1936), Talladega II, 1982. Working according to the principle of "line, plane, volume, and point, within space," Stella focuses on the basic elements of an artwork - color, shape, and composition. Offered in Post-War and Contemporary Art Morning Session on 16 May 2019 at Christie’s in New York. WBUR Boston / This concept is reinforced by the use of the shaped canvas, which, challenging the conventional rectangular format, further denies the painting's status as illusionistic window and enhances its "object-like" quality. Christie's Online Magazine delivers our best features, videos, and auction news to your inbox every week. Frank Stella. 1936), Lettre Sur Les Aveugles I, 1974. Frank Stella has been recognized for his artistic innovations since the age of 25, when he cast aside the concept of creating illusionistic space in his canvases in favor of privileging flat surfaces. 1936), Untitled (Study for Getty's Tomb), circa 1959. His early works were inspired by the Abstract Expressionists he encountered in New York, Stella later commenting: ‘I wouldn’t have bothered becoming an artist if I didn’t like the artists of that generation so much.’ If Pollock and Kline proved influential, so too did the ‘flatness’ of work by Barnett Newman — as did paintings by Jasper Johns, whose 1958 exhibition first inspired Stella to use his now-trademark stripes as a compositional tool. Frank Stella was born the oldest of three children to first-generation Italian-American parents. I need to go to the material stage as quickly as I can,’ he concluded. Frank Stella is an American artist best known for his use of geometric patterns and shapes in creating both paintings and sculptures. One of the most highly regarded post-war American painters still working today, Stella’s style has constantly evolved. Made before Had Gadya, his Polish Village (1971–3) series is a group of more than 100 works focusing on the destruction of Polish synagogues by the Nazi Party. Stella’s works are often called ‘pinstripe paintings’, though the implied regularity is inaccurate. American abstract painter, born in Malden, Massachusetts, a suburb of Boston. Frank Philip Stella (born May 12, 1936) is an American painter, sculptor and printmaker, noted for his work in the areas of minimalism and post-painterly abstraction. Frank Philip Stella (born May 12, 1936) is an American painter, sculptor and printmaker, noted for his work in the areas of minimalism and post-painterly abstraction. A talented lacrosse player, he also began to paint. Frank Stella photographed in 1970. Frank Stella. The controlled minimalism of his works in the late 1950s and early ’60s gave way to maximalist riots of colour later in his career — with subsequent works surpassing 2D canvas to become sculptural. "Frank Stella Artist Overview and Analysis". Artist page for Frank Stella (born 1936) Frank Stella born 1936. Vortex Engravings #5 - 8: Gift Box of Four Limited Edition Plates, Signed and Numbered with Certificate of Authenticity - hand signed by Frank Stella… 1936), Untitled, 1960. ‘I don’t know how to draw in the sense of pure drawing. 62⅝ x 125¼ in (159 x 318.1 cm). ", "Painting is a flat surface with paint on it. By Frank Stella / Over the next decade, Stella introduced relief into his art, describing his approach as ‘maximalist’ painting, because of its sculptural qualities. ", "A sculpture is just a painting cut out and stood up somewhere. Find an in-depth biography, exhibitions, original artworks for sale, the latest news, and sold auction prices. He studied at Princeton University where he graduated in 1958 with a degree in art history. This is part 1 of a 3-part post on the works of American artist Frank Stella. 11¾ x 11¾ (29.8 x 29.8 cm). Frank Philip Stella (born May 12, 1936) is an American painter, sculptor and printmaker, noted for his work in the areas of minimalism and post-painterly abstraction. World-famous contemporary artist Frank Stella is a Malden native, but his work has never been part of the treasured art collection of the Malden Public Library. Frank Stella is a very prolific artist + has had a skillful hand in painting, printmaking, sculpting, architecture + even dance. Photograph © Malcolm Lubliner/Corbis, Get the best stories from Christies.com in a weekly email, *We will never sell or rent your information. Available for sale from Caviar20, Frank Stella, Eccentric Polygon, Effingham (1974), Lithograph and screenprint, 17 × 22 in The artist first began to make a profound engagement with the medium in the mid-1960s, working with master printer Kenneth Tyler, who convinced Stella to make his first prints by filling a Magic Marker — the artist’s preferred drawing implement — with lithography fluid. Contact for price. ", "The crisis of abstraction followed from its having become mired in the sense of its own materiality, the sense that the materials of painting could and should dictate its nature. 84⅞ x 109½ in (215.5 x 278.1 cm). Harran II - whose title comes from the name of an ancient city in Asia Minor - invites parallels with sculpture as well as architecture. ", "You can only take advantage of those gifts that you really have - that are part of your character, and you're lucky to be born with those gifts. All Rights Reserved, Three American Painters: Kenneth Noland, Jules Olitski, Frank Stella, The Prints of Frank Stella: A Catalogue Raisonne, Frank Stella: The Guggenheim Collection Online, American Artists Must Fight for Resale Rights, Art in Review; Frank Stella: Polychrome Relief at Paul Kasmin Gallery, Beyond Paintbrush Boundaries: Imagining Structures in 3-D, BMW Art Car by Frank Stella "The Hard Edge", Frank Stella on shaping the canvas, from SFMOMA, Frank Stella: Irregular Polygons at Toledo Museum of Art, Master Series: An Evening with Frank Stella, Stella on Art: A Conversation at Dartmouth, Frank Stella interview: the bigger picture, The Marriage of Reason and Squalor, II (1959), Created according to a predetermined, circumscribed system imposed by the artist, the, Stella was an early practitioner of nonrepresentational painting, rather than artwork alluding to underlying meanings, emotions, or narratives, and has remained one to this day. The present piece is part of Stella's Indian Bird series, in which the artist further expanded the category of "painting." Stella’s first experience of painting was re-coating houses and boats — generally on his father’s orders. Frank Stella (b. An introduction to the artist whose striped works, monumental prints and revolutionary approach to materials have had a profound impact on the world of abstract art. Enamel on canvas. When working, the artist doesn’t measure out lines, as many critics have presumed, but works freehand — subtly deviating from a perfect straight line with natural bows in pliable stretched canvas. Abstract Photos. Estimate: $4,000,000-6,000,000. Offered in Post-War and Contemporary Art Morning Session on 16 May 2019 at Christie’s in New York, In 1983, Stella became a Professor of Poetry at Harvard University — a reflection of the increasing influence of literature in his practice. Stella lives and works in New York City. The repeated geometric pattern, in combination with the work's lack of figuration or expressive brushwork, prompts the viewer's recognition of it as a flat surface covered with paint, rather than a depiction of something else, upending the centuries-long concept of painting as window onto illusionistic three-dimensional space. [Internet]. Stella Art Op Art. As a teen, Stella attended the prestigious Phillips Academy, where he once lost three teeth in a dormitory scuffle. 2019/08/15 12:00:00 . Frank Stella, an iconic figure of postwar American art, is considered the most influential painter of a generation that moved beyond Abstract Expressionism toward Minimalism. Photo Art . Estimate: $300,000-500,000. Post Painterly Abstraction. ", Content compiled and written by Rachel Gershman, Edited and published by The Art Story Contributors, "I like real art. Frank Stella was born in Malden, Massachusetts, on May 12, 1936. Measuring a massive 10 x 20 feet, the work is architectural in scale, while its composition was based on the semicircular drafting tool for measuring and constructing angles. Lithograph. 108 x 125 x 7 in (274.3 x 317.5 x 17.8 cm). Art Gallery. You could say it's authentic... but real is actually a better word, broad as it may be. Frank Stella (b. For artist John Chamberlain, he is a ‘sculptor’s painter’. Belonging to the artist's groundbreaking series Black Paintings, The Marriage of Reason and Squalor is composed of black inverted parallel U-shapes containing stripes separated by thin lines of unpainted canvas. See available prints and multiples, paintings, and sculpture for sale and learn about the artist. Frank Stella, Bear Mountain, 1995 Stainless steel, carbon steel, and bronze, 98 × 214 ½ × 214 ½ inches (52.9 × 544.8 × 544.8 cm) Photo by Susan Einstein Contact for price. Contessa Gallery. Today, in his eighties, he lives in downtown Manhattan, keeping a studio in upstate New York. Apr 5, 2014 - From The Glass House, Frank Stella, Brzozdowce I (1973), Mixed media: felt, fabric, and acrylic on panel and plywood, 120 × 90 × 3 7/8 in The later ‘Copper Paintings’ (1960-61) employed the barnacle-inhibiting paint he had used the previous summer on the hull of his father’s boat. The Telegraph (UK) / You just have to make your own art, and whatever categories it falls into will come later. Paintings, Prints, and Mixed-Media works by Frank Stella, a leading abstract artist of the 60's through the 80's The books and articles below constitute a bibliography of the sources used in the writing of this page. Works in the Had Gadya series measured up to 60 in x 53¼ in (152 cm x 135 cm), their monumentality expressing an affinity with architectural structures first hinted at in the space-defining lines of his earliest work. In the Had Gadya series, the names of Stella’s prints follow the lines of the traditional song, with each new line resulting from the preceding one. Follow DANE FINE ART on Artsy. Stella is considered a pioneer of Minimalism, Op Art with Josef Albers, and Shaped canvas with Charles Hinman. Artist: Frank Stella, American (1936 - )Title: Black StackYear: 1970Medium: Lithograph, signed and numbered in pencil... on May 04, 2012. Born to first-generation Sicilians in the small town of Malden, Massachusetts, Stella’s father was a gynaecologist, while his mother was an artistically inclined housewife who attended fashion school and painted landscapes. Frank Stella was born in Malden, Massachusetts, to parents of Italian descent. From 1958-60, he shared a loft with photographer Hollis Frampton and sculptor Carl Andre, who said of their relationship ‘we educate each other’. Estimate: $25,000,000-35,000,000. The Marriage of Reason and Squalor, II is a painting produced by Frank Stella in 1959. I don't get any thrill out of laying it out. Stella’s Had Gadya series became one of the most significant examples of this influence. Born in Massachusetts in 1936, Stella went on to study history at Princeton University, later moving to New York City and becoming increasingly influenced by the work of Jackson Pollock and Franz Kline, and later to the flatter surfaces of Barnett Newman. Courtesy of Sotheby’s. Describing the significance of these works, which he saw in a visit to the Tel Aviv Museum in 1981, Stella commented: ‘He [Lissitzky] attempted something few abstract painters have ever tried to do: address a narrative.’, The names of Stella’s works are significant, loading abstract images with emotional meaning. Though its meaning is open to interpretation, the song is commonly read as a symbolic reference to the nations that have suppressed Israel throughout history. 1. The shaped canvas recurs in the works of Stella's Polish Village series, to which Michapol I belongs. Offered in Post-War and Contemporary Art Morning Session on 16 May 2019 at Christie’s in New York. Frank Stella. His output over the years has been so diverse that it needs three posts to fully appreciate the breadth of his work. His approach to materials is just as revolutionary, comprising house and car paint, cast aluminium, fibreglass, and the latest 3D-printing techniques. Andre — who was experimenting with paint at the time — recalled: ‘One day Frank Stella just said to me, “Look, if you paint another painting I’m going to cut off your hands […] you are a good sculptor now.”’ A brief marriage to celebrated art critic Barbara Rose sparked the 1965 show Shape and Structure — one of the earliest exhibitions of Minimal art, curated with the Met’s Henry Geldzahler. The Art Newspaper / View Full Details. In his exploration of formal issues, Stella habitually worked in series, developing increasingly complicated variations on selected themes. Frank Stella, an iconic figure of postwar American art, is considered the most influ… Frank Stella (born 1936), American painter, was one of the most dominant and influential figures in abstract painting during the 1960s through the 1990s. It has the ability to convince you that it's present - that it's there. I may have a flat-footed technique, or something like that, but still, to me, the thrill, or the meat of the thing, is the actual painting. Born to first-generation Sicilians in the small town of … The artist commented: ‘The Black Paintings were dark, very dark. Alkyd on canvas. He attended the Phillips Academy in Andover (1950-1954), where he studied painting with Patrick Morgan. Named after the brand of household paint Stella has used to create them, the 1961 ‘Benjamin Moore’ series so impressed Andy Warhol that he bought them all. Nov 12, 2019 - From Anders Wahlstedt Fine Art, Frank Stella, Feneralia (1995), Lithograph, screenprint, etching, 46 × 42 in Frank Stella "Jill" Black Series II (Axsom 16), 1967. Enamel on canvas mounted on Masonite. ©2021 The Art Story Foundation. His famous 1964 maxim, “what you see is what you see” had led to a concise direction during artistic production; the picture must focus only on the basic elements of colour, composition and shape and not on what it represents. Stella lives and works in New York City. His early works anticipates many elements of minimalism, which is why he is also considered by some a minimalist, although most of his later artworks are not strictly minimalist. Stella deployed painted curlicue aluminum forms that jut out into the viewer's space - increasing the works' object-like nature and diminishing their appearance as paintings hanging on a wall. Frank Philip Stella (born May 12, 1936) is an American painter, sculptor and printmaker, noted for his work in the areas of minimalism and post-painterly abstraction. Frank Stella, in full Frank Philip Stella, (born May 12, 1936, Malden, Massachusetts, U.S.), American painter who began as a leading figure in the Minimalist art movement and later became known for his irregularly shaped works and large-scale multimedia reliefs.. Stella studied painting at the Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts, and history at Princeton University (B.A., 1958). Stella's virtually relentless experimentation has made him a key figure in American modernism, helping give rise to such developments as Minimalism, Post-Painterly Abstraction, and Color Field Painting. Frank Stella: 'If you get into art to make money, you're deluded'. Stella lives and works in New York City. Frank Stella is a rule-breaker. Artist: Frank Stella Title: "Jill" Black Series (Axsom 16) Medium: Lithograph Date: 1967 Edition: 100 Dimensions: 15 X 22” Description: Framed. Frank Stella, "Lettre sur les sourds et muets I". Frank Stella. Despite their sculptural qualities, Stella described the impulse behind Michapol I and the other works of the series as "pictorial. Minimalist art began in the 1950s with a group of artists who did not make paintings and sculptures about the things they saw in the world, like a house, or a bottle, or a snowy landscape. Frank Stella is an American artist best known for his use of geometric patterns and shapes in creating both paintings and sculptures. The Black Paintings' stark simplicity, impersonal handling of the medium, and use of repeated geometric forms made them enormously influential on the emergence of Minimalism, whose practitioners likewise pursued the viewer's pure interaction with the art object. The bleak conditions of Stella’s first New York studio were reflected in the 1959 work The Marriage of Reason and Squalor, II — its title referring both to Stella’s artistic intent and his less-than ideal living conditions. Bernard Jacobson Gallery is proud to announce its forthcoming exhibition of works by Frank Stella (b. Fez is a painting produced by Frank Stella in 1964. Part one here, is an overview of Stella's varied output over the years. 1936), Point of Pines, 1959. Along with three other of the Black Paintings, this work was included in the seminal MoMA exhibition Sixteen Americans. In his sophomore year of high school at Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts, he began learning to paint from the abstractionist Patrick Morgan, who taught there. There are multiple editions of the work that … View Frank Stella’s 6,050 artworks on artnet. Stella is arguably one of the most prominent and influential living American artists; he is known to constantly evolve his practice with every new series of works. 15 talking about this. In 1959, Frank Stella gained early, immediate recognition with his series of coolly impersonal black striped paintings that turned the gestural brushwork and existential angst of Abstract Expressionism on its head. The dimension of this painting is 230.5 x … Frank Stella (b. Original Artwork. He is best known for being one of the greatest living artists + has influenced generations of American artists with his development of minimalist + maximalist styles. ", "I think that many gestures artists make, gestures that seem casual and improbable but surprisingly effective in making art, can be made available to architecture. Made from 1982-84, the series of 12 prints was inspired by the Russian artist El Lissitzky’s lithographs of 1919, which were based on the folk song sung following the Seder, the religious meal served in Jewish homes on the first or second night of Passover. 267-687-8378. Joseph Albers. Colour Field Heart Art Moma. As in The Marriage of Reason and Squalor, Harran II's stripes emphasize the flatness of the composition, reminding the viewer that a painting is merely canvas covered with paint. The brooding reverberations of the Black Paintings were amplified by provocative German titles related to National Socialism and the Nazi Party. Concerned by a dissonance between painted lines and the shape of the canvas, Stella began to remove sections of paintings that seemed superfluous. Materials. I have a gift for structure, and the strength of all the paintings I made in the sixties lay in their organization, their sense of what pictorial structure could be. Printed by Waddington Custot galleries, the artist’s Illustrations after El Lissitzky’s ‘Had Gadya’ series is an excellent example of Stella’s diversity as a print maker — each rhythmic, detailed work combining hand colouring with lithographic, linoleum block and silkscreen. Frank Stella, an iconic figure of postwar American art, is considered the most influential painter of a generation that moved beyond Abstract Expressionism toward Minimalism. Feb 11, 2018 - From Zane Bennett Contemporary Art, Frank Stella, Squid, 1988 (1988), Serigraph, lithograph, linocut, hand coloring , collage, 75 × 55 in That is, until now. Oil on canvas. In his early work, Stella attempted to drain any external meaning or symbolism from painting, reducing his images to geometric form and eliminating illusionistic effects. Information from Wikipedia, made available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Jun 2, 2015 - Find the latest shows, biography, and artworks for sale by Frank Stella. Estimate: $1,000,000-1,500,000. His Princeton professors, painter Stephen Greene and art historian William Seitz, introduced Stella to the New York art world by bringing him to exhibitions in the city, thereby shaping his earliest artistic aesthetic. 141 x 141 in (358.1 x 358.1 cm). His fiery attitude, however, was combined with a sharp intelligence; in 1954, he entered Princeton University, majoring in history. Frank Stella is an American artist best known for his use of geometric patterns and shapes in creating both paintings and sculptures. The New York Times / Frank Stella (b. Frank Stella, in full Frank Philip Stella, (born May 12, 1936, Malden, Massachusetts, U.S.), American painter who began as a leading figure in the Minimalist art movement and later became known for his irregularly shaped works and large-scale multimedia reliefs. Frank Stella Art Prints Popular Works from the Iconic Artist His father worked 60-hour weeks, and insisted his son both study hard and learn the importance of manual labour. Find an in-depth biography, exhibitions, original artworks for sale, the latest news, and sold auction prices. Stella continued taking art courses at Princeton University, while earning a degree in history. Astoria by Frank Stella. Began to paint abstract pictures while at Phillips Academy, Andover.Studied history at Princeton University 1954-8, also attending painting courses there under William Seitz and Stephen Greene; influenced by Pollock and Kline, later by Newman and Johns. Frank Phillip Stella was born in Malden Massachusetts on May 12, 1936. 1936), Princeton II, 1956. He ultimately went on to create large-scale freestanding sculptures, architectural structures, and the most complex work ever realized in the medium of printmaking. Estimate: $5,500,000-7,500,000. Bill Lamb is a music and arts writer with two decades of experience covering the world of entertainment and culture. Acrylic on canvas. 1936). Series of eight lithographs on ... Category 1960s Pop Art Frank Stella Art.