American Monotypes from the Baker/Pisano Collection | Page 64

Joseph Stella (American, b. Italy, 1877–1946)
Vase with Flowers, n.d.

Color monotype, 6 3/8 x 3 7/8 in.
Collection of The Heckscher Museum, Huntington, New York. Gift of
the Baker/Pisano Collection, 2001.9.233

Joseph Stella was born in Muro Lucano, Italy, and came with
his brother to the United States in 1896. He first enrolled at
the Art Students League of New York, but in 1898 Stella
entered the Shinnecock Summer School of Art in Southampton,
Long Island, led by William Merritt Chase. Stella was a
student of the Italian Renaissance and early works reflect the
influences of Dutch masters Rembrandt and Hals. He returned
to Italy for a year around 1909 or 1910, but his visit to Paris in
1911, where he met the Italian Futurists, informed Stella’s later
interests in depicting modern technologies like New York’s
Brooklyn Bridge. Stella produced monotypes throughout his
career, the later works being figures and flowers in color. Stella
was responsible for bringing another Italian art student,
Marco Aurelio Tricca who also worked in monotypes, to the
United States.
NOTES:
Conzelman, “Joseph Stella,” 132–134.
Pilgrim, American Impressionist and Realist Paintings and Drawings, 153.

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