Forms & Fragments: Ellsworth Kelly’s Postcards
Event Details
Ellsworth Kelly is one of the most celebrated abstract artists of the 20th century, known for his mastery of form and color. In addition to painting and sculpture, he was also a brilliant draftsman and printmaker. His use of collage, specifically postcard collages, is less well known and the subject of an exhibition at the Blanton. Carter Foster and Ian Berry will discuss the artist’s rich, decades-long practice of making collaged interventions on postcards he sent to friends or bought because he liked the image and decided to turn it into art.
Learn more about Ellsworth Kelly: Postcards on the exhibition page.
Funding for this program is provided by the Carolyn Harris Hynson Centennial Endowment at the Blanton Museum of Art.
ABOUT OUR SPEAKERS
Carter E. Foster joined the Blanton in 2016 as Deputy Director for Curatorial Affairs and Curator of Prints and Drawings. He organized the exhibition Form into Spirit: Ellsworth Kelly’s Austin, to mark the opening of Kelly’s landmark building, and he co-authored the recent monograph on it published by Radius Books. He also organized Expanding Abstraction: Pushing the Boundaries of Painting in the Americas, 1958–1983 and co-organized Drawn: From the Collection of Jack Shear. Prior to the Blanton, he was a curator at the Whitney Museum of American Art for eleven years. He has written extensively about modern and contemporary art.
Ian Berry is Dayton Director of The Frances Young Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery and Professor of Liberal Arts at Skidmore College. He is a leader in the field of academic museums and a regular speaker on interdisciplinary, inventive curatorial practice and teaching in museums. Berry is well known for exhibitions and publications with contemporary artists, including Terry Adkins, Sarah Cain, Nancy Grossman, Corita Kent, Alma Thomas, Kara Walker, and Mary Weatherford.
Feature Image Credit: Ellsworth Kelly, Columbus Circle, 1957, postcard collage, 5 1/2 x 3 1/2 in., collection of Ellsworth Kelly Studio and Jack Shear, copyright Ellsworth Kelly Foundation