Frank Stella

Overview

Frank Stella’s (1936) work has been crucial to the trajectory of modern and contemporary art. His infamous ‘Black Paintings’ series marked a pronounced departure from the unrestrained gestural motifs of Abstract Expressionism. His controlled, hard-edged shapes and lines eschewed both representation and emotionality, helping carve the space for what would become known as Minimalism.

The youngest artist ever to have had a retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art in 1970 (at the age of 33), Stella continues to make formally innovative work, moving from his early two-dimensional geometric paintings toward increasingly expressive, architectural forms. It is precisely this restless – yet considered – innovative approach that marks Stella as a canonical figure of modern and contemporary art.

Works

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