Jarama II
1982
Image not available — this artwork is under copyright
View on museum website →Medium
mixed media on etched magnesium
Dimensions
overall: 319.9 x 253.9 x 62.8 cm (125 15/16 x 99 15/16 x 24 3/4 in.)
Classification
Painting
Department
CMC
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Gift of Lila Acheson Wallace
Accession Number
1982.35.1
Art Historical Context
Frank Stella's *Jarama II* (1982) is a bold example of the artist's late-career innovation, blending painting and sculpture in mixed media etched magnesium. Measuring an imposing 319.9 253.9 x .8 cm, this wall-mounted relief protrudes from the surface, creating a dynamic interplay form, shadow, and texture. The lightweight yet rigid magnesium—etched for intricate patterning—allows for Stella's signature convoluted, pushing beyond traditional canvas boundaries three-dimensional space. A key figure in Minimalism the 1960s with his "Black Paintings," Stella evolved in the 1980s maximalist abstra...
About the Artist
Frank Stella
Frank Stella, born on May 12, 1936, in Malden, Massachusetts, to first-generation Italian-American parents, grew up immersed in art from an early age. His father, a gynecologist who painted houses to fund medical school, enlisted young Stella in sanding and scraping tasks as an informal apprenticeship, while his mother, an artist who painted landscapes, further nurtured his creative inclinations. ...