Frank Stella

Petersburg Press, Inc., New York

Private Collection

Acquired from the above by the present owner

Richard Axsom, The Prints of Frank Stella: A Catalog Raisonne 1967-1982, New York, 1983, references this Set of Unique Proofs on pages 35 and 114;

"A Moroccan Series, based on the paintings series of the same title that was planned, but only Tetuan III was completed.”

Frank Stella began his lifelong printmaking endeavors in 1964 with the screenprint Untitled (Rabat), a graphic adaptation of a gouache by the same title which was one image from his Moroccan painting series 1964-65. Some years later, in 1972, he began to work with the esteemed print and book publisher Paul Cornwall-Jones who founded Petersburg Press five years prior. An early Petersburg Press project would be a set of six prints reminiscent of his Moroccan paintings, however, these prints were never published. 

As such, the present lot is the sole example of these unpublished prints, conceived as a collaboration between a prolific artist and a respected publisher. While an edition of the works was not realized, these examples from the Petersburg Press archives exemplify Stella’s persistent exploration of the mitered square interacting with negative space and his intention that prints coexist with his unique works. They are testimony to the beginning of his long and fruitful relationship with Petersburg Press.

–The Prints of Frank Stella Richard Axsom, 1983, pg. 35

A certificate of authenticity for this lot from Petersburg Press will be provided upon request.