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.
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Ellsworth Kelly Vintage 1965 Mid Century Modernist Lithograph Print " Vivian Bea
By Ellsworth Kelly
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Ellsworth Kelly Vintage 1965 Mid Century Modernist Lithograph Print " Vivian Beaumont Theater Lincoln Center " acrylic box frame Extra Large Poster Framed in a vintage custom acryli...
Acrylic, Paper
$4,500
H 24 in W 14 in D 0.94 in
Ellsworth Kelly 1951 Galerie Maeght ImportantRare Serigraph Poster "Tendance"
By Ellsworth Kelly
Located in Sharon, CT
Offering a very rare (not noted in Waldman 'Ellsworth Kelly drawings, collages, prints' 1971.) and extremely important poster for what was perh...
Paper
$1,580
H 24.5 in W 31.25 in D 1.5 in
1964 Ellsworth Kelly Lithograph For Derrière le Miroir Magazine, Galerie Maeght
By Ellsworth Kelly
Located in Doraville, GA
A color lithograph double leaf for the French art magazine, Derrière le Miroir, number 149, designed by Ellsworth Kelly (American, 1923 – 2015). This unsigned three-color lithograph ...
Paper
$460Sale Price|20% Off
H 29.25 in W 20.75 in D 1 in
Mid-Century "Hommage a Pablo Picasso" Lithograph / Poster
By Pablo Picasso
Located in San Diego, CA
Highly collectible mid-century "Hommage a Pablo Picasso" anniversary lithograph / poster, circa 1971. The print is in good vintage condition with some creases as shown in the picture...
Paper
$300
H 30.25 in W 19.75 in D 0.08 in
Original Paul Klee Mid-Century Lithograph Exhibition Poster, 1955
Located in Winter Park, FL
An original Mid Century French lithograph exhibition poster for Paul Klee, published by Galerie Berggruen & Cie, Paris. The design features a grid of colorful geometric squares, ...
Canvas, Paper
$1,900
H 24.5 in W 32 in D 1.5 in
1964 Ellsworth Kelly Lithograph For Derrière le Miroir Magazine, Galerie Maeght
By Ellsworth Kelly
Located in Doraville, GA
A color lithograph for the cover of Derrière le Miroir, number 149, designed by Ellsworth Kelly (American, 1923 – 2015). This unsigned three-color lithograph in green, red and blue d...
Paper
Selection of Ellsworth Kelly Prints
By Ellsworth Kelly
Located in Atlanta, GA
Selection of Ellsworth Kelly color lithographs, French, circa 1960s. They are from the limited edition folio “Derriere le Miroir”, published by the legendary Galerie Maeght, circa 19...
Glass, Wood, Paper
$1,909
H 40.16 in W 24.81 in D 0.04 in
Original Vintage Travel Advertising Poster BEA Fly Freight Abram Games Design
By Abram Games
Located in London, GB
Original vintage mid-century design travel advertising poster for British European Airways - Fly Freight BEA - featuring colourful artwork by the notable British graphic designer Abr...
Paper
$2,660
H 39.38 in W 24.41 in D 0.04 in
Original Vintage Travel Advertising Poster Londres Bruxelles BEA London Brussels
Located in London, GB
Original vintage travel advertising poster - Londres Bruxelles / London Brussels BEA British European Airways - featuring a stunning modernist design depicting a plane flying through...
Paper
$1,295
H 40.16 in W 25.2 in D 0.04 in
Original Vintage Poster British Airways BOAC BSAA BEA World Route Map Air Travel
Located in London, GB
Original vintage advertising poster promoting British airline companies - BEA BOAC BSAA British European Overseas S American Airways - featuring a colourful graphic design showing three yellow and orange maps marked with flight routes and the respective company logo in white on black backgrounds. In 1949 BOAC British...
Paper
$225
H 41.25 in W 30.25 in D 1 in
Framed Lithograph Print of Impressionism, Modern Style, 20th Century
Located in Queens, NY
Masterpieces of Impressionism and Post-Impressionism lithograph print from the Annenberg Collection Exhibit (1991) at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, in a brushed silver aluminum frame
Aluminum
$1,295
H 39.77 in W 24.81 in D 0.04 in
Original Vintage Denmark Travel Poster Copenhagen Fly BEA Europe Denmark Nyhavn
Located in London, GB
Original vintage Denmark travel poster - Fly BEA when in Europe Copenhagen British European Airways - featuring an scenic view by the Danish artist Jorgen Brendekilde (1920-1993), of...
Paper
$1,000
H 38.8 in W 24.2 in D 0.1 in
BEA - L'EUROPE - BRITISH EUROPEAN AIRWAYS Original Vintage Airline Travel Poster
Located in Chicago, IL
BEA - VOUS OUVRE LES PORTES DE L'EUROPE - BRITISH EUROPEAN AIRWAYS Authentic original vintage airline travel poster Artist: Laverdet Etcheverry Condition: B Dimensions: 24.2 x 38.8 i...
Paper
Ellsworth Kelly Noir et Rouge Original Vintage Poster
By Ellsworth Kelly
Located in Melbourne, Victoria
Ellsworth Kelly Noir et Rouge original vintage poster.
Paper
Ellsworth Kelly Noir et Rouge Original Vintage Poster
By Ellsworth Kelly
Located in Melbourne, Victoria
Ellsworth Kelly Noir et Rouge original vintage poster.
Paper