Robert MotherwellThe Brown Stripe1967
1967
About the Item
- Creator:Robert Motherwell (1915-1991, American)
- Creation Year:1967
- Dimensions:Height: 14 in (35.56 cm)Width: 8.5 in (21.59 cm)
- Medium:
- Period:
- Condition:
- Gallery Location:London, GB
- 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.
- ShippingRetrieving quote...Ships From: London, United Kingdom
- Return PolicyA return for this item may be initiated within 7 days of delivery.
- BrasileiraBy Robert MotherwellLocated in London, GBRobert 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...Category
1970s Mixed Media
MaterialsPaper, Acrylic
- Red, White and Blue No. 2By Robert MotherwellLocated in London, GBAcrylic and pasted paper on paper 21.6 x 17.8 cms (8 1/2 x 7 ins)Category
20th Century Mixed Media
MaterialsPaper, Acrylic
- Irish BookBy Robert MotherwellLocated in London, GBAcrylic 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...Category
20th Century Abstract Expressionist Mixed Media
MaterialsCanvas, Paper, Acrylic
- Red, White and Blue No. 1By Robert MotherwellLocated in London, GBAcrylic and pasted paper on paper 21.6 x 17.8 cms (8 1/2 x 7 ins)Category
20th Century Abstract Paintings
MaterialsPaper, Acrylic
- Elegy to the Spanish Republic No. 110CBy Robert MotherwellLocated in London, GBRobert 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...Category
1960s Abstract Expressionist Abstract Paintings
MaterialsAcrylic, Laid Paper, Graphite
- Untitled (Iron Forest)By Sam FrancisLocated in London, GBSam Francis (1923-1994) Untitled (Iron Forest) 1989 Acrylic on prepared paper 91.4 x 182.9 cms (36 x 72 ins) SF012Category
Late 20th Century Abstract Expressionist Abstract Paintings
MaterialsAcrylic
- "Flight - Kiss" Textured Mixed Media and Collage Abstract Painting on CanvasLocated in Mantova, MNModern, elegant, and original mixed media (acrylics, pastel, pencil, and collage) painting on unstretched canvas with an irregular shape. Through overlays and transparencies, the contemporary artist Federica Aiello Pini...Category
2010s Abstract Abstract Paintings
MaterialsCanvas, Paper, Pastel, Acrylic, Pencil
- Sin Titulo (A) (VCH059)By Ides KihlenLocated in New York, NYIdes Kihlen (b. 1917) completed this work in 2021 at the age of 104. She is known for her collage work and distinct color palette exhibited in this piece. "Sin Titulo (A) (VCH059)" i...Category
2010s Abstract Mixed Media
MaterialsCanvas, Paper, Acrylic
- Sin Titulo (B) (VCH058)By Ides KihlenLocated in New York, NYIdes Kihlen (b. 1917) completed this work in 2021 at the age of 104. She is known for her collage work and distinct color palette exhibited in this work. "Sin Titulo (B) (VCH058)" is...Category
2010s Abstract Mixed Media
MaterialsCanvas, Paper, Acrylic
- Soft SunLocated in Dallas, TXLayered torn paper collageCategory
2010s Abstract Mixed Media
MaterialsPaper, Mixed Media, Acrylic
- Sky Fog IILocated in Dallas, TXTorn Layered Papers CollageCategory
2010s Abstract Mixed Media
MaterialsPaper, Mixed Media, Acrylic
- Leave No Stone Unturned IILocated in Dallas, TXTorn Layered Papers CollageCategory
2010s Abstract Mixed Media
MaterialsPaper, Mixed Media, Acrylic