Ellsworth Kelly first conceived Line Form Color in 1951 as a series of studies, both drawings and collages. Later that year he applied to the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation for a grant to produce a book, "an alphabet of plastic pictorial elements," but the application was not successful. With this volume, Kelly has brought Line Form Color to completion. Its forty plates correspond to the original collages. This slipcased edition also includes an essay by Harry Cooper, curator of modern art at the Harvard University Art Museums.