The sprawling exhibition highlights how Kelly transcended artistic movements and genres.
Ellsworth Kelly planning his exhibition for Blum Helman Gallery. Photograph by Jack Shear, 1988. © Ellsworth Kelly Foundation © Jack Shear, Courtesy of Ellsworth Kelly Studio
The venue makes perfect sense. Kelly, after all, lived in France in the late 1940s and early 1950s, a formative period of his career. But perhaps most important, Kelly’s final commission, completed in 2014, was made for the Fondation. The Frank Gehry building, located on the outskirts of Paris, had just been completed, and there was a soaring auditorium that anchored the space. Kelly was tapped to create a permanent “curtain” for its stage—, a monumental piece consisting of twelve joined panels.
An important breakthrough happened in 1952, when Kelly created what he considered his first monochromatic painting, following a visit to Monet’s home and studio in Giverny. “It’s not monochromatic at all,” says Shear, laughing, as he shows me a beautiful work in mottled greens with hints of blue that brings to mind the background of Monet’s famous waterlilies. “But for Ellsworth, it was.” After that, Kelly worked exclusively in his signature flat, uniform style.
And yet, Shear recalls that, for years, Kelly was not quite fully understood. He couldn’t be neatly placed into the prevailing artistic movements of his time, like abstract expressionism, pop art, or minimalism. “He was considered too French for the Americans and too American for the French,” says Shear. “Maybe it would have been better for him back then to fit in. But in retrospect, it’s better that it was that way. He was an anomaly, so he stands on his own.
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