Ellsworth Kelly is considered one of the most significant American artists of the 20th century.
And one of the most radical.
His abstract work was groundbreaking for its clean form and pure color.
Kelly produced
Kelly produced
Over
paintings, sculptures, and works on paper in a career spanning seven decades.
His individualistic approach was often controversial among critics.
Kelly’s was frequently compared to other artists of his day who also used crisp contours or smoothly applied paint,
But his artwork was executed with an entirely different set of intentions.
And an artistic vision he never compromised.
but his artwork was executed with an entirely different set of intentions.
And an artistic vision he never compromised.
EK in His Broad Street Studio, New York, 1955
Process
Ellsworth Kelly’s work does not fit neatly into an art historical category or movement.
Ellsworth Kelly’s work does not fit neatly into an art historical category or movement.
His particular approach to artmaking involved “finding” flat objects or shapes in the world that captured his attention and lifting them out of reality with abstract creations.
To achieve this, Kelly restricted himself to art’s most basic components:
Color
These fundamentals carried the breadth of Kelly’s artistic vision throughout his career.
His unique color palette was established early in his practice; he carefully mixed and applied "pure" and vibrant spectral colors, plus black and white.
Whereas many other artists combined colors and shading, his art was unapologetically monochromatic.
A Retrospective at the Guggenheim, New York, 1996
To create art that appeared “anonymous” without a trace of his personality, Kelly painstakingly eliminated any brushstrokes in his work.
He rejected an emotive and highly textured style, popular among Abstract Expressionist artists, in favor of a flatly painted surface without inflections.
Block Island I, 1959
Through form, he also blurred the lines between painting and sculpture by breaking free of the standard square and rectangular canvas.
Blue Red Green Black, 2004
Orange Red Relief (for Delphine Seyrig), 1990
Black Relief with White, 1994
Kelly also abandoned the easel, instead painting his canvases affixed to a wall so that he could work out the “right” relationship of the art to the wall and floor.
A Kelly canvas was not
meant to adorn a wall,
but to activate the space.
A Kelly canvas was
not meant to adorn
a wall, but to
activate the space.
The Observer
Ellsworth Kelly had an incomparable talent for noticing details in his immediate surroundings that were often overlooked by others.
Ellsworth Kelly had an incomparable talent for noticing details in his immediate surroundings that were often overlooked by others.
Seine, 1951
Light glinting off the River Seine.
Shadows on Stairs, Villa La Combe, Meschers, 1950
La Combe I, 1950
La Combe II, 1951
La Combe III, 1952
Shadows created by a metal staircase.
Kelly’s dramatic installation,
The Boston Panels
materialized over several years, as he methodically worked through drawings and color studies inspired by his simple sketch of the windows of a small seaside hotel.
Boston Panels, 1996—1998
“The found forms in a
cathedral vault or in a
panel of asphalt on a
roadway seemed
more valuable and
instructive, an
experience more
sensual than
geometrical painting.”
Ellsworth Kelly
When first inspired, he would sketch forms and notes on whatever was at hand – napkins, receipts, letters, newspaper clippings.
From these initial doodles, his work was then methodically planned and executed, often after countless preliminary drawings & models.
Untitled (Rocker), 1997
Throughout Kelly’s career,
he would revisit the same forms,
creating an arc between his visual past and the development of new work.
This retroactive process sparked many of Kelly’s concepts.
This retroactive process sparked many of Kelly’s concepts.
Concorde
Blue Concorde Relief
White Plaque: Bridge Arch and Reflection
White Plaque: Bridge Arch and Reflection
Spectrum I
Spectrum IX
“My paintings
don’t represent
objects.
They are objects
themselves
and fragmented
perceptions
of things.”
“My paintings
don’t represent
objects.
They are objects
themselves
and fragmented
perceptions
of things.”
Ellsworth Kelly
In museums, galleries, and private collections around the world, Kelly left us with a monumental body of work. But perhaps more significantly, he gave us a new way to re-see our surroundings.
The Artist Initiative: Installing Ellsworth Kelly, SFMOMA
“ Since birth we get accustomed to seeing and thinking at the same time.
But I think that if you can turn off the mind and look at things only with your eyes,
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