
Ellsworth Kelly
Spectrum Colors Arranged by Chance
Art Institute of Chicago (Publisher)
Published on 30. September 2025
Book
Paperback/Softback
82 pages
978-0-300-28405-8 (ISBN)
Description
A look at Ellsworth Kelly's eight Spectrum Colors Arranged by Chance collages and how they set the foundation for his career-long exploration of abstract, minimalist art
Revered for his iconic color field paintings, Ellsworth Kelly (1923-2015) is one of the most influential artists in American Abstraction. His body of work, encompassing paintings, sculptures, and prints, illustrates his unprecedented experiments with form and color. Less well known are his eight collages, known as Spectrum Colors Arranged by Chance (1951), which led directly to some of the artist's most iconic early works. Made from papier gomette, or sticky squares of colored paper used by French schoolchildren, these collages represent Kelly's early exploration of non-compositional strategies. Created by using chance operations to place the gomette on grids, Spectrum Colors Arranged by Chance boldly anticipates the evolution of Kelly's innovative methods. Alongside brilliant photographs that bring the reader into intimate contact with Kelly's series of collages, a wide-ranging roundtable conversation with artist Jacqueline B. Humphries, art historian Hannah Higgins, and Kelly's widower, the photographer Jack Shear, explores the origins of these groundbreaking works and their continued resonance today, bringing to life the story of his bold, experimental designs.
Distributed for the Art Institute of Chicago
Revered for his iconic color field paintings, Ellsworth Kelly (1923-2015) is one of the most influential artists in American Abstraction. His body of work, encompassing paintings, sculptures, and prints, illustrates his unprecedented experiments with form and color. Less well known are his eight collages, known as Spectrum Colors Arranged by Chance (1951), which led directly to some of the artist's most iconic early works. Made from papier gomette, or sticky squares of colored paper used by French schoolchildren, these collages represent Kelly's early exploration of non-compositional strategies. Created by using chance operations to place the gomette on grids, Spectrum Colors Arranged by Chance boldly anticipates the evolution of Kelly's innovative methods. Alongside brilliant photographs that bring the reader into intimate contact with Kelly's series of collages, a wide-ranging roundtable conversation with artist Jacqueline B. Humphries, art historian Hannah Higgins, and Kelly's widower, the photographer Jack Shear, explores the origins of these groundbreaking works and their continued resonance today, bringing to life the story of his bold, experimental designs.
Distributed for the Art Institute of Chicago
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Chicago
United States
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Illustrations
30 color illus.
Dimensions
Height: 323 mm
Width: 186 mm
Thickness: 6 mm
Weight
434 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-300-28405-8 (9780300284058)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Giampaolo Bianconi is associate curator of modern and contemporary art, and Caitlin Haskell is the Gary C. and Frances Comer Curator in Modern and Contemporary Art and director of Ray Johnson Collections and Research, both at the Art Institute of Chicago.
Editor
Contributions