Moby Dick, from the series The Waves,

1989

Moby Dick, Herman Melville’s epic novel, lends its name to both this print and to the entirety of Stella’s most ambitious artistic endeavor, a body of more than two hundred paintings, sculptures, and prints. The prints were created in four series, and the first, The Waves, take its titles from the chapters of this literary classic. In this complex print, produced in the artist’s home printmaking workshop, the techniques of lithography, linoleum block, and screenprinting are layered with collaged pieces of metallic foil, marbleized paper, and hand-colored elements. The elaborate composition, recreated with precision and accuracy as an edition of sixty prints, pushes the boundaries between printmaking, painting, and sculpture. Both this work and the entire Moby Dick project exemplify Stella’s career-long innovations in abstraction in a variety of media.