Palm Beach County’s Norton Museum of Art is presenting Joseph Stella’s Visionary Nature: A Discussion with the Curators on November 19, 2022, beginning at 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM. Joseph Stella: Visionary Nature is co-organized by Stephanie Heydt of the High Museum of Art, Atlanta, and Audrey Lewis of the Brandywine River Museum of Art. Both curators join Ellen Roberts, Harold and Anne Berkley Smith Senior Curator of American Art, for a discussion about the exhibition, the first major museum examination of Joseph Stella’s art that depicts the natural world. 

Joseph Stella was an Italian-born American Futurist painter best known for his depictions of industrial America, especially his images of the Brooklyn Bridge. He is also linked with the American Precisionist movement of the 1910s–1940s. He came to New York City in 1896 to study medicine, following in the footsteps of his older brother.

He promptly deserted his intention to study medicine and turned to art. He studied at the Art Students League and the New York School of Art under William Merritt Chase. His first paintings were “Rembrandtesque “depictions of city slum life. He was unhappy with America.

Stella returned to Italy in 1909. Later he moved to Paris, where he socialized with Gertrude Stein and met other painters. He became connected with the Italian Futurists and began to incorporate Futurist principles into his art. Stella was also interested in the structural experiments of the Cubists and the dynamic color of the Fauves. He then returned to New York in 1913. In 1913–1914, he painted Battle of Lights, Coney Island, one of the earliest and greatest American Futurist works.

Support for Exhibition Lectures was provided by the Gayle and Paul Gross Education Endowment Fund. Space is limited, and tickets are available at the Reception Desk starting one hour before the program. 

Cost: Museum Admission/Members FREE