Items Similar to Polar Co-ordinates III
Want more images or videos?
Request additional images or videos from the seller
1 of 11
Frank StellaPolar Co-ordinates III1980
1980
About the Item
Frank Stella Polar Co-ordinates III, 1980 is an enigmatic print that is from the Polar Coordinates for Ronnie Peterson series. Using the title as a reference to graph paper and an homage to one of Stella’s friends that tragically died during the Grand Prix in Monza in 1978, Swedish auto racer Ronnie Peterson, he celebrates the life of his esteemed friend through an abstract grid shaped work that encapsulates Peterson’s memory.
The works in the “Polar Co-ordinates” series are derived from Stella’s “Saskatchewan Series” paintings that were completed between 1967-1970. Divided into four semi-circular arcs, the composition forms a geometric flower motif that is reminiscent to a four-leaf clover. Using only the grid pattern to swirl and create a net around the floral form, Stella inspires colors and movement into the traditional diagrams of polar co-ordinates graph paper. Showcasing his understanding of color theory, he mixes colors together and scribbles over one another with colorful, swirling grid backgrounds to create a new work, free of their original source material.
The multi-step process used to create these prints brings together varying density of colors, different shapes, calligraphic scribbles, and the polar grid leading to a disintegration of form.
This disintegration marks the series as an essential part of his oeuvre where elements from his past works, which relied on creating form with color-blocking, are juxtaposed with the unravelling of form and color. Stella's works over the succeeding decade shift from minimalist, hard-edged geometric abstraction to riotous baroque works exploding beyond the canvas. One could say that these prints are the bridge between Stella's minimalist/geometric phase of his career and the hyper-colorful baroque "later work".
Created in 1980, this lithograph and screenprint on Arches Cover paper is hand-signed and dated by Frank Stella (Massachusetts, 1936 - ) in pencil in the lower center image and numbered from the edition of 100 in pencil in the lower right. With the two circular, small holes punched out at the bottom corners as issued,. Published by Petersburg Press, New York.
Catalogue Raisonné:
Frank Stella Polar Co-ordinates III, 1980 is fully documented and referenced in the below catalogue raisonnés and texts (copies will be enclosed as added documentation with the invoices that will accompany the sale of the work).
Axsom, Richard H. The Prints of Frank Stella: A Catalogue Raisonné. New York: Jordan Schnitzer Family Foundation, 2016. Listed and illustrated on pg. 121.
About the Framing:
Framed to museum-grade, conservation standards, Frank Stella Polar Co-ordinates III, 1980 is presented in a complementary moulding and optical grade Plexiglas.
- Creator:Frank Stella (1936, American)
- Creation Year:1980
- Dimensions:Height: 38.5 in (97.79 cm)Width: 37.87 in (96.19 cm)
- Medium:
- Movement & Style:
- Period:
- Condition:
- Gallery Location:Palo Alto, CA
- Reference Number:
Frank Stella
Frank Stella is one of the central figures in postwar American art. A proponent of minimalism and non-representational abstraction, Stella is a painter, printmaker and sculptor. A native of Massachusetts, he 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, he 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 a 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 his 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, he 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 museum collections 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 a collection of Frank Stella's art on 1stDibs.
About the Seller
5.0
Vetted Seller
These experienced sellers undergo a comprehensive evaluation by our team of in-house experts.
1stDibs seller since 2021
22 sales on 1stDibs
Typical response time: 1 to 2 days
- ShippingRetrieving quote...Ships From: Palo Alto, CA
- Return PolicyA return for this item may be initiated within 7 days of delivery.
More From This SellerView All
- Moultonboro, from the Eccentric Polygons portfolioBy Frank StellaLocated in Palo Alto, CACreated in 1974, this lithograph and screenprint on Arches paper is hand signed and dated by Frank Stella (Massachusetts, 1936 - ) in pencil in the lower right margin and is numbered...Category
1970s Abstract Expressionist Abstract Prints
MaterialsLithograph, Screen
- King Corpse, 1986By Sam FrancisLocated in Palo Alto, CACreated in 1986, Sam Francis King Corpse, 1986 is a unique color trial proof screenprint on Arches cover paper hand signed by Sam Francis (San Mateo, 1923- Santa Monica, 1994) in the...Category
1980s Abstract Expressionist Abstract Prints
MaterialsScreen
- York Factory IIBy Frank StellaLocated in Palo Alto, CACreated in 1974, this screenprint on Arches black cover paper is hand signed and dated by Frank Stella (Massachusetts, 1936 - ) in pencil on verso and is numbered from the edition o...Category
1970s Abstract Expressionist Abstract Prints
MaterialsScreen
- Untitled, 1963By Sam FrancisLocated in Palo Alto, CACreated circa 1963, this color lithograph on Rives BFK paper is hand signed by Sam Francis in pencil in the lower right and inscribed “Special Proof Marlene” in pencil in the lower m...Category
1960s Abstract Expressionist Abstract Prints
MaterialsLithograph
- People's Jade, 1971By Sam FrancisLocated in Palo Alto, CACreated in 1971, Sam Francis People's Jade, 1971 is a color lithograph on Strathmore 100 percent rag paper hand signed by Sam Francis (San Mateo, 1923- Santa Monica, 1994) in pencil ...Category
1970s Abstract Expressionist Abstract Prints
MaterialsLithograph
- UntitledBy Paul JenkinsLocated in Palo Alto, CAPaul Jenkins Untitled, 1972 features a multilayered fusion of paints that blend together utilizing a unique darkened color palette to create a my...Category
1970s Abstract Expressionist Abstract Prints
MaterialsPaper, Watercolor
You May Also Like
- Lincoln Center's Mostly Mozart Festival - 25th AnniversaryBy Robert MotherwellLocated in Aramits, Nouvelle-AquitaineRobert Motherwell, American (1915 - 1991) Lincoln Center's Mostly Mozart Festival, 25th Anniversary. Lithograph, Edition of 800, unsigned and unnumber...Category
1990s Abstract Expressionist Abstract Prints
MaterialsLithograph, Screen
- Untitled Figure signed numbered mixed media print from scarce European portfolioBy George McNeilLocated in New York, NYGeorge McNeil Untitled Figure, 1986 Lithograph on paper. Publisher's and Printer's Blind Stamps Hand-signed, numbered 78/84 and dated by the artist on the front with publisher's and...Category
1980s Abstract Expressionist Figurative Prints
MaterialsLithograph, Pencil, Screen
- Abstract Expressionist monotype (signed & inscribed) Intimate Lighting UniqueBy Robert NatkinLocated in New York, NYRobert Natkin Untitled, ca. 1979 Monotype with heart drawing Hand signed twice; inscribed to Dorothy and Arthur with text and heart Unique Original vintage frame included Measurement...Category
1970s Abstract Expressionist Abstract Prints
MaterialsInk, Mixed Media, Lithograph, Monoprint, Monotype, Screen
- Bright Vibrant Pop Art Silkscreen NYC Abstract ExpressionistBy William ScharfLocated in Surfside, FLRed Angel, intensely and seductively colored: swooning purples and reds, ecstatic lemon yellows, and black construction paper. Jostling shapes, geometric and biomorphic, lyrical and hard-edged, refuse to resolve neatly Assemblage, a bold strategy to keep viewers unsettled and curious, the reward for which are profuse and luscious details: varied incidents of refinement, suggestive signs, most in a private code, not merely ornamental but integral to the overall message. William Scharf (born 1927, Media, PA) is an American artist from New York, he teaches at The Art Students League of New York. Painting with acrylics, he was a member of the New York School movement. Often categorized as a late generation Abstract Expressionist, Known for producing paintings with abstract compositions incorporating biomorphic and geometric forms in vivid colors, the artist was influenced by Surrealism, the Color Field painters, and symbolism. He apprenticed with Mark Rothko and was influenced by his color field paintings. The surrealist painter Arshile Gorky and the Abstract expressionism style found in 1950s New York City also influenced Scharf. His exhibits include San Francisco Art Institute (1969), the Pepperdine University's Frederick R. Weisman Museum of Art (2001), and Richard York Gallery in New York City (2004). In the heyday of Abstract Expressionism, being serious meant following the tenets of the New York School, which required abstract paintings to be spontaneous improvisations, the messier the better. At once hedonistic and disciplined, his brazen paintings are nothing if not promiscuous. The best ones mix the dynamism of gestural abstraction with sensual rhythms of decorative patterning, sometimes souping up the stew with cartoonish symbols and flourishes so ripe they belong in a dandy's fantasies. His exhibits include San Francisco Art Institute (1969), the Pepperdine University's Frederick R. Weisman Museum of Art (2001) and Richard York Gallery in New York City (2004). Scharf's work has been exhibited in a number of galleries, including the Anita Shapolsky Gallery, Meredith Ward Fine Art, and Hollis Taggart Galleries in New York City. Scharf has been an instructor of art at various institutions including The Art Students League, the San Francisco Art Institute, and the School of Visual Arts in New York. He is a member of the Society of Illustrators and the Artists Equity Association. EDUCATION 1944-49 The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts — Philadelphia, PA (1948 Cresson Scholar) 1949 The University of Pennsylvania — Philadelphia, PA 1948 The Academie de la Grand Chaumiere — Paris, France 1947 The Barnes Foundation — Merion, PA 1939-41 Samuel Fleisher Memorial School— Philadelphia, PA (also known as Graphic Sketch Club) TEACHING HISTORY Instructor: Painting & Drawing 1987-Present Art Students League, New York, NY 1989, 74, 69, 66, 63 San Francisco Institute of Fine Arts, San Francisco, CA 1965-69 he School of Visual Arts, New York, NY 1964 Art Center of the Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY Guest Lecturer 1979 Pratt Institute, New York, NY 1974 Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA 1974 California College of Arts and Crafts, San Francisco, CA Recent Solo Exhibitions: 2005 Meredith Ward Fine Art, New York, NY 2004 Richard York Gallery, New York, NY 2002 P.S.1/MOMA, Queens, NY 2001 The Frederick R. Weisman Museum of Art, Malibu, CA 2000-2001 The Phillips Collection, Washington, DC Selected Group Exhibitions: 2005 National Academy of Design, New York, NY 2005 Peter McPhee Fine Arts, Stone Harbor...Category
1970s Abstract Expressionist Abstract Prints
MaterialsLithograph, Screen
- Bright Vibrant Pop Art Silkscreen NYC Abstract ExpressionistBy William ScharfLocated in Surfside, FLRed Angel, intensely and seductively colored: swooning purples and reds, ecstatic lemon yellows, and black construction paper. Jostling shapes, geometric and biomorphic, lyrical and hard-edged, refuse to resolve neatly Assemblage, a bold strategy to keep viewers unsettled and curious, the reward for which are profuse and luscious details: varied incidents of refinement, suggestive signs, most in a private code, not merely ornamental but integral to the overall message. William Scharf (born 1927, Media, PA) is an American artist from New York, he teaches at The Art Students League of New York. Painting with acrylics, he was a member of the New York School movement. Often categorized as a late generation Abstract Expressionist, Known for producing paintings with abstract compositions incorporating biomorphic and geometric forms in vivid colors, the artist was influenced by Surrealism, the Color Field painters, and symbolism. He apprenticed with Mark Rothko and was influenced by his color field paintings. The surrealist painter Arshile Gorky and the Abstract expressionism style found in 1950s New York City also influenced Scharf. His exhibits include San Francisco Art Institute (1969), the Pepperdine University's Frederick R. Weisman Museum of Art (2001), and Richard York Gallery in New York City (2004). In the heyday of Abstract Expressionism, being serious meant following the tenets of the New York School, which required abstract paintings to be spontaneous improvisations, the messier the better. At once hedonistic and disciplined, his brazen paintings are nothing if not promiscuous. The best ones mix the dynamism of gestural abstraction with sensual rhythms of decorative patterning, sometimes souping up the stew with cartoonish symbols and flourishes so ripe they belong in a dandy's fantasies. His exhibits include San Francisco Art Institute (1969), the Pepperdine University's Frederick R. Weisman Museum of Art (2001) and Richard York Gallery in New York City (2004). Scharf's work has been exhibited in a number of galleries, including the Anita Shapolsky Gallery, Meredith Ward Fine Art, and Hollis Taggart Galleries in New York City. Scharf has been an instructor of art at various institutions including The Art Students League, the San Francisco Art Institute, and the School of Visual Arts in New York. He is a member of the Society of Illustrators and the Artists Equity Association. EDUCATION 1944-49 The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts — Philadelphia, PA (1948 Cresson Scholar) 1949 The University of Pennsylvania — Philadelphia, PA 1948 The Academie de la Grand Chaumiere — Paris, France 1947 The Barnes Foundation — Merion, PA 1939-41 Samuel Fleisher Memorial School— Philadelphia, PA (also known as Graphic Sketch Club) TEACHING HISTORY Instructor: Painting & Drawing 1987-Present Art Students League, New York, NY 1989, 74, 69, 66, 63 San Francisco Institute of Fine Arts, San Francisco, CA 1965-69 he School of Visual Arts, New York, NY 1964 Art Center of the Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY Guest Lecturer 1979 Pratt Institute, New York, NY 1974 Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA 1974 California College of Arts and Crafts, San Francisco, CA Recent Solo Exhibitions: 2005 Meredith Ward Fine Art, New York, NY 2004 Richard York Gallery, New York, NY 2002 P.S.1/MOMA, Queens, NY 2001 The Frederick R. Weisman Museum of Art, Malibu, CA 2000-2001 The Phillips Collection, Washington, DC Selected Group Exhibitions: 2005 National Academy of Design, New York, NY 2005 Peter McPhee Fine Arts, Stone Harbor...Category
1970s Abstract Expressionist Abstract Prints
MaterialsLithograph, Screen
- Large Format Modernist Abstract Lithograph Silkscreen Print Woman ArtistBy Lydia DonaLocated in Surfside, FL1982-84 Hunter College, New York (M.F.A.) 1978-80 School of Visual Arts, New York 1973-77 Bezalel Academy of Art, Jerusalem (B.F.A.) American, born in Romania Lives and works in New York City Solo Exhibitions 2008 Michael Steinberg Fine Art, New York 2006 Galeria Joan Prats, Barcelona 2005 Karpio + Facchini Gallery, Miami Jacob Karpio Galeria, San Jose (Costa Rica) 2004 Michael Steinberg Fine Art, New York 2001 Marella Arte Contemporanea, Milan 2000 Von Lintel & Nusser, New York Galerie Von Lintel & Nusser, Munich 1998 Galerie Thomas von Lintel, Munich 1997 Galerie des Archives, Paris 1995 Galerie Samuel Lallouz, Montreal L.A. Louver, Los Angeles 1994 Marc Jancou Gallery, London Galerie des Archives, Paris 1993 Galerie Barbara Farber, Amsterdam Real Art Ways, Hartford (Connecticut) 1992 Tom Cugliani Gallery, New York Galerie Marc Jancou, Zurich Galerie des Archives, Paris 1989 Tom Cugliani Gallery, New York Galerie Barbara Farber, Amsterdam Studied at bezalel from 1973 to 1977. And it was a very fascinating time because it was a highly conceptually based school. Very much influenced by Joseph Beuys, and European Conceptualism, I didn’t really like the atmosphere there that much, because it was dominated by male painters like Jörg Immendorf, Marcus Lupertz, and a few others. then came to New York to study at SVA for two years. New York in 1978 was exciting. I was very lucky to be in a class that was full of very bubbly and very energetic artists like Keith Haring, Kenny Scharf, Tim Rollins, Moira Dryer, Frank Holliday, and Tom Cugliani (who later became one of my dealers).The eighties were dominated largely by Neo-Expressionist paintings. There were Germans, such as Baselitz, Kiefer, Richter, Penck, and the Italians, Clemente, Chia, Cucchi, Palladino as well as Schnabel, Fischl, Basquiat, Salle, and many others, but all of their paintings were figuratively based. But below the popular consent, there was a group of painters who were working more in the vein of what Stephen Westfall referred to as “Neo-Surrealism,” including George Condo, Jeffrey Wasserman, Kenneth Scharf, David Humphrey. However, I felt that Carroll Dunham and you were the only two painters who seemed to be less interested in the kind of narrative, lyrical, or let’s say, stationary composition. He belongs to the generation of Terry Winters, Elizabeth Murray, David Reed and Jonathan Lasker but in some strange way, if we’re looking back to the mid-eighties, we have to include New Image painters like Susan Rothenberg, Neil Jenney, and Robert Moskowitz who were working in between the figure and abstraction with a kind of condensation and compression, in relationship, lets say, to cartoon imagery. There are artists like Jeff Koons, or even Damien Hirst who took the Duchampian aspect and brought it into the continuity of his readymade. But for me, I see no difference between the crack in “Large Glass” and the drips in Jackson Pollock’s paintings. There was something that I felt in my own equation of the continuity between Paul Klee, Duchamp, Picabia, and, oddly enough, Clyfford Still. What essentially is important is how different artists carry on a dialogue among themselves so that they can all keep their work vital. Whether from the abstract paintings of Richmond Burton, Fabian Marcaccio extending the borders of his paintings on to the wall, or Cady Noland’s early scattered installation, my own pre-occupation with machinery, urban environment, and the Duchampian models has always materialized in relationship to other forms of art making. Selected Group Exhibitions: 2014 Drawing on Difference: An Ambition by Saul Ostrow and Lidija Slavkovic, Studio Vendome Gallery, New York. 2013 Drawing on Habit: An Ambition by Saul Ostrow and Lidija Slavkovic, South Carlton Beach and The Betsy-South Beach Exhibition Programs, Art Basel, Miami Beach. 2013 Imprinted Pictures: Lydia Dona...Category
1980s Abstract Expressionist Abstract Prints
MaterialsScreen, Lithograph
