id: 162870
accession number: 2003.355
share license status: Copyrighted
url: https://clevelandart.org/art/2003.355
updated: 2024-03-26 02:00:50.172000
Gray Scramble (Single), VIII, 1968. Frank Stella (American, b. 1936). Synthetic polymer paint on canvas; framed: 175.2 x 175.2 x 7.5 cm (69 x 69 x 2 15/16 in.); unframed: 175.2 x 175.2 cm (69 x 69 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of David and Helen Kangesser 2003.355 © Frank Stella / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
title: Gray Scramble (Single), VIII
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creation date: 1968
creation date earliest: 1968
creation date latest: 1968
current location: 224A Contemporary Corridor
creditline: Gift of David and Helen Kangesser
copyright: © Frank Stella / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
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culture: America, 20th century
technique: synthetic polymer paint on canvas
department: Contemporary Art
collection: CONTEMP - Painting
type: Painting
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CREATORS
* Frank Stella (American, b. 1936) - artist
Frank Stella was born in Malden, Massachusetts in 1936 and studied at Princeton University. Stella's auspicious start in New York, only a year after his graduation from Princeton, was an exhibit of the Black Paintings of 1959-60. Viewed as a precursor to Minimalism, these pivotal works led to his inclusion in Sixteen Americans at the Museum of Modern Art and the notice of its director, Alfred Barr, who purchased a painting, The Marriage of Squalor and Reason. With their emphasis on control and rationalism, the Black Paintings opened genuinely new paths for abstraction and exerted a profound influence on the art of the 1960s. A major shift from this work began to develop in 1966 with his Irregular Polygons, canvases in the shapes of irregular geometric forms and characterized by large unbroken areas of color. As this new vocabulary developed into a more open and color-oriented pictorial language, the works underwent a metamorphosis in size, expressing an affinity with architecture in their monumentality. Stella also introduced curves into his works, marking the beginning of the Protractor series. Harran II evinces the great vaulting compositions and lyrically decorative patterns that are the leitmotif of the series, which is based on the semicircular drafting instrument used for measuring and constructing angles. In the 1970s, Stella's work moved toward three-dimensional paintings on shaped canvases and later toward wall constructions with multiple components, ever projecting further from their supports. Stella's second retrospective at MOMA in 1987 concluded with a series of daring reliefs based on Melville's Moby Dick. These works further blurred any boundary between paintings and sculpture. In 1983-84 Stella gave the Charles Eliot Norton lectures at Harvard University. These lectures, later published under the title Working Space, marked a critical juncture for the artist. A spirited defense of abstraction, they could well sum up Stella's approach to painting and have acted as a manifesto for his work since. Since the 1980s, the artist has completed a number of large-scale works for public spaces, confirming Stella's abiding interest in architecture. A vast commission during the early 90s, involving the Princess of Wales Theater in Toronto, has led to a series of architectural proposals and commissions over the past eight years, including his Bandshell for the City of Miami.
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measurements: Framed: 175.2 x 175.2 x 7.5 cm (69 x 69 x 2 15/16 in.); Unframed: 175.2 x 175.2 cm (69 x 69 in.)
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CURRENT EXHIBITIONS
title: The Persistence of Geometry: Form, Content and Culture in the Collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art
opening date: 2006-06-09T00:00:00
The Persistence of Geometry: Form, Content and Culture in the Collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland (MOCA), Cleveland, OH (June 9-August 20, 2006).
title: Contemporary Gallery Reinstallation 2021
opening date: 2021-04-20T04:00:00
Contemporary Gallery Reinstallation 2021. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer).
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LEGACY EXHIBITIONS
* {'description': 'MOCA Cleveland (6/9/2006 - 8/20/2006): "The Persistence of Geometry: Form, Content and Culture in the Collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art", no. 108, p. 122, color repr. p. 5 & p. 76.', 'opening_date': '2006-06-09T00:00:00'}
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PROVENANCE
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RELATED WORKS
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CITATIONS
Sims, Lowery Stokes, Cleveland Museum of Art, and Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland. The Persistence of Geometry : Form, Content, and Culture in the Collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2006.
page number: Reproduced: p. 5, 76, no. 108; mentioned: p.122
url: https://ingallslibrary.on.worldcat.org/oclc/71296451
Cleveland Museum of Art. The CMA Companion: A Guide to the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2014.
page number: Mentioned and reproduced: P. 118
url:
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IMAGES