Frank Stella's Moby-Dick: Words and Shapes

Abstract

One of the world's leading painters and printmakers, the artist Stella spent over a decade creating a huge series of works linked with Herman Melville's classic novel Moby-Dick. The completed series consists of more than 135 pieces: large metal reliefs, prints, a major sculpture, a large mural, and other items. Each work relates to one chapter of Moby-Dick, and the entire series is a highly ambitious, subtle, and liberating response to the novel. Stella's series is an extraordinary venture on a massive scale, by a major artist.Robert K. Wallace, an expert on Melville, has written a clear and comprehensive interpretation of Stella's artistic evolution during the creation of this series. Frank Stella's Moby-Dick Series describes the development of the series, traces its distribution and reception around the world, analyzes its rich and complex relation to the novel, and addresses the joint value of Stella's series and Melville's novel in expanding the consciousness of a shrinking world in the late twentieth century.Items from the series have been exhibited in the United States, Europe, and Japan, but never before has there been a way to view them as a whole. Frank Stella's Moby-Dick Series provides the definitive documentation of this artistic achievement. Accompanied by more than 200 illustrations, Robert Wallace's text includes a chronology and a catalog of the artwork, as well as a list of exhibitions.Robert K. Wallace is Regents Professor of English/American Literature, Northern Kentucky University.

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