples
MaterialsLithograph
- One Plate, from We are the Jocular ClanBy Takashi MurakamiLocated in London, GBOffset lithograph in colours, 2018, on wove paper, signed in ink and numbered from the edition of 300, published by Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd., Tokyo, 47.6 x 47.6 cm. (18 3/4 x 18 3/4 in....Category
2010s Abstract Abstract Prints
MaterialsLithograph
- One Plate, from We are the Jocular ClanBy Takashi MurakamiLocated in London, GBOffset lithograph in colours, 2018, on wove paper, signed in ink and numbered from the edition of 300, published by Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd., Tokyo, 47.6 x 47.6 cm. (18 3/4 x 18 3/4 in....Category
2010s Abstract Abstract Prints
MaterialsLithograph
- Dracena IIBy Ellsworth KellyLocated in New York, NYPrinter: Gemini, G.E.L., Los Angeles Publisher: Gemini, G.E.L., Los Angeles Catalogue raisonné: Axsom 213 Edition size: 30, plus proofs Signed and numbered in pencil, lower rightCategory
1980s Minimalist Still-life Prints
MaterialsLithograph
- Christmas Lithograph Poster After James Thurber "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen"Located in Alamo, CAThis is a rare Franklin Simon Department store Christmas lithographic poster with an image after a James Thurber cartoon drawing of a man in a chair with...Category
Mid-20th Century Minimalist Figurative Prints
MaterialsLithograph
- Blue Subtle Seascape of Calm Costa Rica Shore, Minimal Triptych CyanotypeBy Kind of CyanLocated in Barcelona, ESThis is an exclusive handprinted limited edition cyanotype. This beautiful triptych shows a smooth wave peacefully reaching the shore in Costa Rica. Details: + Title: Calm Costa Ri...Category
2010s Minimalist Landscape Paintings
MaterialsPhotogram, Photographic Film, Monotype, Lithograph, Color, C Print, Phot...
- DartmouthBy Ellsworth KellyLocated in New York, NY5-color lithograph Sheet: 14 x 28 1/2 in. (35.6 x 72.4 cm) Edition of 45 Signed and numbered in pencil on lower margin Published by Gemini G.E.L., Los AngelesCategory
2010s Minimalist Abstract Prints
MaterialsLithograph
- Untitled (Jahn 84)By Fred SandbackLocated in New York, NYFred Sandback was a minimalist conceptual-based sculptor known for his yarn sculptures, drawings, and prints. He majored in philosophy at Yale Universit...Category
1980s Minimalist Abstract Prints
MaterialsLithograph
- Abstract Lithograph by Bruce PorterBy Bruce PorterLocated in Long Island City, NYArtist: Bruce Porter, American (1948 - ) Title: Untitled II Medium: Lithograph, signed and numbered in pencil Edition: 15 Image Size: 24 x 18 inches Size: 28 x 22 in. (71.12 x 55.88 cm)Category
Late 20th Century Minimalist Abstract Prints
MaterialsLithograph
Recently Viewed
View AllRead More
Get to Know the Artists Who Led the Op Art Movement
In the 1960s and '70s, the hypnotic creations of Op artists went mainstream and influenced the look of pop culture.
Shapero Modern’s Director Tells Us All about 20th-Century Prints
Tabitha Philpott-Kent knows a lot of art multiples. Here, the London gallery director talks about what makes printmaking so fabulous.