Ellsworth Kelly

Matthew Marks is pleased to announce Ellsworth Kelly Plant Drawings

Ellsworth Kelly Plant Drawings includes twenty-five drawings spanning nearly sixty years, the majority of which are exhibited here for the first time. Since the late 1940s Kelly’s drawings of nature have played a central role in his art. “The drawings from plant life seem to be the bridge to the way of seeing that brought about the paintings in 1949 that are the basis for all my later work,” Kelly wrote. “They are exact observations of the form of the leaf or flower or fruit seen. Nothing is changed or added.”

The drawings express an enthusiasm for found compositions that is unique to Kelly’s work. He made each drawing from life, sometimes barely lifting the pencil as he translated the plant’s contours to paper. Despite the immediacy of their execution, the drawings share a great deal with his paintings and sculptures — not only in their focus on direct visual impressions but also in their fascination with the effects of negative space and overlapping planes.

The exhibition is accompanied by a fully illustrated clothbound catalogue.