Robert Motherwell

The Brown Stripe

1967

Acrylic, pencil and collage on paper 55.9 x 26 cms (22 x 10 1/4 ins)

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

Robert Motherwell (1915-1991) Open No. 45: In Blue with Brown 1969 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 55.9 x 71.1 cms (22 x 28 ins) RM9741 P447 Exhibited: Art Galleries, American Academy of Arts and Letters, New York, Exhibition of Work by Newly Elected Members and Recipients of Awards, 1970, no. 55. Galerie Templon, Paris, Robert Motherwell Open...

Robert Motherwell Brasileira 1975 Acrylic, graphite and printed paper collage on canvas laid on board 121 x 91 cms (47 5/8 x 35 7/8 ins) Provenance: Ace Gallery, Los Angeles Doug...

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 America and established New York City as the new center of the art world. Motherwell was a tremendously gifted communicator and so fell in to being the unofficial spokesman of the New York School; writing, editing a journal, and lecturing on behalf of the movement and the merits of abstraction. While his contribution to the art historical canon as a painter is undisputed, Motherwell's role as a printmaker is equally important. One of the most experimental and courageous printmakers of the 20th century, he was always searching for new techniques to express or expand his ideas and aesthetics. This lithograph is visually bold. Framed by opaque black bands, and set among a striking blue flat, sits a grey impression. Etched with subtle lines and reminiscent of Motherwell's Open paintings, the central grey rectangle and its surrounding composition come together in a paradigm of Motherwell's oeuvre. His use of grey paper is clever, as the exposed sheet on the left mingles with the applied compositional elements. This combined with the textured application throughout, force the viewer to reckon with which greys are applied, and which are the substrate showing through. "The Aberdeen Stone" is one of three visually similar "Stone" prints that refer to Motherwell's Scottish heritage, and is a particularly meaningful impression for the artist. Aberdeen is both a town in northeastern Scotland, and the birthplace of Motherwell (b. 1959, Aberdeen, Washington). Motherwell assigned titles to each of the prints that inscribe site references onto the stones used: Celtic, Douglas, and Aberdeen. While visually different, the three works were printed using the same litho stone...

Robert Motherwell 1915–1991 London Series II: Untitled (Yellow/Black) 1971 Screenprint in colors on J.B. Green mould-made Double Elephant paper 28 h × 41 w in (71 × 104 cm) Signed an...

Silkscreen on Mohawk Superfine Bristol paper. Inscription: unsigned and unnumbered, as issued. Good condition. Notes: From the folio, X + X, Ten Works by Ten Painters, 1964. Publishe...

Lithograph on vélin paper. Paper Size: 12.4 x 9.65 inches. Inscription: Signed in the plate and unnumbered, as issued. Catalogue raisonné references: Terenzio, Stephanie, and Dorothy...