Stellers Albatross
21 1/2 × 28 × 4 7/10 inchesSteller's Albatross, 1977
21 1/2 × 28 × 4 7/10 inches
signed, titled and dated "Steller's albatross (IX) Tycore relief with mixed media F. Stella '77" on the reverse
Provenance
M. Knoedler & Co., Inc., New York (CA 11593)
Hokin Gallery, Inc., Palm Beach (F6120)
William Pall Gallery, New York
Vivian Horan Fine Art, New York
Private Collection, New York
Exhibition
New York, Vivian Horan Fine Art, Deconstructed Geometry, November 8, 2007 - January 17, 2008
Frank Stella’s Steller’s Albatross (1977) is a striking and unique tycore relief model from the artist’s celebrated Exotic Birds series. Executed in vibrant red with acrylic, glitter, and oil stick on Tycore, the work shimmers with energy and remains in pristine condition.
FRANK STELLA STELLER’S ALBATROSS, 1977
Frank Stella’s Steller’s Albatross (1977) is a striking and unique tycore relief model from the artist’s celebrated Exotic Birds series. Executed in vibrant red with acrylic, glitter, and oil stick on Tycore, the work shimmers with energy and remains in pristine condition.
With Steller’s Albatross, Stella transforms the irregular curves often used by engineers and draftsmen into a dynamic three-dimensional composition that extends painting into the realm of sculpture. The result is a brilliant fusion of geometry, color, and surface that epitomizes the artist’s radical expansion of abstraction during this pivotal period.
Frank Stella’s Exotic Birds series (1976–80) marks a pivotal shift in the artist’s career, moving away from the austere flatness of his earlier Minimalist work into richly layered reliefs that merge painting and sculpture. Using materials such as aluminum and Tycore, enlivened with acrylic, oil stick, and glitter, Stella transformed irregular curvilinear shapes—borrowed from engineering and architectural drafts—into vibrant compositions that extend boldly into space. The works are exuberant, dynamic, and shimmering, their sweeping arcs and radiant colors evoking the vitality and motion of bird plumage and flight.
Named after bird species, including Steller’s Albatross and Nassau Grouper, the series reflects Stella’s embrace of abstraction as something playful, sensuous, and expansive. The Exotic Birds not only marked his break from Minimalism but also laid the groundwork for the increasingly complex constructions of the 1980s and his monumental sculptural projects in later decades. Together, these works stand as a declaration of Stella’s restless innovation and his enduring ability to push the possibilities of abstraction.
Additional Photos
Side View
Detail
Detail
Detail