Frank Stella is one of the leading figures of the Minimalist movement. Initially influenced by the Abstract Expressionism of Jackson Pollock and Franz Kline, towards the late Fifties he moves to New York where he abandons the Expressionist quest for colour in favour of flat and Minimalist surfaces, following the work of Barnett Newman and Jasper Johns. He soon inaugurated a series of works emphasising the painting as an object in itself rather than as a representation of something else. Faithful to Minimalist philosophy, the canvas for him is nothing but a flat surface with color yet suggestive of a third dimension.

Towards the early 1960s there was a lot of interest in America in adopting textiles as a medium for artistic expression. In 1962 the World House Galleries in New York organised an exhibition composed of 26 carpets designed by leading Modern Art Masters such as Léger, Mirò and Picasso together with others from the contemporary designer Miriam Leefe. In 1968 the Charles E. Slatkin Galleries in New York opened an exhibition entitled ‘American Tapestries’, showing the textile artworks of twenty-two Pop Art and Abstract Expressionist artists. These artists were actively involved in the translation of their pictorial language in the textile medium, designing the preparatory cartoons which would then be sent to India to be made into weavings. Their interest towards the expressive qualities of three-dimensional flat surfaces found its quintessential expression in the art of the carpet.

This motivated a second exhibition in 1970 entitled ‘Modern Master Tapestries’, where the term ‘tapestry’ was applied both to wall hangings as well as floor coverings. The aim of this show was to give a modern configuration to the ancient art of weaving.

‘River of Ponds’ was part of the exhibition, in a planned edition of 20 examples.