A Squeeze of the Hand
View Similar Items
Frank StellaA Squeeze of the Hand1988
1988
About the Item
- Creator:Frank Stella (1936, American)
- Creation Year:1988
- Dimensions:Height: 72.75 in (184.79 cm)Width: 54.5 in (138.43 cm)
- Movement & Style:
- Period:
- Condition:
- Gallery Location:Palm Desert, CA
- Reference Number:Seller: 79011stDibs: G14041493709
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.
- Snapshot OdysseyBy Jane HammondLocated in Palm Desert, CAA color lithograph, digital, chine colle collage by contemporary artist Jane Hammond. "Snapshot Odyssey" depicts a collection of black and white snap shots along a winding board game...Category
2010s Contemporary Abstract Prints
MaterialsDigital, Lithograph
- UntitledBy Josef AlbersLocated in Palm Desert, CAAn abstract screen print by Post War artist Josef Albers. Signed lower right, "Albers '72". Editioned lower left, "LC 134/144".Category
1970s Post-War Abstract Prints
MaterialsScreen
- Untitled from Formulation: ArticulationBy Josef AlbersLocated in Palm Desert, CAA print by Josef Albers. "Formulation: Articulation" is a geometric abstract screenprint in a white and dark brown palette by Post War artist Josef Albers. The artwork is from an edi...Category
Mid-20th Century Post-War Abstract Prints
MaterialsScreen
- Ten Works X Ten PaintersBy George Earl OrtmanLocated in Palm Desert, CAAn abstract screen print executed in bright yellow & chartreuse by Post War artist George Ortman.Category
1960s Post-War Abstract Prints
MaterialsScreen
- Estructura Cinetica (from the Sotomagie Portfolio)By Jesús Rafael SotoLocated in Palm Desert, CAA mixed media work by Jesus Rafael Soto. "Estructura Cinetica (from the Sotomagie Portfolio)" is an Op art mixed media, silkscreen on Plexiglass with metal rods in a palette of black...Category
Late 20th Century Post-War Mixed Media
MaterialsMetal
- Untitled (Nets)By Rachel WhitereadLocated in Palm Desert, CAA work by Rachel Whiteread. "Untitled (Nets)" is an etched germansilver metal grating abstract work by Young British Artist Rachel Whiteread. "Untitled (Nets)" is a grey, white and b...Category
Early 2000s Abstract Prints
MaterialsMetal
- Tenuousness2By Karin BrucknerLocated in New York, NYThis piece is featured in Bruckner’s 2024 solo exhibition at Susan Eley Fine Art titled, “Keeping Memories”. Artist Biography: Karin Bruckner was born in Zurich, Switzerland and...Category
2010s Contemporary Abstract Prints
MaterialsPaper, Monotype, Wood Panel
- Tenuousness1By Karin BrucknerLocated in New York, NYThis piece is featured in Bruckner’s 2024 solo exhibition at Susan Eley Fine Art titled, “Keeping Memories”. Artist Biography: Karin Bruckner was born in Zurich, Switzerland and...Category
2010s Contemporary Abstract Prints
MaterialsPaper, Monotype, Wood Panel
- Perspective - Etching by Bruno Conte - 1980By Bruno ConteLocated in Roma, ITPerspective is an artwork realized by Bruno Conte (1939-2021) in 1980. Good condition. Signed and numbered in roman number X/XXV.Category
1960s Contemporary Abstract Prints
MaterialsEtching
$262 Sale Price20% Off - 'YOU WANT A PIECE OF ME' - FOREVER BRITNEY (Limited Edition Of Only 30 Prints)By Mauro OliveiraLocated in LOS ANGELES, CA**ANNUAL SUPER SALE UNTIL APRIL 15TH ONLY** *This Price Won't Be Repeated Again This Year - Take Advantage Of It* Celebrating the one and only Britney Spears. This pie...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Portrait Prints
MaterialsCanvas
- ABBA FOREVER AND EVER I (Limited Edition Of Only 30 Prints on Canvas)By Mauro OliveiraLocated in LOS ANGELES, CA**ANNUAL SUPER SALE UNTIL APRIL 15TH ONLY** *This Price Won't Be Repeated Again This Year - Take Advantage Of It* It took 40 years but it finally happened: the ABBA pop art homage by Oliveira right on time for the group reunion, new album and virtual show. The colorful stripes and dots symbolizes all the music and happiness they still bringing to the world. ABBA is Oliveira's favorite group of all times. Only 30 prints is available for two sizes only: 48X60 and 36X48. **NOTE** The piece on the room wall is 36X48. This is for 48X60 print which will be larger than that. If you wish the smaller size of 36X48 please request it. ***The Swedish Flag...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Portrait Prints
MaterialsCanvas, Giclée
- Positively Devoted To You Olivia (Limited Edition Of Only 30 Prints)By Mauro OliveiraLocated in LOS ANGELES, CA**ANNUAL SUPER SALE UNTIL APRIL 15TH ONLY** *This Price Won't Be Repeated Again This Year - Take Advantage Of It* Celebrating the one and only Olivia Newton-John. This...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Portrait Prints
MaterialsCanvas, Giclée
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.
Penelope Gottlieb’s Comic-Style Painting Is a Requiem for a Vanished Flower
This piece may look like Pop art fun, but embedded within is a message of a planet on the brink.