Ellsworth Kelly
Sweet Pea
1960
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Ellsworth Kelly
Sweet Pea
1960
Physical Qualities
Graphite, Sheet: 573 × 724 mm. (22 9/16 × 28 1/2 in.)
Credit Line
Thomas E. Benesch Memorial Collection
Object Number
1970.4.20
Ellsworth Kelly’s approach to nature stems from a desire to see without emotion. Here he uses spare thin lines to observe the simple shapes that constitute the flower forms. Sweet Pea is unusual in that faint internal lines give the flowers more dimensionality than in others of the same series. Perhaps he was experimenting with the threshold at which a flat outline becomes simple yet dimensional, where a weightless form becomes a grounded object. In the artist’s words, “the plant drawings. . . are exact observations of the form of the leaf or flower or fruit seen. Nothing is changed or added: no shading,
no surface marking. They are not an approximation of the thing seen nor are they a personal expression or an abstraction. They are an impersonal observation of the form.”
The Baltimore Museum of Art by gift, 1970; Mr. Edward Benesch, NY, 1970; Sidney Janis Gallery, NY, 1969; the artist
Metropolitan Museum of Art, "New York Painting and Sculpture: 1940-1970," 18 October - 1 February 1970, cat 190.
Victor Carlson and Carol Hynning Smith, BMA, "Master Drawings and Watercolors of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries"; circulated by the American Federation of Arts to the Guggenheim Museum, NY, 24 August - 7 October 1979; Des Moines Art Center, 19 November 1979 - 6 January 1980; Art Museum of South Texas, Corpus Christi, 8 February - 16 March, 1980; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, 1 May - 22 June 1980 ; Denver Art Museum, 12 July - 24 August, 1980.
BMA, "Drawings from the Thomas E. Benesch Memorial Collection," 14 October - 12 December 1982.
BMA, "Selected Drawings from the Thomas E. Benesch Collection," 3 September - 1 December 1985.
BMA, "Modern Master Drawings from the Museum's Thomas E. Benesch Memorial Collection," 21 February - 30 April 1989.
BMA, "BMA Collects: Landscape Drawings from the T.E. Benesch Memorial Collection," 8 May - 17 June, 1990.
BMA, "Major Modern Drawings from the Collection," 8 October - 18 December 1994.
BMA, "Select Views: Drawings from the Benesch Collection," 21 May - 30 July 2006.
Darsie Alexander, BMA, "Front Room: Ellsworth Kelly," 14 November 2007 - 17 February 2008.
Metropolitan Museum of Art, "Ellsworth Kelly Plant Drawings," June 04, 2012 - Sept 03, 2012.
Victor Carlson and Carol Hynning Smith, BMA, "Master Drawings and Watercolors of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries"; circulated by the American Federation of Arts to the Guggenheim Museum, NY, 24 August - 7 October 1979; Des Moines Art Center, 19 November 1979 - 6 January 1980; Art Museum of South Texas, Corpus Christi, 8 February - 16 March, 1980; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, 1 May - 22 June 1980 ; Denver Art Museum, 12 July - 24 August, 1980.
BMA, "Drawings from the Thomas E. Benesch Memorial Collection," 14 October - 12 December 1982.
BMA, "Selected Drawings from the Thomas E. Benesch Collection," 3 September - 1 December 1985.
BMA, "Modern Master Drawings from the Museum's Thomas E. Benesch Memorial Collection," 21 February - 30 April 1989.
BMA, "BMA Collects: Landscape Drawings from the T.E. Benesch Memorial Collection," 8 May - 17 June, 1990.
BMA, "Major Modern Drawings from the Collection," 8 October - 18 December 1994.
BMA, "Select Views: Drawings from the Benesch Collection," 21 May - 30 July 2006.
Darsie Alexander, BMA, "Front Room: Ellsworth Kelly," 14 November 2007 - 17 February 2008.
Metropolitan Museum of Art, "Ellsworth Kelly Plant Drawings," June 04, 2012 - Sept 03, 2012.
"The Thomas Edward Benesch Memorial Collection," BMA, 1970, unpaginated.
Ana Rosner, "The Benesch Collection: The Intimate World of Drawings." Newsletter of the Print, Drawing & Photograph Society (Spring 2006), illus. p. 23.
Carlson, Victor, and Carol Hynning Smith. Master Drawings and Watercolors of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries: The Baltimore Museum of Art. New York, NY: The American Federation of Arts, 1979, pp. 165, ill.
Inscribed: lower right in graphite: "Kelly / Sweet Pea / 20 March 60"; lower right verso in graphite: "Kelly"; lower left verso in graphite: Sweet Pea / 20 March 1960"
