Joseph Stella was a visionary artist who painted what he saw, an idiosyncratic and individual experience of his time and place. Stella arrived in New York in 1896, part of a wave of Italian immigrants from poverty-stricken Southern Italy. But Stella was not a child of poverty. His father was a notary and respected citizen in Muro Lucano, a small town in the southern Apennines. The five Stella brothers were all properly educated in Naples. Stella’s older brother, Antonio, was the first of the family to come to America. Antonio Stella trained as a physician in Italy, and was a successful and respected doctor in the Italian community centered in Greenwich Village. He sponsored and supported his younger brother, Joseph, first sending him to medical school in New York, then to study pharmacology, and then sustaining him through the early days of his artistic career. Antonio Stella specialized in the treatment of tuberculosis and was active in social reform circles. His connections were instrumental in Joseph Stella’s early commissions for illustrations in reform journals.
Joseph Stella, from the beginning, was an outsider. He was of the Italian-American community, but did not share its overwhelming poverty and general lack of education. He went back to Italy on several occasions, but was no longer an Italian. His art incorporated many influences. At various times his work echoed the concerns and techniques of the so-called Ashcan School, of New York Dada, of Futurism and, of Cubism, among others. These are all legitimate influences, but Stella never totally committed himself to any group. He was a convivial, but ultimately solitary figure, with a lifelong mistrust of any authority external to his own personal mandate. He was in Europe during the time that Alfred Stieglitz established his 291 Gallery. When Stella returned he joined the international coterie of artists who gathered at the West Side apartment of the art patron Conrad Arensberg. It was here that Stella became close friends with Marcel Duchamp.
Stella was 19 when he arrived in America 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, is apparent early in his career in the illustrations he made 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 inexorably to more and more abstract form, Stella freely reverted to earlier realist modes of representation whenever it suited him. This was because, in fact, his “realist” work was not “true to nature,” but true to Stella’s own unique interpretation. Stella began to draw flowers, vegetables, butterflies, and birds in 1919, after he had finished the Brooklyn Bridge series of paintings, which are probably his best-known works. These drawings of flora and fauna were initially coincidental with his fantastical, nostalgic and spiritual vision of his native Italy which he called Tree of My Life (Mr. and Mrs. Barney A. Ebsworth Foundation and Windsor, Inc., St. Louis, illus. in Barbara Haskell, Joseph Stella, exh. cat. [New York: Whitney Museum of American Art, 1994], p. 111 no. 133).
(Biography provided by Hirschl & Adler)
Rose and Angel
By Joseph Stella
Located in London, GB
Joseph Stella was an Italian born American whose repertoire spans many different themes, ideas and impulses with pictorial diversity - which becomes difficult to classify. However, h...
Canvas, Oil
"Study of Mt. Vesuvius" Oil on Canvas, Blue Tones, Landscape
By Joseph Stella
Located in Detroit, MI
SALE ONE WEEK ONLY “Study of Mt. Vesuvius" is a small intimate painting of an active volcano that has at times wrecked great destruction. As seen from a distance, it is a calm blue ...
Canvas, Oil
Portrait of Grace
By Joseph Stella
Located in Bryn Mawr, PA
Portrait of Grace, 1944 Oil on canvas, 23 x 20 inches (58.4 x 50.8 cm) Framed dimensions 31 1/2 x 28 1/2 inches Signed and dated lower left: Joseph Stella / 1944 Signed on verso: Jos...
Canvas, Oil
$27,200Sale Price|20% Off
Thistles
By Joseph Stella
Located in Miami, FL
Signature: Signed, dated 1938 and inscribed Italy lower right. Thistles, 1938 Pastel on paper 25 3/4 × 18 3/4 in Work is framed Christie's, New York Very strong in person. Gallery st...
Pastel
$41,250Sale Price|25% Off
Still Life of Books and Chinese Lanterns in Vibrant Colors
By Joseph Stella
Located in Miami, FL
Joseph Stella creates a beautiful and colorful still life rendered in lush expressive bright colors and quick spontaneous bravura brushstrokes.. Signed Lower Right Joseph Stella Fra...
Pastel
Reclining Nude
By Joseph Stella
Located in Palm Desert, CA
A painting by Joseph Stella. "Reclining Nude" is a figurative painting, oil on canvas in a bright palette of yellows, greens, and tans by American Modernist artist Joseph Stella. The...
Canvas, Oil
Antique Oil Painting of Serene Landscape, Signed, Circa 19th Century
By Joseph Stella
Located in Bryn Mawr, PA
White Lilies Watercolor, gouache, crayon, and silverpoint on paper 11 1/4 x 16 7/16 inches 28.6 x 41.8 cm Framed dimensions 19 1/2 x 25 1/2 inches Provenance The artist; By bequest ...
Paper, Crayon, Watercolor, Gouache
$17,500
Pink Flower
By Joseph Stella
Located in Bryn Mawr, PA
Born in Italy, Joseph Stella immigrated to New York City at the age of nineteen and went on to become one of America’s foremost modernist painters. He remained deeply loyal to his It...
Oil
$32,000Sale Price|46% Off
"Tree, Trunk, and Roots, New York" Joseph Stella, American Modernism
By Joseph Stella
Located in New York, NY
Joseph Stella (1877 - 1946) Tree, Trunk, and Roots, Bronx, New York, circa 1924 Oil on canvas 12 x 16 inches inscribed in another hand Joseph Stella/Estate and bears Joseph Stella Estate stamp (on the reverse) Provenance: The Estate of the Artist Rabin & Kreuger, New Jersey Parke Bernet Galleries, New York, March 14, 1968, Lot 147 ACA Galleries, New York Thence by descent Stella was born June 13, 1877 at Muro Lucano, Italy, a mountain village not far from Naples. He became painter laureate of Muro Lucano when he was in his teens with a representation of the local saint in the village church. Stella immigrated to America in 1896 and studied medicine and pharmacology, but upon the advice of artist friend Carlo de Fornaro, who recognized his undeveloped talent, he enrolled at the Art Students League in 1897. Stella objected to the rule forbidding the painting of flowers, an indication of his lifelong devotion to flower painting. He also studied under William Merritt Chase in the New York School of Art and at Shinnecock Hills, Long Island in 1901-1902, displaying the bravura brushwork and dark Impressionist influence of Chase. Stella liked to paint the raw street life of immigrant society, rendering this element more emotionally than the city realists, the Aschcan School headed by Robert Henri. Stella went through a progression of styles--from realism to abstraction--mixing media and painting simultaneously in different manners, reviving styles and subjects years later. The "Survey" sent Stella to illustrate the mining disaster of 1907 in Monongah, West Virginia, and in 1908 commissioned him to execute drawings of the Pittsburgh industrial scene. Steel and electricity became a major experience in shaping his responses to the modern world, and Stella succeeded in portraying the pathos of the steelworkers and the Pittsburgh landscape. Stella went abroad in 1909 at the age of thirty-two, lonely for his native land. He returned to Italy, traveling to Venice, Florence and Rome. He took up the glazing technique of the old Venetian masters to get warmth, transparency, and depth of color. One of Stella's paintings was shown in the International Exhibition in Rome in 1910 and was acquired by the city of Rome. The influence of the French Modernists awakened his dormant individuality. His friendship with Antonio Mancini, a Futurist, also played a role in his new style. At the urging of Walter Pach...
Canvas, Oil
Blue Waterlily
By Joseph Stella
Located in Bryn Mawr, PA
Born in Italy, Joseph Stella immigrated to New York City at the age of nineteen and went on to become one of America’s foremost modernist painters. He remained deeply loyal to his It...
Oil
Flowers in a Vase
By Joseph Stella
Located in Bryn Mawr, PA
Provenance The artist; By bequest to his nephew, Sergio Stella, 1946; By descent in the family, until the present Exhibitions Richard York Gallery, New York, 1994, Joseph Stella's N...
Oil
Barbados Scene, American Modern Oil on Canvas, 1937, Framed, 11x15\"
By Joseph Stella
Located in Bryn Mawr, PA
Joseph Stella(1877-1946) A Corner of Barbados, 1937 Oil on canvas, 11 x 15 inches (27.9 x 38.1 cm) Inscribed on verso: A corner of / Barbados / O:P by / Joseph Stella Provenance The artist; By bequest to his nephew, Sergio Stella, 1946; By descent in the family, until the present Joseph Stella’s artistic career defies easy categorization. He was simultaneously a modernist and traditionalist, a dual citizen of the Old and New World, a bold experimenter and masterful practitioner of time-honored artistic techniques. His iconic paintings of New York City, such as the Brooklyn Bridge and Coney Island, celebrate modernity and the Machine Age, while his exuberant paintings of the natural world speak to the spiritual revelation that guided and grounded him throughout his life. Until recently, the divergent aspects of Stella’s career “confounded his legacy.” But in Joseph Stella: Visionary Nature, the multi-venue museum exhibition that focuses on the artist’s lifelong engagement with nature, a more complete and nuanced understanding of his career has emerged. Stella’s work of flora and fauna demonstrate his deep connection to and close observational study of nature to invigorate his creativity and sustain his human spirit. Indeed, nature was a salve to his woes about life and the modern age. He made countless drawings and paintings of flowers, many of which were done at the New York Botanical Garden – a favorite place for the artist. In these works, Stella explored new styles and pressed the limits of his imagination. Like nature itself, he was always changing, always growing. Stella found himself in Barbados in 1937, when then health of his wife had declined and she asked him to bring her home. He loved the island paradise, as it reawakened his creativity and love the natural world, much as his returns to Italy did. Although he remained in Barbados for only five months, the landscape he absorbed and the motifs he developed fueled his art for the next three years. The Barbados paintings...
Canvas, Oil
$68,000Sale Price|20% Off
Water Lily and Woodchuck - Barbados
By Joseph Stella
Located in Miami, FL
Powerful visual done at Stella's peak period of creativity in Barbados. Signed lower right. Provenance: Doyle, New York Elegantly framed.
Gouache, Paper
$1,500
H 24.02 in W 24.02 in D 0.99 in
mr. c and gladys, bright colorful man and dog
By Stephen Basso
Located in Brooklyn, NY
*ABOUT Stephen Basso Stephen Basso's highly original pastels and oil paintings are romantic, yet thought provoking fantasies. His whimsical works are alive with boundless imagina...
Canvas, Oil
$950
H 10.5 in W 19.75 in D 1.25 in
A Bustling, 1950s Mid-Century Modern Summer Harbor Scene of Martha's Vineyard
By Francis Chapin
Located in Chicago, IL
A Bustling 1950s Mid-Century Modern Harbor Scene of Martha's Vineyard by Famed Chicago Artist, Francis Chapin (Am. 1899-1965). A busy harbor scene of sandy shoreline, docks and boat...
Canvas, Oil
Warhol‑Style Colorful Flowers
Located in Zofingen, AG
shipped in roll Acrylic on canvas Size: 60 x 90 x 2 cm Style: Modern minimalistic and pop art Professional-grade acrylics on canvas Signed by the artist with certificate of authenti...
Canvas, Acrylic
$1,100
H 27 in W 35 in D 1.5 in
A Compelling 1940s American Scene, Social Realism Oil Painting, "Tenement Ruins"
Located in Chicago, IL
A Brooding, Compelling 1940s American Scene, Social Realist Oil Painting, "Tenement Ruins" by Notable Canadian / American artist Emil Weddige (1907-2001). Oil on canvas, dating from...
Canvas, Oil
$2,680
H 49.5 in W 35 in D 1 in
A Large, Impressive Painting of a Standing Female Nude by Artist Francis Chapin
By Francis Chapin
Located in Chicago, IL
A large, impressive 1930s painting of standing female nude by notable Chicago Modern artist Francis Chapin, in a gold-toned frame. Artwork size: 43 3/4 x 29 3/4 inches; Framed siz...
Canvas, Oil
Portrait of a Female Nude
Located in Astoria, NY
Leo Feldman (American, XX), Portrait of a Female Nude Figure, Oil on Canvas, signed on top edge and verso, unframed. 30" H x 24" W. Provenance: From the Allen Tucker Memorial Colle...
Canvas, Oil
$175,000
H 37 in W 45 in D 1.5 in
“Middleton Place II, 1974” Wolf Kahn, West Brattleboro, Vermont Barn Oil Canvas
By Wolf Kahn
Located in Yardley, PA
A fantastic early painting from Kahn’s iconic barn series depicting Dr. Middleton’s property in West Brattleboro, VT. Here, Kahn turns a familiar rural motif into something hovering ...
Canvas, Oil
Portrait of J. L. David (Portrait)
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Portrait of J. L. David (Portrait), c. 1930, oil on canvas adhered to board, apparently unsigned, 26 x 20 inches, exhibited: 1) Fourth Annual State-Wide Exhibition, Santa Cruz Art Le...
Canvas, Oil, Board
$6,500
H 40.25 in W 48 in D 2 in
“Daguerreotype Dandies, c. 1937” Tressa Benson Regionalist American Maine Oil
Located in Yardley, PA
About this work: “Daguerreotype Dandies, c. 1937” by Tressa Benson (American, 1896-1987). Painted with the charm of a rediscovered family photo, this wonderfully eccentric work by B...
Canvas, Oil
$6,500
H 32 in W 32 in D 2.75 in
"The Champ, 1942" Joe Louis "Brown Bomber" Boxer Portrait Ex-Museum Oil Signed
Located in Yardley, PA
“The Champ, 1942” by Theodore Fried (1902-1980) This important portrait by Hungarian-American artist Theodore Fried depicts the legendary boxer Joe Louis aka “The Brown Bomber” and ...
Canvas, Oil, Board
$6,500
H 21.88 in W 17.38 in D 2 in
On the Beach. Woman Reading. Mid-Century Chicago Modernist Oil Painting.
By William Schwartz
Located in Marco Island, FL
Chicago Modernist, William Schwartz, painted this intimate painting of a woman reading titled On the Beach. He studied at the Art Institute of Chicago shortly after emigrating to th...
Canvas, Oil, Board
$2,850
H 26.25 in W 21 in D 2 in
John Edward Thompson Early Spring (Artist Studio) 1933 Colorado Modernist
By John Edward Thompson
Located in Denver, CO
A luminous 1933 modernist landscape by John Edward Thompson titled Early Spring (Thompson’s Studio), depicting the exterior of the artist’s Denver studio surrounded by the quiet emer...
Canvas, Oil
Sold
H 15 in W 16 in
"Lemon and Eggplant Still Life" Joseph Stella, American Modernism, Colorful
By Joseph Stella
Located in New York, NY
Joseph Stella Lemon and Eggplant Still Life, circa 1929 Signed lower center; signed on the stretcher and reverse and inscribed "Still Life" on the reverse Oil on canvas 10 x 11 inches Stella was born June 13, 1877 at Muro Lucano, Italy, a mountain village not far from Naples. He became painter laureate of Muro Lucano when he was in his teens with a representation of the local saint in the village church. Stella immigrated to America in 1896 and studied medicine and pharmacology, but upon the advice of artist friend Carlo de Fornaro, who recognized his undeveloped talent, he enrolled at the Art Students League in 1897. Stella objected to the rule forbidding the painting of flowers, an indication of his lifelong devotion to flower painting. He also studied under William Merritt Chase in the New York School of Art and at Shinnecock Hills, Long Island in 1901-1902, displaying the bravura brushwork and dark Impressionist influence of Chase. Stella liked to paint the raw street life of immigrant society, rendering this element more emotionally than the city realists, the Aschcan School headed by Robert Henri. Stella went through a progression of styles--from realism to abstraction--mixing media and painting simultaneously in different manners, reviving styles and subjects years later. The "Survey" sent Stella to illustrate the mining disaster of 1907 in Monongah, West Virginia, and in 1908 commissioned him to execute drawings of the Pittsburgh industrial scene. Steel and electricity became a major experience in shaping his responses to the modern world, and Stella succeeded in portraying the pathos of the steelworkers and the Pittsburgh landscape. Stella went abroad in 1909 at the age of thirty-two, lonely for his native land. He returned to Italy, traveling to Venice, Florence and Rome. He took up the glazing technique of the old Venetian masters to get warmth, transparency, and depth of color. One of Stella's paintings was shown in the International Exhibition in Rome in 1910 and was acquired by the city of Rome. The influence of the French Modernists awakened his dormant individuality. His friendship with Antonio Mancini, a Futurist, also played a role in his new style. At the urging of Walter Pach, Stella made a trip to Paris, where he met Gertrude and Leo Stein and saw the work of Matisse and the leading Fauves, spurring him to paint with alluring, vivid colors. Stella effected a quick transition from traditionality to the abstract idiom. At the Galerie Bernheim-Jeune in 1912, he saw the works of his countrymen Carlo Carra, Umberto Boccioni and Gino Severini. Primed with these influences, Stella returned to New York in late 1912. His preference for structural composition is obvious in the paintings in which he fused high-key color with broad broken strokes, which were included in the 1913 Armory Show. A month following the Armory Show, Stella premiered at the Italian National Club to which the Italian ambassador made a special appearance to toast "an event in the history of the Italian colony here." "Battle of Lights" (1914) was Stella's first major Futurist work created as a result of the Armory Show,propelling Stella into the vanguard of Modernism. Color chips in various sizes with dense design and spears representing light beams allows the composition movement within a stable axis. This caused a sensation when displayed in a group show at the Montross Gallery in 1914. Stella was represented in a group show at the Bourgeois Galleries in 1917 and 1918, and began a series of industrial paintings which grew out of the "Survey" commission, most notably the "Brooklyn Bridge" (1917-1918) in which he combined Cubist and Futurist techniques. This was exhibited in a one-man show at Bourgeois in 1920 and advanced his reputation substantially as the "poet" of the industrial scene. Stella had a show at the Whitney Studio Club in 1921. His most ambitious work "New York Interpreted" (1920-1922) inspired by Robert Delaunay's "La Ville de Paris" was displayed at his solo show at the 1923 Société Anonyme of which he was a charter member. At the same time, Stella was producing lyrical nocturnes and paintings heavy with symbolism bearing resemblance to the work of Odilon Redon. He also executed innumerable drawings of flowers as he wrote, "my devout wish, that my every working day might begin and end. . . with the light, gay painting...
Canvas, Oil