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ArtistAmerican, born Italy, 1877–1946
CultureAmerican
Titles
  • Pyrotechnic Fires
  • Vesuvius
Date1919
Place depictedItaly
MediumPastel on paper
DimensionsSheet: 40 × 29 7/8 in. (101.6 × 75.9 cm)
Credit LineGift of the estate of Isabel B. Wilson
Object number2014.72
Not on view

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ProvenanceEstate of Joseph Stella; by inheritance to to his nephew, Sergio Stella; [Robert Schoelkopf Gallery, New York, by 1987]; Harvey and Françoise Rambach, New Jersey, 1988; [Gerald Peters Gallery, Reno, Nevada, by 1999]; purchased by Isabel Wilson, 1999-2012; to the Estate of Isabel Wilson, 2012–December 2013; given to MFAH, 2013.
Exhibition History"American Modern: Works from the Collection of Alice C. Simkins," Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, April 15–July 19, 2015.

"The Rise of Modernism: Europe and America," Museum of Fine Arts Houston, October 28, 2020–July 27, 2021. [Inaugural Installation: Kinder Building 207: No Catalog]

"Joseph Stella: Visionary Nature," High Museum of Art, Atlanta, February 23–May 21, 2023.
Published References New York, Whitney Museum of American Art, Joseph Stella Retrospective, exh. cat. (1963), Cat. 301. Jaffe, Iram, Joseph Stella (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1970), p. 208. Allentown, New Jersey, Allentown Art Museum, Modernist Idylls: Nature and the Avant Garde, 1905–1930, exh. (1987), plate 1, illus. Fort Worth, Visual Poetry: The Drawing of Joseph Stella, exh. cat. 1990, pp. 92-93, Fig. 90. Boca Rotan, Florida, The Boca Raton Museum of Art, Masterpieces of American Modernism: Selections from the Harvey and Françoise Rambach Collection. exh. cat. by Timothy Eaton and Barabara Rose (1995). (other venue: The Butler Institute of American Art, Youngtown, Ohio). Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks
Recto, lower right, signed in pastel: J. Stella
3 Printed and 1 typed label on verso backboard:

ROBERT SCHOELKOPF GALLERY / 50 West 57th Street, New York, N.Y. 10019 / ARTIST Joseph Stella / TITLE Pyrotechnic Fires / MEDIUM pastel on paper / SIZE 40 X 29 1/2" DATE 1919

Exhibition No. 45 / Crate No. 30 AMON / CARTER MUSEUM [address] / Exhibit: Visual Poetry: The Drrawings of Joseph Stella / Dates: ACM 2-23-90 through 4-22-90 / Title: Pyrotechnic Fires / Artist: Joseph Stella / Medium: Pastel / Dimensions / [no entry] Date c. 1919 / Credit: Collection of Francoise and Harvey Rambach

Joseph Stella / Pyrotechnic Fires, 1919 / Pastel on paper / 40" x 29 1/2"

Joseph Stella / Pyrotechnic Fires / Pastel. c. 1919 / Lent by Estate of Joseph Stella



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