A tour de force of late 20th-century printmaking, Frank Stella print The Pequod Meets the Jeroboam. Her Story, 1993, is among the most visually complex and ambitious compositions from Frank Stella’s celebrated Moby Dick Deckle Edges series. Monumental in scale and breathtaking in execution, the work transforms Herman Melville’s seafaring epic into a dynamic orchestration of line, movement, and explosive color.

Stella layers lithography, etching, aquatint, relief printing, and mezzotint to create a surface that feels almost architectural in structure. Sweeping arcs and tension-filled curves collide with dense geometric passages and rhythmic fields of color. Wire-like contours twist across the composition, while bold, sculptural black forms anchor the work with dramatic force. The result is a print that pulses with energy—at once lyrical and muscular, controlled yet exuberant.

Printed on white TGL handmade paper with richly textured deckle edges, the piece possesses remarkable depth and dimensionality. The intricate layering of techniques produces subtle tonal shifts and tactile complexity rarely achieved in contemporary printmaking. Its commanding 70 1/2 x 65 7/8 inch scale ensures that the work reads not simply as a print, but as a monumental statement piece.

Works from the Moby Dick Deckle Edges series reside in major museum collections worldwide, affirming the art historical importance of this groundbreaking body of work. Stella’s relentless innovation during this period redefined what printmaking could achieve, elevating it to the level of sculptural abstraction.

Museum-quality in ambition and execution, The Pequod Meets the Jeroboam. Her Story represents Stella at the height of his creative powers—an exceptional acquisition for the discerning collector seeking a landmark example of contemporary American abstraction.

Frank Stella Monstrous Pictures of Whales, 1993 is part of a portfolio of eight works in the artist’s Moby Dick Deckle Edges series of 1993. This body of work derives its name from Herman Melville’s Moby Dick and depicts dense compositions of bright colors and stunning abstract imagery. Also featured in this portfolio are The Whale-Watch, The Battering Ram, Monstrous Pictures of Whales, Ambergris, The Monkey-rope, A Bower in the Arsacides, The Affidavit, Extracts, and Extracts, State I.

Created in 1993, this lithograph, etching, aquatint, relief and mezzotint on white TGL handmade paper is hand-signed and hand numbered from the edition of only 20 by Frank Stella (Massachusetts, 1936 - ) in pencil in the lower center image and numbered from the edition of 20 in pencil in the lower center image.

Catalogue Raisonné & COA:

Frank Stella print The Pequod Meets the Jeroboam. Her Story, from the Moby Dick Deckle Edges Series, 1993 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. 216 on pg. 322.
2. A Certificate of Authenticity will accompany this artwork.

About the Framing:

Framed to museum-grade, conservation standards, Frank Stella print The Pequod Meets the Jeroboam. Her Story, from the Moby Dick Deckle Edges Series, 1993 is presented in a complementary moulding and finished with silk-wrapped mats and optical grade Plexiglas.