MOST READ ARTS
By the early 1960s, Ellsworth Kelly–a pioneer of minimalism and Color Field painting known for his clean-lined, brightly-hued canvases–was a successful mid-career artist who, on a return trip to Paris, made his first significant entry into printmaking with two series: Suite of Twenty-Seven Color Lithographs and Suite of Plant Lithographs. Both moved the art form forward, the former challenging the master printer Marcel Durassier with their flat surfaces and even planes of abstracted color, the latter achieving a delicacy in its minimal depictions of natural shapes. Those series, along with two major paintings, anchor the Norton Simon Museum’s new Kelly exhibit, illuminating Kelly’s ability to flatten the world around him even as he depicted it vividly. The exhibition opens this Friday at the Norton Simon Museum and will be until October 29th. Hours vary; 411 W. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, CA.
