Ellsworth KellyEllsworth Kelly: The Years in France, 1948-54, The National Gallery of Art
About the Item
- Creator:Ellsworth Kelly (1923, American)
- Dimensions:Height: 37.5 in (95.25 cm)Width: 25 in (63.5 cm)
- Medium:
- Period:
- Condition:
- Gallery Location:New York, NY
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU7912673772
Ellsworth Kelly
Ellsworth Kelly was one of the key figures in postwar American art, exercising major influence on the fields of Pop art, minimalism, Color-Field and hard-edge painting. Widely known for his brightly colored geometric compositions, he was among the first artists, alongside his contemporary Frank Stella, to use irregularly shaped canvases. Although highly abstract, Kelly’s paintings and prints are precise expressions in color and form of his sensory experience of the world.
Kelly's works, both two- and three-dimensional, are in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and displayed at such sites as the UNESCO headquarters in Paris.
Kelly grew up in the town of Newburgh, New York, near the Oradell Reservoir. He was an avid birder as a child and loved the colorful illustrations of naturalist John James Audubon. Encouraged to study art by a high school teacher, he enrolled at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, remaining there until 1943, when he was inducted into the army. During World War II, he served along with scores of other artists, in a unit known as the Ghost Army, where he learned the elements of camouflage while creating ersatz trucks and tanks intended to mislead Axis forces.
When the war was over, Kelly took advantage of the G.I. Bill to study painting at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, drawing inspiration from the museum's collections, and, later, at the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts, in Paris. While in France, he immersed himself in the varied artistic movements and styles represented there and befriended Americans avant-gardists, such as composer John Cage and choreographer Merce Cunningham, as well as the German-French Surrealist Jean Arp and Romanian sculptor Constantin Brâncuși.
Upon his return to the United States, in 1954, he found himself at odds with the dominant style of the period, Abstract Expressionism, which favored a dynamic and energetic application of paint in a loose manner. Like Stella, Kelly was interested in formal precision and explorations of color. Following an exhibition of his work at the Betty Parsons Gallery in 1956, Kelly’s work was included in the "Young America 1957” show at the Whitney Museum of American Art.
During the 1960s, Kelly played with color and form to tease out and celebrate the tension between a painting’s subject and its background. In one of his most famous works, 1963's Red Blue Green, for example, two shapes, one red, one blue, both contrast and resonate with a green background that extends to the edge of the canvas on both sides, appearing at moments to be the work’s primary shape. To explore this relationship between form and ground further, Kelly began using nontraditional, shaped canvases, as in the monochromatic 1966 Yellow Piece, from, whose two curved corners draws the eye to the wall behind it, as though the gallery wall itself were part of the composition. A lithograph from the same period, Blue and Orange consists of two shapes in the title’s complementary colors facing off against one another with a tension that makes them appear almost animated.
Kelly made drawings and prints throughout his career, using plants and flowers as his primary source of inspiration. Like his paintings, his drawings tend to be relatively flat in perspective, but they are rarely abstract. A 1993 drawing of an oak leaf is clearly representational, but rendered with very minimal color and line. In the mid-1960s, he produced the series “Suite of Twenty-Seven Lithographs” with the Paris-based Maeght Éditeur.
Later, collaborating with Gemini G.E.L., he created very large-scale works, such as 1988’s Purple/Red/Gray/Orange, which is 18 feet long and might be one of the biggest lithographs ever made. Kelly produced 140 sculptures, including the aluminum White Curves, created for the Fondation Beyeler, in Riehen, Switzerland, in 2002. In his three-dimensional works, as in his paintings, Kelly used form, color and light to play with perceptions of surface and depth, inviting viewers to look closely and see the world in a new way.
Find original Ellsworth Kelly art on 1stDibs.
- ShippingRetrieving quote...Ships From: New York, NY
- Return PolicyThis item cannot be returned.
- Ellsworth Kelly, Westfalischer KunstvereinBy Ellsworth KellyLocated in New York, NYPublisher: Westfalischer Kunstervein, Munster Signed in pencil on rectoCategory
1990s Prints and Multiples
MaterialsOffset
- Tendance, Galerie MaeghtBy Ellsworth KellyLocated in New York, NYPublisher: Galerie MaeghtCategory
1950s Prints and Multiples
MaterialsOffset
- Ellsworth Kelly, Leo Castelli, NY & Blum Helman, NY (Black Curve II)By Ellsworth KellyLocated in New York, NYPublisher: Leo Castelli Gallery, NY and Blum Helman Gallery, NYCategory
1970s Prints and Multiples
MaterialsOffset
- Ellsworth Kelly Painting & Sculpture 1966 - 79, Hayward GalleryBy Ellsworth KellyLocated in New York, NYPublisher: Hayward Gallery, LondonCategory
1980s Prints and Multiples
MaterialsOffset
- Ellsworth Kelly, Yellow Curve - PortikusBy Ellsworth KellyLocated in New York, NYPublisher: Portikus, FrankfurtCategory
1990s Prints and Multiples
MaterialsOffset
- Ellsworth Kelly, Staatliche Kunsthalle (Chatham XII, Yellow/Black)By Ellsworth KellyLocated in New York, NYPublisher: Staatliche Kunsthalle, Baden-BadenCategory
1980s Prints and Multiples
MaterialsOffset
- TAKASHI MURAKAMI - MIYABI: KŌRIN Pop Art. Japanese Traditional FlowersBy Takashi MurakamiLocated in Madrid, MadridMIYABI: KŌRIN ( KŌRIN: COURTLY ELEGANCE 2020) Date of creation: 2020 Medium: Offset print with cold stamp and high gloss varnish on paper Edition number: 200/300 Size: 72 × 76,25 cm ...Category
2010s Pop Art Figurative Prints
MaterialsPaper, Varnish, Lithograph, Offset
- "Cage/Cunningham, " Film by Elliot CaplanLocated in New York, NYGary Lichtenstein "Cage/Cunningham," Film by Elliot Caplan, 1991 Lithograph poster 49 1/2 x 38 inches Edition 9 of 75, with 25 Signed by Merce Cunnin...Category
Late 20th Century Modern More Prints
MaterialsLithograph, Offset
- "John Baldessari [Two Ships]"By John BaldessariLocated in New York, NYJohn Baldessari "John Baldessari [Two Ships]" Margo Leavin Gallery, Los Angeles, 1986 Exhibition Poster 18 x 24 inches UnsignedCategory
1980s Contemporary More Prints
MaterialsOffset
- John Baldessari: Double Bill (Part 2)By John BaldessariLocated in New York, NYJohn Baldessari "John Baldessari: Double Bill (Part 2)" Margo Leavin Gallery, Los Angeles, 2012 Exhibition Poster 24 1/2 x 20 1/2 inches UnsignedCategory
2010s Contemporary More Prints
MaterialsOffset
- Palm Springs Desert Museum (Still Life with Longhorn Skull and Cactus) PosterBy (after) Roy LichtensteinLocated in Saint Augustine, FLArtist: (after) Roy Lichtenstein (American, 1923-1997) Title: "Palm Springs Desert Museum (Still Life with Longhorn Skull and Cactus)" Year: 1982 Medium: Original Offset-Lithograph, Exhibition Poster on smooth wove paper Limited edition: Unknown Printer: Haddad's Fine Arts Inc., Anaheim, CA Publisher: Palm Springs Desert Museum, Palm Springs, CA Reference: "Lichtenstein Posters" - Döring/Osten No. 125, page 132 Sheet size: 25" x 29" Condition: A few light handling creases center right in black margin. Two small tears to upper center edge. In otherwise very good condition with strong colors Very rare Notes: Provenance: private collection - Los Angeles, CA; acquired directly from the exhibition at Palm Springs Desert Museum, Palm Springs, CA in 1982. Poster produced for a special exhibition of Lichtenstein's work "The West as Art...Category
1980s Pop Art Still-life Prints
MaterialsLithograph, Offset
- Untitled (SF-348) (Fresh Air School) /// Abstract Expressionist Sam Francis ArtBy Sam FrancisLocated in Saint Augustine, FLArtist: Sam Francis (American, 1923-1994) Title: "Untitled (SF-348) (Fresh Air School)" Portfolio: Fresh Air School *Unsigned edition Year: 1972 Mediu...Category
1970s Abstract Expressionist Abstract Prints
MaterialsLithograph, Offset