Frank Stella Purple

Frank Stella is famous for his work as an artist. He was one of the central figures in postwar American art. A proponent of Minimalism and non-representational abstraction, Stella was a painter, printmaker and sculptor. His work is in the collections of numerous major museums 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. He died on May 4, 2024. Some of his best-known works include Harran II, Shoubeegi and “The Marriage of Reason and Squalor” series. On 1stDibs, shop a selection of Frank Stella art.

No, Frank Stella was not related to Joseph Stella. While it's possible that in-depth genealogical research may uncover a shared ancestor many generations ago, the two artists are not currently believed to be related. Joseph Stella was born in 1877 in Muro Lucano, Italy, while Frank Stella was born in 1936 in Malden, Massachusetts. On 1stDibs, shop a diverse assortment of Frank Stella and Joseph Stella art.

Frank Stella influenced art by encouraging the spread of Minimalism, an extreme form of abstraction that focuses on forms rather than meaning. Through his work, Stella challenged the notion that art must be a representation of something else. He believed that the art itself was the only true meaning of a piece. His philosophy influenced other artists and architects, such as Frank Gehry, Timothy App and Carl Andre. On 1stDibs, shop a range of Frank Stella art.

You can see Frank Stella art at a number of museums. Some institutions in the U.S. that have Stella pieces in their permanent collections include the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art in San Francisco, California; the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York City, New York and the Chrysler Museum of Art in Norfolk, Virginia. In addition, museums may host temporary exhibitions of the artist's work. On 1stDibs, find a selection of Frank Stella art.

Frank Stella went to college at Princeton University, earning a bachelor of arts from the institution. While there, 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, Stella gravitated toward the geometric abstraction and restrained painting style of Barnett Newman and Jasper Johns. On 1stDibs, shop a collection of Frank Stella art.

Frank Stella used a variety of techniques. The American artist eschewed sketches for his paintings and often used nontraditional materials, like house paint. In 1960, he began introducing color into his work and using unconventionally shaped canvases to complement his compositions. Following a solo show at the Museum of Modern Art in New York in 1970, Stella began working in three dimensions, adding relief elements to paintings, which could be considered wall-mounted sculptures. Stella’s 1970–73 “Polish Village” series was inspired by documentary photographs and architectural drawings of Polish synagogues that had been destroyed by the 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 Stella's muse for a series of three-dimensional works he created in the 1980s in which waveforms, architectural elements and Platonic solids played a prominent role. During this period, Stella embraced a new, exuberant style exemplified in his piece La Scienza della Fiacca. In addition to paintings and sculptural works, the artist also produced prints using lithography, serigraphy, etching and offset lithography techniques. Explore an assortment of Frank Stella art on 1stDibs.

Here are three interesting facts about Frank Stella. First, Stella considered 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. Secondly, Stella created a series of works named after the ancient cities whose circular plans Stella had noticed while traveling in the Middle East during the 1960s. Called the “Protractor” series, these works usually involved several canvases set flush against one another so that the geometric figures in each section came together in a larger, more complex whole. In addition, Stella 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. On 1stDibs, shop a wide variety of Frank Stella art.

Frank Stella started making freestanding sculptures in the 1990s. In 1997, the artist oversaw the creation of the Stella Project, a 5,000-square-foot work inside the Moores Opera House at the University of Houston, and a large free-standing sculpture by Stella produced during this period stands outside the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. However, Stella's work began to move toward sculpture much earlier. 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. On 1stDibs, shop a variety of Frank Stella art.

The art style Frank Stella is known for is Minimalism, a fully nonrepresentational form of abstraction. Stella considered 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. Find a variety of Frank Stella art on 1stDibs.

Frank Stella made Harran II because of his interest in moving his work away from representation toward minimalist abstractions. He believed paintings on canvas were objects in their own right, like sculptures, rather than symbols for something else. Harran II was a part of Stella's 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 comprise several canvases set flush against one another so that the geometric figures in each section come together in a larger, more complex whole. In the case of Harran II, the name is a nod to a city in Turkey where Stella was inspired by intricate, colorful tile mosaics. Find a variety of Frank Stella art on 1stDibs.

Frank Stella (1936–2024) made paintings, prints and sculptures. One of the central figures in postwar American art, Stella was a proponent of minimalism and non-representational abstraction. His famous works include Sinjerli Variation IV, Harran II and his “Eccentric Polygon” series.

Stella burst onto the scene barely out of college with his “Black Paintings,” sober geometric studies composed of wide black stripes separated by chalky white lines. These won him inclusion in “16 Americans,” the famed 1959–60 group show at New York’s Museum of Modern Art. He stayed at the forefront of art, working with famed gallerist Leo Castelli, relentlessly pursuing geometric form and never repeating himself. 

Find a collection of Frank Stella art for sale on 1stDibs.

Frank Stella actually used more than one element of art. A proponent of Minimalism and non-representational abstraction, Stella was a painter, printmaker and sculptor. Considering paintings on canvas as objects in their own right, like sculptures, rather than representations, he rejected certain formal conventions, eschewing sketches and often using nontraditional materials, like house paint. Over the course of his career, his pieces became more and more three-dimensional, straddling the line between painting and sculpture. 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. On 1stDibs, shop a diverse assortment of Frank Stella art.

To create his lithographs, Frank Stella used a variety of materials. Many of his prints began with collages made of enamel paint, etched magnesium, aluminum and fiberglass. Then, he would transfer the image to a lithograph stone and apply it to paper. For many lithographs, he also employed screen printing techniques to create a layered effect. Shop a collection of Frank Stella art on 1stDibs.