Damascus Gate I
1969
Frank Stella (American, 1936–)
Not on View

Frank Stella was one of the most significant and original painters of the 1960s. His considerable gifts as a colorist and his sense of the decorative potential of abstraction are both evident in Damascus Gate. Though the painting appears to be light years from his severely reductive Black Paintings that shocked the art world in MOMA’s 1959 exhibition “Sixteen Americans,” it illustrates Stella’s continued concern with pattern, a preoccupation that allowed him to stabilize and organize the painterly energy of Abstract Expressionism.

This painting is part of the Protractor Series, named after the drafting tool used for measuring and constructing angles and inspired by Stella’s travel to Middle Eastern cities with circular plans and archaeological sites. Using a beam compass, Stella laid out a system of semicircles extending horizontally, the canvas shape echoing the surface design. Stella’s architectural concerns here take an enormous step, literally, as he experiments with wall-size scale: this painting measures 32 feet long. The sensuous appeal of his color and the visual rhythm of the hemispheres that appear to interlace and overlap are exciting to behold at this scale. As Stella said, “My main interest has been to make what is called decorative painting truly viable in unequivocal abstract terms. Decorative…in the sense that it is applied to Matisse. What I mean is that I would like to combine the abandon and indulgence of Matisse’s ‘Dance’ with the overall strength and sheer formal inspiration of a picture like his ‘Moroccans.’”

Details

  • Artist Name: Frank Stella (American, 1936–)
  • Title: Damascus Gate I
  • Date: 1969
  • Medium: Fluorescent alkyd resin on canvas
  • Dimensions: 96-1/8 x 384 x 3-1/16 in. (244.2 x 975.4 x 7.8 cm)
  • Credit Line: Norton Simon Museum, Partial Museum Purchase and Partial Gift of the Fellows
  • Accession Number: P.1969.078
  • Copyright: © 2017 Frank Stella / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York Reproduction, including downloading of ARS works is prohibited by copyright laws and international conventions without the express written permission of Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Object Information

Frank Stella, to;
[Irving Blum Gallery, Los Angeles, partial gift/purchase to];
Fellows Acquisition Fund, Pasadena Art Museum, Pasadena, 1969-1975;
Norton Simon Museum, Pasadena, 1975.

American Art Since 1950 from the Norton Simon Museum

  • Museum of Contemporary Art (Los Angeles, Calif.), 1990-06-30 to 1990-09-09

Monumental Paintings of the 60's

  • San Diego, Fine Arts Gallery of San Diego, 1974-04-19 to 1974-06-23

Surface Truths: Abstract Painting in the Sixties

  • Norton Simon Museum, 2011-03-25 to 2011-08-15

The Chromatic Eye: New York Paintings and Prints from the 1960s

  • Norton Simon Museum, 2001-07-20 to 2001-10-22

Recent Acquisitions, 1969

  • Pasadena Art Museum, 1969-11-24 to 1970-01-18

American Art of the 1960s from the Norton Simon Museum

  • Los Angeles, The Temporary Contemporary, 1990-03-13 to 1990-06-13
  • Museum of Contemporary Art (Los Angeles, Calif.), 1988-10-04 to 1989-02-05

Works from the Pasadena Art Museum

  • Vancouver Art Gallery, 1970-04-14 to 1970-05-10

Radical Past: Contemporary Art and Music in Pasadena, 1960-1974

  • Norton Simon Museum, 1999-02-07 to 1999-06-06
  • Armory Center for the Arts, 1999-02-07 to 1999-04-11
  • Art Center College of Design (Pasadena, Calif.), 1999-02-07 to 1999-04-25
  • The Contemporary, p. 7
  • Pasadena Art Museum, Recent Acquisitions 1969, 1969, no. 17 pp. 12-13
  • Fine Arts Gallery of San Diego, Monumental Paintings of the 60s, 1974, repro.
  • The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, American Art Since 1950 from the Norton Simon Museum, 1990,
  • Art Center College of Design, Art Center College of Design Exhibitions: Twenty Years, 2001, p. 24
  • Norton Simon Museum Members' Summer Newsletter, 2001,

Additional Artwork by Artist

Conway III Frank Stella 1966
Hiraqla Variation III Frank Stella 1969

Image reproduction permission may be granted for scholarly or arts related commercial use. All image requests, regardless of their intended purpose, should be submitted via the reproduction request form.

Images may be protected by copyright and other intellectual property rights. Additional permission may be required.

Approved requests for the reproduction of an image will receive a contract detailing all fees and conditions of use of the image. Upon receipt of both the signed contract and full payment, the Office of Rights and Reproductions will provide the image. A complimentary copy of the published material must be provided to the Norton Simon Museum.

Reproduction Request Form