Ten prints and graphic objects by as many artists comprise the startling portfolio-in-a-box entitled Ten from Leo Castelli. Ten from Leo Castelli testifies eloquently to the avant-garde’s intense involvement with printmaking today. The renaissance in printmaking was accelerated in the mid-1960’s by a conceptual reorientation of aesthetics. Its visual manifestations, in relationship to printmaking of the past, sometimes seemed startling, and its implication and possibilities were extraordinary.
The present Ten from Leo Castelli, more than any other edition yet published, personifies “the new look in prints.” Never before has the artist had so many opportunities for the realization of graphic images. The once sacred boundaries between painting, drawing, sculpture, and prints have been assaulted. Three-dimensional forms, often in part hand-painted or hand-stenciled, are completely acceptable as graphic objects. No longer must an artist suffer artificial restrictions imposed by arbitrary classifications of individual media.
—William S. Lieberman, in his introduction to Ten from Leo Castelli
One of the most important living artists, Frank Stella is recognized as the most significant painter that transitioned from Abstract Expressionism to Minimalism. He believes that the painting should be the central object of interest rather than represenative of some subject outside of the work. Stella experimented with relief and created sculptural pieces with prominent properties of collage included. Rejecting the normalities of Minimalism, the artist transformed his style in a way that inspired those who had lost hope for the practice. Stella lives in Malden, Massachusetts and is based in New York and Rock Tavern, New York.
Fortin de las Flores, from Ten from Leo Castelli (A. I.B)
1967 Screenprint in colors, with pencil additions, on English Vellum graph paper, with full margins. I. 9 3/8 x 18 5/8 in. (23.8 x 47.3 cm) S. 18 x 23 in. (45.7 x 58.4 cm) Signed, dated and numbered 1/200 in black ink (there were also 25 artist's proofs lettered A-Y), published for the 10th anniversary of Leo Castelli Gallery by Tanglewood Press, Inc., New York.