Joseph Stella created arguably the most impressive depictions of industrial America in the early 20th Century; most famously, his images of the Brooklyn Bridge. Stella was one of the pioneers of the precisionist movement - cementing his place as a prolific American Modernist.
Proud of his Italian roots, Joseph Stella found a new life in New York and grew so fond of the city, working through forms or representation such as Social Realist, Precisionism and Futurist.
Stella explores abstraction using sharp, bold lines, wondrous shapes and sometimes exuberant colour within geometrical forms - Stella’s cityscapes are profound.
Stella wasn’t immediately liked by critics when his work was shown at the Armory Show in 1913. It was a break from the traditional conservative art that was common in the late 19th Century. That didn’t stop Stella’s vision of pursuing the idea of Modernism. He began exploring his ideas of geometric shapes formed by fascinating architecture dominating a city that was part of an ever-changing landscape. Becoming part of the Stieglitz group and his association with the Arensberg Circle, Stella enjoyed close relationships with artists such as Marcel Duchamp, pushing him to explore new opportunities.
Stella’s exploration of energy, colour and deep futurist abstraction in his cityscapes, alongside his intimate and sensitive depiction of still life, showcases an artist who had a great variety of observation in everyday life that often passes us by.
