This painting is part of Stella’s Morocco series (1964–65), which was inspired in part by Arabic tiles. Using fluorescent paint to disrupt the picture plane, Stella creates not only an illusion of depth but also a pulsating effect that belies the work’s simple, geometric lines.
[Leo Castelli Gallery, New York, 1964; sold in 1964 to Scull]; Mr. and Mrs. Robert C. Scull, New York (1964–71; their gift to MMA)
Venice. United States Pavilion. "XXXII International Biennial Exhibition of Art: Four Younger Artists," June 20–October 18, 1964, no. 86 (lent by Mr. and Mrs. Robert C. Scull, New York).
New York. Cordier and Ekstrom. "Seven Decades, 1895–1965: Crosscurrents in Modern Art. 1955–1965," April 26–May 21, 1966, no. 365 (lent by Mr. and Mrs. Robert C. Scull).
Museum of Modern Art, New York. "Frank Stella," March 26–May 31, 1970, unnumbered cat. (p. 6; checklist no. 26; lent by Mr. and Mrs. Robert C. Scull, New York).
Binghamton, N. Y. Roberson Center for the Arts and Sciences. "Treasure House: Museums of the Empire State," July 1–September 9, 1979, no. 97.
Albany. New York State Museum. "Treasure House: Museums of the Empire State," October 15, 1979–January 13, 1980, no. 97.
New York. Vivian Beaumont Theatre. November 7, 1980–April 1981, no catalogue.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Frank Stella: Painting into Architecture," May 1–July 29, 2007, not in catalogue.
New York. Whitney Museum of American Art. "Frank Stella: A Retrospective," October 30, 2015–February 7, 2016, unnumbered cat. (pl. 27).
Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth. "Frank Stella: A Retrospective," April 15–September 4, 2016, unnumbered cat.
de Young Museum, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. "Frank Stella: A Retrospective," November 5, 2016–February 26, 2017, unnumbered cat.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art [The Met Breuer]. "Ettore Sottsass: Design Radical," July 21–October 8, 2017, no catalogue.
Jewish Museum, New York. "New York: 1962–1964," July 22, 2022–January 8, 2023, unnumbered cat. (fig. 4).
Jon Thompson. How to Read a Modern Painting: Lessons from the Modern Masters. New York, ill. p. 294 (color).
Gene Baro. "The Venice Biennale." Arts Magazine 38 (September 1964), ill. p. 33 and ill. (front cover).
Robert Creeley. "Frank Stella: A Way To Go." Lugano Review 1 (Summer 1965), ill. p. 192 (color).
Peter Selz. Seven Decades, 1895–1965: Crosscurrents in Modern Art. Exh. cat., M. Knoedler & Co., Inc. New York, 1966, ill. p. 185, no. 365.
George Rickey. Constructivism: Origins and Evolution. New York, 1967, p. 143, fig. 19.
William S. Rubin. Frank Stella. Exh. cat., Museum of Modern Art, New York. New York, 1970, pp. 104, 107, 157, 171, ill. p. 6 (color).
J. Patrice Marandel. "Lettre de New York." Art International 14 (May 20, 1970), p. 73.
Sam Hunter. Modern American: Op, Pop, and the School of Color (1970), ill. p. 56.
Robert Rosenblum. Frank Stella. Harmondsworth, England, 1971, pp. 33, 61, pl. 19.
Corey Sandler. "Tantalizing Taste of Treasures." Democrat and Chronicle (October 12, 1979), p. C1.
Kathleen Howard, ed. The Metropolitan Museum of Art Guide. New York, 1983, p. 423, no. 28, ill. (color).
Lawrence Rubin. Frank Stella Paintings 1958 to 1965: A Catalogue Raisonné. New York, 1986, pp. 232–35, 276, no. 239, ill. (color, detail and overall).
Oswaldo Rodriguez Roque et al. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Vol. 9, The United States of America. New York, 1987, p. 151, colorpl. 114.
Lisa M. Messinger in "Recent Acquisitions. A Selection: 1988–1989." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 47 (Fall 1989), p. 62.
Rosalind Krauss. American Art of the 1960s Ed. John Elderfield. (1991), p. 125, fig. 4 (color).
Oleg Grabar. The Mediation of Ornament. Princeton, N.J., 1992, pp. 129–30, colorpl. 13.
David Rimanelli. "Beautiful Loser: Op Art Revisited." Artforum 45 (May 2007), p. 323.
Lisa Turvey. "Frank Stella: Painting into Architecture." Artforum 46 (October 2007), p. 364.
Roberta Smith. "Beyond Paintbrush Boundaries: Imagining Structures in 3-D." New York Times (May 4, 2007), p. E34.
Alfred MacAdam. "Frank Stella: Metropolitan Museum of Art; Paul Kasmin." Art News 106 (Summer 2007), p. 192.
David Carrier. "Surface Truths and Surface Tensions." ArtUS no. 33 (2012), p. 32.
Robin Cembalest. "The Wide, Wacky World of Frank Stella’s Titles." Wall Street Journal (October 29, 2015), ill. p. A19.
Deborah Solomon. "Hanging With Frank Stella." wnyc.org. October 30, 2015, ill. (color).
Michael Auping. Frank Stella: A Retrospective. Exh. cat., Whitney Museum of American Art, New York. New Haven, 2015, pp. 23–24, 229, colorpl. 27, discusses The Moroccan series (1964–65).
Charles Desmarais. "Glimpse of Stella at the de Young." San Francisco Chronicle (November 5, 2016), pp. E1, E3, ill. (color).
Robert Taylor. "Frank Stella at 80—Still the Bad Boy of American Art." East Bay Times (November 17, 2016), p. T8.
Stefanie De Winter. "DayGloification: Frank Stella’s Fluorescent Turn,
an Art-Scientific Approach." The International Journal of the Image 9, no. 4 (2018), pp. 36–42, fig. 3 (color, installation photo).
Stefanie De Winter et al. "Instantaneous Art? Investigating Frank Stella’s Moroccan Paintings with a Short-Exposure Experiment." Art & Perception 8 (2020), pp. 122–54, figs. 1, 3 (color).
Karen Wilkin. "'New York: 1962–1964': Present at the Creation." Wall Street Journal (August 31, 2022), p. A11.
Frank Stella (American, Malden, Massachusetts 1936–2024 New York)
1994
Resources for Research
The Met's Libraries and Research Centers provide unparalleled resources for research and welcome an international community of students and scholars.
The Met Collection API is where all makers, creators, researchers, and dreamers can connect to the most up-to-date data and public domain images for The Met collection. Open Access data and public domain images are available for unrestricted commercial and noncommercial use without permission or fee.
Feedback
We continue to research and examine historical and cultural context for objects in The Met collection. If you have comments or questions about this object record, please complete and submit this form. The Museum looks forward to receiving your comments.
The Met's engagement with art from 1890 to today includes the acquisition and exhibition of works in a range of media, spanning movements in modernism to contemporary practices from across the globe.
