This exquisite piece certainly relays this impression of liveliness and animation, as Stella’s curious figures twist and turn, guiding our eye throughout the composition. Geometric forms in pink, blue and yellow mesh beautifully to create a balanced image, uninterrupted by the intersecting lines which embellish the work. This collage of figures and forms is a hallmark of Stella’s iconic abstract style. In this abstract artwork, Stella creates a complex sense of depth through his interlayed patterns, texture and forms. An illusion of cut-outs reveals rich patterns below, and a dimensional visual experience.

The first of five works from the series Shards, this magnificent, large-scale color lithograph and screenprint exemplifies Stella’s true innovation as a printmaker. Stella Shards I, 1982 was influenced by paper cutouts of shapes as well as grid systems that had appeared in Stella’s prior paintings. Aptly titled Shards, this print depicts fragments of former objects. Richard H. Axsom points out the re-occurring images in this work that are amongst Stella’s favorite motifs: French curves, “cookie cutouts,” the serpentine and heart shaped forms, as well as the pantograph, a draftman’s device for duplicating and enlarging forms (p. 238). Axsom continues to state of this series, “In Shards, the staccato rhythms of floating eccentric shapes, reminiscent of Kandinsky’s biomorphic abstraction of the 1930s, create a series that is whimsical and jazzy” (p. 238).

Created in 1982, this color lithograph and screenprint is hand signed and dated by Frank Stella (Massachusetts,1936 – ) in pencil in the lower right. Numbered from the edition of 100 in pencil in the lower right, Stella Shards I, 1982 was published by Petersburg Press, New York.

Catalogue Raisonné & COA:
This work is fully documented and referenced in the below catalogue raisonnès and texts (copies will be enclosed as added documentation with the invoices that will accompany the final sale of the work).

1. Axsom, Richard H. The Prints of Frank Stella: A Catalogue Raisonné. New York: Jordan Schnitzer Family Foundation, 2016. Listed and illustrated as catalogue raisonné no. 144.
2. A Certificate of Authenticity will accompany this work.

About the Framing:
Framed to museum-grade conservation standards, Stella Shards I, 1982 is presented in a complementary moulding with silk mats and optical-grade Plexiglas