With the 100th anniversary of the birth of the hard-edge abstract painter Ellsworth Kelly fast approaching (May 31), the artist’s foundation has given away early birthday gifts to dozens of museums across the United States.
The foundation has awarded grants totaling $2.75 million to 50 museums and gifted them with works worth more than $16 million from the personal collection of Kelly’s widower, Jack Shear.
Five museums – the Whitney Museum of Art, Art Institute of Chicago, Philadelphia Museum of Art and San Francisco Museum of Art – receive $100,000 grants from the foundation alongside major works on paper of their choice offered by Shear. The remaining 45 museums receive grants of $50,000 in addition to other works on paper – these institutions range from the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York to the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City.
“Ellsworth loved museums from an early age and they were a key part of his education in post-war Paris,” Emily Rauh Pulitzer, a member of the foundation’s board, said in a statement. “He understood their essential function in preserving, interpreting and sharing our cultural heritage.”
Since its inception in 1991, the foundation has donated nearly $30 million for the exhibition and conservation of contemporary art, environmental and historic preservation, and community enrichment in Columbia County, New York , where Shear and Kelly have made their home for more than 50 years.
Kelly, who died in 2015, is considered one of the most important artists of his time. He received the National Medal of Arts from President Barack Obama in 2012 and the Smithsonian Institution’s James Smithson Bicentennial Award in 2015. He was even honored posthumously by the U.S. Postal Service in 2019, when a series of “Forever” stamps featuring his work were issued .
Kelly’s centennial is marked by a number of exhibitions at institutions across the country, including the Museum of Modern Art’s Ellsworth Kelly: A Centenary Celebration (until June 11), and the Glenstone Museum in Potomac, Maryland, where Ellsworth Kelly at 100 opens May 4.
In comments toThe New York Times, Shear said, “Whatever happens is because of Ellsworth. I preserve his legacy as best I can.
