THE GREEN HENRY BY GOTTFRIED KELLER
ADAPTED BY WILL STOVALL AND MARTIN WAGNER
More than fifty years before the earliest exhibition of European works of abstract art, Gottfried Keller’s seminal Swiss artist novel The Green Henry (1854/55) already contains the first extensive description of an abstract painting. Our book retells Keller’s 900-page novel in much- condensed fashion to focus on the modern artist’s journey to the invention of abstract art. We merge our text with a series of flattened and starkly chromatic illustrations that are engaging abstraction in their own right. Taken together, our contemporary version of Keller’s novel shows us anew the potential of a fundamental form of painting. The fictional text is accompanied by an introduction that provides background on Keller’s novel, the history of abstract art, and the approach we chose for our modern retelling.
In progress
Date: 2022-23
Language: English
ADAPTED BY WILL STOVALL AND MARTIN WAGNER
More than fifty years before the earliest exhibition of European works of abstract art, Gottfried Keller’s seminal Swiss artist novel The Green Henry (1854/55) already contains the first extensive description of an abstract painting. Our book retells Keller’s 900-page novel in much- condensed fashion to focus on the modern artist’s journey to the invention of abstract art. We merge our text with a series of flattened and starkly chromatic illustrations that are engaging abstraction in their own right. Taken together, our contemporary version of Keller’s novel shows us anew the potential of a fundamental form of painting. The fictional text is accompanied by an introduction that provides background on Keller’s novel, the history of abstract art, and the approach we chose for our modern retelling.
In progress
Date: 2022-23
Language: English
OF THE LAND: THE ART AND POETRY OF LOU STOVALL
A series of prints and accompanying poems that showcase Lou Stovall’s work during the 1970s, when he was developing his unique silkscreen technique and exploring both natural and abstract elements. An introduction by the book's editor and artist's son, Will Stovall, along with an autobiography from the artist anchor the Of the Land series in its time and place ― a period of jazz, protest, and prolific art production in Washington, DC, that birthed the Washington Color School (Georgetown University Press).
Hardcover: 160 pages
Date: 2022
Language: English
A series of prints and accompanying poems that showcase Lou Stovall’s work during the 1970s, when he was developing his unique silkscreen technique and exploring both natural and abstract elements. An introduction by the book's editor and artist's son, Will Stovall, along with an autobiography from the artist anchor the Of the Land series in its time and place ― a period of jazz, protest, and prolific art production in Washington, DC, that birthed the Washington Color School (Georgetown University Press).
Hardcover: 160 pages
Date: 2022
Language: English
PROSPECT FOR A LIFEWORLD INTERFACE
A dissertation on the political philosophy of Jürgen Habermas that presents a visual statement on democratic politics and a discussion of what it means to imagine an institution.
Paperback: 165 pages
Date: 2018
Language: English
A dissertation on the political philosophy of Jürgen Habermas that presents a visual statement on democratic politics and a discussion of what it means to imagine an institution.
Paperback: 165 pages
Date: 2018
Language: English
LETTERS OF INFELIX EGO
Part performance, part almanac, this book meditates on the golden age of Washington, D.C. and the nature of generations. It is a work of constraint-based poetry inspired by the handwritten letter.
Hardcover: 99 pages
Date: 2013
Language: English
Part performance, part almanac, this book meditates on the golden age of Washington, D.C. and the nature of generations. It is a work of constraint-based poetry inspired by the handwritten letter.
Hardcover: 99 pages
Date: 2013
Language: English
“THE BROW RECLUSE”
A work of “uncreative writing” influenced by poets Kenneth Goldsmith and Vanessa Place, combining fictional biography and conceptual sculpture.
Hardcover: 230 pages
Date: 2012
Language: English, German
A work of “uncreative writing” influenced by poets Kenneth Goldsmith and Vanessa Place, combining fictional biography and conceptual sculpture.
Hardcover: 230 pages
Date: 2012
Language: English, German
Will Stovall (Ph.D. Yale University, 2018; M.F.A. Bard College, 2025) is an artist based in Washington, DC. His paintings, which center around diagrammatic constructions, explore how individuals exist in natural and societal habitats and how they orient themselves — physically, emotionally, and spiritually — toward larger worlds. He completed a dissertation on the institutional imagination of German philosopher Jürgen Habermas, curated exhibitions for the Kreeger Museum and the Phillips Collection, and has given talks on community and political art. His paintings have been featured as cover illustrations for Oxford German Studies and Seminar: A Journal of Germanic Studies.
email: stovall.william@gmail.com
instagram: @will_sto_vall
instagram: @will_sto_vall