Although other artists had departed from the traditional rectangular support for their paintings, Frank Stella was one of the first to use shaped canvases, which early in his career corresponded to the geometrical patterns and designs painted on them. Manteneia I is part of the Protractor Series, a group of works based on a demilune motif. Possibly inspired by patterns used in medieval Irish manuscripts, the overlapping bands of fluorescent colors create spatial discontinuities as they suggest a series of planes stacked upon one another.