Arbeit Macht Frei (Work will Set You Free) from Black Series I

1967

Frank Stella

Associated Names
Frank Stella

Artist, American, 1936 - 2024

James Webb

Printer, American, active late 20th century

Gemini G.E.L.

Publisher

This print displays a series of angular lines arranged in a rectangle near the bottom left corner of a piece of off-white paper. The lines are in white against a dark background, and they divide the space into four quadrants. The lines all bend toward a central point in the middle of these quadrants, creating the impression of two diagonal lines.

Media Options

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    one from a portfolio of nine lithographs on wove J. Barcham Green paper

  • Credit Line

    Gift of Gemini G.E.L. and the Artist

  • Dimensions

    sheet: 38.1 x 55.9 cm (15 x 22 in.)

  • Accession Number

    1981.5.277

  • Catalogue Raisonné

    Axsom 1983, no. 10

  • Series Title

    Black I

Associated Artworks

See all 9 artworks
The image displays two sets of symmetrical, parallel black lines creating abstract rectangular shapes. These patterns form a series of nested, right-angled lines. The design uses negative space effectively, with light background contrasting against dark lines.

Club Onyx—Seven Steps from Black Series I

Frank Stella, Kenneth Tyler, Octavio Pereira, Gemini G.E.L.

1967

The image shows a series of concentric, evenly spaced, white lines forming an abstract rectangular pattern against a black background. The lines are positioned on the left side of a light beige canvas.

Clinton Plaza from Black Series I

Frank Stella, Kenneth Tyler, Gemini G.E.L.

1967

Black Series I

Frank Stella, Kenneth Tyler, Gemini G.E.L.

1967

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Gemini G.E.L., Los Angeles, California; acquired 1981 by the National Gallery of Art

Associated Names

Exhibition History

2015

  • The Serial Impulse at Gemini G.E.L., National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; Los Angeles County Museum of Art, California, 2015-2017.

2025

  • Remembrance and Renewal: American Artists and the Holocaust, 1940-1970, Sidney and Lois Eskenazi Museum of Art, Bloomington, Indiana, September 4-December 14, 2025: fig. 30, repro.

Bibliography

1966

  • Gemini G.E.L. Sequence List. Los Angeles, California: Gemini G.E.L., unpublished, no. 54.

1983

  • Axsom, Richard H. The Prints of Frank Stella: A Catalogue Raisonné, 1967-1982. New York: Hudson Hills Press, 1983, no. 10.

2011

  • Ritchie, Charles. Gemini G.E.L. Online Catalogue Raisonné. Washington, D.C.: National Gallery of Art, 2011, no. 51.20. http://www.nga.gov/gemini

2025

  • McComas, Jennifer. Remembrance and Renewal: American Artists and the Holocaust, 1940-1970. Exh. cat. Sidney and Lois Eskenazi Museum of Art, Bloomington, Indiana, 2025: 57, fig. 30, color repro.

Inscriptions

lower right in graphite: Gemini I F. Stella 67; lower left verso in graphite by unknown hand: 67-135

Markings

embossed lower right: © [Gemini G.E.L.]; stamped lower left verso in gray ink: Gemini G.E.L. / Los Angeles, Calif.

Wikidata ID

Q74036260

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