Looking for something to do this weekend? Please go see Frank Stella’s Hanoi Star which is now on display at The Museum of Modern Art’s sculpture garden!

In 2021, thanks to FAPE Board member Agnes Gund, Frank agreed to create a sculpture for the new U.S. Embassy in Hanoi. His work consists of two conjoined, multi-pointed stars made of aluminum and stands more than 20 feet tall. Among the myriads of forms found in the artist’s work, the star is an element that continuously reappears. It is simultaneously abstract and figurative and immediately identifiable.

The star stands out amidst the tangle of invented abstractions which the artist had long explored. Hanoi Star pays tribute to the star found in the Vietnamese flag.

We are tremendously grateful to Bank of America, the Ford Foundation, Agnes Gund, Jo Carole and Ronald S. Lauder and Nancy and Howard Marks for making this gift possible. Hanoi Star will be on view at MoMA through spring 2025. We then hope to find a place to display it in Washington, D.C., before it goes to Vietnam for permanent placement in 2029.

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you to everyone involved in this historic project!

FAPE would like to thank Glenn Lowry, MoMA Director, and Ann Temkin, MoMA Chief Curator of Painting and Sculpture, as well as Lori Mahaney, Cara Manes, Lydia Mullin and Elizabeth Wickham for making this installation possible. It is a great honor to share the last public sculpture created by Frank with the MoMA community!

We are grateful to Peter Stella and the Stella studio including David Lukowski, Arturo Martinez, Allison Martone, Meng Ngo, Dominic Nurre, Paula Pelosi and Shannon Victor for their assistance.

Patrick Allen and Veronika Schmid oversaw everything from engineering to floor protection to installation. The team at Crozier, especially Syd Bae, Senior Project Manager, provided great support in ensuring the successful coordination and delivery of the work.