Frank Stella Still Divides Opinion
The Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth looks back on Frank Stella’s career with a comprehensive survey that will include 120 paintings, reliefs, maquettes, sculptures, and drawings. The range of form here showcases Stella’s preoccupation with texture and structure, and his examination of art as object.
Stella’s work, focused on form rather than meaning, marked a significant shift from the Abstract Expressionism of the ’40s and ’50s, making him a key figure in the rise of modernism. Wildly popular, Stella became a catalyst for the minimalist movement, and is one of the most important living artists in America today.
He has also faced backlash for the same lack of substance that made his work famous. The exhibition illuminates the career of an evolving artist, presenting a range from Stella’s earliest years to his most recent shift to “maximalism”. His best-known works are juxtaposed with rarely-seen pieces from collections around the world.
The exhibition is co-organized by the Modern and the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York. It will run April 17 through Sept. 18.
