Frank Stella

John Berggruen Gallery, San Francisco
Mr. and Mrs. William F. Farley
Bernard Jacobson Gallery, London
Acquired by the present owner from the above

This work is in good condition overall. There is a faint 5 in. scuff mark located 3 ¼ in. from the right edge and 20 ½ in. from the top edge. There is another scuff mark located 1 in. from the left lateral edge and 20 ½ in. from the bottom. There is an accretion which is not readily discernible in raking light located 16 ½ in. from the bottom edge and 2 in. from the right lateral edge. Under UV light inspection, there are scattered pinpoint accretions in the outermost yellow band (also visble under normal light conditions) fluoresce under UV light, located approximately 10 ½ in. from the left edge and 19 in. from the bottom edge. Unframed.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

In 1958, having just graduated from Princeton, Frank Stella moved to New York at a moment that seemed propitious for change - some artists and critics at the time felt that the Abstract Expressionist movement was waning. Stella ceased this notion and reacted against such expressive uses of paint.  What resulted was his breakthrough Black Paintings and the subsequent Concentric Squares and Mitered Mazes for which the artist is best known. Stella rejected both physical and emotional forms of representation in favor of a focus on the flat geometry of forms in his paintings. In 1961, Stella began to redirect his investigations focusing on the square and towards the use of color. As such, Stella painted the vibrant stripe painting Island No. 10 which became the primary inspiration for the Concentric Square series. 

 

Begun in 1962, the Concentric Square format was a favorite composition for Stella, one he reintroduced in the monumental Diderot paintings of the mid-1970s. Stella found the square canvas ideal, insisting that it was the simplest most regular of all rectilinear formats and allowed the maintenance of the same proportions throughout the field of the canvas. As Stella noted, "The concentric square format is about as neutral and as simple as you can get. It's just a powerful pictorial image. It's so good that you can use it, abuse it and even work against it to the point of ignoring it. It has strength that's almost indestructible." (William Rubin, Frank Stella: 1970-1987, New York, 1987, p. 43).  

 

The fundamental sequence in all configurations of the Concentric Square series consists of five concentric bands around the central square which could then be extended in multiples of this unit. In the colored Concentric Square paintings, Stella explored sequences comprised of six colors – three primary and three secondary – spectrally ordered, beginning with red and ending with violet. Stella commented, "The reason I used color that way at first was to fit the new work into the whole thinking of the striped pictures in general. I wanted to use a fairly formalized, programmatic kind of color." (William Rubin, Frank Stella, New York, 1970, p. 76).

 

Within this format, Stella's color values in vivid, sumptuously colored paintings such as Untitled, establish a progression; in this case, which move from the cool blues and greens of the outer edge, to the insistent yellow, orange and red bands and back to blues and greens again in the center. The progression creates a vertiginous sensation for the viewer as the concentric squares recede to form a tunnel, drawing one into the work while simultaneously appearing to project outward. In the process, illusionistic space which he eschewed in his monochromatic works, is reintroduced into Stella's oeuvre, providing a premonition of the artist's evolution toward volume.