STILL LIFE DRAWING
ARTIST IN FOCUS Ellsworth Kelly
Ellsworth Kelly was a pioneer of 20th-century
abstraction. He was born in 1923 and, after a
periodservingintheUSArmy’s603rd
CamouflageEngineersBattalion,hevisited
ParisattheendoftheSecondWorldWar,
goingontostudyattheÉcoledesBeaux-Arts.
Despitestartinghisprofessionalcareeratthe
heightofAbstractExpressionismheremained
independent,sayingofhisfavouriteartists:
“Sometimeswhenthingsfeelclosetoyou,you
stayawayfromthem.It’sonlywhenyoustop
tryingtofindoutwhattodoforyourselfthatyou
canreallybeanartistlovinganotherartist.”
Throughworkssuchas1966’sMagnolia
[right],heexploredthefundamental
propertiesofcolour,shapeandformthrough
sculpture,paintingandprintmakingandcould
beconsideredanantecedentfora numberof
artistsandmovements.ALEAF,LYINGONPAPER
Kelly’sstilllifedrawingswereas
consistentashispaintingswere
varied.His 1949 drawingofa
hyacinthfeelsverymuchlikeit came
fromthesamehandashis 2010
drawingofa poppy.Hisdrawingsand
lithographicprintsarelikehaiku- concisecelebrationsofnature
followinga consistentform.
Eachmarkis calmlyobservedand
presented,withoutunderdrawing,
sothata cleartimescalecouldbe
assignedtoeachstudy.Youcan
easilyreadthedrawingatthepace
thatit wasmade,withyoureye
tracingtheedgeofeachlineatthe
samespeedthatKelly’shand
recordedtheleaf’scontour.
Forthelargepart,theseclean,
lineardrawings– theroundbodiesof
gatheredfruits,a magnoliaflowerlaid
onitsside– sitwithoutanyfurther
context.Thereis noroomorvase,no
surroundingtoneornoboundingbox
todelineatea pictureplane,justthe
drawingandthespaceofwhitepaper.
Perhapswearetoviewthemlike
hiscolouredpaintingswhich,breaking
awayfromthestricturesofthe
rectilinearcanvasframebecame
shapesonwhitewalls,extendingthe
boundariesoftheircompositionsinto
thegalleryitself.
©ELLSWORTH KELLY FOUNDATION, COURTESY MATTHEW MARKS GALLERY/BRIDGEMAN IMAGES
Artists & Illustrators 53