Ellsworth KellyUntitled, from The Geldzahler Portfolio1997
1997
About the Item
- Creator:Ellsworth Kelly (1923, American)
- Creation Year:1997
- Dimensions:Height: 16.54 in (42 cm)Width: 16.5 in (41.9 cm)
- Medium:
- Movement & Style:
- Period:
- Framing:Framing Options Available
- Condition:
- Gallery Location:London, GB
- Reference Number:
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: London, United Kingdom
- Return PolicyA return for this item may be initiated within 7 days of delivery.
- Aylesbury EstateBy Keith CoventryLocated in London, GBScreenprint in colours, 2014, signed, edition of 50, 54 x 42 cm. (21¼ x 16½ in.) Keith Coventry was born in Burnley in 1958 and lives and works in London. He attended Brighton Polytechnic 1978– 81 and Chelsea School of Art London 1981– 82. He was featured in the seminal exhibition Sensation at the Royal Academy of Arts, London, in 1997 and in 2006, he received a mid-career retrospective at Glasgow's Tramway (Art Centre). He was also a co-founder and curator of City Racing, an influential not-for-profit gallery in Kennington, South London from 1988-98. His work has been exhibited widely in the UK and Europe and is included in collections worldwide, including the British Council; Tate Modern; Arts Council of England; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis;, and The Museum of Modern Art, New York. In 2010 Coventry was awarded the John Moores Painting...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Geometric Prints and Multiples
MaterialsScreen
- Referendum '70By Frank StellaLocated in London, GBScreenprint, 1970, signed, dated and numbered an AP aside the edition of 200 (there were 15 AP in total), published by Gemini G. E. L., Los Angeles., sheet: 99.5 x 98 cm (39¼ x 38½ i...Category
1970s Abstract Geometric Abstract Prints
MaterialsScreen
- The Waves: SquidBy Frank StellaLocated in London, GBSilkscreen, lithograph, linoleum block with hand-colouring, marbling and collage, 1989, on T. H. Saunders and Somerset paper, signed, dated and numbered from the edition of 60, publi...Category
1980s Abstract Abstract Prints
MaterialsLithograph, Screen
- One Plate, from We are the Jocular ClanBy Takashi MurakamiLocated in London, GBOffset lithograph in colours, 2018, on wove paper, signed in ink and numbered from the edition of 300, published by Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd., Tokyo, 47.6 x 47.6 cm. (18 3/4 x 18 3/4 in....Category
2010s Abstract Abstract Prints
MaterialsLithograph
- One Plate, from We are the Jocular ClanBy Takashi MurakamiLocated in London, GBOffset lithograph in colours, 2018, on wove paper, signed in ink and numbered from the edition of 300, published by Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd., Tokyo, 47.6 x 47.6 cm. (18 3/4 x 18 3/4 in....Category
2010s Abstract Abstract Prints
MaterialsLithograph
- One Plate, from We are the Jocular ClanBy Takashi MurakamiLocated in London, GBOffset lithograph in colours, 2018, on wove paper, signed in ink and numbered from the edition of 300, published by Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd., Tokyo, 47.6 x 47.6 cm. (18 3/4 x 18 3/4 in....Category
2010s Abstract Abstract Prints
MaterialsLithograph
- Eduardo Chillida - Collage - 1995 Lithograph 26.75" x 18.75"By Eduardo ChillidaLocated in Brooklyn, NYSku: R264 Artist: Eduardo Chillida Title: Collage Year: 1995 Signed: No Medium: Lithograph Paper Size: 26.75 x 18.75 inches ( 67.945 x 47.625 cm ) Image Size: 26.75 x 18.75 inches ( ...Category
2010s Abstract Geometric Abstract Prints
MaterialsLithograph
- Anton Stankowski, Lithograph, serigraph, signed and numb. Geometric CompositionLocated in Berlin, DEAnton Stankowski, lithograph (serigraph). Signed and numbered. Gemotetric composition. Dimensions with frame. Anton Stankowski was born in Gelsen...Category
20th Century Abstract Geometric Abstract Prints
MaterialsLithograph
- Composition - Original Lithograph - Late 20th CenturyLocated in Roma, ITComposition is an original lithograph artwork on cardboard, realized in the late 20th Century. Hand-signed on the lower right. Numbered on the lower left, Edition II/XX. The stat...Category
Late 20th Century Abstract Geometric Abstract Prints
MaterialsLithograph
- Solid Green - Original Lithograph by Lorenzo Indrimi - 1970 ca.By Lorenzo IndrimiLocated in Roma, ITLimited edition of 100 prints, 30 of which numbered in roman numbers, plus some Artits's Proofs.Category
20th Century Abstract Geometric Abstract Prints
MaterialsLithograph
- Situation A - Original Lithograph by Nicola Carrino - 1970 ca.By Nicola CarrinoLocated in Roma, ITLimited edition of 100 prints, numbered and hand signed.Category
20th Century Abstract Geometric Abstract Prints
MaterialsLithograph
- Geometric Figures - Original Lithograph by Paolo Cotani - 1970 ca.By Paolo CotaniLocated in Roma, ITLimited edition of 100 prints, hand signed and numbered.Category
20th Century Abstract Geometric Abstract Prints
MaterialsLithograph