1973
The name of painter, printmaker and writer Robert Motherwell (1915–91) is often taken as synonymous with the New York School, whose name he coined. Motherwell was the youngest of this group of Abstract Expressionists working in art, dance, poetry and music in 1950s and '60s New York City, which included Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning, Philip Guston, Helen Frankenthaler and Mark Rothko.
Born in Aberdeen, Washington, in 1915, Motherwell had perhaps the broadest and best education of any of the New York School coterie, with an extensive background in philosophy, literature and art history. He earned a BA in philosophy in 1937 from Stanford University and was working toward a PhD in the subject at Harvard when he interrupted his studies for a yearlong trip to Europe, where he fell in love with European modernism.
After returning, in 1940 he enrolled Columbia to study art history. It was there that he met a group of exiled Parisian Surrealists, and encounter that proved influential on his style. Motherwell began to integrate the idea of “automatism” — unmediated gestures that reflect deeper psychological impulses — into his work, pioneering a new form of Abstract Expressionism that came to characterize the New York School.
Works like the 1967 Beside the Sea no. 45, an acrylic on canvas, and the 1966 lithograph New York International epitomize Motherwell’s use of simple shapes in boldly contrasting colors, executed in quick, gestural strokes that occasionally evoke figures, suggesting a latent narrative despite their obvious abstraction.
Throughout his career, Motherwell taught painting at Hunter College, in New York, and at Black Mountain College, in North Carolina, where his work influenced the likes of Cy Twombly, Robert Rauschenberg and Kenneth Noland. His influence as one of the founding fathers of American Abstract Expressionism remains profound.
Untitled
By Robert Motherwell
Located in London, GB
Robert Motherwell (1915-1991) Untitled 1990 Acrylic and coloured pencil on panel 40.6 x 50.8 cms (16 x 20 ins) RM13143 P1195 The composition of this painting is based on the left ...
Acrylic, Panel, Color Pencil
Alberti Suite No. 8
By Robert Motherwell
Located in London, GB
Robert Motherwell Alberti Suite No. 8 1970 Acrylic on canvas 101.6 x 75.6 cms (40 x 29 3/4 ins) RM9811 P526 One of the several variants Motherwell painted within the Open series. I...
Acrylic
Great Wall of China No. 4
By Robert Motherwell
Located in London, GB
Robert Motherwell (1915-1991) Great Wall of China No. 4 1971 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 152.4 x 101.6 cms (60 x 40 ins) RM10101 P617 This work is part of the artist's Great Wall of China series, of which there are only five paintings, all of which are in private hands. Painted on a traditionally primed canvas, it is an exploration of the tension between foreground and background. The U-shaped forms in this series of paintings are closely related to the paintings in Motherwell's Open series of which there are a greater number of paintings and drawings. Great Wall of China series refer to a Franz Kafka short story about the Chinese landmark, which certainly served as a dividing line in its time, and perhaps also to contemporaneous events involving China, such as Henry Kissinger...
Charcoal, Acrylic
Untitled
By Robert Motherwell
Located in London, GB
Lithograph and chine colle 73.9 x 56.9 cms (29.1 x 22.4 ins) Edition of 19
Lithograph
Untitled
By Robert Motherwell
Located in London, GB
Brushed aquatint, lift-ground etching and aquatint on German Etching paper 71.8 x 56.5 cms (28 1/4 x 22 1/4 ins) Edition of 32
Etching, Aquatint
Premonition Open, with Flesh over Grey
By Robert Motherwell
Located in London, GB
Premonition Open, with Flesh over Grey, 1974, belongs to an extended series of works that came to be called the Opens and which came about by a happy accident. Leaning a finished can...
Charcoal, Acrylic Polymer, Graphite
Delos
By Robert Motherwell
Located in New York, NY
A very good impression of this color lithograph on TGL handmade paper. Initialed and numbered 6/40 in pencil. Printed and published by Tyler Graphics, Ltd., Mount Kisco, with the bli...
Handmade Paper, Color, Lithograph
Untitled #1
By Robert Motherwell
Located in New York, NY
Color screenprint on JB Green paper, 1971. Signed by the artist in pencil and numbered 81/150 in pencil, lower right. With the artists blind stamp in the lower margin. Printed by K...
Screen
Carpeta
By Robert Motherwell
Located in Toronto, Ontario
Robert Motherwell (1915-1991), alongside Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko, and Willem de Kooning, made up the quartet of abstract painters that radically defined Modern painting in Ameri...
Lithograph
Large Robert Motherwell Lithograph Abstract Expressionist Lament for Lorca 1982
By Robert Motherwell
Located in Surfside, FL
Robert Motherwell (1915 – 1991) Lament for Lorca 1982 lithograph in colors on white Tyler Graphics Ltd. (TGL) handmade paper Printed with full margins; initialed and numbered 30/...
Lithograph
Untitled (Vertical)
By Robert Motherwell
Located in Toronto, Ontario
Robert Motherwell (1915-1991), alongside Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko, and Willem de Kooning, made up the quartet of American abstract painters that radically defined abstraction and...
Etching, Aquatint
The Razor's Edge
By Robert Motherwell
Located in New York, NY
A superb impression of this scarce color aquatint and lift-ground etching on German Etching paper. Signed and numbered 27/36 in pencil, lower right. Printed by Catherine Mousley in t...
Color, Etching, Aquatint
