Matthew Marks is pleased to announce, Ellsworth Kelly: Drawings 1954 – 1962, the next exhibition in his gallery at 526 West 22nd Street.

This exhibition consists of 23 drawings in a variety of media, including ink, graphite, oil paint and collage. Modest in scale, with no dimension larger than fourteen inches, many of the works in the exhibition are working drawings relating to larger paintings. They were made in the first years after Kelly returned to New York from Paris in 1954, where he lived for six years after WWII, studying on the G.I. Bill. The artist’s touch is much in evidence, and the drawings have an immediacy unusual in Kelly’s work. All of the drawings are exhibited here for the first time.

Beginning in Paris, and continuing in New York, Kelly developed a unique vocabulary of abstraction based on the observation of nature and the world around him. The drawings in this exhibition give the viewer an opportunity to see Ellsworth Kelly as a young artist exploring the full range of abstraction within his chosen vocabulary.

A fully illustrated catalogue, including an essay by the art historian Richard Shiff, will be available.

Ellsworth Kelly: Drawings 1954 – 1962 will be on view at 526 West 22nd Street. (11:00 A.M. to 6:00 P.M.) through April 11, 2009.

Also on view: Ellsworth Kelly: Diagonal at 522 West 22nd Street (11:00 A.M. to 6:00 P.M.) and 523 West 24th Street (10:00 A.M. to 6:00 P.M.) through April 11, 2009.