Joseph Stella was an Italian-American painter, noted for his Futurist paintings depicting city architecture, religious themes, and modern culture. Born on June 13, 1877 in Muro Lucano, Italy, he moved to New York in early adulthood and began his artistic career. Following his studies at the Art Students League, he embarked on creating unique Modernist paintings with bold color schemes and organic, sloping lines: an attempted melding of the natural world with human civilization. Stella quickly became associated with the Futurist and Precisionist movements, gaining contact with prominent members of the burgeoning New York art scene, including Alfred Stieglitz and Gertrude Stein, and becoming close friends with Albert Gleizesand Marcel Duchamp. Despite enjoying considerable success in the early portion of the 20th century, the artist’s health and popularity decreased in tandem until his death in New York, NY on November 5, 1946. Today, Stella is considered a vital figure in American art history, with his work being held among the collections of important institutions such as the Yale University Art Gallery in New Haven and the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York.