Frank StellaFrank Stella 'Sharpesville' 19721972
1972
About the Item
- Creator:Frank Stella (1936, American)
- Creation Year:1972
- Dimensions:Height: 16 in (40.64 cm)Width: 21.5 in (54.61 cm)
- Medium:
- Movement & Style:
- Period:
- Condition:
- Gallery Location:Miami, FL
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU97938597462
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.
- ShippingRetrieving quote...Ships From: Miami, FL
- Return PolicyA return for this item may be initiated within 2 days of delivery.
- Ed Ruscha 'The Fan and its Surroundings' 1982By Ed RuschaLocated in Miami, FLED RUSCHA (1937-Present) Ed Ruscha's piece 'The Fan and its Surroundings' is a lithograph in colors on Rives BFK paper with full margins. On the bottom right, this print is signed, ...Category
1980s Contemporary Prints and Multiples
MaterialsLithograph
- Alex Katz 'Vincent' Lithograph 1972By Alex KatzLocated in Miami, FLALEX KATZ (1927-Present) Katz's 1972 'Vincent' is a drypoint on German etching paper. Signed and numbered to lower left ‘AP 5/10 Alex Katz’. This work is artist's proof 5 of 10 apar...Category
1970s Contemporary Prints and Multiples
MaterialsArchival Paper, Paper, Lithograph
- Frank Stella 'Polar Co-ordinates VI' 1980By Frank StellaLocated in Miami, FLFRANK STELLA (1936-Present) Frank Stella's 'Polar Co-ordinates VI' is a 1980's lithograph, screenprint and letterpress on paper. It's signed, numbered and dated '50/100 F Stella 80'...Category
1980s Contemporary Prints and Multiples
MaterialsLithograph
- Andy Warhol 'Tattooed Woman Holding a Rose' 1955By Andy WarholLocated in Miami, FLANDY WARHOL (1928-1987) Andy Warhol's 'Tattooed Woman Holding a Rose' is an offset lithograph in colors on pale green onion skin wove, with horizontal folds as issued, bears the Est...Category
1950s Contemporary Prints and Multiples
MaterialsLithograph
- Roy Lichtenstein 'Figures' (From Surrealist Series) 1978By Roy LichtensteinLocated in Miami, FLROY LICHTENSTEIN (1923-1997) Roy Lichtenstein 'Figures' (From Surrealist Series) 1978 is a lithograph in colors on Arches paper. It is a Special Proof separate from the edition of 3...Category
1970s Contemporary Prints and Multiples
MaterialsLithograph
- Roy Lichtenstein 'Real Estate' 1969By Roy LichtensteinLocated in Miami, FLROY LICHTENSTEIN (1923-1997) This Lichtenstein 'Real Estate' print in blue is a 1969 lithograph on Arches paper. There was an edition of 100 produced (there were also approximately ...Category
1960s Contemporary Prints and Multiples
MaterialsLithograph
- Still LifeBy René GenisLocated in Berlin, MDRene Genis (French 1922-2004) Still Life. Mainly oranges and browns, fruits and flowers, against a background of browns with a pitcher central. The browns contain a subtle mixture ...Category
Mid-20th Century Contemporary Still-life Prints
MaterialsLithograph
- Wilde VIIBy Melissa MeyerLocated in Brooklyn, NYThis gestural print combines the artist's free hand with washes and linear elements to create an activated field.Category
2010s Contemporary Abstract Prints
MaterialsLithograph
- LegBy Ellen BerkenblitLocated in Brooklyn, NYThis colorful lithograph. combines the signature motif of the leg with bold colors, a stoplight, an umbrella and calico prints to create a vibrant image of city life.Category
2010s Contemporary Figurative Prints
MaterialsLithograph
- ScreamerBy Ellen BerkenblitLocated in Brooklyn, NY"Screamer" forms a series along with "Leg" and "Cheetah"Category
2010s Contemporary Figurative Prints
MaterialsLithograph
- A-Chromatics IILocated in Brooklyn, NYThis is the second print in the series: "A-Chromatics" by Gabriele Evertz. The series explores the relationships of colors when one change at a time i...Category
2010s Contemporary Abstract Prints
MaterialsLithograph
- Untitled 1995By Jacqueline HumphriesLocated in Brooklyn, NYA four-panel lithograph printed in twelve colors, this is the artist's first editioned print.Category
2010s Contemporary Abstract Prints
MaterialsLithograph