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STELLA
IRREGULAR POLYGONS196566
APRIL 8JULY 24
2011
CANADAY GALLERY
A GUIDE TO THE EXHIBITION
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Use this Guide in the Exhibition
The 11 monumental paintings in the Irregular Polygons series are
presented without explanatory labels in order for the works to have
the maximum visual impact without distraction.
This guide is provided as your own set of portable labels. The text
is excerpted and adapted from the exhibitions catalogue written by Brian
Kennedy, curator of the exhibition and President, Director, and CEO of the
Toledo Museum of Art.*
Because Frank Stellas abstract art engages so essentially with the basic
elements and principles of art and design, the text also highlights
these fundamentals.
Other resources provided in the exhibition include:
A .|dec e/:e|p| c| ||a| S|e||a ||cr Painters Painting: The New York Art
Scene 19401970 (1973)
V|dec c| T|A d||e:|c| B||a |eed] |a||| aocu| ||e Irregular Polygons
A |ar||] 0u|de |c |e|p pa|e| ad :|||d|e |cc| a| :c|c|, ||e, ad |ape
in Frank Stellas abstract art
A 'a:||.||] a|ea' W|e|e .|||c| c| a|| ae :a W|||e pcer, d|aW ||e||
own irregular polygons, create irregular polygons using magnetic shapes,
and read more about Frank Stella and abstract art
Please do not touch the works of art.
Frank Stella: Irregular Polygons was curated by TMA Director Brian Kennedy, while he was director
at the Hood Museum of Art, and organized by the Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College. Special
exhibitions supported in part by the generous members of the Toledo Museum of Art and the Ohio
Arts Council.
p 5 Chocorua IV
p 6 Conway I
p 7 Effingham IV
p 9 Moultonville II
p 10 Ossipee II
p 12 Sunapee II
p 13 Tuftonboro III
p 14 Union I
p 15 Wolfeboro IV
p 8 Moultonboro II
p 11 Sanbornville III
The paintings in this guide are arranged alphabetically by title.
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Frank Stella: Irregular Polygons
When presenting Frank Stella with the National Medal of the Arts on
February 25, 2010, President Barack Obama described the renowned
ao||a:| a|||| a 'a |eed |c| || a::crp|||re| a ce c| ||e
worlds most innovative painters and sculptors. His sophisticated visual
experimentsoften transcending boundaries between painting, print
ra||, ad :u|p|u|e-a|e rcde| ra|e|p|e:e.'
Since he first burst on the New York art scene in 1958, Frank Stella
(American, born 1936) has had a long and prolific career at the forefront
of abstract art. A consistent innovator who prefers to produce works in
series, he has immersed himself in visual thinking and creating, according
|c :e||a| |e] a|||||: p||:|p|e. '||e, p|ae, .c|ure ad pc||, | pa:e.'
The Irregular Polygons series of 196566 is startlingly dramatic and
original. Although based on simple geometries, these paintings comprise
one of the most complex artistic statements of Stellas career. Each of the
11 compositions combines varying numbers of shapes to create daringly
irregular outlines. Stella made four versions of each composition, altering
their color combinations. These asymmetrical canvases play with illusion,
confronting Stellas previous emphasis on flatness while anticipating his
career-long exploration of space and volume in both painting and sculpture.
Along with the 11 Irregular Polygonseach of which is named for a small
town in New Hampshire where Stellas father took him on fishing trips as a
young boythis exhibition includes preparatory drawings for the paintings
and the print series Eccentric Polygons (1974), which was based on the
Irregular Polygons.
Shown here together for the first time in the same room, the Irregular
Polygons c||e| a e/:||| cppc||u||] |c eae W||| ||e ':crp|e/
|rp||:||]' ||a| | ||e pa|adc/ c| S|e||a' a||.
Chocorua I Chocorua III
Chocorua II
Chocorua IV
1966
Fluorescent alkyd and
epoxy paints on canvas
Theres a very shallow type of illusion going on in Chocorua. But
once youre committed to doing this in three-dimensions, then it
really would be a pyramid inside a cube. Frank Stella
The central theme of the Irregular Polygons series is the relationship of
shapes, which interpenetrate, interlock with, and butt up against each
other. Because the abutting or impinging shapes do not overlap (except in
Sanbornville; see p. 10), the illusion of depth is caused mainly by the value
differentiation of the colors.
By mitering the lightning-like band that cushions the triangle, Stella
reinforces the squares ability to contain the triangle, rather than appear
to be trying to eject it. (Picture the band without the mitered corners and
imagine how that would change the composition.)
Stella associates the triangle in Chocorua with Mount Chocorua in the White
Mountains of New Hampshire. When he began working on the Irregular
Polygons, '||e] We|e c |rred|a|e|] |ad:ape ad rcu|a|cu,' that he
decided to name them after places he had visited with his father during his
boyhood.
Space, one of the elements of art, is the area around or within
objects. In a two-dimensional image space refers to the arrangement of
components on the surface. The illusion of depth of space may be created
in two-dimensions by various means, including overlapping, proportion,
and color values.
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Conway II Conway IV Conway III
Conway I
1966
Fluorescent alkyd and
epoxy paints on canvas
A notch at Conway in the White Mountains was a favorite fishing place for
Frank Stella while on childhood vacations with his father.
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In the painting
named for this location, a parallelogram is locked into and supporting a
rectangle, creating a diagonal, left-to-right movement.
What I had in mind was a swinging mirror in my mothers bedroom.
This was a rectangular mirror mounted on two pieces of wood with
pivots.
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Frank Stella
If Stella had adopted the furniture reference literally, the mirror (the
parallelogram) would have been above its bureau (the rectangle). He has
confirmed since that he preferred the composition with the parallelogram
below.
The eight-inch-wide stripe used in all of the Irregular Polygons is especially
pronounced in Conway, because it wraps around the base and left side but
does not extend into the interior. There, another band of a different color
completes the border around the parallelogram. This causes the shape to
appear to swivel.
Movement is a principle of design. It refers to the way shapes, lines,
colors, and forms direct the eye around a composition or interact with each
other to suggest motion. Diagonals often create a sense of movement
in art.
E|l||I| l E|l||I| lll E|l||I| ll
Effingham IV
1966
Fluorescent alkyd and
epoxy paints on canvas
The shapes in Effingham butt up against each other rather than interlock.
The interior band, however, is itself interlocking, such that the painting, in
Stellas words, 'W|d up || cW p||. || :u|| c ||e||.'
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The composition
is complicated because:
the larger shape could propel the parallelogram out. The large
shape secures the smaller one by wrapping its band around it. It
is in equilibrium and the smaller shape is under tension. But the
smaller shape supports the larger one, so it will not fall off. The
painting is up in the air, and the large shape needs the smaller one
to hold it up.
2
Art historian Michael Fried described the effect of the open top of Effingham
(W|||cu| a oc|de|| oad, a |a.| 'a a|c||| .e|||:a| a::e|e|a||c,
c| ca||, c| |e|eae.'
3
Balance is one of the principles of design and relates to the sense
of visual equilibrium in a work of art. Balance can be symmetrical or
asymmetrical, but depends on how elements of varying visual weights or
sizes in an image are arranged around a fulcrum point. In the quotation
above, Stella explains the interdependence of the two shapes. Where do
you see balance in this connection?
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Destroyed