Ellsworth Kelly: Portrait Drawings spans most of his 70-year career, showcasing his evolving and wide-ranging approach to both portraiture and drawing. The earliest drawing in the exhibition is his haunting Self-Portrait, Normandy, one of 30 self-portraits on view, made by candlelight in an army tent during World War II, while Hôtel Saint-Georges, Paris (Self-Portrait), made just four years later, hardly shows the artist at all. Here, Kelly depicted only a small section of his body reflected in the hotel mirror, choosing instead to focus on his studio materials and his hands in the act of art making.

Kelly’s drawings also evidence both his artistic influences and friendships. The impact of artists he encountered in Europe in the 1940s such as Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse are prominent in his drawings; his Self-Portrait from 1949 particularly reflects the influence of German Expressionist Max Beckmann. Portraits of fellow artists Robert Indiana and Jack Youngerman, actress Delphine Seyrig, and dancer Merce Cunningham depict the New York art world in the early 1950s from Kelly’s unique point of view.

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