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JOSEPH STELLA (1877-1946)

ARTIST BIO INQUIRE
 
Shaped by his native Italy and adopted America, Joseph Stella investigated an extraordinary range of styles and mediums in artworks of astonishing diversity and originality. In 1911, Stella rode the avant-garde wave of Fauvist, Cubist, and Futurist trends, but he was the only American modernist who lived day-to-day with the Italian Old Masters. The pose and handling of "Reclining Nude" relates to a series of works Stella painted during the 1920s depicting seductive women from mythological or fantasy sources such as "Leda and the Swan" and Ondine, a beautiful water nymph from a popular 19th-century romantic German fairy tale. Portrayed instead without floral or symbolist imagery, Reclining Nude, painted in the 1930s, more appropriately reflects that sobering time.
Shaped by his native Italy and adopted America, Joseph Stella investigated an extraordinary range of styles and mediums in artworks of astonishing diversity and originality. In 1911, Stella rode the avant-garde wave of Fauvist, Cubist, and Futurist trends, but he was the only American modernist who lived day-to-day with the Italian Old Masters. The pose and handling of "Reclining Nude" relates to a series of works Stella painted during the 1920s depicting seductive women from mythological or fantasy sources such as "Leda and the Swan" and Ondine, a beautiful water nymph from a popular 19th-century romantic German fairy tale. Portrayed instead without floral or symbolist imagery, Reclining Nude, painted in the 1930s, more appropriately reflects that sobering time. Shaped by his native Italy and adopted America, Joseph Stella investigated an extraordinary range of styles and mediums in artworks of astonishing diversity and originality. In 1911, Stella rode the avant-garde wave of Fauvist, Cubist, and Futurist trends, but he was the only American modernist who lived day-to-day with the Italian Old Masters. The pose and handling of "Reclining Nude" relates to a series of works Stella painted during the 1920s depicting seductive women from mythological or fantasy sources such as "Leda and the Swan" and Ondine, a beautiful water nymph from a popular 19th-century romantic German fairy tale. Portrayed instead without floral or symbolist imagery, Reclining Nude, painted in the 1930s, more appropriately reflects that sobering time. Shaped by his native Italy and adopted America, Joseph Stella investigated an extraordinary range of styles and mediums in artworks of astonishing diversity and originality. In 1911, Stella rode the avant-garde wave of Fauvist, Cubist, and Futurist trends, but he was the only American modernist who lived day-to-day with the Italian Old Masters. The pose and handling of "Reclining Nude" relates to a series of works Stella painted during the 1920s depicting seductive women from mythological or fantasy sources such as "Leda and the Swan" and Ondine, a beautiful water nymph from a popular 19th-century romantic German fairy tale. Portrayed instead without floral or symbolist imagery, Reclining Nude, painted in the 1930s, more appropriately reflects that sobering time. Shaped by his native Italy and adopted America, Joseph Stella investigated an extraordinary range of styles and mediums in artworks of astonishing diversity and originality. In 1911, Stella rode the avant-garde wave of Fauvist, Cubist, and Futurist trends, but he was the only American modernist who lived day-to-day with the Italian Old Masters. The pose and handling of "Reclining Nude" relates to a series of works Stella painted during the 1920s depicting seductive women from mythological or fantasy sources such as "Leda and the Swan" and Ondine, a beautiful water nymph from a popular 19th-century romantic German fairy tale. Portrayed instead without floral or symbolist imagery, Reclining Nude, painted in the 1930s, more appropriately reflects that sobering time. Shaped by his native Italy and adopted America, Joseph Stella investigated an extraordinary range of styles and mediums in artworks of astonishing diversity and originality. In 1911, Stella rode the avant-garde wave of Fauvist, Cubist, and Futurist trends, but he was the only American modernist who lived day-to-day with the Italian Old Masters. The pose and handling of "Reclining Nude" relates to a series of works Stella painted during the 1920s depicting seductive women from mythological or fantasy sources such as "Leda and the Swan" and Ondine, a beautiful water nymph from a popular 19th-century romantic German fairy tale. Portrayed instead without floral or symbolist imagery, Reclining Nude, painted in the 1930s, more appropriately reflects that sobering time. Shaped by his native Italy and adopted America, Joseph Stella investigated an extraordinary range of styles and mediums in artworks of astonishing diversity and originality. In 1911, Stella rode the avant-garde wave of Fauvist, Cubist, and Futurist trends, but he was the only American modernist who lived day-to-day with the Italian Old Masters. The pose and handling of "Reclining Nude" relates to a series of works Stella painted during the 1920s depicting seductive women from mythological or fantasy sources such as "Leda and the Swan" and Ondine, a beautiful water nymph from a popular 19th-century romantic German fairy tale. Portrayed instead without floral or symbolist imagery, Reclining Nude, painted in the 1930s, more appropriately reflects that sobering time. Shaped by his native Italy and adopted America, Joseph Stella investigated an extraordinary range of styles and mediums in artworks of astonishing diversity and originality. In 1911, Stella rode the avant-garde wave of Fauvist, Cubist, and Futurist trends, but he was the only American modernist who lived day-to-day with the Italian Old Masters. The pose and handling of "Reclining Nude" relates to a series of works Stella painted during the 1920s depicting seductive women from mythological or fantasy sources such as "Leda and the Swan" and Ondine, a beautiful water nymph from a popular 19th-century romantic German fairy tale. Portrayed instead without floral or symbolist imagery, Reclining Nude, painted in the 1930s, more appropriately reflects that sobering time.
Reclining Nudec. 1935-3950 x 52 1/2 in.(127 x 133.35 cm) oil on canvas
Provenance
Artist’s estate, by descent to the Stella family
Pensler Gallery, Washington, D.C.
Art Link International, Florida
Private Collection, California
Exhibition
West Palm Beach, Florida, Ann Norton Sculpture Gardens, Figurative Masters of the Americas, January 4 – February 12, 2023
Shaped by his native Italy and adopted America, Joseph Stella investigated an extraordinary range of styles and mediums in artworks of astonishing diversity and originality. In 1911, Stella rode the avant-garde wave of Fauvist, Cubist, and Futurist trends, but he was the only American modernist who lived day-to-day with the Italian Old Masters. The pose and handling of "Reclining Nude" relates to a series of works Stella painted during the 1920s depicting seductive women from mythological or fantasy sources such as "Leda and the Swan" and Ondine, a beautiful water nymph from a popular 19th-century romantic German fairy tale. Portrayed instead without floral or symbolist imagery, Reclining Nude, painted in the 1930s, more appropriately reflects that sobering time.
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