Guy Hepner
Skip to main content
  • Menu
  • Artists
  • Artworks
  • Exhibitions
  • News
  • About
  • Shop
  • Video
  • Consign
Cart
0 items $
Checkout

Item added to cart

View cart & checkout
Continue shopping
Menu

Artworks

  • All
  • Contemporary
  • Emerging
  • Photography
  • Postwar
  • Urban
Ellsworth Kelly, Untitled (Orange/Black), 1972

Ellsworth Kelly

Untitled (Orange/Black), 1972
Lithograph in colors on Rives BFK
34 1/8 x 26 7/8 in
86.7 x 68.3 cm
Edition of 125
Copyright The Artist
View on a Wall
Ellsworth Kelly’s Untitled (Orange/Black), 1972, is a powerful demonstration of his ability to create visual intensity through the most economical means. Executed as a lithograph in colors on Rives BFK...
Read more

Ellsworth Kelly’s Untitled (Orange/Black), 1972, is a powerful demonstration of his ability to create visual intensity through the most economical means. Executed as a lithograph in colors on Rives BFK paper, the composition features a vertically oriented rectangle divided horizontally into two equal fields: a vivid, high-key orange above and a deep, matte black below. The division is exact and unwavering, producing a crisp visual boundary that heightens the chromatic contrast between the two halves.

The orange is bright and assertive, radiating warmth and energy, while the black beneath it provides a sense of solidity and visual weight. This pairing is both harmonious and oppositional—each color heightens the other’s presence, with the black appearing denser and more absorbing against the orange’s luminosity, and the orange seeming even more vibrant when set against the absorptive depth of black. Kelly’s mastery lies in this kind of direct, unmediated encounter between pure colors.

The structure of the work is rooted in simplicity yet carries a monumental presence. The rectangle is perfectly proportioned, and its central division creates a sense of balance without symmetry of mood—there’s an undeniable tension between the vibrancy above and the grounded stillness below. As with much of Kelly’s work, the white margins surrounding the central form are essential, providing a neutral spatial field that isolates the colored block and sharpens its impact.

The lithographic medium plays a critical role in the work’s precision. Rives BFK paper allows for rich, uniform fields of pigment and razor-sharp edges, ensuring that the focus remains on the purity of color and form without distraction from texture or gesture. Kelly’s process was meticulous, and the flawless execution here underscores his commitment to presenting color as a concrete, physical presence.

The title, Untitled (Orange/Black), is deliberately straightforward, aligning with Kelly’s philosophy of avoiding metaphor or narrative. The work is not “about” anything beyond the direct sensory experience of seeing these two colors in exact proportion, in direct relation to one another. Yet the pairing inevitably carries emotional resonance—viewers might associate it with signals, warning signs, or even seasonal references—but such readings exist outside of Kelly’s own intent.

Created in the early 1970s, Untitled (Orange/Black) belongs to a mature phase in Kelly’s career, when his visual language had been fully honed into its most essential form. It stands as a testament to his belief that profound visual and emotional impact can be achieved with nothing more than two colors, one shape, and a perfectly measured division.

For more information about Ellsworth Kelly Untitled (Orange/Black) for sale, contact our galleries using the form below.
Close full details
Inquire
%3Cdiv%20class%3D%22artist%22%3EEllsworth%20Kelly%3C/div%3E%3Cdiv%20class%3D%22title_and_year%22%3E%3Cspan%20class%3D%22title_and_year_title%22%3EUntitled%20%28Orange/Black%29%3C/span%3E%2C%20%3Cspan%20class%3D%22title_and_year_year%22%3E1972%3C/span%3E%3C/div%3E%3Cdiv%20class%3D%22medium%22%3ELithograph%20in%20colors%20on%20Rives%20BFK%3C/div%3E%3Cdiv%20class%3D%22dimensions%22%3E34%201/8%20x%2026%207/8%20in%3Cbr/%3E%0A86.7%20x%2068.3%20cm%3C/div%3E%3Cdiv%20class%3D%22edition_details%22%3EEdition%20of%20125%3C/div%3E
Previous
|
Next
2475 
of  7223

Join our mailing list

Submit

* denotes required fields

We will process the personal data you have supplied in accordance with our privacy policy (available on request). You can unsubscribe or change your preferences at any time by clicking the link in our emails.

177 10th Avenue
New York, NY
10001

Monday - Friday 10am - 6pm

info@guyhepner.com
+1 (212) 226 8680

50 Grosvenor Hill,
Mayfair, 
London, W1K 3QT

By appointment

info@guyhepner.com
+44 (0)20 3411 0108

  • Menu
  • Artists
  • Artworks
  • Exhibitions
  • News
  • About
  • Shop
  • Video
  • Consign
Instagram, opens in a new tab.
Join the mailing list
Facebook, opens in a new tab.
Twitter, opens in a new tab.
Youtube, opens in a new tab.
Tiktok, opens in a new tab.
Accessibility Policy
Cookie Policy
Manage cookies
Terms & Conditions
© Guy Hepner
Site by Artlogic

This website uses cookies
This site uses cookies to help make it more useful to you. Find out more about cookies.

Manage cookies
Accept

Cookie preferences

Check the boxes for the cookie categories you allow our site to use

Cookie options
Required for the website to function and cannot be disabled.
Improve your experience on the website by storing choices you make about how it should function.
Allow us to collect anonymous usage data in order to improve the experience on our website.
Allow us to identify our visitors so that we can offer personalised, targeted marketing.
Save preferences