Oil on canvas
Joseph Stella (American, 1877–1946)
Signed lower right 'Joseph Stella'
Signed and inscribed verso 'Oil Painting by Joseph Stella'
Dimensions: 24 x 30 in. (61 x 76.2 cm.)
Dimensions, framed: 29 x 35 x 2 1/2 in. (73.7 x 88.9 x 6.4 cm.)
Good condition

This quietly florescent still life by American artist Joseph Stella features a shell, plate, and two vases on a tabletop. The bright pastel color palette of the objects in contrast with the neutral tones of the table, flattens the painting, giving the work an abstract, modern quality.

Measuring 24 x 30 inches, this oil on canvas is signed in the lower right, and signed and inscribed verso.

Pencil sized hole in center right, slight buckling to canvas in upper right corner. Under UV no evidence of restoration or retouch. Appears in basic good condition.

Joseph Stella (American, 1877-1946)

Born in 1877 near Naples, Italy, Joseph Stella immigrated to Ellis Island at the age of 18. Hailed as America’s first Futurist artist, Stella began as an academic realist but his mature work is in a modernist style, notable for its sweeping and dynamic lines. Best known for his expressive and emotional paintings of the Brooklyn Bridge, Stella’s incorporated Cubist techniques and elements of an emerging symbolist movement. The Brooklyn Bridge was a recurring subject in for the artist, serving as a symbol of the excitement of modern life as well as an icon of stability. He also frequently depicted plants, leaves, shells and feathers in various mediums. Stella exhibited widely across the US, participating in the 1913 Armory Show and the 1939 New York World’s Fair. His works can be found in major public collections including Yale University Art Gallery, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Whitney Museum of American Art, Hirschhorn Museum, Art Institute of Chicago, Brooklyn Museum, and Walker Art Center.