Frank Stella, Giufa e la berretta rossa, from the Italian Folktales Series, 1989

Artist: Frank Stella (1936 - )
Title:Giufa e la berretta rossa, from the Italian Folktales Series, 1989
Reference:Axsom 185
Medium:Etching, aquatint, relief, engraving on white TGL handmade paper
Image Size:77 3/4 in x 58 in ( 197.5 cm x 147.3 cm)
Sheet Size:77 3/4 in x 58 in ( 197.5 cm x 147.3 cm)
Edition:Numbered Artist Proof.
Signature:This work is hand-signed by Frank Stella (Massachusetts, 1936 - ) in pencil in the lower right image.
Condition:This work is in excellent condition.
ID #W-7097

Historical Description

Frank Stella Bene come il sale, State II, 1989 is the final installment of the artist’s Italian Folktales Series of 1988-89. This work’s composition draws direct inspiration from the other works in this series. Fragments of these works are disassembled and rearranged to create the domineering composition of this colossal work. The foreground lays on top of a field of grey that is nearly covered by stark black painterly marks. The entire composition is surrounded by a shade of saturated blue that is found within the major subject matter, unifying the entire work. This piece is a testament to the artist’s inclination towards nonrepresentational narrative. In this series, Stella employs aquatint printing for the first time to imitate the effect of oil paint brush strokes; this gives the work a hand-painted quality that gives the work a sense of tactility and profundity.

Frank Stella Bene come il sale, State II, 1989 is part of a portfolio of eight works in the artist’s Italian Folktales Series of 1988-89. This body of work inspired by his own Cones and Pillars paintings and his Illustrations After El Lissitzky’s Had Gadya Series from four years earlier. The titles of all works in the Italian Folktales works derive their names from Italian short stories. Also featured in this portfolio are La penna de hu, La penna di hu (black and white), Bene come il sale, Bene come il sale, State I, Bene come il sale, State II, Bene come il sale, State III,  and Bene come il sale, State IV.

Created in 1988, this etching, aquatint, relief and engraving on white TGL handmade paper is hand-signed by Frank Stella (Massachusetts, 1936 - ) in pencil in the lower right image.

Catalogue Raisonné & COA:

Frank Stella Giufa e la berretta rossa, from the Italian Folktales Series, 1989 1989 is fully documented and referenced in the below catalogue raisonnés and texts (copies will be enclosed as added documentation with the invoices that will accompany the sale of the work).

  1. Axsom, Richard. The Prints of Frank Stella: A Catalogue Raisonné 1967–1984. Hudson Hills Press: New York, 1983. Listed and illustrated as catalogue raisonné no. 185 on pg. 287.
  2. A Certificate of Authenticity will accompany this artwork.

About the Framing:

Framed to museum-grade, conservation standards, Frank Stella Giufa e la berretta rossa, from the Italian Folktales Series, 1989 is presented in a complementary moulding and finished with silk-wrapped mats and optical grade Plexiglas.