"The creation of the three-dimensional Moby Dick (domes) series 1992 was one of the most technically challenging printmaking projects that Kenneth Tyler and [Frank] Stella undertook in over thirty years of collaboration. To achieve their ambition of creating an edition of sculptural prints, Tyler and his team spent nearly six years perfecting a process that literally pushed printmaking into a new dimension.
Frank finally decided in order to develop these paper sculptures into print editions that the dome in high relief would have to be convex and be anchored to a flat background without any attached elements like his models and sculptures had. This he considered necessary to define the shaped work as a print and not as a sculpture."
—Kenneth Tyler at Grand Rapids Art Museum, Grand Rapids, Michigan January 22, 2009
Frank Stella touching up ‘Jonah Historically Regarded, from Moby Dick Domes,’ while Kenneth Tyler sits and observes. Artworks: © 2022 Frank Stella / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York Literature
Richard Axsom 210
Artist Biography
Frank Stella
American • 1936 - N/A
One of the most important living artists, Frank Stella is recognized as the most significant painter that transitioned from Abstract Expressionism to Minimalism. He believes that the painting should be the central object of interest rather than represenative of some subject outside of the work. Stella experimented with relief and created sculptural pieces with prominent properties of collage included. Rejecting the normalities of Minimalism, the artist transformed his style in a way that inspired those who had lost hope for the practice. Stella lives in Malden, Massachusetts and is based in New York and Rock Tavern, New York.
69
Jonah Historically Regarded, from Moby Dick Domes (A. 210)
1992
Monumental hand-colored etching, aquatint, relief, engraving, screenprint and stencil, on TGL handmade paper, the full sheet.
S. 73 x 53 x 6 in. (185.4 x 134.6 x 15.2 cm)
Signed, dated and numbered 4/21 in pencil (a color variant, there were also 6 artist's proofs), published by Tyler Graphics Ltd., Mount Kisco, New York, framed.
Estimate
$10,000 - 15,000
Sold for $37,800
212 940 1220
Editions Southampton
New York Auction 25 June 2022