Ellsworth Kelly kept everything. Yes, this painter of spare, monochromatic canvases and sculptor of abstract forms held firmly onto the minutiae of his career. This may come as a surprise to those who know him for his minimalist outlines, his stripping away of detail and distillation of his subjects into simple shapes and saturated color.
One of the things in Kelly’s studio, for instance, was a book with thumbnail-size drawings of his paintings that listed details like the number of gesso layers and which paints he used (sometimes also listing their compositions, since he mixed his own rainbow of brilliant azures, emerald greens, and rich reds). “Ellsworth was obsessive about cataloging things his entire life,” writes Kevin Salatino, curator of prints and drawings at the Art Institute of Chicago, in the catalog for the upcoming exhibition “Ellsworth Kelly: Portrait Drawings.” “He documented everything and had a numbering system for his work. He is a gift to art historians because everything’s signed, dated, saved, et cetera, and there’s clearly a huge archive.”
Listen beautiful relax classics on our Youtube channel.
This year, as the art world marks the 100th anniversary of Kelly’s birth, a number of current and upcoming museum exhibitions are focusing on particular facets of his work, from the canonical to the barely known.
Source: artnews.com