The youngest member
of the circle of first generation Abstract Expressionist
painters, Robert Motherwell was unique in this
group for his extensive writings on art as well
as his prolific printmaking. Born in Aberdeen,
Washington, in 1915, Motherwell grew up intending
to become a philosopher and received a bachelor's
degree in philosophy at Stanford University
before heading east for graduate study at Harvard.
As a child Motherwell’s artistic talent
was encouraged with a scholarship for study
at the Otis Art Institute in Los Angeles, but
he did not begin painting seriously until embarking
on a year of European travel in 1938.
In 1941, after traveling to Mexico with Chilean
surrealist Matta Echaurren, Motherwell decided
to paint full time and moved to Greenwich Village.
During this decade, he was most influenced by
European surrealists, including Max Ernst, Yves
Tanguy and André Masson. Interested in
the unconscious mind, Motherwell explored theories
of automatism by creating free-association collages
that he sometimes used as underpinnings for
future painting compositions. Automatism also
offered Motherwell “an active principle
for painting, specifically designed to explore
unknown possibilities.”(1) Experimenting
with this technique, Motherwell developed a
loose yet vigorous brushwork that resonated
with emotion.
Motherwell’s art displayed his passion
for history, literature, and the human condition.
From the beginning he strove to evoke a moral
and political experience through his art. As
an example, the artist drew on the writing of
James Joyce for titles to his paintings, drawings,
and prints throughout his career. A poem by
Spanish poet Frederico García Lorca gave
him the theme of the Elegy to the Spanish Republic,
which Motherwell explored in over 200 works.
Motherwell met William Baziotes in 1942 and
quickly gained entry to the group of New York
artists who would become known as Abstract Expressionists.
In 1943, art collector and patron Peggy Guggenheim
invited Motherwell, along with Jackson Pollock
and Baziotes, to contribute work to an all-collage
group show. The following year, Motherwell had
his first one-man show at Guggenheim’s
Art of This Century Gallery.
In the late 1960s, Motherwell began his Open
series, a striking departure from his gestural
paintings. Typically fields of color marked
with faint charcoal lines suggesting a door
or a window, the Open paintings were originally
inspired by the sight of a small canvas leaning
against a larger one. For the rest of his career,
Motherwell painted in both expressive and austere
modes, in addition to creating collages and
collaborating with printmakers to make limited
edition prints.
Motherwell died suddenly at his home in Provincetown
in the summer of 1991 and worked productively
up to the end. By this time, his career had
been widely celebrated and examined with exhibitions
not only at Museum of Modern Art in New York,
but also at the National Gallery of Art in Washington,
D. C., the Royal Academy in London, the Albright-Knox
Art Gallery in Buffalo and the Tamayo Museum
in Mexico City (this opened posthumously).
© Copyright 2007
Hollis Taggart Galleries
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