Lac Laronge IV

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Lac Laronge IV

Artist Frank Stella (American, 1936 - 2024)

Date1969

DimensionsH: 108 1/8 in. (274.6 cm); W: 162 in. (411.5 cm)

MediumAcrylic polymer on raw canvas

ClassificationPaintings

Credit LinePurchased with funds from the Libbey Endowment, Gift of Edward Drummond Libbey

Object number

1972.4

On View

Toledo Museum of Art (2445 Monroe Street), Gallery, 02A, Wolfe

Label TextAbstract paintings must be as real as those created by the 16th-century Italians. In the summer of 1967 abstract artist Frank Stella taught a workshop at the University of Saskatchewan. His time there inspired a series of paintings named for places in the Canadian province, including Lac La Ronge, a scenic lake. Stella had already been working on a series of paintings on shaped (non-rectangular) canvases with designs based on patterns made with protractors. The Saskatchewan series continued to explore some of the same patterns—specifically the circle and a four-petaled motif—but within a rectangle or square. With the Saskatchewan series, Stella continued his exploration of the figure-ground relationship (the relationship of the surface to the images depicted on it). As art historian Robert Rosenblum observed of these paintings, “these restless arcs strain their boundaries, exchanging positions in depth, brusquely switching roles of visual priority, pressing inward and outward, forward and backward for completion of their fragmentary shapes and abruptly interrupted energies.”Published References"Recent accessions...," Art Quarterly, vol. 35, no. 4, 1972, p. 441, repr. p. 450.

"La Chronique des Arts," Gazette des Beaux-Arts, vol. 81, no. 1249, Feb. 1973, repr. p. 177.

McCready, Eric S., "Tanner and Gilliam: Two American Black Painters," Negro American Literature Forum, vol. 8, no. 4, Winter 1974, p. 280, repr. fig. 3, p. 283.

Ocvirk, Otto G., et al., Art Fundementals: Theory and Practice, 3rd ed., Dubuque, 1975, after, p. 32, repr. pl. 10.

"Treasures for Toledo," Toledo Museum of Art Museum News, vol. 19, nos. 2 & 3, 1976, p. 79, repr.

Hubbard, Guy, Art: Choosing and Expressing, Westchester, Ill., 1977, repr. p. 61.

Toledo Museum of Art, The Toledo Museum of Art, American Paintings, Toledo, 1979, p. 102, pl. 267.

Anderson, Jan, ed. Backgrounds to World Literature, vol. 1, Pensacola, FL, 1980, repr. (col.), p. 336.

Goldstein, Nathan, Design and Composition, Englewood Cliffs, 1989, p. 262, fig. 11.14.

Duncan, Sally Anne, Otto Wittmann: Museum Man for All Seasons, Toledo, 2001, repr. (col.) p. 20.

Stewart, Mary, Launching the Imagination: A Comprehensive Guide to Basic Design, New York, McGraw-Hill, 2002, p. 3-5, fig. 3.11 (col.).

Stewart, Mary, Launching the Imagination: A Comprehensive Guide to Basic Design, 4th ed., New York, McGraw Hill, 2012, p. 70, fig. 3.11 (col.) p. 71.

Stewart, Mary, Launching the Imagination: a Comprehensive Guide to Basic Design, New York, McGraw Hill, 2015, repr. (col.) p. 70.

Madill, Shirley, Robert Houle: Life & Work, Toronto, Art Canada Institute, August 20, 2021, repr. (col.) p.77.

Exhibition HistoryNew York, Whitney Museum of American Art, Frank Stella: a Retrospective, 2015-2016.