4x5 transparency scanned on Hasselblad Flextight X1 by Ed Pollard-2018.

Manteneia II

Artist Frank Stella (American, 1936 - 2024)

CultureAmerican

Date1968

MediumAcrylic on canvas

DimensionsOverall: 60 x 240 in. (152.4 x 609.6 cm)

InscribedInscribed on reverse:; Manteneia II F Stella '68; For IRVING BLUM; Gallery L.A. Calif.;

PortfolioProtractor Series (1967-1971)

Credit LineGift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr.

Object number77.417

Collections

Modern and Contemporary

On View

Chrysler Museum of Art, Gallery 224

DescriptionThis is an acrylic on canvas painting; the canvas is straight at the bottom edge but the top is formed in semicircles; inside the four outlined sections are three interlocking rainbows of different colors. From the left, a quarter of a circle (upper left quarter) is outlined in blue, with half a rainbow inside the outline. The next section is an interlocking rainbow of colors, outlined in a darker blue and is followed by a similar section outlined in green. The two middle sections have three rounded peaks on the top edge of the canvas; the middle sections share one full rainbow, and contain half of the rainbow design that connects to the end sections, which flank the middle rainbow. The last section is outlined in black and again, is shaped as upper right quarter of a circle.

Label TextFrank Stella American, 1936-2024 Manteneia II, 1968 Acrylic on canvas To create the works in his Protractor series, Frank Stella used the familiar draftsman’s tool to draw tightly interlocking color arcs on paper. When he transferred the drawings to his shaped, monumental canvases, he rejected the notion that paintings should be a rectangular window onto the world by creating uniform geometric patterns instead. Though the colorful bands lie flat on the surface of the canvas, they also create a lively optical dance due to their contrasting hues and bowed shapes. The names of the paintings in this series, including Manteneia II, are based on ancient, circular-planed towns in Asia Minor and on the Persian architecture seen by the artist when travelling in Iran. Gift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr. 77.417 ProvenanceBelieved from the artist to Irving Blum Gallery, Los Angeles, 1968-69. Purchased from M. Knoedler & Co., New York, by Walter P. Chrysler, Jr., 1973-74. Gift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr. to The Chrysler Museum, Norfolk, Va., 1977. Exhibition History"Three Hundred Years of American Art in the Chrysler Museum," Chrysler Museum at Norfolk, Va., March 1 - July 4, 1976. Published ReferencesDennis R. Anderson, _Three Hundred Years of American Art in the Chrysler Museum_, exh. cat., Norfolk, Va., 1975, 231, 258. *As _Damascus Gate_, 1967-68. The Chrysler Museum: Selections from the Permanent Collection, Norfolk, Virginia_ (Norfolk: Chrysler Museum, 1982), 117. *As _Damascus Gate_, 1967-68. ISBN: 0-940744-37-6 Martha N. Hagood and Jefferson C. Harrison, _American Art at the Chrysler Museum: Selected Paintings, Sculpture, and Drawings_ (Norfolk, Va.: Chrysler Museum of Art, 2005), 244-245, no. 149. ISBN: 0-940744-71-6