Over the course of his career, Ellsworth Kelly (1923-2015) developed a style of abstract art based on direct observation and thus forged a new path for artists working in the wake of Abstract Expressionism. His art closely approached movements as diverse as Minimalism, Hard Edge Abstraction, and Color Field painting but did not quite conceptually align in process or concern.
In the summer of 2015, the Menil Collection engaged Kelly for a sculpture commission to honor the generosity of benefactors who significantly contributed to the museum’s capital campaign (2012–17). The inspiration and precedent was Michael Heizer’s Charmstone, 1991, commissioned by Dominique de Menil for the front entrance of the museum’s main building. Kelly responded enthusiastically.
The resulting sculpture, Menil Curve, was placed at the Menil Drawing Institute entrance. The juxtaposition of the glossy white sculpture and the building’s exterior courtyard wall behind it creates the effect of a white-on-white relief. The subtle interplay between the two shades of white resonates with a long-standing line of inquiry in Kelly’s practice. Over several decades the artist explored the varied effects of folded white paper and white-on-white collages. Notably, one of the earliest of these collages, Curved Form in Relief, 1955, is a promised gift to the Drawing Institute.
