Nationality
American
Artist Dates
1923 - 2015
Preview
Date of Work
1973
Medium
Lithograph with embossing
Edition #
71/100
Signature
Lower right
Height
43 1/4 (framed)
Width
42 1/2 (framed)
Collection/Provenance
From For Meyer Schapiro: A portfolio of twelve signed prints by twelve artists.
Published by The Committee to Endow a Chair in Honor of Meyer Schapiro (1904-1996) at Columbia University.
Art & Design Study Collection
Status
Displayed: Lower level
Location
Memorial Union
Artist Bio
Ellsworth Kelly is a well-known sculptor, painter, and printmaker. Because of the extreme simplicity and depersonalized quality of his hard-edge visual forms, Kelly’s works can be placed under the category of Minimalism. He holds a prominent position within this movement, which reached its height during the mid- to late-1960s.
Additional Information
Student composed text panel:
Ellsworth Kelly (American, 1923-2015)
Green Curve with Radius of 20', 1974
Lithograph with embossing
UND Art Collections: Art & Design Study Collection
Purchased with funds from the Myers Foundations.
The artwork by Kelly on display is from the For Meyer Schapiro print portfolio. Its title indicates that the green image is not really a triangle (as it might appear to be), but is instead a fragmented portion of a much larger circular form.
This artwork is from a portfolio of original prints published in recognition of Meyer Schapiro (1904-1996), a distinguished art historian who was very much appreciated by major contemporary artists of his day.
In 1974, a committee was formed to establish a Chair in Art History at Columbia University in Schapiro's honor. The portfolio, published in an edition of 100, was produced to raise funds to support the Chair. UND’s set of portfolio prints are numbered 71/100.
In 1951, Ellsworth Kelly submitted a grant to the Guggenheim Foundation, proposing “an alphabet of plastic pictorial elements”, with hopes of there being closer contact between the artist and the wall. Although his application was rejected, his plastic pictorial elements project came to life with the drawings known as Line Form Color. The American artist is best known for his hard-edge paintings that included the use of intense colors and geometric shapes. His works majorly influenced pop art, minimalism, and color field painting.
Like much of his other work, Green Curve with a Radius of 20’ exemplifies pure form, color, and spatial unity. The title of this piece comes from the triangle being a part of a larger circle that has a radius of 20 feet. At first glance, the piece looks like a perfect triangle, although its hypotenuse is curved.
Featured in On the Line: An explanation of a basic element of design (2021-2022).
Condition
Excellent
Condition Notes
Framed - floating in blonde wood frame