Robert MotherwellRites of Passage II1979-80
1979-80
About the Item
- Creator:Robert Motherwell (1915-1991, American)
- Creation Year:1979-80
- Dimensions:Height: 31.25 in (79.38 cm)Width: 39 in (99.06 cm)
- More Editions & Sizes:Edition of 51Price: $22,000
- Medium:
- Movement & Style:
- Period:
- Condition:Newly framed with museum glass Publisher: Tyler Graphics Ltd., New York Very good condition Signed and numbered in pencil by the artist, lower left Embossed printers stamp (chop mark).
- Gallery Location:Toronto, CA
- Reference Number:
Robert Motherwell
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.
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1970s Abstract Expressionist Abstract Prints
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- Summertime in Italy (With Lines)By Robert MotherwellLocated in Toronto, OntarioRobert 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 established New York City as the center of the art world for the second half of the 20th century. Motherwell was also the unofficial spokesman of the New York School, writing, teaching, and lecturing on behalf of the movement, his fellow artists, and the merits of abstraction. His work appears in museum collections around the world and is instantly recognizable for its boldness and black forms. Yet in addition to his impressive paintings, Motherwell is also revered as a printmaker. He is one of the most innovative and prolific printmakers of the 20th century. He was always searching for new techniques, whether at his own printmaking atelier or collaborating with others, to expand his ideas and express his aesthetic. In the 1960s, Motherwell visited Italy on vacation with his then-wife, Helen Frankenthaler. Motherwell became enamoured with the Italianate landscape and the mountainous terrain of the Liguria region, which inspired a series of paintings, "Summertime in Italy...Category
1960s Abstract Expressionist Abstract Prints
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- America La France Variations IIIBy Robert MotherwellLocated in Toronto, OntarioRobert Motherwell (1915-1991) is one of the essential American abstract painters who radically defined post-war abstraction in New York City. Today, his work appears in museum colle...Category
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- America La France Variations IIBy Robert MotherwellLocated in Toronto, OntarioRobert Motherwell (1915-1991) is one of the essential American abstract painters that radically defined post-war abstraction in New York City. Today, his work appears in museum collections around the world and is instantly recognizable for its boldness and black forms. His auction record was set in 2018 at $12.6 million USD. In addition to his impressive paintings, Motherwell is also revered as a printmaker. He is one of the most innovative and prolific printmakers of the 20th century. He was always searching for new techniques, whether at his own printmaking atelier, or collaborating with others, to expand his ideas and express his aesthetic. "America-La France...Category
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- The Man and the Big BlondeBy Willem de KooningLocated in Toronto, OntarioWillem de Kooning (1904-1997) was one of the torchbearers of post-war American abstraction and one of the most important artists of the 20th century. With a career spanning nearly ...Category
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- Red and Black II /// Abstract Expressionist Lynn Chadwick British Minimalism ArtBy Lynn ChadwickLocated in Saint Augustine, FLArtist: Lynn Chadwick (English, 1914-2003) Title: "Red and Black II" Series: Red and Black *Signed and dated by Chadwick in pencil lower right Year: 1963 Medium: Original Lithograph ...Category
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MaterialsLithograph, Handmade Paper
- DelosBy Robert MotherwellLocated in New York, NYA 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...Category
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- Altitudes /// Abstract Expressionism Helen Frankenthaler Female Post-War ModernBy Helen FrankenthalerLocated in Saint Augustine, FLArtist: Helen Frankenthaler (American, 1928-2011) Title: "Altitudes" *Signed, dated, and numbered by Frankenthaler in pencil lower right Year: 1978 Medium: Original Lithograph on light yellow-pink J.B. Green Hayle Mill Bodleian handmade paper Limited edition: 29/42 Printer: Bill Goldston and John A. Lund of Universal Limited Art Editions, West Islip, NY Publisher: Universal Limited Art Editions, West Islip, NY Reference: "Frankenthaler: A Catalogue Raisonné - Prints 1961-1994" - Harrison No. 72, page 264, 268-270; "ULAE" - Sparks No. 33, page 88, 323; Clark No. 67; Williams No. 67 Sheet size (irregular margins): 22.25" x 30.88" Condition: Remnants of previous mounting tape on verso. In excellent condition with strong colors Very rare Notes: Provenance: private collection - New York, NY; private collection - notable fashion illustrator Jay Hyde, Crawford, New York, NY; acquired from an art gallery in New York, NY; likely acquired directly from the publisher Universal Limited Art Editions, West Islip, NY. Lithograph drawn with tusche wash. Printed in two colors from two stones: red and green. Universal Limited Art Editions chop mark/blind stamp lower right. "Frankenthaler: A Catalogue Raisonné - Prints 1961-1994" - Harrison - "Frankenthaler carefully chose a European handmade paper that would add another color and texture to the print" ... "By contrast, in "Altitudes", the artist created a bleed image so that the sheet of paper is smaller than the stone's image and the large red tusche wash sweeps across the surface of the yellow-pink J.B. Green Hayle Mill Bodleian paper, becoming warmed and enhanced by its color and texture." "Universal Limited Art Editions - A History and Catalogue: The First Twenty-Five Years" - Sparks - "In "Bronze Smoke" (cat. no. 32), "Altitudes" (cat. no. 33), and "Door" (cat. no. 34), minimal compositions were replaced by fields of drifting, multilayered color, as rich and satisfying as her work on a much grander scale." Biography: Frankenthaler was an American abstract expressionist painter. She was a major contributor to the history of postwar American painting...Category
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- Return, from the Octavio Paz Suite (unique signed position proof) Engberg/BanachBy Robert MotherwellLocated in New York, NYRobert Motherwell Return, from the Octavio Paz Suite, 1988 Lithograph and chine appliqué on watermarked Japanese Gampi hand made paper applied on Arches paper Hand-signed by artist, ...Category
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- Octavio Paz Suite: Nocturne VIBy Robert MotherwellLocated in London, GBLithograph and chine appliqué 64.5 x 54 cms (25 3/8 x 21 1/4 ins) Edition 50 Paper: Arches paper; Japanese Gampi handmade paper Other Collaborators: Image transferred from Mylar to...Category
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- Octavio Paz Suite: Nocturne VIIIBy Robert MotherwellLocated in London, GBLithograph and chine appliqué 64.5 x 54 cms (25 3/8 x 21 1/4 ins) Edition of 50 Paper: Arches paper; Japanese Gampi handmade paper Other Collaborators: Image transferred from Mylar...Category
1980s Abstract Expressionist Abstract Prints
MaterialsHandmade Paper, Color, Lithograph