Frank Stella: A Retrospective
Oct 30, 2015–Feb 7, 2016
Frank Stella (b. 1936) is one of the most important living American artists. This retrospective is the most comprehensive presentation of Stella’s career to date, showcasing his prolific output from the mid-1950s to the present through approximately 100 works, including paintings, reliefs, maquettes, sculptures, and drawings. Co-organized by the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth and the Whitney, this exhibition features Stella’s best-known works alongside rarely seen examples drawn from collections around the world. Accompanied by a scholarly publication, the exhibition fills the Whitney's entire fifth floor, an 18,000-square-foot gallery that is the Museum’s largest space for temporary exhibitions.
Frank Stella: A Retrospective is organized by Michael Auping, chief curator, Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, in association with Adam D. Weinberg, Alice Pratt Brown Director, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, and with the assistance of Carrie Springer, assistant curator, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York.
Frank Stella: A Retrospective is jointly organized by the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, and the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth.
In New York, the exhibition is sponsored by
Significant support is provided by
Major support is provided by The Brown Foundation, Inc., of Houston; Steven & Alexandra Cohen Foundation; Julia W. Dayton; Pamella and Daniel DeVos; Katherine Farley and Jerry Speyer; the Fisher Family; The Marc Haas Foundation, Inc.; the Henry Luce Foundation; Robert E. Meyerhoff and Rheda Becker; the National Committee of the Whitney Museum of American Art; and an anonymous donor.
Generous support is provided by The Broad Art Foundation, Peter and Betsy Currie, Theodor and Isabella Dalenson, Marcia Dunn and Jonathan Sobel, Louis G. Elson, Ann and Graham Gund, Marguerite Steed Hoffman, Barbara and Tom Israel, Martin Z. Margulies, Scott Mead, Kenneth & Marabeth Tyler, Melissa Vail and Norman Selby, the Bagley and Virginia Wright Foundation, and public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.
Additional support is provided by Irma and Norman Braman; Audrey and David Mirvish; the National Endowment for the Arts; Emily Rauh Pulitzer; Paul J. Schupf Lifetime Trust, Gregory O. Koerner Trustee; and anonymous donors.
Significant endowment support is also provided by Lise and Michael Evans, Sueyun and Gene Locks, and the Jon and Mary Shirley Foundation.
The installation of Wooden Star I (2014) and Black Star (2014) on the fifth-floor outdoor gallery is made possible by Marianne Boesky Gallery and Dominique Lévy Gallery.
Artworks

Frank Stella (b. 1936), Empress of India, 1965. Metallic powder in polymer emulsion on canvas. 77 × 224 in. (195.6 × 569 cm). The Museum of Modern Art, New York; gift of S. I. Newhouse, Jr. © 2015 Frank Stella/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. © The Museum of Modern Art/Licensed by SCALA / Art Resource, NY


Frank Stella, Die Fahne hoch!, 1959. Enamel on canvas, 121 5/8 x 72 13/16 in. (308.9 x 184.9 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; gift of Mr. and Mrs. Eugene M. Schwartz and purchase with funds from the John I. H. Baur Purchase Fund, the Charles and Anita Blatt Fund, Peter M. Brant, B. H. Friedman, the Gilman Foundation, Inc., Susan Morse Hilles, The Lauder Foundation, Frances and Sydney Lewis, the Albert A. List Fund, Philip Morris Incorporated, Sandra Payson, Mr. and Mrs. Albrecht Saalfield, Mrs. Percy Uris, Warner Communications Inc., and the National Endowment for the Arts 75.22. © 2015 Frank Stella / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Digital Image © Whitney Museum


Frank Stella (b. 1936), Eskimo Curlew, 1976. Litho crayon, etching, lacquer, ink, glass, acrylic paint, and oilstick on aluminum. 8 ft. 2.75 in x 10 ft. 7 in. (2.5 × 3.2 m). Portland Art Museum, Portland, Ore.; museum purchase: funds provided by Mr. and Mrs. Howard Vollum. © 2015 Frank Stella/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York


Frank Stella (b. 1936), Chocorua IV, 1966. Fluorescent alkyd and epoxy paint on canvas, 120 × 128 × 4 in. (304.8 × 325.1 × 10.2 cm). Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH; purchased through the Miriam and Sidney Stoneman Acquisition Fund, a gift from Judson and Carol Bemis, Class of 1976, and gifts from the Lathrop Fellows, in honor of Brian P. Kennedy, Director of the Hood Museum of Art, 2005–2010. © 2015 Frank Stella/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.


Frank Stella (b. 1936) , Gobba, zoppa e collotorto, 1985. Oil, urethane enamel, fluorescent alkyd, acrylic, and printing ink on etched magnesium and aluminum. 137 × 120 1/8 × 34 3/8 in. (348 × 305 × 87.5 cm). The Art Institute of Chicago; Mr. and Mrs. Frank G. Logan Purchase Prize Fund; Ada Turnbull Hertle Endowment 1986.93. © 2015 Frank Stella/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.

Events
View all-
Sun,
Feb 7Weekend Member Early Admission
9:30–10:30 am
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Sat,
Feb 6Whitney Signs:
Frank Stella:
A Retrospective4–6 pm
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Sat,
Feb 6Weekend Member Early Admission
9:30–10:30 am
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Sat,
Jan 30Open Studio:
Think Big!10:30 am–3 pm
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Sat,
Jan 30Whitney Wees: Move It!
10–11 am
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Sat,
Jan 30Stroller Tour:
Frank Stella:
A Retrospective9:30–10:30 am
Audio Guides

Listen to an audio guide highlighting selected works in Frank Stella: A Retrospective with narration by students from PS 33 Chelsea Prep and Whitney Museum educator Mark Joshua Epstein.
Installation Photography
Shop the Exhibition
Visit the online shop to buy Whitney catalogues, exhibition-inspired gifts, and more.
Shop nowIn the News
“Frank Stella is back. His grand, high-spirited, slightly overstuffed retrospective has taken over the fifth and largest exhibition floor of the new Whitney Museum of American Art, where it looks great. ”
—The New York Times
"Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Abstraction: Frank Stella Stuns at the Whitney"
—Artnews
"Frank Stella at the Whitney—from Impassive Abstraction to Riotous Baroque"
—The Guardian
"The Wide, Wacky World of Frank Stella's Titles"
—The Wall Street Journal
"Interstellar: Whitney Musuem toasts Frank Stella with a Retrospective"
—Wallpaper
"Frank Stella looks back on fifty-five years of making art"
—Time Out New York
"Mr. Stella has done more than any other living artist to carry abstract art, the house style of modernism, into the postmodern era."
—The New York Times
"Towards a Unified Theory of Frank Stella"
—New York Magazine
"American Master: Frank Stella"
—Departures Magazine
"No artist of his generation has been remotely as productive and creative as Frank Stella."
—Artforum
"One of the most important living U.S. artists"
—The Wall Street Journal
"Frank Stella Gets Candid About His Long Career"
—Artinfo
"A champion of pure abstraction...[Frank Stella] is a survivor from a bygone era when artists conceived their mission as a heroic and hermetic pursuit."
—The Economist