During his expatriate years in France (1948–54), Ellsworth Kelly developed the visual strategies that would make him one of the most important artists of our era. This is most evident in his French drawings, here presented thoroughly for the first time, together with a searching commentary by noted scholar Yve-Alain Bois. In drawing, Kelly evolved four strategies for making art: transfer, chance, modular grid, and monochrome panel. His goal was to develop an alternative to traditional composition that was at once radically inventive and stubbornly personal. This bilingual (English-German) catalogue presents an intimate view of the process of artistic conception.

Published in conjunction with an exhibition at the Harvard University Art Museums, March 6–May 16, 1999, and five other venues in the United States and Europe.

Yve-Alain Bois is Joseph Pulitzer Jr. Professor of Modern Art, Harvard University.