Ellsworth Kelly was born on May 31, 1923. He is an American painter and sculptor associated with hard edged painting, color field painting, and Minimalist school. Kelly often uses bright colors to enhance his work. Kelly was born in Newburgh, New York. When Ellsworth Kelly was eight or nine years old his paternal grandmother introduced him to bird watching. This introduction to bird watching was essential to his career as an artist because it enabled him to train his eyes and developed his appreciation for the physical reality of the world by focusing on natures shapes. Through the act of bird watching is what helped him develop his passion for form and color. Kelly's schooling from elementary school to high school was typical of the public school curriculum which included art classes that stressed materials and sought to develop the artist imagination. After high school Ellsworth wanted to attend college but his parents were reluctant to support his training in the arts. His parents would only fund his technical education so he first studied at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn from 1941 until 1943. After attending Pratt he joined the army and served until he was discharged at the end of World War II. He then used his GI bill to attend school at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, in Boston from 1946 to 1947. He then studied at a school in Paris, this is where he developed his aesthetic. In 1954 Ellsworth desided to come back to the United States after being abroad for six years. He came back after he read a review of an Ad Reinhardt exhibit because he felt that his work related to the exhibit. Upon his return to New York he found the art world to be very tough. The acceptance of his work was anything but rapid. In 1956 Kelly had his first New York exhibition at Betty Parsons' Gallery. The overall review of his work in this exhibit was that it had more of a European flair. Ellsworth Kelly is not only known for his paintings but he is also known for his Lithographs, drawings, and sculptures. Many of Ellsworth's paintings consist of a single, usually bright, color with some canvases being of irregular shape, sometimes called "Shaped canvases." The quality of line seen in his paintings and in the form of his shaped canvases is very subtle, and implies perfection. This is demonstrated in his piece Block Island Study 1959.
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