Ellsworth Kelly: Austin

Ellsworth Kelly: Austin

Texts by Carter E. Foster and Simone J. Wicha

Radius Books/Blanton Museum of Art, January 2020

Hardcover | 10 x 14 inches | 180 pages | 113 illustrations | English | ISBN: 978-1942185567 | $65.00

PUBLISHER'S DESCRIPTION:

Envisioned by Ellsworth Kelly as a site for joy and contemplation, Austin is a cornerstone of the Blanton Museum of Art’s permanent collection and a new icon for the city in which it stands. This comprehensive book provides a thorough look at the project, from its inception to its current position as one of the artist’s most important and enduring works.

Though mostly abstract, Kelly’s work is deeply rooted in his love of nature and his close observation of the world around him, and Austin’s design elements are no exception. 

An essay by Carter E. Foster, Deputy Director for Curatorial Affairs and Curator of Prints and Drawings at the Blanton Museum of Art, sheds light on how Austin fits with Kelly’s wider practice.

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dDAB COMMENTARY:

Even voracious readers can be forgiven for thinking that there is little room for innovation in the design and construction of books. Pages bound into volumes between covers tend to find difference in their graphics: covers and, for illustrated books in particular, page layouts. Some publishers, such as Lars Müller, go further and do things with the bindings, such as exposing the stitching on the spine or using Japanese bookbinding and other traditional, yet costly, techniques. This monograph on a building by an artist is very creative with its binding, effectively splitting the book into two halves. The first half is adhered to the front cover and the second half is adhered, logically, to the back cover, forming a void between them that is most pronounced when the book lays flat. This technique, visible in the photo at the bottom of this post, makes clear it is a special document about a special project.

Artist Ellsworth Kelly developed what would become Austin in the 1980s, when he was commissioned by Douglas S. Cramer for a chapel to be built on his property in Santa Ynez, California. Inspired by the churches he saw during his time in France after World War II, Kelly sketched and modeled a cross-shaped plan, with colored glass over the entrance and transepts, and one of his sculptures in the apse. The Cramer Chapel never came to be, but three decades later the artist gifted the project to the Blanton Museum of Art in Austin, Texas, with the understanding that it would be built, be publicly accessible, and be cared for in perpetuity. Kelly worked closely with the museum and Overland Partners, the architects on the project, to determine the final details of the building and the art it would contain. Construction started in October 2015 and the building opened 2-1/2 years later, but Kelly, who died in December at the age of 92, would not see his magnum opus completed.

The Blanton has an in-depth presentation of Austin on its website, and comparing the texts that are online with those printed on the pages of this book, the two are basically the same. With the content existing in both realms, and the website able to offer videos in addition to words and images, it's no wonder that the book about Austin goes to extremes in its craft — it exploits its "bookness." The literal two-part structure of the book is aligned with its contents: the first half has photographs of the completed work, essays that are mirrored on the website, and sketches by Kelly. The second half presents other artworks by Kelly, finding four artistic motifs in Austin that were echoed throughout his long and successful career. In addition to the binding, it's worth pointing out that the book is big, allowing the reader to practically immerse themselves in the color-drenched spaces. The paper selection is also commendable, heavyweight throughout but appropriately matte for the essays and glossy for the photos. It's a beautiful document of an amazing building where art is both container and contained. After reading this book, I hope to see Austin in person someday.

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