Personal insights are from Stephanie Heydt, Curator of American Art.

Purissima
Joseph Stella joined the ranks of modern art in 1913 with his Italian Futurist-related work. At the same time, famous paintings of the Brooklyn Bridge-a very different style and subject-appeared in Stella's paintings, works in pastel colors that feature stylized birds and landscapes with sharply delineated silhouettes and long, curvilinear rhythms. This is the style out of which he developed his Madonna paintings in the following decade. In Purissima, Stella presents the Madonna as the Queen of Heaven, wrapped in a regal cape. There is a curious yet somehow attractive incongruity between the naturalistic face and the totally stylized figure standing imperiously in a blue gown.

Joseph Stella (American, born Italy, 1877–1946), Purissima, 1927. Oil on canvas, 76 x 57 inches Purchase with funds from Harriet and Elliott Goldstein and High Museum of Art Enhancement Fund.

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