Frank Stella Knihy

As a teacher, Hans Hofmann left his mark on generations of artists in both Europe and America. He had an equally brilliant career as a painter. Hofmann operated a famous teaching studio first in Europe and then in New York at a pivotal moment when a new kind of subjective, non-figurative art was emerging as the dominant movement. His work is insistent upon color, texture, and form, and his astoundingly liberated later canvases are more than expressions of a creative process; they are, in the words of art historian Robert Goldwater, "...less the culmination of a life-long development than a kind of rebirth, an entirely new, youthful phase."

Shows examples of Stella's large scale paintings, constructions, and reliefs created over the last seventeen years, and discusses the themes, style, and materials of his work.

A friend and colleague of Frank Stella's for forty years, Sidney Guberman presents a unique view of this seminal figure of contemporary American art. Undaunted by Stella's infamous comment "Only what can be seen there is there," Guberman traces Stella's career, exploring sources as diverse as Jasper Johns, Jean Arp, and Henri Matisse, investigating the technical complexity of the work, and interweaving more personal insights into the events of his life, his passion for sport and speed, and the role of his family and colleagues in the art world. What emerges is a portrait of a man of seemingly boundless creative energy who is perpetually challenging himself and his world.Lavishly illustrated, this volume combines handsome color reproductions of nearly one hundred of Stella's paintings and prints with a wealth of images from the artist's collection and other sources that vividly capture his spirit and interests.

German