Then Came an Ox and Drank the Water
Frank StellaThen Came an Ox and Drank the Water1984
1984
About the Item
- Creator:Frank Stella (1936, American)
- Creation Year:1984
- Dimensions:Height: 54 in (137.16 cm)Width: 52.375 in (133.04 cm)
- Medium:
- Movement & Style:
- Period:
- Condition:
- Gallery Location:New York, NY
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU128525022522
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.
- AerieBy Helen FrankenthalerLocated in New York, NYEdition of 128 Signed and numbered in pencilCategory
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Expressionist Abstract Prints
MaterialsScreen
Price Upon Request - Web (SFS-136)By Sam FrancisLocated in New York, NYScreenprint on wove paper Edition of 50 Published by Gemini G.E.L., Los Angeles Signed and numbered in pencil with studio blindstampCategory
Late 20th Century Abstract Expressionist Abstract Prints
MaterialsScreen
Price Upon Request - February (abstract print from Domberger series)By Karl Fred DahmenLocated in New York, NYFrom the "Edition Domberger 1980" Signed and numbered with publisher embossingCategory
20th Century Abstract Expressionist Abstract Prints
MaterialsScreen
Price Upon Request - Untitled (SF-355)By Sam FrancisLocated in New York, NYSigned and numbered in pencilCategory
20th Century Abstract Expressionist Abstract Prints
MaterialsLithograph
Price Upon Request - Untitled (SF-315)By Sam FrancisLocated in New York, NYLithograph on Rives BFK paper Frame: 44 x 35.75 in. Signed and numbered in pencil Image drawn with water tusche directly on plates Lembark 271Category
20th Century Abstract Expressionist Abstract Prints
MaterialsLithograph
Price Upon Request - CaracolBy Alexander CalderLocated in New York, NYEdition of 75 Signed and numbered in pencilCategory
Late 20th Century Abstract Expressionist Abstract Prints
MaterialsLithograph
- Red Samurai, from Octavio Paz suiteBy Robert MotherwellLocated in Miami, FLTECHNICAL INFORMATION: Red Samurai, from Octavio Paz suite 1987-88 Lithograph and linoleum cut in colors with chine appliqué on handmade Japanese Masa Dos...Category
1980s Abstract Expressionist Abstract Prints
MaterialsHandmade Paper, Lithograph, Linocut
Price Upon Request - California Abstract Expressionist Linocut Lithograph Sepia Print Edition of 6By Hans BurkhardtLocated in Surfside, FLUntitled, 1983, lithograph printed in sepia ink, Hand signed and dated lower right, numbered in pencil with the artist's chop mark lower left, inscribed by artist. From a series of experimental abstract linocuts done in 1983. These are very small editions and were gifted to a friend of the artist. They are done on deckle edged French Arches Art paper. Hans Gustav Burkhardt (1904 – 1994) was a Swiss-American abstract expressionist artist. Hans Burkhardt was born in the industrial quarter of Basel, Switzerland. Captivated by Germanic art, he began dabbling in art in his spare time while learning how to decorate furniture in antique styles. He became foreman of the furniture company's decorating department. From 1925 to 1928 he attended the Cooper Union School of the Arts, where he befriended mentor Arshile Gorky and Willem de Kooning—sharing Gorky's studio from 1928 to 1937. Burkhardt's paintings of the 1930s are part of the genesis of American abstract expressionism. In 1937 he moved to Los Angeles and represented the most significant bridge between New York and Los Angeles. His experimental investigative approach paralleled, and in many instances anticipated, the development of modern and contemporary art in New York and Europe including the work of Mark Rothko, Jackson Pollock, and Barnett Newman. Burkhardt held his first solo exhibition in 1939 at Stendahl Gallery in Los Angeles, arranged by Lorser Feitelson, and, in response to the Spanish Civil War, he painted his first anti-war works. From the late 1930s he began to produce apocalyptic anti-war compositions, a theme which became particularly pronounced in an abstract expressionist style after the atom bomb was dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the end of the Second World War. In the years following an acclaimed (1945) solo exhibition at the Los Angeles County Museum, Burkhardt continued in his art to respond to WWII, in the aftermath of Gorky's suicide in 1948, Burkhardt delved into his grief and celebration of Gorky's life creating several versions of “Burial of Gorky” and a series entitled “Journey into the Unknown.” Burkhardt first visited Mexico in 1950, and spent the next decade living half of the year in and around Guadalajara. Strongly influenced by Mexican attitudes towards the dead, and by the country's colors, sensuality, and spiritual qualities, Burkhardt “painted the soul of Mexico” with Mexican themes and colors—especially those of burials and ceremonies surrounding death—permeating his abstract work. His Mexican work flirted with Surrealism although he was never really considered a Surrealist artist. Art critics of the time considered him a "great Mexican master” alongside Orozco, Diego Rivera, and Siqueiros, and Rufino Tamayo admired his work. Overall, in the 1950s Burkhardt held 23 solo exhibitions in Los Angeles and Mexico, and participated in group shows at over thirty museums worldwide. He was friends with June Wayne from Tamarind Press. In the 1960s he produced paintings in protest against the Vietnam War, some of which incorporated the human skulls he had collected from Mexican graveyards. As art historian Donald Kuspit stated, Burkhardt was “a master—indeed the inventor—of the abstract memento mori.” In 1964, for the first time in forty years, Burkhardt returned to Basel, and began making annual summer visits where he became a friend of Mark Tobey—printing linocuts for the artist and collecting his work. In the 1970s Burkhardt continued his anti-war paintings—incorporating protruding wooden spikes into the canvas—while simultaneously painting abstractions of merging lovers and cityscapes during his summer visits to Basel. His “Small Print” (protesting smoking), “Graffiti,” and “Northridge” series demonstrate the evolution of his symbolism, and his “Desert Storms” series, in response to Iraq's invasion of Kuwait, was discussed by critic Peter Selz at a presentation at the International Congress of Art Critics Conference. In the last decades of his life, Burkhardt's work had moved from images of imbalance to a study of human tragedy—which he embraced in an attempt to discover beauty and facilitate understanding. Critic Peter Frank called Burkhardt “…one of America’s most vital abstract expressionist painters, someone who took the seed of the movement and cultivated it a rather different way in very different soil.” Burkhardt taught at numerous colleges and universities and retired as a professor emeritus from California State University, Northridge. In 1992 Burkhardt was honored as the recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award by the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters’ Jimmy Ernst (son of Max Ernst) Award. Also in 1992, he established the Hans G. and Thordis W. Burkhardt Foundation. In 1993, the last year of his career, his final series “Black Rain” channeled pain and hardship, but provided poignant, symbolic beacons of hope and wishes for a better future for humanity. His unique role as an important American painter is affirmed by the constant interest and continuing reassessment afforded his work. Select Solo exhibitions 1939: Stendahl Gallery, Los Angeles, March 27 – April 17 1945: Hans Burkhardt, Los Angeles County Museum of Art 1951: Museo de Bellas Artes, Guadalajara, Mexico: Exhibición de Pinturas Modernas; Comara Gallery, Los Angeles 1953: Fisher Gallery, University of Southern California, Los Angeles 1957: Pasadena Art Museum, California: Ten Year Retrospective, June 14 – July 14; 1968: San Diego Museum of Art: Vietnam Paintings...Category
1980s Abstract Expressionist Abstract Prints
MaterialsLithograph, Linocut
- California Abstract Expressionist Linocut Lithograph Ronald Reagan Political ArtBy Hans BurkhardtLocated in Surfside, FLUntitled, 1983, lithograph printed in sepia ink, Hand signed and dated lower right, with the artist's chop mark lower left, inscribed by artist. From a series of experimental abstract linocuts done in 1983. These are very small editions and were gifted to a friend of the artist. They are done on deckle edged French Arches Art paper. This one does not appear to be editioned and might be unique a monoprint or monotype. Hans Gustav Burkhardt (1904 – 1994) was a Swiss-American abstract expressionist artist. Hans Burkhardt was born in the industrial quarter of Basel, Switzerland. Captivated by Germanic art, he began dabbling in art in his spare time while learning how to decorate furniture in antique styles. He became foreman of the furniture company's decorating department. From 1925 to 1928 he attended the Cooper Union School of the Arts, where he befriended mentor Arshile Gorky and Willem de Kooning—sharing Gorky's studio from 1928 to 1937. Burkhardt's paintings of the 1930s are part of the genesis of American abstract expressionism. In 1937 he moved to Los Angeles and represented the most significant bridge between New York and Los Angeles. His experimental investigative approach paralleled, and in many instances anticipated, the development of modern and contemporary art in New York and Europe including the work of Mark Rothko, Jackson Pollock, and Barnett Newman. Burkhardt held his first solo exhibition in 1939 at Stendahl Gallery in Los Angeles, arranged by Lorser Feitelson, and, in response to the Spanish Civil War, he painted his first anti-war works. From the late 1930s he began to produce apocalyptic anti-war compositions, a theme which became particularly pronounced in an abstract expressionist style after the atom bomb was dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the end of the Second World War. In the years following an acclaimed (1945) solo exhibition at the Los Angeles County Museum, Burkhardt continued in his art to respond to WWII, in the aftermath of Gorky's suicide in 1948, Burkhardt delved into his grief and celebration of Gorky's life creating several versions of “Burial of Gorky” and a series entitled “Journey into the Unknown.” Burkhardt first visited Mexico in 1950, and spent the next decade living half of the year in and around Guadalajara. Strongly influenced by Mexican attitudes towards the dead, and by the country's colors, sensuality, and spiritual qualities, Burkhardt “painted the soul of Mexico” with Mexican themes and colors—especially those of burials and ceremonies surrounding death—permeating his abstract work. His Mexican work flirted with Surrealism although he was never really considered a Surrealist artist. Art critics of the time considered him a "great Mexican master” alongside Orozco, Diego Rivera, and Siqueiros, and Rufino Tamayo admired his work. Overall, in the 1950s Burkhardt held 23 solo exhibitions in Los Angeles and Mexico, and participated in group shows at over thirty museums worldwide. He was friends with June Wayne from Tamarind Press. In the 1960s he produced paintings in protest against the Vietnam War, some of which incorporated the human skulls he had collected from Mexican graveyards. As art historian Donald Kuspit stated, Burkhardt was “a master—indeed the inventor—of the abstract memento mori.” In 1964, for the first time in forty years, Burkhardt returned to Basel, and began making annual summer visits where he became a friend of Mark Tobey—printing linocuts for the artist and collecting his work. In the 1970s Burkhardt continued his anti-war paintings—incorporating protruding wooden spikes into the canvas—while simultaneously painting abstractions of merging lovers and cityscapes during his summer visits to Basel. His “Small Print” (protesting smoking), “Graffiti,” and “Northridge” series demonstrate the evolution of his symbolism, and his “Desert Storms” series, in response to Iraq's invasion of Kuwait, was discussed by critic Peter Selz at a presentation at the International Congress of Art Critics Conference. In the last decades of his life, Burkhardt's work had moved from images of imbalance to a study of human tragedy—which he embraced in an attempt to discover beauty and facilitate understanding. Critic Peter Frank called Burkhardt “…one of America’s most vital abstract expressionist painters, someone who took the seed of the movement and cultivated it a rather different way in very different soil.” Burkhardt taught at numerous colleges and universities and retired as a professor emeritus from California State University, Northridge. In 1992 Burkhardt was honored as the recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award by the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters’ Jimmy Ernst (son of Max Ernst) Award. Also in 1992, he established the Hans G. and Thordis W. Burkhardt Foundation. In 1993, the last year of his career, his final series “Black Rain” channeled pain and hardship, but provided poignant, symbolic beacons of hope and wishes for a better future for humanity. His unique role as an important American painter is affirmed by the constant interest and continuing reassessment afforded his work. Select Solo exhibitions 1939: Stendahl Gallery, Los Angeles, March 27 – April 17 1945: Hans Burkhardt, Los Angeles County Museum of Art 1951: Museo de Bellas Artes, Guadalajara, Mexico: Exhibición de Pinturas Modernas; Comara Gallery, Los Angeles 1953: Fisher Gallery, University of Southern California, Los Angeles 1957: Pasadena Art Museum, California: Ten Year Retrospective, June 14 – July 14; 1968: San Diego Museum of Art: Vietnam Paintings...Category
1980s Abstract Expressionist Abstract Prints
MaterialsLithograph, Linocut
- Times Square Remembered 3, Abstract Mixed Media Print by Richard SmithBy Richard SmithLocated in Long Island City, NYArtist: Richard Smith, British (1931 - 2016) Title: Times Square Remembered 3 Year: 1973 Medium: Lithograph, Silkscreen and Collage, Signed and numbered in pencil Edition: 42 Si...Category
1970s Abstract Expressionist Abstract Prints
MaterialsMixed Media, Lithograph, Screen
- Times Square Remembered 2, Abstract Lithograph and Screenprint by Richard SmithBy Richard SmithLocated in Long Island City, NYArtist: Richard Smith, British (1931 - 2016) Title: Times Square Remembered 2 Year: 1973 Medium: Lithograph, Silkscreen and Collage, Signed and numbered in pencil Edition: 42 Si...Category
1970s Abstract Expressionist Abstract Prints
MaterialsMixed Media, Lithograph, Screen
- Lincoln Center Mostly Mozart, 25th Anniversary, Lithograph by Robert MotherwellBy Robert MotherwellLocated in Long Island City, NYArtist: Robert Motherwell, American (1915 - 1991) Title: Lincoln Center Mostly Mozart, 25th Anniversary Year: 1991 Medium: Lithograph and Screenprint on ...Category
1990s Abstract Expressionist Abstract Prints
MaterialsLithograph, Screen