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Summary of Robert Motherwell

Possessing perhaps the best and most extensive formal education of all the New York School painters, Robert Motherwell was well versed in literature, philosophy and the European modernist traditions. His paintings, prints and collages feature simple shapes, bold color contrasts and a dynamic balance between restrained and boldly gestural brushstrokes. They reflect not only a dialogue with art history, philosophy and contemporary art, but also a sincere and considered engagement with autobiographical content, contemporary events and the essential human conditions of life, death, oppression and revolution.

Accomplishments

• Motherwell was an accomplished writer and editor, as well as an eloquent speaker. Through his teaching, lectures and publications, he became an unofficial spokesman and interpreter for the Abstract Expressionist movement.
• Several key themes define Motherwell's work: the dialogue between repression and rebellion, between European modernism and a new American vision, and between formal and emotional approaches to art making.
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  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” — unmediate

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  Museum and single exhibitions (selection)

  2023

  Robert Motherwell: Pure Painting, Kunstforum Wien, Vienna, Austria

  Robert Motherwell: Pure Painting, The Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Fort Worth, TX, United States

  2022

  Robert Motherwell Drawing: As Fast as the Mind Itself, The Menil Collection, Houston, TX, United States

  Robert Motherwell: Abstracción poética, Museo Fernando García Ponce (MACAY), Mérida, Mexico

  2020

  Robert Motherwell: Collages, CAC Centro de Arte Contemporáneo Málaga, Málaga, Spain

  2019

  Robert Motherwell: Elegy, Barakat Contemporary Seoul, South Korea

  2017

  Robert Motherwell - Masterprints (Berlin), Kunsthalle Koidl, Berlin, Deutschland | Germany

  2015

  Between Life and Death: Robert Motherwell's Elegies in Bay Area Collections, The de Young Museum, San Francisco, USA
  Robert Motherwell: Lyric Suite, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, USA

  2014

  Robert Motherwell: The East Hampton Years, 1944-1952, Guild Hall Museum, East Hampton, USA
  At five in the afternoon: Robert Motherwell, National Gallery of Australia, Australien | Australia

  2013

  Robert Mother