Ellsworth Kelly (May 31, 1923 – December 27, 2015) was an American painter, sculptor, and printmaker associated with hard-edge painting, Color Field painting and minimalism. His works demonstrate unassuming techniques emphasizing line, color and form, similar to the work of John McLaughlin and Kenneth Noland. Kelly often employed bright colors. He lived and worked in Spencertown, New York.
He is regarded as one of the most important abstract painters, sculptors and printmakers of his time. Spanning seven decades, his career was marked by the independent route he took from any formal school or art movement and by his innovative contribution to twentieth-century painting and sculpture. Kelly drew on the connection between abstraction and nature from which he extrapolated forms and colors. From the beginning of his career, Kelly emphasized pure form and color. His impulse to suppress gesture in favor of creating spatial unity has played a pivotal role in the development of abstract art in America.
Kelly has received honorary doctoral degrees from Pratt Institute, Bard College, Harvard University, Williams College, the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Brandeis University, and the Royal College of Art, London. Among numerous awards received are Japan’s Praemium Imperiale Award 2000, Officier de la Legion d’Honneur presented by President of France Nicolas Sarkozy in 2009, and the National Medal of Arts presented by President of the United States Barack Obama in 2012.
Ellsworth Kelly would have turned 100 in 2023 which prompted many museums around the world to celebrate Ellsworth 100. These shows have been held at the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Fondazione Nicola Del Roscio in Rome, Italy; the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; the Philadelphia Musuem of Art; the Glenstone Museum, Potamac, Maryland; the St. Louis Museum of Art as well as many other museums. We present these works in honor of Ellsworth Kelly and his many accomplishments in the art world.
Ellsworth Kelly
