Drawings of Ellsworth Kelly at the Art Institute of Chicago

 

Ellsworth Kelly, self portrait, 1992

Ellsworth Kelly (1923-2015) is not known for figurative art.  He might be called a non-objective painter, except that his curved, monochrome panels assert themselves as objects that endlessly pose the question, "why is this thing here?" As he puts it, he wants them to feel "found", rather than purposefully created.

 But as it turns out, he was quite talented at the kind of linear figurative drawing that Matisse and Picasso had made famous.

Lhote - Picasso - Matisse

Andre Lhote (1885-1962) is now much less well known than the other two - but his Paris studio was a prime destination for American art students like Kelly.

Kelly, Nude Reclining, 1948

 Kelly - Jack Youngerman , 1949

Quite a powerful presence for this young painter from Kentucky whom Kelly befriended in Paris

Kelly - Louis Chartier (fisherman), 1949

Note how the pictorial space is well served by using a lighter line in the more distant shoulder.

Kelly - self portrait,1949

Gallery signage notes that this fine drawing is in the manner of Max Beckmann whom Kelly much admired.

Max Beckmann, self portrait,  1918

Kelly, self portrait, 1947

Self Portrait with Bugle, 1947

Kelly, Self Portrait, 1955

Portrait of a young man on the go -

Going right out of figurative art

and straight to the fame and money.

Simultaneously presenting a character and designing a page -

the result of an art education that Kelly then abandoned in his larger work. Perhaps by maximizing the figurative pictorial in drawing, it helped him go the opposite direction in painting and sculpture.