Best Known As: Fine Artist

Gist:  Ellsworth Kelly (born May 31, 1923) is an American painter and sculptor associated with Hard-edge painting, Color Field painting and the Minimalist school. His works demonstrate unassuming techniques that emphasize the simplicity of form. Kelly often employs bright colors to enhance his works. Ellsworth Kelly lives and works in Spencertown, New York.

Career Facts:  Kelly?s schooling from the elementary to the high school level followed the conventional public school curriculum, which included art classes that stressed materials and sought to develop the "artistic imagination". This curriculum was typical of the broader trend in schooling that had emerged from the Progressive education theories promulgated by the Columbia University Teacher's College, at which the American modernist painter Arthur Wesley Dow had taught.

Kelly decided to return to America in 1954 after being abroad for six years. His decision to venture back into the New York art scene was sparked after reading a review of an Ad Reinhardt exhibit, to which he felt his work related. Upon his return to New York he found the art world ?very tough.? The acceptance of his art was anything but rapid. Although Kelly can now be considered an essential innovator and contributor to the American art movement, he was not always seen in such a positive light. It was hard for many to find the connection between Kelly?s art and the dominant stylistic trends. Kelly's first solo exhibition was held at the Galerie Arnaud, Paris, 1951. In May 1956 Kelly had his first New York exhibition at Betty Parsons? Gallery. The art he showed in this exhibit was considered by many in the art world to have more of a European flair. He showed at Betty Parsons? Gallery in the fall of 1957. He had three pieces, Atlantic, Bar, and Painting in Three Panels selected and shown for the Whitney Museum of American Art's show "Young America 1957.? His pieces were considered radically different from the other twenty-nine artists? work. Painting in Three Panels, for example, was particularly noted and questioned for the idea of having more than one canvas used to create one piece was unheard of at this time. Critic Michael Plante commented on this use of multiple-panels by noting that more often than not Kelly?s multiple-panel pieces were cramped in accordance to the installations restrictions, which resulted in a downplay of the interaction between the pieces and the architecture of the room.Plante, Michael. "Things to Cover Walls: Ellsworth Kelly?s Paris Paintings and the tradition of Mural Decoration.? American Art Vol. 9, No. 1. Spring, 1995: 36-53. JSTOR. 10 Feb. 2008 <