Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

For Frank Stella, 1958 was a crucial year. After graduating from Princeton University, he moved to Manhattan and painted a series of monumental, colorful canvases that culminated in the first of his famous "black paintings." This fascinating book focuses on the thirty works he painted that year. The paintings reflect his transformation from a student experimenting with abstract expressionism to a highly original artist whose works changed the course of postwar art.Presenting the entire series of paintings in color for the first time (except lost works known only through black-and-white photographs), this handsome book details the course of Stella's career in 1958. The authors situate his work in relation to that of Carl Andre, with whom Stella shared studio space that year, and Jasper Johns. Their analysis draws on concepts of originality, repetition, assemblage, and opticality.Drawing on new archival findings, firsthand observations of the paintings, and interviews with Stella and members of his circle, this volume enriches our understanding of a fascinating and critical stage in the artist's development.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• Director's Foreword (p. vi)
• Acknowledgments (p. viii)
• Objecting to Things (p. 1)
• What You See and What He Said (p. 67)
• Plates (p. 93)
• Bibliography (p. 133)
• Credits (p. 137)
• Index (p. 138)

Reviews provided by Syndetics

CHOICE Review

The seminal year in Francis (Frank) Stella's young life was arguably 1958. At 22, this history major working in William Seitz's open painting studio created a series of works, later known as "Black Paintings," that would break his bonds to abstract expressionism and anticipate minimalism. Stella's attraction to the objectivity of artworks began before he arrived at Princeton, nourished by his formal art and art historical training. He became close friends with painter Walter Darby Bannard, and he worked with Stephen Greene, Princeton's first resident artist. Stella mimicked the gestural manner of Franz Kline, but it was the work of Jasper Johns that most impressed and influenced him. Stella first encountered Johns's work in 1957 in reproductions; later that year, he saw the real work at a Jewish Museum group exhibition. The flag paintings feed directly into Stella's seminal work of 1958 and to this exhibition catalog organized by Harvard's Fogg Art Museum. There is excellent balance between fine color reproductions of the works and the two major essays: "Objecting to Things," by show organizer Luke, and "What You See and What He Said," by Cooper, curator of modern art at Harvard University's art museums. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Lower-division undergraduates through faculty. J. Weidman Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art

Author notes provided by Syndetics

Harry Cooper is curator of modern art at the Fogg Art Museum of the Harvard University Art Museums and coauthor of Medardo Rosso: Second Impressions and Mondrian: The Transatlantic Paintings, both published by Yale University Press. Megan Luke is in the Department of the History of Art and Architecture at Harvard University.