Mid Century Floral Still Life Oil Painting by Hollywood Royalty Three Time Oscar Winner Orry Kelly, 1950

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A very attractive mid-century, circa 1950 oil on artist's board floral still life painting, by the legendary Oscar winning Hollywood … Read more A very attractive mid-century, circa 1950 oil on artist's board floral still life painting, by the legendary Oscar winning Hollywood costume designer and celebrated artist, George Orry-Kelly (1897-1964).

The painting depicts a glass vase with a stunning arrangement of deep blue cornflowers (Bachelor's Buttons). The painting has vibrant jeweled tones with impasto paint to provide texture, a fine exemplary example of Orry-Kelly's work. The painting is signed lower right "Orry-Kelly" and is housed in the original wood and gesso frame.
The painting by repute came from the Estate of Lucille Ball, it is in excellent condition and ready to hang.

Artist Biography
Orry-Kelly (born Orry George Kelly, 1897–1964) is legendary for being one of the most successful and prolific costume designers in Hollywood’s Golden Age. However, his foundational training was as a fine art painter. Before arriving in America, he studied art in Sydney, Australia. He moved to New York in 1922 to pursue acting but survived by using his artistic talents to paint murals for local nightclubs and speakeasies. During this Greenwich Village period, he shared an apartment with a struggling young actor named Archibald Leach—who would later change his name to Cary Grant, Orry Kelly was also Cary Grant's lover. It was actually Grant's agent who later passed Orry-Kelly's design sketches to Warner Bros. executives, launching his legendary film career. Orry-Kelly went on to serve as the chief costume designer for Warner Bros. and worked on over 300 films across three decades. He won three Academy Awards for Best Costume Design for the following classic movies: An American in Paris (1951), Les Girls (1957), Some Like It Hot (1959) — where he famously had to disguise Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon as women. He was the absolute favorite designer of stars like Bette Davis, Marilyn Monroe, and Ingrid Bergman, renowned for his ability to "design for distraction" by using silhouettes and structural lines to flatter any body shape. His Signature Painting Style even at the height of his Hollywood fame, Orry-Kelly never stopped painting fine art. Most famously known for vibrant floral still lifes: He had an immense fondness for texture-rich, lively floral still lifes. Because he was a beloved figure among the Hollywood elite, stars like Marilyn Monroe, Lucille Ball, Rosalind Russell, and Fanny Brice actively collected his flower paintings to decorate their own estates. See less