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The stately Frank Stella oil painting on shaped wood panel is entitled ‘Metropolitan Museum M’ and was created in 1969 as a statement piece for the Metropolitan Museum of Arts’ Centennial Celebration. A limited edition of only fourteen in existence, the brightly patterned painting is massive in scale, measuring 82 x 82 x 4 in. The color references are nostalgic and appropriate for this iconic mid-century style work, with mustard yellows, tangerine oranges and a pop of cobalt blue. The curved panels give this work a stand-out appeal as it mirrors the symmetrical patten throughout. Labeled “Met Museum Panel 3” on verso, this work is currently unframed. To learn more about this artwork or to request additional information, please contact us and visit our website: www.taglialatellagalleries.com
Frank Stella is an American artist, born 1936 in Malden, Massachusetts, known for his use of vividly colored geometric patterns and shapes in his paintings and sculptures. Considered to be one of the most influential living American artists, Stella’s artworks utilize the properties of shape, color, and composition to explore non-literary narratives, as seen in his work Harrar II (1967) from the Protractor series. “Abstraction didn’t have to be limited to a kind of rectilinear geometry or even a simple curve geometry. It could have a geometry that had a narrative impact. In other words, you could tell a story with the shapes,” he explained. “It wouldn’t be a literal story, but the shapes and the interaction of the shapes and colors would give you a narrative sense. You could have a sense of an abstract piece flowing along and being part of an action or activity.” Stella studied history at Princeton University before moving to New York in 1958. After moving to New York City, Stella was immersed in the wave of Abstract Expressionism, and the work of Jasper Johns inspired Stella’s Black Paintings that he created in the late 1950s. to early 60s. The flatly painted works opened up the doors to the movement of Minimalism, rising alongside Artist’s such as Barnett Newman, Jackson Pollock, and Franz Kline. Throughout the following decades, Stella gained notoriety in the art world and in 1970 he became the youngest artist ever to be granted a solo exhibition at The Museum of Modern Art. In present day, he continues to work and commutes to his studio in Rock Tavern, NY. Stella’s works are held in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Kunstmuseum Basel, the Art Institute of Chicago, the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., and the Tate Gallery in London, among many others.
