Abstract artist Ellsworth Kelly dies at 92

SPENCERTOWN , N.Y., Dec. 28 (UPI) -- Ellsworth Kelly, abstract artist noted for strong, colorful geometric patterns in paintings and sculptures, died at his Spencertown, N.Y. home. He was 92.

Kelly worked as an artist for seven decades and was noted for what became known as a distinctively American style of abstractionism, using simple and familiar shapes in vibrant colors. By the time of his death he was regarded as a master of contemporary art.

He began his career while in France with the U.S. Army during World War II, turning rubber and burlap into camouflaged fake tanks to fool the enemy into thinking the Allied military presence at a battlefield scene was larger than it actually was. He later studied at Boston's School of the Museum of Fine Arts and in post-war Paris. While in France to study, he met contemporary artists who served as friends and mentors, including sculptor Constantin Brancusi and surrealist Jan Arp.

He returned to United States to paint in New York and although it took time because his work fit no regular categories, the art world discovered his angular, colorful works by 1956. In the 1960s and 1970s his work was displayed at several Venice Bienniales and at the German art exhibition Documenta, held every five years.

He established a home and studio in the Hudson Valley village of Spencertown, N.Y., and by 1973 his work was the subject of retrospectives at New York's Museum of Modern art, the first of many at museums throughout the world. He received the National Medal of Arts from President Barack Obama in 2013.