Frank Stella

Frank Stella was a pioneering abstract artist. Characterised by a series of dramatic style changes throughout his career, he originally began his career as an abstract-impressionist. Disillusioned with the homogeneity of the genre, he began to produce more minimalist works that focused on the formal elements of painting. Reducing his practice to pure form and colour over narrative and emotion, he began to create the series of formal geometric paintings he is well known for. Later in his career, Stella’s work evolved again into a form of art he termed ‘maximalism’, becoming more sculptural, featuring colourful reliefs and complex, interlocking shapes.

Stella’s first retrospective was held at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York in 1970 when he was aged just 33. He is still the youngest artist to have ever had a retrospective at MoMA and one of very few who have had the honour to have two, exhibiting there again in 1987. Since then, he has also had a retrospective at the Whitney Museum, New York (2015-2016) and several exhibitions at various galleries.