The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of March 28, 2024

Red Blue

Red Blue

1962
(American, 1923–2015)
Framed: 230 x 178 x 4 cm (90 9/16 x 70 1/16 x 1 9/16 in.); Unframed: 228.6 x 176.4 cm (90 x 69 7/16 in.)
© Ellsworth Kelly

Did You Know?

Kelly's abstract shapes were often based on observed reality, such as the plants that he kept in his studio.

Description

Red Blue is all about the relation of two different colors and two different forms. On the surface of the canvas, two elements come together, interact with each other, and affect each other’s appearance. The arrangement of the two colors red and blue, which work to intensify one another, is one essential component of the work. The other is the confrontation of two different forms: The edges of one shape-the blue rectangle-are given by the edges of the canvas and are therefore logical and measurable, while the organic form of the red color field, despite the clean, precise rendering, seems to breathe and float, activating the composition as a whole. In this way, even though there is no trace of the artist’s hand, the painting refers to very natural and organic forms and ways of perception.
  • 1964
    (Betty Parsons Gallery, New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
    1964–
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Richardson, John. Dunn International; An Exhibition of Contemporary Painting Sponsored by the Sir James Dunn Foundation. Great Britain, Arts Council. Catalogues. 1963. Volume 2. [London]: Arts Council, 1963. Reproduced: fig. 41
    Greenberg, Clement. “Post Painterly Abstraction,” Art International 8 (Summer 1964). Reproduced: p. 64
    Henning, Edward B. “The Language of Art,” Bulletin of The Cleveland Museum of Art (November 1964). Reproduced: p. 226; Mentioned p. 227
    “Year in Review for 1964,” Bulletin of The Cleveland Museum of Art (December 1964).
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966. Reproduced: p. 203 archive.org
    “Recent Accessions in the American Field,” Art in America 54 (May/June 1966). Reproduced: p. 48
    Handbook of The Cleveland Museum of Art (1969). Reproduced: p. 203
    Cleveland Museum of Art. Art of the Twentieth Century in the Cleveland Museum of Art. [Cleveland]: Dept. of Art History & Education, CMA, 1969. Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 5
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969. Reproduced: p. 203 archive.org
    Cleveland Museum of Art. Art of the Twentieth Century in the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: Dept. of Art History & Education, CMA, 1969. Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 5 archive.org
    Henning, Edward B. “Reconstruction: A Painting by Jasper Johns,” Bulletin of The Cleveland Museum of Art (October 1973). Mentioned p. 239; Reproduced: p. 241
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. Reproduced: p. 254 archive.org
    Greenberg, Clement. “Avant-Garde Attitudes: New Art in the Sixties,” American Art-Readings from the Colonial Era to the Present (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1980). Mentioned p. 326; Reproduced: p. 327
    Cleveland Museum of Art. The CMA Companion: A Guide to the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2014. Mentioned and reproduced: P. 116
    Paik, Tricia Y., Ellsworth Kelly, Gavin Delahunty, Gary Garrels, Richard Shiff, and Robert Storr. Ellsworth Kelly, 2015. Reproduced: p. 183, 362
  • Contemporary Gallery Reinstallation 2021. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer).
    Works from the Contemporary Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (July 1-October 15, 1969).
    Year in Review (1964). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (December 8, 1964-January 31, 1965).
    The Dunn International. Beaverbrook Art Gallery, Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada; (September 7– October 6, 1963); The Tate Gallery, London, England (November 14-December 22, 1963)
  • {{cite web|title=Red Blue|url=false|author=Ellsworth Kelly|year=1962|access-date=28 March 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1964.142