Collection Information
Size: 2.8 Linear feet
Summary: The papers of artist Joseph Stella measure 2.8 linear feet and date from circa 1900 to 1970. The papers shed light on his life and career through biographical materials, mixed personal and professional corresponence, writings by Stella and others, printed materials, and photographic materials.
Biographical/Historical Note
Joseph Stella (1877-1946) was a New York City Painter and draughtsman who immigrated from Muro Lucano Italy in 1896. He received a traditional education while in Italy. At the suggestion of his brother, a medical doctor, Stella studied medicine for two years before leaving that path for his art. His primary subjects to draw and paint during this time were immigrants, laborers, and others he saw in the streets of New York City. Giotto, Masaccio, and Andrea Mantegna were his primary influences at the time. In circa 1899, Stella began taking classes at the Art Students League of New York, studying under William Merritt Chase. He received a scholarship for a year's tuition and began exhibiting his artwork shortly after. In 1902, Stella was sent to Pittsburgh by the periodical The Survey to paint scenes of that city. Illustrating for periodicals became his primary source of income during this period. In 1909, Stella moved to Italy to study glazing, and in 1911, he moved to Paris, where he encountered Fauvism, Cubism, and Futurism for the first time. During these few years in Europe, he befriended Marcel Gromaire, Jules Pascin, Umberto Boccioni, Gino Severini, and Amedeo Modigliani. Stella returned from Europe in 1912 and had three paintings exhibited in the 1913 Armory Show. Several years later, his subject matter shifted towards New York architecture, and he created some of his most well-known works including Brooklyn Bridge (1919-20) and New York Interpreted (1922). Bourgeois Gallery exhibited Stella's work from the late teens until the artist went to Dudensing Galleries in 1925. The following year, he moved to Naples and returned to the U.S. in 1934. In 1936, Stella had a solo exhibition at Cooperative Gallery in Newark, New Jersey; and the gallery exhibited his work for the rest of his life. There was a retrospective of Stella's work at The Newark Museum in 1936 and solo shows at Associated American Artists (1941) and Knoedler Galleries (1942). Other galleries who exhibited Stella's work include Valentine Gallery, New York, Galerie Sloden, Paris, Galerie Jeune Peinture, Paris, and Zabriskie Gallery, New York. From 1935 to 1937, he worked for the Works Progress Administration in the easel division. Stella served on the exhibition committee of Societe Anonyme, was a director of the Salons of America, and a member of the Federation of Painters and Sculptors Inc. He died of heart failure in 1946.
Provenance
The Joseph Stella papers were donated in three installments. Stella's nephew, Sergio Stella, donated records in 1971 and 1986. Alan Pensler, a Washington, D.C. art dealer who acquired the papers from a woman who purchased the home and its contents of Dr. Giovanni Stella, Stella's brother, donated records in 1996.
Related Materials
The Archives of American Art also holds microfilm of material lent for microfilming on reel 5137 (frames 1-63) including 29 loose sketches and a 16-page sketchbook by Joseph Stella. The materials were returned to Alan Pensler after microfilming, and are not described in the collection container inventory.
Funding Note
The processing of this collection received Federal support from the Smithsonian Collections Care and Preservation Fund, administered by the National Collections Program and the Smithsonian Collections Advisory Committee.
Image assets for this folder have not been fully processed.
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