Frank Stella
Biography
Frank Stella is an American artist best known for his use of geometric patterns and shapes in creating both paintings and sculptures.
Arguably one of the most influential living American artists, Stella’s works utilize the formal properties of shape, color, and composition to explore non-literary narratives. Stella moved to New York in the 1950s, and became immersed with the Abstract Expressionist movement. His work gained traction 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.
From 1961-1969 Stella was married to art historian Barbara Rose; they had two children, Rachel and Michael. In 1978 he married pediatrician Harriet McGurk.
Today, 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 others.
Born: 1936
Education: Princeton University
Exhibitions
Selected Exhibitions
2014–2015
Retrospective, Organized by the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Fort Worth, TX; Traveling to the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA; Whitney Museum of American Art, Downtown Renzo Piano Building, New York, NY (solo)
2013
Pictures of Nothing – The Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center, Poughkeepsie, NY
Over, Under, Next: Experiments in Mixed Media, 1913–present – Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, DC
S(ch)ichtwechsel! Neue Blicke auf die Sammlung – Museum für Konkrete Kunst, Ingolstadt
Il Guggenheim. L’avanguardia americana 1945–1980 – Palazzo delle Esposizioni, Rome
Poesie der Reduktion – Minimal, Concept, Land Art – Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig – MUMOK , Vienna
2012
Stella – Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg, Wolfsburg
Stella – IVAM – Institut Valencià d’Art Modern, Valencia
Stella: Selected Prints 1974-1982 – Greenfield Sacks Gallery, Santa Monica, CA
The 1960s – The University of Lethbridge Art Gallery, Lethbridge, Alberta
Stella – Black, Aluminum, Copper Paintings – L&M Arts, New York, New York City, NY
2011
Stella – Haunch of Venison – London, London (England)
Stella – Geometric Variations – Paul Kasmin Gallery, New York City, NY
Stella – Vered Gallery, East Hampton, NY
Stella – Polychrome Reliefs und Prints – Galerie der Stadt Tuttlingen, Tuttlingen
Sounds: The Scarlatti K Series – The Phillips Collection, Washington, DC
Stella – 75 Years Anniversary Show – Galerie Jamileh Weber, Zurich
Stella: Irregular Polygons – Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, OH
2010
Stella: Irregular Polygons – Hood Museum of Art, Hanover, NH
Stella – Galerie Meyer Kainer, Vienna
Stella – Wetterling Gallery, Stockholm
2009
Stella – Exotic Birds, 1976 – L&M Arts, New York, New York City, NY
Stella – Polychrome Relieff – Paul Kasmin Gallery, New York City, NY
Moby-Dick: Frank Stella and Herman Melville – GRAM – Grand Rapids Art Museum, Grand Rapids, MI
2008
Stella Prints, 1980-2008 – Loretta Howard Gallery, New York City, NY
Stella: K Series – Loretta Howard Gallery, New York City, NY
Polygons to Printmaking: The Work of Frank Stella, 1958-1997 – Princeton University Art Museum, Princeton, NJ
2007
space – Galerie Terminus, Munich
Stella – – Galerie Haas & Fuchs – Berlin, Berlin
Stella – Peter Freeman, Inc., New York City, NY
Stella – Bali Series – Galerie Ficher Rohr, Basel
Stella – New Work – Paul Kasmin Gallery, New York City, NY
Stella – Painting into Architecture – The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City, NY
2006
Stella – Major Work from the von Kleist Series – Danese, New York City, NY
Stella – Samuelis Baumgarte Galerie,
Stella: Working Collages – Loretta Howard Gallery, New York City, NY
Stella – Rizziero Arte, Pescara
Stella – 1958 – Wexner Center for the Arts, Columbus, OH
Stella – Galerie Thomas Modern, Munich
Stella – Galerie Thomas, Munich
Stella – 1958 – The Menil Collection, Houston, TX
2005
Stella – Die Marquise von O – Galerie Daniel Templon, Paris
Stella – Serie Moby Dick – MALBA Colección Costantini – Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires
Stella – New Work – Waddington Custot Galleries, London (England)
Stella – Moby Dick Series – MNBA – Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes Santiago Chile, Santiago
Stella – Recent Work – John Berggruen Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Stella – Rosenbaum Contemporary, Boca Raton, FL
Stella: Painting in Three Dimensions – Nasher Sculpture Center, Dallas, TX
2004
Stella: The Marquise of O Paintings – Loretta Howard Gallery, New York City, NY
Stella – Galerie Terminus, Munich
What You See Is What You See: Frank Stella and the Anderson Collection at SFMOMA – San Francisco Museum of Modern Art – SFMOMA, San Francisco, CA
Stella – A Breakthrough In Abstraction – Exotic Birds – Gagosian Gallery , New York City, NY
Stella – Loretta Howard Gallery, New York City, NY
2003
Stella – Iwate Museum of Art, Morioka
Stella – Bernard Jacobson Gallery, London (England)
Stella – The Nagoya City Art Museum, Nagoya
Stella – Akira Ikeda – New York, New York City, NY
2002
A Bold Experiment: Ken Tyler and the Printed Image – UMMA – The University of Michigan Museum of Art, Ann Arbor, MI
Frank Stella – Peinture / Sculpture – Galerie Daniel Templon, Paris
Frank Stella – Hacilar 1999-2001 – Greenberg Van Doren Gallery, New York City, NY
2001
Stella – Heinrich von Kleist by Frank Stella – Akira Ikeda – Berlin, Berlin
Stella – Cantor Arts Center at Stanford University, Stanford, CA
Stella – Galerie Hans Strelow, Dusseldorf
Heinrich von Kleist by Frank Stella – Württembergischer Kunstverein, Stuttgart
Color, Patter and Form – Leslie Sacks Fine Art, Los Angeles, CA
2000
Stella at 2000: Changing the Rules, Museum of Contemporary Art Miami, Miami, FL
The American Century: Art & Culture 1900-2000, Whitney Museum of Contemporary Art, New York, NY
1999
Abstraction, Galerie Daniel Templon, Paris, France
Drawing is Another Kind of Language, Parrish Art Museum, organized by Harvard Museums, Southampton, NY
Stella: Easel Paintings, Bernard Jacobson Gallery, London, UK (solo)
Stella: New Work, Sperone Westwater, New York, NY (solo)
1998
Rendez-vous, Solomon R. Guggenheim, New York, NY
Stella: New Paintings, Bernard Jacobson Gallery, London, UK (solo)
Stella: Smoke Rings, Knoedler & Company, New York, NY (solo)
1997
Samuelis Baumgarte Galerie, Bielefeld, Germany
1987
Retrospective, Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY (solo)
1970
Retrospective, Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY (solo)