Lot Essay
Ellsworth Kelly has always looked to nature for inspiration in his paintings. Much like the modern master Henri Matisse, Kelly's true concerns are based in the pursuit of pure form and color. His sources have ranged from photographs he has taken of his urban and rural surroundings to his almost Dadaistic acceptance of "chance" as a means of arriving at artistic solutions. In the mid 1960s, Kelly continued his appreciation of nature and chance to form a distinct group of works entitled the "Angles." The first large scale work from this series Kelly created was Red Blue Green Yellow, 1965.
Between 1964 and 1966, Ellsworth Kelly painted a series of four works which examined the relationship between painting and sculpture. The first two works, Red Blue Green Yellow and Blue Red, were both painted on two canvases hinged together, one canvas hanging on the wall and the other extending out into space along the floor. The two latter works from the series were White Angle and Blue White Angle which were executed on a single sheet of metal which was then bent at a right angle much like the hinged canvases of the two earlier works, but then presented more as free-standing sculpture no longer hung on the wall.
In her recent essay entitled At Right Angles, 1964-1966, Roberta Berstein describes the importance of Red Blue Green Yellow, 1965:
The first large-scale work in the Angles series is the oil painting Red Blue Green Yellow, 1965. Because of its concentric design and four-color scheme, it is the most visually complex of the group...Red Blue Green Yellow is Kelly's only painting to date to use a truly concentric pattern. His one time use of this design may be partly a response to its ubiquitous presence as a formal device in mid-1960s abstraction. Other artists, including Josef Albers and Richard Anuszkiewicz (both of whom showed at Sidney Janis Gallery which Kelly joined in 1965) used concentric designs to create optical illusions of geometric shapes receding and advancing in space. In Red Blue Green Yellow, Kelly uses the concentric pattern for its inherent illustionism but then sets up a visual tension in the painting by counteracting optical illusions through careful adjustment of color values, shapes, and scale. (R. Bernstein, Ellsworth Kelly: At Right Angles, 1964-1966, Los Angeles 1991, pp. 5-6)
A few years prior to 1965, Kelly was working in Paris on a series of lithographs with Maeght Editeurs. Upon his return from Paris, he began experimenting with the lithographic proofs from the studies for Red Blue Green Yellow leaning on a bookshelf in his studio. Not far from this collage in his studio, Kelly noticed a yellow rectangular form from the same lithographic proofs lying nearby. He then placed the two together. "For Kelly the accidental genesis of the image was crucial to its success. Within a few days Kelly had decided to do a large painting based on the collage" (Bernstein, p. 6-7).
Between 1964 and 1966, Ellsworth Kelly painted a series of four works which examined the relationship between painting and sculpture. The first two works, Red Blue Green Yellow and Blue Red, were both painted on two canvases hinged together, one canvas hanging on the wall and the other extending out into space along the floor. The two latter works from the series were White Angle and Blue White Angle which were executed on a single sheet of metal which was then bent at a right angle much like the hinged canvases of the two earlier works, but then presented more as free-standing sculpture no longer hung on the wall.
In her recent essay entitled At Right Angles, 1964-1966, Roberta Berstein describes the importance of Red Blue Green Yellow, 1965:
The first large-scale work in the Angles series is the oil painting Red Blue Green Yellow, 1965. Because of its concentric design and four-color scheme, it is the most visually complex of the group...Red Blue Green Yellow is Kelly's only painting to date to use a truly concentric pattern. His one time use of this design may be partly a response to its ubiquitous presence as a formal device in mid-1960s abstraction. Other artists, including Josef Albers and Richard Anuszkiewicz (both of whom showed at Sidney Janis Gallery which Kelly joined in 1965) used concentric designs to create optical illusions of geometric shapes receding and advancing in space. In Red Blue Green Yellow, Kelly uses the concentric pattern for its inherent illustionism but then sets up a visual tension in the painting by counteracting optical illusions through careful adjustment of color values, shapes, and scale. (R. Bernstein, Ellsworth Kelly: At Right Angles, 1964-1966, Los Angeles 1991, pp. 5-6)
A few years prior to 1965, Kelly was working in Paris on a series of lithographs with Maeght Editeurs. Upon his return from Paris, he began experimenting with the lithographic proofs from the studies for Red Blue Green Yellow leaning on a bookshelf in his studio. Not far from this collage in his studio, Kelly noticed a yellow rectangular form from the same lithographic proofs lying nearby. He then placed the two together. "For Kelly the accidental genesis of the image was crucial to its success. Within a few days Kelly had decided to do a large painting based on the collage" (Bernstein, p. 6-7).