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Page from a sketchbook with a diagram in pencil showing a numbered, labeled grid

On cream colored paper, hand drawn lines trace an irregular vertical rectangle divided into rows of tall narrow strips. At top and bottom, some sections are divided by horizontal lines as well, which are also somewhat curved or crooked. In the middle right, a large shape like a door hinge is lightly drawn, and at middle left, a small rectangle within a rectangle resembles a keyhole. In most sections, the numbers 1 through 7 appear. In the bottom or right hand margin, these numbers correspond with a handwritten key listing color names like “bright orange” or “very pale gray yellow”. At the top, similar lines drawn on the opposite side can be seen through the page.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
2001.32
People
Ellsworth Kelly, American (Newburgh, NY 1923 - 2015 Spencertown, NY)
Title
Sketch of a Beach Cabana IV (recto and verso)
Classification
Drawings
Work Type
drawing
Date
1950
Culture
American
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/197412

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Graphite on cream wove paper; verso: graphite
Dimensions
27 x 21 cm (10 5/8 x 8 1/4 in.)
Inscriptions and Marks
  • inscription: verso, l.l., graphite, in artist's hand: BEACH CABANA, MESCHERS [1]950
    50.128

    [The figure "1" at the start of the date appears to have faded completely]

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Ellsworth Kelly, Spencertown, New York, sold; to Harvard University Art Museums through [Matthew Marks Gallery, New York], 2001.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Gift of the artist and purchase from the Margaret Fisher Fund and through the generosity of Kenyon C. Bolton III, Agnes Gund and Daniel Shapiro, Richard E. Oldenburg, and Emily Rauh Pulitzer in honor of Neil and Angelica Rudenstine
Copyright
© Ellsworth Kelly Foundation
Accession Year
2001
Object Number
2001.32
Division
Modern and Contemporary Art
Contact
am_moderncontemporary@harvard.edu
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Publication History

  • Yve-Alain Bois, Ellsworth Kelly: The Early Drawings, 1948-1955, exh. cat., Harvard University Art Museums (Cambridge, MA, 1999), cat. no. 77, n.p., repr. color and p. 13 and indirect refs. on pp. 14, 16 and 17
  • Branden Joseph, Random: Robert Rauschenberg and the Neo-Avant-Garde Order, MIT Press (Cambridge, MA, 2003), repr. p. 101

Exhibition History

  • Ellsworth Kelly: The Early Drawings, 1948-1955, Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge, 03/06/1999 - 05/16/1999; High Museum of Art, Atlanta, 06/08/1999 - 08/15/1999; The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, 09/11/1999 - 12/05/1999; Kunstmuseum Winterthur, Winterthur, 01/15/2000 - 03/19/2000; Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus, Munich, 04/01/2000 - 05/28/2000; Kunstmuseum Bonn, Bonn, 06/29/2000 - 08/27/2000
  • Acquisitions in Honor of Neil and Angelica Rudenstine, Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge, 05/04/2001 - 05/06/2001
  • Under Cover: Artists' Sketchbooks, Harvard University Art Museums, Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, 08/01/2006 - 10/22/2006
  • 32Q: 1110 Mid-Century Abstraction II (Post-Painterly Abstraction), Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 04/07/2017 - 10/12/2017

Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of Modern and Contemporary Art at am_moderncontemporary@harvard.edu