Primary Tapestry, 1967-68
hand-knotted wool
119 x 120 inches
planned edition of 20, of which approximately 4 were made


The list of artists who made tapestries with Charles Slatkin Gallery in the 1960s reads like a Who's Who of painting at the time:  Lichtenstein, Motherwell, Stella, Noland, Warhol, Calder, Diebenkorn...Among all the "tapestries," as they were called, made then, Kelly's is most closely related to his work.   In 1966, the year before he designed this piece, Kelly was making paintings that, like Blue Red or White Angle, used the floor as ground.  He went on later of course to make sculptures that are flat horizontal planes:  his Yellow Curve in Frankfurt or the beautiful Project for Westfälisches Museum.  His rug then has a real connection to the thinking that made the work.