‘Joseph Stella: Visionary Nature’ Awakens The Artist’s Legacy Beyond Bridges

A vibrant array of fauna and flora dance around a gnarled tree trunk as we navigate a paradisiacal scene that borrows from the Bible and art historical references such as Hieronymus Bosch’s masterpiece Garden of Earthly Delights. Religious and secular imagery mingle, as we’re transported to the Mediterranean with glimpses of urban life hinting at New York City bridges and infrastructure.

The monumental Tree of My Life is among nearly 90 paintings and works on paper on loan from museums and private collections as part of Joseph Stella: Visionary Nature on view at the Norton Museum of Art in West Palm Beach, Florida, through January 15, 2023.

Co-organized by Atlanta’s High Museum Of Art and the Brandywine River Museum of Art in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, this is the first major museum exhibition to focus on the nature-based works of the trailblazing American modernist. Carefully examining the inspirations, sources, and stylistic influences behind these stunning works, the exhibition will broaden to more than 120 paintings and works on paper when presented at the High between February 24, 2023, through May 21, 2023. Visionary Nature will travel the Brandywine in June 2023.

“It’s our pleasure to collaborate with the Brandywine to organize the first exhibition that extensively explores this important aspect of Stella’s work, which spanned a range of subjects and challenged what was considered modernism in the early 20th century,” said Rand Suffolk, the Nancy and Holcombe T. Green, Jr., director at the High. “Stella’s 1927 Purissima has long been a favorite of the High’s collection and is a strong example his nature-themed paintings. We look forward to providing an opportunity for visitors to further engage with this lesser-known side of Stella’s oeuvre and one of the highlights of the museum’s collection.”

Visionary Nature introduces us to the softer, fantastical side of Stella (1877–1946), who is widely regarded for his dynamic Cubist- and Futurist-inspired paintings of New York City. Stella is mostly celebrated for his depictions of the Brooklyn Bridge, which he first painted in 1918 and revisited in multiple and diverse paintings, often conveying a longing for his native Italy and frustration with city life in trying times marred by events such as the influenza pandemic of 1918 and 1919.

Even Stella’s saturated nature paintings recall his fascination with New York City, as our gaze travels between the vertical trunk and the horizontal line of the bridge in the intricate Tree of My Life.

Stella’s natural vision borders on the surreal, with plants from myriad climates co-existing often in exaggerated scale, challenging our perceptions of reality.

Blossoming alongside arches reminiscent of bridges, Stella marries nature and infrastructure in Flowers, Italy (1931). Despite the title, many of the flowers do not grow in Italy, and Stella amplifies the exaggeration with a variety of sizes, including blooms that are larger-than-life.

Purissima and other allegorical works re-imagine the Madonna thriving in an embrace of flora and fauna motifs, echoing 15th-century Italian painting and subverting Catholic imagery.

“Stella was considered a visionary, even among the most progressive artists of his day,” said Stephanie Heydt, Margaret and Terry Stent curator of American art and lead exhibition curator at the High. “Much of his emotional and spiritual life centered on his relationship with nature, and the exhibition offers the unique opportunity to revisit Stella through this lens. He was an incredible draftsman, and his drawings rival those of the old masters, but he also delighted in experimentation. His style ranged from abstraction to realism to the archaic with such unexpected results.”

Born in southern Italy, Stella immigrated to New York in 1896, and by 1913 was recognized for his bold and moody depictions of the city and modern life. He made a radical pivot in 1919 to concentrate on sharing his spiritual affinity with nature.

The Italy of Stella’s fantastical natural world is largely imagined and reconstructed, as he witnessed schanges in New York but not his homeland. Stella captured the same passion for the Caribbean, after a 1937 trip to Barbados broadened his magical journey through nature.

Demonstrating the depth of his oeuvre and underscoring his self-referential practice, the exhibition also showcases Stella’s experimental New Art, following his discovery of Modern Art during a 1912 trip to Paris. His mastery is evident in precise silverpoint (a traditional drawing technique first used by medieval scribes on manuscripts) botanical drawings and portrait studies. Don’t miss Stella’s 1920 silverpoint drawing of Marcel Duchamp at the Norton. Even as his work defies the categorization of major art movements of the time, Stella was an intrinsic player in the art world, as evidenced by Man Ray’s 1920 double portrait of Duchamp and Stella. The image, which is not on view at the Norton, was shot at the Société Anonyme, co-founded by Man Ray and Duchamp with collector Katherine Dreier. Man Ray coyly inserted himself in the picture by hanging his photograph Woman Smoking a Cigarette above their heads.

Visionary Nature reveals a brazen artist who painstakingly examined each subject and technique to transcend his surroundings and any preconceived notions of city life, nature, and art history.

The Norton Museum of Art is a must-see during any trip to The Palm Beaches, which has emerged as a tour de force of the global art world. During a trip early this month for New Wave Art Wknd (NWAW), I was delighted by the many offerings, including the New Wave Residency Program, the Bunker Artspace, and outposts of many major galleries. Read more about my experience.

Founded in 2018 by by gallerist Sarah Gavlak, and and co-led with Sarah Haimes as program director, New Wave works with collaborators and an advisory board of prominent curators, collectors, artists, philanthropists, and museum directors to foster essential conversations about diversity, inclusivity, immigration, and equal rights for women, BIPOC, and LGBTQ+ communities.

The Norton raised it profile recently when billionaire hedge fund manager Ken Griffin moved several blue chip artworks from the Art Institute of Chicago, where he is a trustee. Mark Rothko’s No. 2 (Blue, Red and Green) (Yellow, Red, Blue on Blue), 1953, Roy Lichtenstein Ohhh…Alright… (1964), an untitled Robert Ryman, Willem de Kooning’s Interchange, and Jackson Pollock’s Number 17A, from Griffin’s coveted collection are now on display at the Norton.