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Robert Motherwell (January 24, 1915 – July 16, 1991) was an American painter and printmaker. He was one of the youngest of the New York School (a phrase he coined) of abstract expressionists, which also included Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko, Willem de Kooning, and Philip Guston.
Motherwell was born in Aberdeen, Washington. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree in philosophy from Stanford University in 1937 before completing one year of a philosophy Ph.D. at Harvard before shifting fields to art and art history, studying under Meyer Schapiro at Columbia University. His rigorous background in rhetoric would serve him and the abstract expressionists well, as he was able to tour the country giving speeches that articulated to the public what it was that he and his friends were doing in New York. Without his tireless devotion to communication (in addition to his prolific painting), well-known abstract expressionists like Rothko, who was extremely shy and rarely left his studio, might not have made it into the public eye. Motherwell's collected writings are a truly exceptional window into the abstract expressionist world. He was a lucid and engaging writer, and his essays are considered a bridge for those who want to learn more about non-representational art but who are put off by dense art criticism.
Motherwell spent significant time in Provincetown, Massachusetts. Cy Twombly studied under him.
Motherwell's greatest goal was to use the staging of his work to convey to the viewer the mental and physical engagement of the artist with the canvas. He preferred using the starkness of black paint as one of the basic elements of his paintings. One of his more well-known techniques involved diluting his paint with turpentine to create a shadow effect.
Motherwell's "Elegies to the Spanish Republic" are generally considered his most significant project. In this series of over one hundred works painted from 1948 to 1967, he lamented the passing of Spain as it existed before the civil war and the ensuing dictatorship of Francisco Franco. The principal motif of the series is a strong, black oval, often repeated and situated between vertical elements—also black—that varied from rectangular to more organic shapes. According to the artist, these forms represent the testicles of a slain bull displayed after a bullfight.
Motherwell was a member of the editorial board of VVV.
The Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth houses the largest collection of Motherwell's works. The Walker Art Center has a nearly-complete collection of his prints. The Empire State Plaza holds some of his work.
He was married to artist Helen Frankenthaler.
Books
- Marika Herskovic, American Abstract Expressionism of the 1950s An Illustrated Survey, (New York School Press, 2003.) ISBN 0-9677994-1-4
- Marika Herskovic, New York School Abstract Expressionists Artists Choice by Artists, (New York School Press, 2000.) ISBN 0-9677994-0-6