Ellsworth Kelly: The Studio and Beyond

Abstract

Ellsworth Kelly (American, 1923–2015) formulated a rigorous abstract style of painting over the course of his 70-year career. The austere, frequently monochromatic format of his works presents conservation, travel, and display challenges for museums and private collectors alike. Cranmer Art Group (CAG), a private practice studio in New York specializing in the conservation of Modern and Contemporary paintings, has examined or treated over 170 of Kelly’s works (including 110 paintings) over the past 30 years, a sample set comprising approximately 12% of his painting oeuvre. CAG’s work has entailed close collaborations with the artist himself, Jack Shear (director of the Ellsworth Kelly Foundation), Kelly’s studio and dealers, and fellow conservators and conservation scientists. Presented here is a summary of Kelly’s painting materials and working practices, as well as a discussion of typical damages and the artist’s approach to the conservation of his work over time. Kelly’s career coincided with an era of rapid change in the conservation world, and to some degree, the creation of treatment protocols and preventive conservation for Modern and Contemporary paintings was provoked by these very works, which do not tolerate many of our traditional procedures well.