The first major monograph on the visionary nature paintings of the
pioneering American modernist
Though Joseph Stella is primarily recognized for his dynamic
Futurist-inspired paintings of New York, particularly of the Brooklyn
Bridge, he was also compelled to express the powerful connection he felt
to the natural world, a subject he pursued persistently throughout his
career. Visionary Nature presents an overdue examination of this
prolific and wide-ranging body of nature-based work.
If Stella's cityscapes became symbols of a modern era, his pictures of
flowers, plants, birds and trees were rooted in another, more ancient,
primal and paradisaical world. Inspired by archaic and classical
precedents as well as his own brand of spirituality, these lyrical and
exuberant works are also his least understood. By focusing on his unique
visual vocabulary and the context in which it developed, Visionary
Nature reconsiders how his nature paintings relate to his career,
revealing a surprising continuity between seemingly disparate subjects
and exploring how these works are reflective of Stella's passionate
spirituality. His close affiliation with the natural world shaped a body
of work that ranged from vividly realistic to poetically transcendent
and visionary in its unique expression.
Joseph Stella (1877-1946) was born in Italy and moved to New York
City in 1896. He belonged to avant-garde circles on both sides of the
Atlantic and achieved international notoriety in the 1910s for his
large-scale paintings of modern America. For the remainder of his
career, he traveled widely and produced a large body of nature-themed
work. He died in 1946 from heart failure.
