Frank Stella Prints

Already an established painter, Frank Stella started making prints in 1967 at Gemini G.E.L.  Stella initially worked mainly with lithography, though he also created many screen prints and intaglio prints. His first lithographs were Star of Persia I and Star of Persia II. During this time, Stella also made a series of lithographic drawings which re-examined his Black Paintings. These lithographic drawings were organised into an album to reflect on his earlier work. The album encompassed 9 lithographic series totalling 63 prints –  the lithographs are remarkable for their hand-drawn geometric symmetry and commitment to pure form

Stella felt his prints were a continuation to his paintings, the prints corresponding to the imagery found in his paintings. This connection between the paintings and prints is intentional –  “What I like in the paintings I try to get in the prints. And then, what I like in the prints I try to get in the paintings. It works both ways.”

 

 

Frank Stella was an immediate success in printmaking and was honoured in 1970 with his first print retrospective Frank Stella: Prinzip Seriell, Grafik 1967-1970 at the Kunstmuseum, Dusseldorf. Stella is also credited with inventing offset lithography.

 

 

Almost all of Stella’s lithographs were created in the early 1970s with the collaboration of the Gemini G.E.L. studio and were geometric in style. Stella’s screen prints are easily recognised for their sumptuous colours and luxuriant texture.

 

In 1984, Stella created the Illustrations after El Lissitzky’s ‘Had Gadya’ series, a blend of hand colouring collaged with lithographic, linoleum block and silkscreen prints. Many of these collage works were featured in Frank Stella: A Retrospective at the Whitney Museum.

The authority for Frank Stella prints is the catalogue raisonne The Prints of Frank Stella: A Catalogue Raisonné 1967-1982 by Richard H. Axsom.

 

Frank Stella Prints

View Frank Stella prints available from leading galleries.