Robert Motherwell

Untitled

1990

Robert Motherwell Elegy to the Spanish Republic No. 110C 1968 Acrylic and graphite on paper 15.2 x 20.3 cms (6 x 8 ins) Robert Motherwell's Elegies series represent one of the iconic motifs of Abstract Expressionism.  Based on a 1948 ink illustration the artist executed accompanying a Harold Rosenberg poem, “A Bird for every bird,” the drawing shows the hypnotically repetitive patterning of ovoids and vertical beams.  The stark contrast of the black ink on white paper references the symbolic use of the color black by artists such as Goya, Manet and Matisse to convey death, loss, and tragedy.  Motherwell was quite affected by the turbulence of the Spanish Civil War and alludes to the Spanish republic in his Elegies. Motherwell’s plumbing the depths of poetry, history, and primordial art in the Elegies is considered a hallmark of nascent Abstract Expressionist painting in its desire to "excavate" essential imagery of mankind. Motherwell, who originally trained as a philosophy scholar and later became of the great editors of 20th century art documents, grasped very early on the crucial importance that in order to contribute meaningfully to the canon of modern art, one must create a principle of aesthetics. Through the surrealist concept of automatism, the artist finally found the creative principle that eventually governed his extraordinary artistic output and produced the Elegies, one of the most salient, immediate painterly images of 20th century abstract painting. In fact, he has alluded to the fact that each one of his Elegies begins as an automatic drawing, and certain shapes are then blocked to create the signature armature of the vertical bars and ovals. The Elegies seem to possess the power of an archetypal image, an image the mind already grasps on a subconscious level. Motherwell's play of dualities of black and white as well as other dichotomies—the geometric versus the organic, chaos versus order, death versus life—was a condition of living through a tumultuous period in American history. During an interview, he vividly recalled the 1940s as the time when society was ordered by a set of contradictions.  In Motherwell's Elegies, he not only discovered an incredibly elastic pictorial language that would communicate on multiple levels but also acknowledged these contradictions in a manner that would resonate in abstract form.  The present work served as a model for a painting, Spanish Elegy...

Sam Francis Untitled (SFF.1704) 1994 Acrylic on canvas 38.1 x 45.7 cms (15 x 18 ins) Provenance: Estate of the artist, California, 1994; Galleri Faurschou, Copenhagen, June 1996; ...

Sam Francis (1923-1994) Untitled (Iron Forest) 1989 Acrylic on prepared paper 91.4 x 182.9 cms (36 x 72 ins) SF012

Acrylic and pasted papers on canvas mounted on board 50.8 x 40.6 cms (20 x 16 ins) This collage includes a fragment of a 1985 print, Burning Sun. Although Motherwell signed...

Acrylic on paper 77.5 x 55.9 cms (30 1/2 x 22 ins)

Acrylic on paper 77.5 x 57.2 cms (30 1/2 x 22 1/2 ins) The composition of this work anticipates the 1971 lithograph Samurai. Throughout his career Motherwell was drawn to automatis...

"Adagio in Blue" 2023, 72" H x 96" W. Large Scale horizontal abstract painting consisting of acrylic, home paint, pencils and oil pastels on canvas by Argentine-born artist Karina G...

"The pathway to happiness Is here right now The only way to achieve anything Is to focus on the now No dwelling in the past No daydreaming of the future Find joy in the NOW And yo...

"Physical Can feel so magical But there are so many planes That take you further Than your dreamland" 'blooming' is a reminder that by appreciating everything in your life you are creating more things to be grateful for. Get ready to receive abundance of health, wealth, love and success in this lifetime, loving the way you live and surrendering to your glorious destiny. Emmi Granlund...

"Your former reality Was nothing like this Nothing like this It's a good thing Don't be afraid Nothing like this Better than you ever imagined Better than your thoughts" 'like this' is a reminder that your life is about to change for the better, for good. Get ready to receive abundance of health, wealth, love and success in this lifetime, loving the way you live and surrendering to your glorious destiny. Emmi Granlund...

"It may appear here Or here Or here Before the eye has seen it It may be anywhere in the Universe On the quantum level It is all disappearing And appearing All over again Always...

Riprap 2 (Abstract Drawing) Colour pencil and acrylic on paper. Unframed. This fluid abstract work on paper is intuitively made with a coloured pencil and acrylic. The intersectin...