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Robert MotherwellRoots of Abstract Art in America, from the VIP hand signed limited edition print1966
1966
$5,500
£4,223.76
€4,840.38
CA$7,742.64
A$8,673.47
CHF 4,519.67
MX$105,798.43
NOK 57,434.62
SEK 54,156.75
DKK 36,127.28
About the Item
Robert Motherwell
Roots of Abstract Art in America, from the VIP hand signed limited edition, 1966
Lithograph and offset lithograph
Pencil signed and numbered 46/100 on the front
Frame included
Held in original vintage frame
Measurements:
Framed:
22.5 inches vertical by 17.75 by 1
Artwork:
21.5 by 6.65
Signed and numbered 46/100 in graphite pencil on the front
This uncommon pencil signed and numbered lithographic edition, apart from the unsigned poster edition was reserved exclusively for VIPS, on the occasion of the exhibition Roots of Abstract Art in America in Washington, D.C.
The print was commissioned of Motherwell by the Vera List Art Poster Program of the American Federation of Arts, and was published by the American Federation of Arts
Robert Motherwell Biography
Robert Motherwell was born in Aberdeen, Washington, on 24 January 1915. He spent most of his school years in California, where he graduated from Stanford University with majors in philosophy and literature in 1937. He did graduate work in philosophy at Harvard University and spent the 1939-40 school year in France. In 1940 he moved to New York and studied briefly at Columbia University, where he was encouraged by Meyer Schapiro to devote himself to painting rather than scholarship. After a 1941 voyage to Mexico with the Surrealist painter Matta, Motherwell decided to make painting his primary vocation. It was at this time that he began to do “automatic” drawings and that he painted his first mature pictures.
The next year, Motherwell began to exhibit his work in New York and in 1944 he had his first one-person show at Peggy Guggenheim’s “Art of this Century” Gallery. Beginning in the mid-1940s, Motherwell became the leading spokesperson for avant-garde art in America. He exhibited regularly at the Samuel M. Kootz Gallery and in group shows at museums throughout the United States. He lectured widely on abstract painting, and he founded and edited the Documents of Modern Art series. In 1948, he began to work with his celebrated Elegy to the Spanish Republic theme, which he continued to develop throughout his life. From 1950 to 1959, Motherwell also taught painting at Hunter College. At this time, he was a prolific writer and lecturer, and in addition to directing the influential Documents of Modern Art Series, he edited The Dada Painters and Poets: An Anthology, published in 1951.
In 1958, Motherwell was included in the “The New American Painting” exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art. That year he traveled to Spain and France, where he started his Iberia series. During the 1960s, Motherwell exhibited widely in both America and Europe and in 1965 was one of the first artists of his generation to be given a retrospective exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art.
In 1967, Motherwell began to work on his austere Open series. In 1970, moved to Greenwich, Connecticut, where he became deeply involved in printmaking. During the 1970s, he had important retrospective exhibitions in several European cities, and in 1977 he was given a major mural commission for the new wing of the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
During the 1980s, Motherwell undertook a number of monumental paintings, such as The Hollow Men series and The Grand Inquisitor, in which he explored new motifs, as well as some of his most heroic Elegy paintings. A major retrospective exhibition of his work toured a number of American cities in 1983-84, and the last retrospective mounted in his lifetime was shown in Mexico and Texas in 1991.
Robert Motherwell continued to produce significant art right to the end of his life. He died in Provincetown, Massachusetts on July 16, 1991.
-Courtesy Dedalus Foundation
- Creator:Robert Motherwell (1915-1991, American)
- Creation Year:1966
- Dimensions:Height: 22.5 in (57.15 cm)Width: 17.75 in (45.09 cm)Depth: 1 in (2.54 cm)
- Medium:
- Movement & Style:
- Period:
- Condition:Very good condition; not examined outside of vintage period frame, but the work presents well and appears fine. Ships framed.
- Gallery Location:New York, NY
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU1745214425382
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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Notes:
Printed in three colors: black, green, and cream. Poster produced for a special exhibition "Sculpture 76" at The Greenwich Arts Council, Greenwich, CT from June - October, 1976. The image featured on this poster is Motherwell's 1972 acrylic painting on paper "Greenwich Sculpture". Artist's copyright lower left and printer's imprint lower right.
GIA Gallery Poster Disclaimer:
Not to be confused with thousands of contemporary inkjet/giclée/digital reproductions ignorantly or deliberately passed off as originals on the market today. The examples we offer here are the original period vintage (exhibition) posters, created and designed by, or under the supervision and authorization of the artist or their respective estate (posthumously), for various exhibitions and events in which they participated. If applicable, this poster is also fully documented within its respective artists' official catalogue raisonné of authentic graphic works, prints, and or posters.
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