Frank Stella was inspired in the early 1970s by an illustrated history of 42 wooden synagogues in Poland that were destroyed during the Second World War. The young artist created an ambitious series of 42 abstract compositions, two of which he kept in his collection. He bought back a third work when the Bank of America sold it.
The three interlocking, geometric works in acrylic, felt and paper collage, which are named after the Polish village of Suchowola, have been reunited at Frieze London by New York’s Marianne Boesky Gallery (priced at $5m). Now, the US artist, whose retrospective opens at New York’s Whitney Museum of American Art this month (30 October-7 February 2016), wants the works to go to a major museum or foundation, so he is in no rush to sell and will be happy to take them home to upstate New York. Far better to find the right permanent home, says Adrian Turner, who has just been made a partner of the gallery.