1stDibs ExpertOctober 15, 2024
Joseph Stella is known for his work as an artist. He was a visionary artist who painted what he saw: an idiosyncratic and individual experience of his time and place. Stella was 19 when he arrived in the United States and studied in the early years of the century at the Art Students League and with William Merritt Chase, under whose tutelage he received rigorous training as a draftsman. His love of line and his mastery of its techniques are apparent in his early illustrations for various social reform journals. Stella, whose later work as a colorist is breathtakingly lush, never felt obliged to choose between line and color. He drew throughout his career, and unlike other modernists, whose work evolved to more and more abstract forms, Stella freely reverted to earlier realist modes of representation whenever it suited him. Some of his most famous works include Battle of Lights, Coney Island, Mardi Gras; The Brooklyn Bridge: Variation on an Old Theme and Flowers, Italy. Shop a selection of Joseph Stella art on 1stDibs.