On Saturday, Frank Stella, whose laconic pinstripe “black paintings” of the late 1950s closed the door on Abstract Expressionism and paved the way to an era of cool minimalism, passed away at his home in the West Village of Manhattan. Stella’s paintings were influential in the development of the modern minimalist movement. He was 87 years old at his time of death. It was his strong suit to demonstrate how matrices and external constraints are mutually constitutive of one another.
Lymphoma was determined to be the cause of death by his wife, Dr. Harriet E. McGurk. In postwar American art, Mr. Stella was a prominent character. He was a restless and unrelenting innovator, and his explorations of color and form made him an outsized presence. He was constantly on display and was the subject of unending discussion. Frank stella art have been inspirations to other young sculptors in the game. Frank stella paintings reflect deep meanings and stories which was one thing that attracted his fans.
- Frank stella sculpture | Frank stella black paintings
Life and Career
He was one of the few American artists of the 20th century who were able to arrive with such éclat. It was when he was in his early 20s that his large-scale black paintings, which featured black stripes that were carefully outlined and separated by thin lines of blank canvas, gained widespread attention in the art world. They make a chilling impression because they are austere, self-referential, and impenetrable.
The art historian William Rubin, in an article that he published in the year 1960 in the publication Art International, described the paintings as having a “eerie, magical presence” that left him “almost mesmerized.” The consensus was only ratified based on time. American art shifted away from Abstract Expressionism and toward cool minimalism as a result of his influence. The experiments of color and shape that he conducted were continually on display and were the subject of unending discussion.
His work helped me and inspired me to pursue abstract geometric painting as an undergrad trying to figure out who I was as an artist. He made a huge impact on me. I traveled to see his shows in different states and cried whenever I’d come into contact with one of his large scale paintings. The magnitude of them was overwhelming. I know a lot of you only know me as a cyanotyper, but painting came first and he was a huge inspiration to me. May he rest in peace. – Anna Goraczko Art