Referendum 70
View Similar Items
Frank StellaReferendum 701970
1970
About the Item
- Creator:Frank Stella (1936, American)
- Creation Year:1970
- Dimensions:Height: 40 in (101.6 cm)Width: 40 in (101.6 cm)
- Medium:
- Movement & Style:
- Period:
- Condition:
- Gallery Location:Tbilisi, GE
- Reference Number:Seller: Inventory 104571stDibs: LU155729779232
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.
- ErebosLocated in Miami, FLGerd Leufert Title: Erebos Signed, titled, dated ‘91 and inscribed P/A in pencil (lower center) Screenprint on paper 23⅝ by 22⅜ in. / 60 by 56.8 cm. Executed in 1991, this work i...Category
1990s Abstract Geometric Abstract Prints
MaterialsScreen
$4,500 - Untitled screen print by Joyce Kozloff (abstract colorful shapes)By Joyce KozloffLocated in New York, NYThis screen print was created to celebrate the Mostly Mozart Festival in 1982. A pattern of shapes in pale pinks, greens and silver tones creates an image resembling a tapestry. The total edition size is 144 plus 18 artist proofs. It is hand signed and numbered in pencil by the artist with the blindstamp of the printer, Fine Creations, Inc., New York. This print comes directly from Lincoln Center, the publisher of the edition. Joyce Kozloff was a founder of the 1970s Pattern...Category
1980s Abstract Geometric Abstract Prints
MaterialsScreen
- Untitled, 1990 by Harry Nadler (abstract blue and white forms)By Harry NadlerLocated in New York, NYThis image was created to celebrate the festival 'Live from Lincoln Center', 1990. The edition of 72 is signed and numbered. This impression has never been framed. Framed image is fo...Category
Early 2000s Abstract Geometric Abstract Prints
MaterialsScreen
- 'Shifted Lattice' Limited Edition Print by James Siena (green and blue pattern)By James SienaLocated in New York, NYThis is a fourteen (14) color screen print on Reeves textured rag paper, hand signed and numbered in graphite from an edition of 118. There are an additional 18 Artist Proofs. The pr...Category
Early 2000s Abstract Geometric Abstract Prints
MaterialsScreen
- UNTITLED, by Joel Shapiro (red and black abstract shapes)By Joel ShapiroLocated in New York, NYThis screenprint has vibrant red and black tones on wove paper Created in 2006, It is hand signed in pencil and numbered from the edition of 118. 32 by 24 3/8 inches (image), 36 3/4 ...Category
Early 2000s Abstract Geometric Abstract Prints
MaterialsScreen
- Red to Blue PortalBy Richard AnuszkiewiczLocated in New York, NYRICHARD ANUSZKIEWICZ Red to Blue Portal, 1977 Screenprint on masonite 83 1/2 x 47 3/4 inches Edition of 50Category
1970s Abstract Geometric Abstract Prints
MaterialsMasonite, Screen
Price Upon Request