Frank stella series#

They turned into sculpture and then headed in the direction of architecture. The flat paintings gave way to giant collages. His painting’s surfaces have changed a lot over the years.

These artists called attention to the material of the work.įrank Stella pushed the boundaries of post-war modern art and abstraction. The term Minimalism was originally coined in the late 1950s to describe the abstract visions of artists like Stella and Carl Andre. Minimalism was an avant-garde art movement that emerged in the United States and featured sculptors and painters who avoided overt symbolism and emotional content. Stella created these meticulous canvases by hand, using pencils to sketch out his patterns and then applying enamel paint with a house painter’s brush.Ĩ) Stella was Associated with Minimalism Hyena Stomp by Frank Stella, 1962, via Tate Museum, LondonĪt the beginning of his career, Frank Stella painted in the style of Minimalism, combining solid colors and geometrical shapes on simple canvases. The straight, hard edges in these paintings were his hallmark and Stella became known as a hard-edge painter. This might seem like a simple concept today yet it was very radical back then.

Frank stella series#

Stella completely transformed the art world in America when he first showed his series of monochromatic pinstriped paintings called The Black Paintings. It was Stella’s first appearance in the New York art scene. In 1959, Frank Stella participated in the seminal exhibition 16 American Artists at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. As a way of earning money, Stella started working as a house painter, a trade he had learned from his father.ĩ) He Made His Debut at the Age of 23 The Marriage of Reason and Squalor II by Frank Stella, 1959, via MoMA, New York Franz Kline and Willem de Kooning, along with the artists of the New York School and Stella’s teachers at Princeton, all had a profound impact on his development as an artist. After moving to New York, Frank Stella soon realized his true calling: to be an abstract painter.

Stella found particular inspiration in the works of Pollock, whose status as one of the most influential American painters continues to this day. In 1958, Stella moved to New York City and developed an interest in Abstract Expressionism, exploring the works of Jackson Pollock, Jasper Johns, and Hans Hoffman. As a young man he studied at Princeton University, where he graduated with a degree in history. He grew up in Malden, Massachusetts where he showed great artistic promise at a young age. 10) Frank Stella Was Born in the Town of Malden Frank Stella with his work “The Michael Kohlhaas Curtain’’, via The New York Timesįrank Stella, born on May 12, 1936, is an American painter, sculptor, and printmaker who is often associated with the colorful side of minimalism.