Frank Stella once shocked the art world with completely black paintings. At the end of the 1950s, his series of minimalist “Black Paintings” with symmetrical stripes covering the entire surface were exhibited in the New York Museum of Modern Art – and were wildly discussed around the world. They were just “flat surfaces with paint on them – nothing more,” said Stella later, emphasizing that there was no meaning behind them: “What you see is what you see.”
Still: Stella’s place in the art world was assured – and the painter was ambitious, in art as in life. For example, the Parisian gallery owner Lawrence Rubin is said to have once said about him that he doesn’t just play tennis for fun. “He plays to win. And that’s how he plays in art too.” Stella continued to develop his work and was considered one of the most important artists in the USA. Among other things, New York’s Whitney Museum dedicated the inaugural retrospective in the new building to him in 2015, and the Museum of Modern Art even dedicated two retrospectives to him. On Saturday (local time) Stella died of cancer at home in New York at the age of 87, as reported by the New York Times and the Washington Post, citing Harriet McGurk, the artist’s wife.
Son of an artist and doctor couple
Stella was born in 1936 in a suburb of Boston to a wealthy artist and doctor couple. After studying history, he came to New York because he was attracted to the scene there and artists such as Jasper Johns and Jackson Pollock. “I wouldn’t have become an artist if I hadn’t liked the artists of that generation so much,” he once told the British “Telegraph”. He was then discovered by the legendary gallery owner Leo Castelli. “I spent a lot of time in his gallery. He recognized me because I looked so untidy.”
The black images were followed by silver and copper-colored ones. As the 1960s progressed, his pictures became more colorful, including the use of fluorescent acrylic paints. The play with geometric shapes remained constant. “When people ask me why I stopped painting black pictures, it’s like asking Kodak why they stopped using film rolls,” Stella told the Guardian. “You move on, the world moves on. It’s hard not to move along. You have to have a good reason to resist.”
Later, Stella, who had a studio in Manhattan and one in upstate New York, also made reliefs and large-scale sculptures. Not all of them were met with enthusiasm. People in Seoul, South Korea, complained about the metal sculpture “Amabel” installed in their city until a small group of trees was planted around it, partially covering the work.
“You don’t become an artist to make money”
Art hasn’t made him rich, even though some of his works sell for millions, said Stella, who was married twice and had five children. “People get excited about these large sums of money, but almost all artists, even the very successful ones, live hand to mouth. You don’t become an artist to make money. You’d be fooling yourself.” Stella was happy to give one to colleagues who saw it differently – like Jeff Koons. “That’s for rich people with no taste.”
Even in old age, Stella continued to live out his love for racing cars. “I was born to drive,” he told the New York Times. Among other things, he drove a BMW and Ferrari during his life. He also decorated a racing car for BMW in the 1970s. In his old age, however, he no longer made his works entirely himself, but instead sent designs to special manufacturers. “Everyone works digitally sooner or later.”
Stella collected art from colleagues and also had many of his own works in his studio. “A lot of people like to fantasize about it, but you have to realize that these are the things I couldn’t sell.” At the beginning of 2019 he had a few things auctioned off, by himself and other artists. “It’s just nice to have some money to spend,” Stelle explained to the New York Times at the time. “You don’t want to leave everything until the end. I won’t live forever.”
