ELLSWORTH KELLY / IN-BETWEEN SPACES - Works 1956-20002

ELLSWORTH KELLY (1923-)

Ellsworth Kelly belongs among the most important exponents of international post-war art. With abstract expressionism at its peak and based on the traditions of the abstract avant-garde in a dialogue with Colour Field Painting, the American artist developed a painterly vocabulary that leaves traditional panel painting behind. In a conscious questioning of the conditions that underlie our perceptions, he not only explores the relationships of picture and wall, sculpture and space but also, and in particular, the relationship between viewer and work. "In between: this is the shortest formula of his aesthetics", is how Gottfried Boehm, one of the few connoisseurs of Kelly¦s work in the German-speaking world and author of the leading essay in this publication, summarizes the central topic of Kelly¦s oeuvre.
Based on a store of about 40 works, primarily in the possession of the artist, this book is an expert investigation into Ellsworth Kelly¦s artistic development that by spans five decades. In an essay, the artist himself traces the enormous importance of his sculptures for his work.

The artist:

Ellsworth Kelly, born 1923 in Newburgh, New York. In 1941/42, studies of fine arts at the Pratt Institute in New York. In 1946- 1948, studies at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Numerous exhibitions, among them in 1964, 1968, 1977 and 1992. Participation in Kassel the documenta. Lives and works at Spencertown, New York.

In my work I wanted to free shape from its ground, and then to work the shape so that it has a definite relationship to the space around it ... the shape finds its own space and always demands its freedom and separateness. In sculpture, the work itself is the form and the ground is the space around it. Ellsworth Kelly

Edited by Fondation Beyeler, texts by Ellsworth Kelly, Gottfried Boehm, Viola Weigel