Frank Stella American, 1936-2024
Overview
Lunna Wola II, 1973
"I want to make exalted art. A successful image has pictorial lift. I am looking for whatever is up there". - FRANK STELLA
Frank Stella was a pioneering American artist renowned for his contributions to abstract art, particularly in the fields of minimalism and geometric abstraction. His work evolved over several decades, shifting from two-dimensional geometric forms to more complex three-dimensional and sculptural pieces. Stella is celebrated for his radical departure from the traditional notion of what a painting could be, consistently pushing boundaries and expanding the limits of artistic expression. He refused to be pinned down stylistically. He emerged in the late 1950s and became a leading voice in Minimalism.
Frank Stella’s Polish Village series (1970–74) is one of the most conceptually and emotionally layered bodies of work in his career—a major shift away from his early Minimalist roots and a pivotal moment in abstract art history.
The Polish Village series was inspired by a book Stella encountered called Wooden Synagogues (1959), which documented the architecture of Jewish synagogues in Poland that were destroyed by the Nazis during World War II. The book included architectural drawings and photographs of these wooden structures—intricate, handmade, and deeply spiritual.
Works
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Lunna Wola II, 1973 -
Felsztyn IV, 1971
Exhibitions
