20th Century Art

Robert Motherwell Open #125: Jeannie 1969 Acrylic and charcoal on canvasboard 76.2 x 50.8 cms (30 x 20 ins) RM9796 P532 The title of this painting refers to Motherwell's elder daugh...

Robert Motherwell Automatism No. 11 1965 Ink and oil on paper 67.3 x 61.6 cms (26 1/2 x 24 1/4 ins) Part of the Beside the Sea series, a series of oil paintings influenced by Mother...

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 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...

America-La France Variations IV 1984. Lithograph in colors with collage on Tyler Graphics Ltd. handmade paper. Signed in pencil Numbered 17/68 (there were also XVIII artist’s proofs ...

America-La France Variations I 1983-4. Lithograph in colors with collage on Tyler Graphics Ltd. handmade paper. Signed in pencil Numbered 46/70 (there were also XVIII artist’s proofs...

Created by the artist in 1975, Robert Motherwell’s, Untitled is an exceptional etching and aquatint, hand-signed in pencil, and numbered, measuring 30 x 22 in. (76.2 x 60 cm), unfram...

TECHNICAL INFORMATION: Red Samurai, from Octavio Paz suite 1987-88 Lithograph and linoleum cut in colors with chine appliqué on handmade Japanese Masa Dos...

An aquatint etching out of 1988 in a very good condition and bright colours. 57 x 66 cm. Edition of 90, signed and numbered.

Robert Motherwell's "The Red and Black No.52" is an abstract collage that incorporates oil based etching ink, pasted papers, and aquatint on paper. The piece was created between the ...

Acrylic and graphite on paper. 15.2 x 21 cms (6 x 8 1/4 ins)

Acrylic and pasted paper on paper 21.6 x 17.8 cms (8 1/2 x 7 ins)

Acrylic and pasted paper on paper 21.6 x 17.8 cms (8 1/2 x 7 ins)

Acrylic and pasted papers on paper 35.6 x 21 cms (14 x 8 1/2 ins)

Acrylic on paper 79.1 x 106.4 cms (31 1/8 x 41 15/16 ins)

Acrylic, enamel and pasted papers on paper 25.4 x 35.6 cms (10 x 14 ins)

Acrylic, pasted papers, and graphite on paper 56 x 26 cms (22 x 10 1/4 ins)

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

Original color lithograph designed by Robert Motherwell for the 94th Season, Powell Symphony Hall, St. Louis Symphony Orchestra From the limited edition of 120 + A.P.s on Arches Cove...

This striking example of the artist’s work was created by Robert Motherwell in 1989 as an original color lithograph. It is hand-signed – initialed by the artist, lower left – and nu...