ELLSWORTH KELLY Spencertown, Hardback book, Hand signed and inscribed by Ellsworth Kelly, signed by Jack Shear and warmly inscribed to collectors/MOMA donors 1994

This marvelous First Edition hardback monograph is, exceptionally, hand signed by Ellsworth Kelly on the half title page and signed by Jack Shear on the colophon page. Both are inscribed to "Bette and Bill" (Bette Weed and William Weed of Roxbury, Conn, Art Collectors and MOMA donors). First Printing Gray cloth boards with red lettering in pictorial dust jacket; Published for the 1994 exhibition with an introduction by Yve-Alain Bois and a photographic essay by Jack Shear; 9-1/2 x 11-3/4 inches, 97 pages with 21 duotone photographs of the joint working space, sculpture, landscapes, and homes; includes Recent Paintings 1990-1994" with full page color plates of paintings. Kelly described how, when visiting the Museum of Modern Art in Paris in 1949, he was influenced more by the windows than by the images that hung between them. The resulting drawing led to a highly abstracted picture consisting of two canvases, one reversed and the other painted white, inside a black frame.

Condition: Fine through-out with Fine unclipped Dust Jacket, now protected with mylar. Kelly decamped upstate to Spencertown from New York City in 1970 and was joined by his husband, photographer Jack Shear, in 1984. They moved to their final house together, an imposing wood-clad Colonial built circa 1815, in 2005.

Makes a fantastic gift. Extremely rare and highly collectible when hand signed by both Kelly and his photographer/husband.  

SIGNATURE

 Signed and warmly inscribed by Ellsworth Kelly; also signed and inscribed by his husband, the photographer, Jack Shear. 

 PROVENANCE

Estate of Bette Weed and William Weed of Roxbury, Conn, Art Collectors and MOMA donors