Olkienniki No. I
Artist
Frank Stella
(American, 1936 - 2024)
Date1972
MediumFelt, painted cardboard and canvas on chipboard
DimensionsOverall: 92 x 82in. (233.7 x 208.3cm)
ClassificationsPAINTINGS
Credit LineMuseum Purchase
Object number81.10
Description On View
Not on viewCollections
CopyrightPresumed copyright: the artist or the artist's representative/heir(s) / Licensing by ARS, New York, NY.
Label TextFrank Stella has created abstract works of art throughout his career. When asked to explain what his paintings meant, he is said to have replied: "What you see is what you see." His primary concerns are, therefore, considered formal - pictorial space; the creation of visual interest through the arrangement of shapes, colors, and textures; the interplay of one form against another; and the movement of lines around a composition. Since the early 1960s, Stella has also created shaped canvases that defy conventional expectations for painting. Two-dimensional works, such as Olkienniki No. I, can be very sculptural, and the lines of the work extend beyond itself to activate the wall on which it hangs.
Although Stella's abstract works do not symbolize anything beyond themselves, it should be noted that the artist was inspired to create this painting (and others known as the "Polish Village" series) after reading of synagogues in Poland that were destroyed during the 17th through the 19th centuries.
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