Ellsworth KellyRed Curve (For Joel)1993
1993
About the Item
- Creator:Ellsworth Kelly (1923, American)
- Creation Year:1993
- Dimensions:Height: 22 in (55.88 cm)Width: 16 in (40.64 cm)
- Medium:
- Period:
- Framing:Framing Options Available
- Condition:
- Gallery Location:New York, NY
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU55413109812
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.
- Blue FaceBy Roy LichtensteinLocated in New York, NYA stunning example of abstracted imagery easily identifiable as the work of Roy Lichtenstein, Blue Face was created by the artist in 1989 as a truly mixed me...Category
20th Century Pop Art Abstract Prints
MaterialsLithograph, Screen, Woodcut
- Ma de Proverbis, Joan MiróBy Joan MiróLocated in New York, NYThis lithograph in colors on Arches paper (with watermark) was created by the artist in 1970. Signed in the stone, (lower right) from the edition of 1000. Available for local pick u...Category
20th Century Surrealist Abstract Prints
MaterialsLithograph
- UntitledBy Sonia DelaunayLocated in New York, NYA stunningly simple, pleasing and colorful image by Sonia Delaunay, this original lithograph is hand-signed by the artist in pencil, and numbered, measuring 25 5/8 x 19 ¾ in (65 x 50...Category
20th Century Modern Prints and Multiples
MaterialsLithograph
- UntitledBy Ellsworth KellyLocated in New York, NYCreated by Ellsworth Kelly in 1983 as a color lithograph, Ellsworth Kelly's Untitled is hand-signed and numbered in pencil. Measuring 29 x 41 in. (73.7 x 104 cm), unframed, this art...Category
20th Century Abstract Abstract Prints
MaterialsLithograph
- Bicentennial, by Roy LichtensteinBy Roy LichtensteinLocated in New York, NYIncluded in America: The Third Century portfolio, Roy Lichtenstein created Bicentennial as an original color lithograph with screenprint in 1975, conceived to celebrate the 200th ann...Category
20th Century Pop Art More Prints
MaterialsLithograph, Screen
- Untitled, by Cy TwomblyBy Cy TwomblyLocated in New York, NYIn both the content and process of his art, Twombly was interested in the layering of time and history, and of various meanings and associations. His art situates itself in the context of the history of Western civilization as well as the process-oriented aspects of Abstract Expressionism. Created by Cy Twombly...Category
20th Century Modern Abstract Prints
MaterialsLithograph, Screen
- No. 6 from "Als Mestres de Catalunya, " Lithograph by Antoni Tapies, 1974By Antoni TàpiesLocated in Long Island City, NYThis lithograph was created by Catalan artist Antoni Tapies. Tàpies started as a surrealist painter, and his early works were influenced by Paul Klee and Joan Miró. However, he soon ...Category
1970s Abstract Expressionist Abstract Prints
MaterialsLithograph
- No. 2 from "Als Mestres de Catalunya, " Lithograph by Antoni TapiesBy Antoni TàpiesLocated in Long Island City, NYThis lithograph was created by Catalan artist Antoni Tapies. Tàpies started as a surrealist painter, and his early works were influenced by Paul Klee and Joan Miró. However, he soon became an informal artist, working in a style known as pintura matèrica, in which non artistic materials are incorporated into the paintings. This lithograph comes from the Als Mestres de Catalunya...Category
1970s Modern Abstract Prints
MaterialsLithograph
- Blue/Green Abstract Lithograph by Bruce PorterBy Bruce PorterLocated in Long Island City, NYArtist: Bruce Porter, American (1948 - ) Title: Untitled III Medium: Lithograph, signed and numbered in pencil Edition: 14 Image Size: 24 x 18 inches Size: 28 x 22 in. (71.12 x 55.88...Category
1980s Abstract Abstract Prints
MaterialsLithograph
- Abstract Composition - Original Lithograph - Mid-20th CenturyLocated in Roma, ITAbstract Composition is an original print in lithograph on paper realized by an anonymous artist of the mid-20th Century. In very good conditions. The artwork is created through co...Category
Mid-20th Century Abstract Abstract Prints
MaterialsLithograph
- Between Fog & Clarity, Colorful Abstract Lithograph by Calman ShemiBy Calman ShemiLocated in Long Island City, NYArtist: Calman Shemi, Argentine (1939 - ) Title: Between Fog & Clarity Medium: Lithograph, signed in pencil Edition: 300, Dedicated to Michel Size: 25 in. x 35.5 in. (63.5 cm x 90.17...Category
Late 20th Century Abstract Abstract Prints
MaterialsLithograph
- Plate 16, from 1965 Peintures sur CartonsBy Joan MiróLocated in Washington, DCArtist: Joan Miro Title: Plate 16 Portfolio: Peintures sur Cartons Date: 1965 Edition: Unnumbered Frame Size: 21 1/4" x 17 1/4" Sheet Size: 15" x 11" Image Size: 15" x 11" Signature:...Category
1960s Abstract Abstract Prints
MaterialsLithograph