Robert Motherwell

Premonition Open, with Flesh over Grey

1974

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...

Robert Motherwell The Studio 1987 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 152.4 x 182.9 cms (60 x 72 ins) RM13966 P1140 When Motherwell made The Studio, in 1987, he was nearing the end of an...

Robert Motherwell Open Untitled (Yellow) 1981 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 30.5 x 40.6 cms (12 x 16 ins) RM10045 P1019 Recto upper left: RM Verso not signed,not dated Artist's stu...

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...

Robert Motherwell Shem the Penman #19 1983 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 25.4 x 35.6 cms (10 x 14 ins) RM13642 P1069 Recto, upper left: RM Verso: R. Motherwell \ 1983 Verso (on b...

Robert Motherwell Untitled (Open in Yellow, Black and Blue) 1970 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas board 25.4 x 61 cms (10 x 24 ins) RM9819 P588 Signed lower right (recto) Artist's studio number P74-290 Provenance: Dedalus Foundation, New York...

Artist : Kory Twaddle Title : Second Floor Systems Materials : Acrylic, tempera, gouache, glitter, paint brushes, and mixed media on drawing pad cardboard back with spiral top Date ...

Artist : Kory Twaddle Title : Map from Home to Kaz's Gallery Materials : Oil, acrylic, charcoal, conté crayon, oil pastel, pastel, paper, marker, and mixed media on paper Date : 200...

Artist : Kory Twaddle Title : Local Interest Cell Mitosis Library Materials : Acrylic, clothes pins, buttons, rubber bands, bread ties, paper book shelf label, and mixed media on fo...

Artist : Kory Twaddle Title : Poetry Cell Mitosis Library Materials : Acrylic, paper book shelf label, and mixed media on foam core Date : 2019 Dimensions : 38 x 24 x 3 inches Kor...

Artist : Kory Twaddle Title : Jewelry Cell Mitosis Library Materials : Acrylic, bread ties, paper, postage stamps, silica gel, crushed red pepper, paper book shelf label, and mixed ...

Artist : Kory Twaddle Title : California Apartment Biogram Monoprint Materials : Tempera and acrylic monoprint on paper Date : 2008 Dimensions : 52 x 42 x 0.1 inches Kory Twaddle ...