Leo Castelli Gallery, New York
Seymour H. Knox, Buffalo
Christie's, London, May 23, 1996, lot 73
Acquired by the present owner from the above sale

Lawrence Rubin, Frank Stella Paintings: 1958 - 1965, New York, 1986, no. 106, illustrated

This work is in very good condition overall. There are a few scattered areas of rubbing primarily located in the top half of the painting. Under ultraviolet light inspection, there is no evidence of restoration. Framed.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

In 1959 Frank Stella, then 22 years old, shocked the art world when he was included in Dorothy Miller's landmark survey of contemporary art, Sixteen Americans, at the Museum of Modern Art. His iconic series of Black paintings was heralded as an achievement in pictorial flatness, the next step in modernist painting, and considered by some to even be the end of painting. Drastic🍌ally veering away from the drippy, gestural style of Abstract Expressionism, Stella is credited for ushering in Minimalism and directly influencing some of the most important artists of that generation, including Donald Jud😼d.

While still a young artist, Stella made a living as a housepainter, an activity that deeply influenced his understanding and opinions of contemporary art. Made with average household paint that was used to trace the entire ungessoed canvas evenly and quickly, Stella's work from the late 1950s and early 1960s is known for its radical anti-illusionism. Untitled, with its flat, literal surface and unpainted sides, is an intriguing study from that pivotal moment. Made one year after the revolutionary Black paintings, yet predating his shaped aluminum and copper canvases created later on in 1960, Untitled is well established within this early moment in Stella's illustrious career. This work further shows Stella pushing his artistic practice forward through the elimination visible pencil lines, underscoring his disregard for the figure/ground dynamic. As Stella famously said in an interview with Bruce Glaser and Donald Judd regarding his work from this moment, "My painting is based on the fact that only what can be seen there is there. It really is an objec♚t. All I want anyone to get out of my paintings, and all I ever get out of them, is the fact that you can see the whole idea without any confusion... What you see is what you see."