Robert Motherwell Paintings and Collages: A Catalogue Raisonné 1941 – 1991 Volume 2 by dedalusfoundation

Robert Motherwell Paintings and Collages

Robert Motherwell Paintings and Collages a catalogue raisonné, 1941–1991 volume two paintings on canvas and panel jack flam, katy rogers, and tim clifford

yale university press, new haven and london

This project was initially organized by Joachim Pissarro. Publication of the catalogue raisonné has been supported by The Dedalus Foundation, Inc. Copyright © 2012 by The Dedalus Foundation, Inc., and Yale University. All rights reserved. This book may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, including illustrations, in any form (beyond that copying permitted by Sections 107 and 108 of the U.S. Copyright Law and except by reviewers for the public press), without written permission from the publishers. Essays by Jack Flam copyright © Jack Flam. Essays by Katy Rogers copyright © Katy Rogers. Works by Robert Motherwell copyright © The Dedalus Foundation, Inc., licensed by VAGA, New York. Designed by Katy Homans Set in Plantin and Scala sans type by Tina Henderson Printed in Verona, Italy, by Trifolio 3 volumes ISBN 978-0-300-14915-9 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Flam, Jack D. Robert Motherwell paintings and collages : a catalogue raisonné, 1941–1991 / Jack Flam, Katy Rogers, and Tim Clifford. v. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. Contents: 1. Essays and references — ISBN 978-0-300-14915-9 (3 hardcover volumes in slipcase : alk. paper) 1. Motherwell, Robert—Catalogues raisonnés. I. Rogers, Katy. II. Clifford, Tim, 1969– III. Motherwell, Robert. IV. Title. N6537.M67A4 2012 759.13—dc22 2010029185 A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. The paper in this book meets the requirements of ansi/niso z39.48-1992 (Permanence of Paper). 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Frontispiece: Robert Motherwell with two works in progress, an untitled painting (p214) and Summertime in Italy No. 8 (p236), New York, 1962 Slipcase: Details of Elegy to the Spanish Republic No. 70 (p220)

volume one

Contents

preface | Jack Flam

acknowledgments

introduction Robert Motherwell at Work | Jack Flam

chapter 1 Paintings, 1941–1944: Finding a Voice | Jack Flam

chapter 2 Collages, 1943–1949: A New Medium | Katy Rogers

chapter 3 Paintings, 1944–1948: All That Is Serious and Ambitious | Jack Flam

chapter 4 Paintings, 1948–1958: Elegies to the Spanish Republic | Jack Flam

chapter 5 Collages, 1950–1957: The Tearingness of Collaging | Katy Rogers

chapter 6 Paintings, 1958–1967: Two Figures | Jack Flam

111

chapter 7 Collages, 1958–1970: Intersections | Katy Rogers

123

chapter 8 Paintings, 1967–1974: Opens and Signs | Jack Flam

145

chapter 9 Collages, 1971–1991: Variation and Seriality | Katy Rogers

157

chapter 10 Paintings, 1975–1991: Inventions and Reinventions | Jack Flam

179

chronology | Tim Clifford

260

the making of a motherwell catalogue raisonné | Jack Flam

269

usage guide to the catalogue entries

279

early works

284

list of exhibitions

331

bibliography, writings by the artist, and filmography

384

index of titles and alternative titles

399

index of owners

404

index of the chapters, chronology, and catalogue raisonné entry comments

423

concordance of catalogue raisonné and studio inventory numbers

430

photo and text credits

433

about the authors

Volume Two vii

key to the catalogue entries

Paintings on Canvas and Panel

Volume Three vii

key to the catalogue entries

Collages

403

Paintings on Paper and Paperboard

Key to the Catalogue Entries

What Is Included A is a work executed (either wholly or in part) in the medium of

This concise key to the catalogue raisonné entries has been condensed

paint—such as oil, acrylic, alkyd enamel, casein, or tempera—on a

from the “Usage Guide to the Catalogue Entries” in volume 1, to

support of canvas, canvas board, wood, Masonite, Upson board, Bone

which the reader should refer for a more detailed treatment of the

Board, or any other composite board panel (other than paperboard). A collage is a work in any medium, on any support, that has a pasted-on (or, more rarely, taped-on) element or elements.

issues that are addressed here.

A painting on paper is a painting executed in the medium of paint (as described above) on a support of paper or paperboard (board composed of pulp without added wood particles, such as rag board, illustration board, cardboard, Tycore, or mat board), or on Mylar or any similar kind of flexible plastic sheet. Drawings are not included in this catalogue raisonné, but will be published in a subsequent catalogue dedicated to Motherwell’s drawings. For the purposes of this publication, drawings are works on paper without a collage element that are executed exclusively in dry mediums (such as graphite, charcoal, or crayon), in fluid mediums other than paint (such as ink, watercolor, or gouache, which is an opaque form of watercolor), or in both the dry and fluid mediums listed above. Every effort has been made to make accurate distinctions between paintings on paper and drawings, which are sometimes quite difficult to ascertain.

The Structure of the Entries for the Individual Works In each entry, information about the work is given in the following order: Catalogue Raisonné Number Title Alternative Title(s) Date Materials (Mediums and Supports) Dimensions Inscriptions Artist’s Studio Number Present Owner Provenance Exhibitions References Comments

Catalogue Raisonné Number Each catalogue raisonné number includes a prefix letter (P, C, or W) that designates its medium category. Works within each category are numbered separately and preceded by the letter that designates the category to which they belong: p1–p1209 for paintings on canvas or panel; c1–c889 for collages; and w1–w722 for paintings on paper or vii

paperboard. Within each category sequence, the numbering reflects

appears on a studio inventory card, a studio list, or a gallery shipping

the general chronological order of the works.

list). Errors regarding titles in published sources are noted only in the references to those sources, not in the Alternative Title line.

Title We prefer titles that are inscribed on the work, that were used in pub-

Translations of Motherwell’s English-language titles in foreign exhibitions or publications are not given as Alternative Titles.

lic exhibitions or publications of the work, or that reflect Motherwell’s stated preference as the title of the work. But these three kinds of infor-

Date

mation sometimes conflict: inscribed titles sometimes refer to earlier

Motherwell frequently reworked his paintings and collages, sometimes

versions that have been radically altered; titles used in public exhibi-

years or even decades after they had been begun. As a result, the dates

tions were sometimes later changed; and many works that remained in

that he inscribed on his works frequently indicate when they were

the artist’s studio were never given formal titles. The latter were often

started rather than when they were finished. Often works remained in

given “studio titles”—descriptive titles that were normally entered on

his studio continuously between the times when they were revised; but

the 5 x 8–inch inventory cards known as “studio cards.” Sometimes

almost as frequently, they were sent out on consignment or to exhibi-

pictures went out into the world with such titles, but more frequently

tions, or published, or both, before they were reworked. In order to

they were given formal titles when Motherwell consigned them to a

convey these different conditions in a succinct manner, dates or ranges

gallery or exhibited them. Many of the works in his studio at the time

of dates are expressed in different ways in this publication, depending

of his death had been given only studio titles.

on the specific circumstances under which the works were revised.

In the catalogue entries, we have used codes to differentiate

If a picture was done within a single year, it is dated simply

between studio titles given to works during Motherwell’s lifetime and

to that year, such as 1961, or, if the exact date is uncertain, ca. 1961.

titles given posthumously by the Dedalus Foundation: lifetime stu-

When a picture was worked on over the course of more

dio titles are enclosed within square brackets [ ] and posthumous

than one year and did not leave the studio during that time, its

studio titles within braces { }. These codes, it should be noted, are

date range is given with the starting and finishing dates separated by a

used only in the entries for this catalogue raisonné. When such works

dash (as in 1961–64).

are referred to elsewhere in this publication, the brackets and braces are not used. Works that are part of a series, whether done at the same time or over a period of several years, are given normative titles without a comma before the number of the work within the series. We use “No.”

If a picture was started in one year, then left the studio on consignment or for an exhibition before it was reworked at another time, its starting and finishing dates are separated by a forward slash (as in 1961/1964). If Motherwell worked on a picture continuously over a

to designate “Number,” even if the title inscribed on the back of the

period of time, sent it out, then had it returned to him and

work uses a number sign to designate the number of the work within

revised it, the dates are separated by both dashes and forward slashes

the series. The use of Arabic numbers and Roman numerals generally

(as in 1961–64/1973).

follows Motherwell’s own (often inconsistent) use of those two numbering systems. Not all works in all series were given numbers, and the numbering of series often has gaps, repetitions, or both.

This process of revision after exhibition or consignment was sometimes repeated, so the date of a work can be expressed in terms as complex as 1975–77/1982/1985/1988. The placement of such a work within the chronological sequence of works in its medium category would depend on the main characteristics of its present form. A work

Alternative Title(s)

with a history of revision as complex as this one could be placed among

A number of works have had more than one valid title over time.

works from a number of different years, ranging from 1975 to 1988,

These other titles are listed under Alternative Title(s). They include

depending on the nature of the revisions that were made. Pictures that

titles that were at one time used publicly in exhibitions or publica-

were worked on at more than one time are placed according to when

tions, and titles that are inscribed on the versos of works but that have

they took on their most salient characteristics. As a result, some pic-

been superseded by other titles.

tures are placed chronologically by when they were started, while oth-

Alternative titles are listed in chronological order, beginning

ers are placed according to when they were finished, and still others

with the earliest. Some alternative titles were public titles (the work

are placed according to the date of a determinant intermediate state.

was publicly exhibited under that title, or the title appears on an exhibition checklist), while others were not (for example, a title that viii

key to th e cata l o g ue en t ri es

In establishing the dates of works, we have made extensive use of photographs taken of works at various stages in their development.

Whenever possible, the photographers’ archival numbers are given in

and therefore part of the work, or plays a role in the visual effect

the Comments.

of the work (such as being visible under translucent areas), as in

The dates we give here sometimes vary from those given in past

The Voyage (p87). If the mounting onto panel was not done under the

publications. Our dates are based on extensive and detailed research

supervision of the artist—for example, Gesture Series No. 1 (w373)—or

and supersede the dates that have been previously assigned to the

if the panel is not directly visible or does not play a role in the appear-

works in question. Issues related to the revision and redating of works

ance of the work, the work is considered a painting on paper; for

are often discussed in the Comments.

example, The Figure 4 on an Elegy (w104). Works in dry, graphic materials (such as charcoal) on supports

Materials (Mediums and Supports)

with painted grounds, such as canvas, canvas board, Masonite, or

For paintings on canvas or panel (P) and paintings on paper (W),

toned Upson board, are grouped with paintings on canvas or panel.

the order of the description of materials is as follows: paint medium, other solid materials (such as sand), graphic materials (if any),

Dimensions

and support.

Height precedes width. Dimensions are given in inches (using frac-

For collages (C), the order of the description of materials is as follows: paint, other solid materials such as sand (if any), pasted materials, graphic materials, and support. The main paint mediums for both paintings on canvas or

tions to the nearest eighth), followed by centimeters in parentheses (using decimals rounded off to the nearest tenth). We distinguish between dimensions that have been taken directly from the work by us or by others and dimensions that have been

panel and paintings on paper are designated as follows: oil, acrylic,

approximated by calculating the relative sizes of works in photographs.

casein, and tempera; occasionally, sand or dry pigments were mixed

If the dimensions of a work are not known and cannot be

into the paint. (Water-based paints have been variously described as

approximated, they are described as “Dimensions unknown.”

tempera and casein. Although we have tried to be as precise as possible, in some cases we have received conflicting information about

Inscriptions

whether a work was executed in tempera or casein, and it has not been

The Inscriptions field contains signatures, dates, and other inscrip-

possible to verify exactly which was used.)

tions that appear on either the front (recto) or the back (verso) of a

The main pasted materials in collages are paper and card-

work. Only inscriptions in Motherwell’s own hand are included;

board; sometimes other materials were used, such as wood veneer and

verso inscriptions made by others and information on labels are

animal skin. (While we attempt to identify the sources of paper and

not included.

cardboard elements, such as the brands of cigarettes and other products in the Comments, we do not identify types or brands of paper in the line for mediums and supports.) Motherwell also used a number of dry graphic materials in his

If the recto of a work has no inscriptions, this is noted as “Recto not signed, not dated.” If a painting on canvas or panel has no verso inscriptions, or the verso has not been seen, this is noted as “Verso not signed, not dated,”

paintings and collages, mainly charcoal, graphite, chalk, ink, crayon,

or “Verso not seen.” If a collage or painting on paper has no verso

Conté crayon, and China marker.

inscriptions, or the verso has not been seen, the verso inscription line

The main supports for paintings on canvas or panel are as

is omitted. This is because many fewer collages and paintings on

follows: canvas, canvas board (both commercial and studio-made),

paper contain verso inscriptions, and because those inscriptions that

Masonite, wood, Upson board, Bone Board, or any other composite

may exist are usually covered by mounting or have been removed

board panel other than paperboard.

by framing.

The main supports for paintings on paper are as follows:

For each work, the recto and verso inscriptions are listed sepa-

paper, various kinds of paperboard (such as rag board, illustration

rately, with the word “Recto” or “Verso” followed by a colon. The

board, cardboard, Tycore, or mat board), or Mylar and other kinds of

inscription itself follows the colon. In the inscription, all signatures,

flexible plastic sheets.

dates, titles, and so forth are given exactly as Motherwell wrote them.

The main supports for collages are canvas, canvas board, Upson board, paper, and paperboard. Works executed on paper but mounted onto panel or board under the artist’s supervision have been grouped with paintings on canvas or panel if the panel or board has been painted on, is visible

A line break in a signature or inscription is designated by a backward slash set off by a single empty space between it and whatever precedes or follows it. Additional descriptive information about the inscriptions on a work is given in square brackets or parentheses to the left of the colon. ke y t o t h e cat alog ue e nt rie s

As a rule, information in square brackets to the left of the colon is itali-

For example:

cized and indicates actions taken, such as crossing out, painting over,

Verso: Robert Motherwell \ «The Sentinel» \ NYC \ October \ 1942

or circling; information in parentheses to the left of the colon is not ital-

When Motherwell uses a forward slash within an inscription,

icized and describes the orientation or direction of the inscription, or

we keep it as a forward slash, but in order to avoid confusion

clarifies a source of information.

with the backward slashes that we use to designate line breaks, an

Square brackets to the right of the colon enclose the portion of the inscription that is described by the bracketed action to the

empty space is not left between the forward slash and what follows it. On the verso, if the signature or title has been crossed out or

left of the colon.

blacked out, this is noted. If some of the words in a verso inscription have

For example:

been circled or set within a triangle, this is also noted. (A circled number

Verso [crossed out]: [Motherwell]

inscribed in Motherwell’s hand on the verso of a work done during the

Recto Inscriptions The positions of recto inscriptions are described as follows: upper left, upper center, upper right, lower left, lower center, lower right. If an inscription on the recto is scratched into the paint film with a sharp instrument or drawing tool, it is described as “incised.” If an inscription on the recto is both incised and painted or written, it is described as “incised and inscribed.” On the recto, if all or part of the signature or date (or both) is painted over, that part is described as “painted over” in italic type set within square brackets, with the part of the signature or date that is painted over also set in square brackets (but not italicized). For example: Recto, upper left, incised [painted over]: [RM 67] Recto, lower left [partially painted over]: R Motherwell [62]

years 1945–55, when he was represented by the Samuel M. Kootz Gallery, designates the Kootz Gallery inventory number of the work, except in p19 and p79, where the significance of the circled numbers is unknown.) The orientation of an upside-down verso inscription (rotated 180 degrees) is given in terms of the present orientation of the picture. If a verso inscription is upside down, this is noted in parentheses. If the verso has not been seen but auction catalogues, gallery records, studio cards, or other sources provide information about the verso, “Verso not seen” is followed by the putative inscription information, noted as “per” the provider of the information, quoted directly from the source, and placed within square brackets. If a work has been relined and we have not been able to see the verso, we note “Verso covered by relining, no longer visible.” If a work that has been relined had a documented verso inscription (known by pretreatment photographs or other dependable infor-

Verso Inscriptions

mation) that was subsequently covered by relining, we record what we

Verso inscriptions are listed starting at the upper left. Each verso

know of the inscription, directly transcribed from the source.

inscription that appears in a different place on the back of the work is placed on a separate line, in order to make clear the distinctive

Artist’s Studio Number

features and idiosyncrasies of the various parts of each inscription.

Starting in 1977, studio inventory numbers, called “studio numbers,”

We indicate whether verso inscriptions are directly on the

were assigned to works in Motherwell’s possession. These were entered

verso of the work itself, or on a backing board, stretcher, or strainer.

on the 5 x 8–inch studio cards that were created for each individual

If an inscription is not on the work itself, we specify where it is, in

work. The studio numbers were normally also put on the backs of the

parentheses.

works, usually on the strainers or frames, almost always by someone

The versos of works frequently contain handwritten inscriptions

other than Motherwell himself.

that are not in Motherwell’s hand, which may include titles, dates,

These studio numbers organized his works by medium (desig-

medium, inventory numbers, and so forth. These are not included

nated by a prefix, such as P for painting) and by year (expressed as a

under Inscriptions but are sometimes discussed in the Comments.

two-digit number), as in “p79” to designate a painting done in 1979.

In the verso inscriptions, all signatures, dates, titles, and nota-

These designations of medium and year were followed by a (usually

tions about medium and so forth are given exactly as Motherwell

arbitrary) inventory number, as in “p79-2251.”

wrote them, including particularities or idiosyncrasies such as titles

Eventually, cards were made for earlier works that had left

written in full capitals or set within quotation marks (no part of an

Motherwell’s studio before the card system was initiated (as the works

inscription is placed within quotation marks unless Motherwell put

were published or appeared on the market); this was an early step

quotation marks around it). A line break in a signature or inscription

toward creating a complete catalogue of his works. The works that were

is designated by a backward slash set off by a single empty space

catalogued after they had left his studio were usually given inventory

between it and whatever precedes or follows it.

numbers of 5000 and higher (for example, p57-5122 and c57-5087).

k e y to th e catalo g ue en tri es

This process of making new studio cards as works came to light contin-

The Provenance does not include art dealers and galleries to whom a

ued after Motherwell’s death, supervised by the Dedalus Foundation.

work was consigned; they are included only if they actually owned the

Although the information on the studio cards is not always com-

work. (If consignment information is relevant to the provenance, it is

plete, consistent, or accurate, the cards are a valuable source of infor-

dealt with in the Comments.) Gaps in the provenance are indicated by

mation about titles and changes in title, dates, revisions, exhibitions,

the phrase “unknown owner.”

and consignments. The numbering system on the studio cards estab-

Any unusual circumstances surrounding the provenance of a

lished different categories between paintings (P), collages (C), and

work are noted in the Comments rather than in the Provenance,

drawings (D), as well as monotypes (M) and hand-painted or unique

except for stolen works.

impressions of prints (U). Those categories, however, were rather fluid during Motherwell’s lifetime (particularly P’s changed to D’s

Exhibitions

and vice versa), and the Dedalus Foundation made further changes of

Solo and group exhibitions are listed separately and are arranged

category—not always accurate—posthumously. Sometimes works were

chronologically within each separate list. The abbreviated citations

given more than one studio number; and sometimes the studio num-

refer to the full citations given in the List of Exhibitions (see volume 1),

bers were incomplete, with the date or medium left blank, or replaced

in which solo and group exhibitions are also listed separately and

by fillers, such as asterisks, dashes, empty spaces, or question marks.

arranged chronologically within each separate list. When a work that

As the result of new information that has been discovered in the

appeared in an exhibition was reproduced in the exhibition catalogue,

course of our research, the medium category or date designated by the

the citation for that work is given under Exhibitions rather than

studio number for a work is sometimes different from the medium or

References. (If a work was illustrated in the exhibition catalogue but

date given in this catalogue raisonné.

not shown in the exhibition, it is cited in the References section.) In

If a studio number was not assigned to a work, this field is

citations of exhibition catalogues, the information is given in the fol-

excluded in the catalogue raisonné entry for that work (as opposed to

lowing order: venue (museum, gallery, library, etc.), city, year, cata-

saying “No studio number”).

logue number, and where in the catalogue the work is illustrated. For example:

Present Owner The present owner of each work is listed with the information and

Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1969, cat. no. 253, illus. p. 231. If a work was included in an exhibition of works from the per-

credit line provided by the owner. Some owners have wished to remain

manent collection at the institution that owns it, we do not include

anonymous and are listed with some variation of “Private collection.”

such a presentation of the work among the Exhibitions. But if the

If a work is known to have been destroyed, we note the circumstances

work was included in a monographic or thematic loan exhibition at

of its destruction, if known.

the institution that owns it, or in a show of recent acquisitions, that exhibition is included here.

Provenance

A traveling exhibition (one that was first shown at the orga-

The past owners of each work are listed in chronological order, begin-

nizing museum and then traveled to other institutions) is designated

ning with the first known owner after the work left the artist’s studio,

as such in italics set within parentheses, directly following the year:

and noting the year in which each owner acquired the work, when

(traveling).

known. The present owner is listed as the last entry in the Provenance

For example:

as well as on the Present Owner line. Auction sales are set in square

Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, 1983 (traveling), cat. no. 58, color

brackets and include the name of the auction house, the city, date, and

illus. p. 49; not shown in Los Angeles and Seattle.

lot number, and whether the work is illustrated in the auction catalogue. Past owners have sometimes wished to remain anonymous and are listed with some variation of “Private collection.” If a work was destroyed, or is said to have been destroyed, while

A circulating exhibition is one that was organized by an institution but not shown first at that institution, and in most cases not shown at all at the organizing institution. An exhibition that is categorized as “circulating” is listed under the organizing institution rather

still in the possession of the artist, the Provenance lists the owner as

than the first venue on the exhibition’s itinerary; it is described within

“The artist.” If Motherwell bought back a work after it had been sold

parentheses as “(circulating)” rather than “(traveling).” If a traveling or

to a collector or museum, he is listed as “Robert Motherwell” rather

circulating exhibition had different catalogues (or checklists) at differ-

than as “The artist.” For works that Motherwell left to the Dedalus

ent venues, the catalogue numbers for those exhibitions are listed in

Foundation, the first owner in the Provenance is “Dedalus Foundation.”

the catalogue entry by the venue’s city. ke y t o t h e cat alog ue e nt rie s

For example:

The abbreviated form for an exhibition catalogue in the

Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1967 (circulating), Buenos Aires,

References gives the venue, exh. cat., and year, not separated by

cat. no. 6; Caracas, cat. no. 61; Bogotá, cat. no. 61; Mexico City, cat.

commas.

no. 6.

Errors or discrepancies in titles are cited in the references when When the same institution originates two or more exhibitions in

the same year, the year is preceded by the month the exhibition started, as a way of differentiating between the two exhibitions.

relevant, and alternative titles and foreign languages are also noted. Auction catalogues are cited under Provenance rather than under Exhibitions or References.

When the same institution originates two or more exhibitions in the same month of the same year, the title of the exhibition is included

Comments

along with the month and the year.

The Comments on the individual works are not interpretive in the

For example:

broad sense but are meant to clarify fairly specific issues. These

Museum of Modern Art, New York, Robert Motherwell, September

include the following: variations in titles and dates; revisions and

1965 (traveling).

reworkings; information about early states; the sources and signifi-

Museum of Modern Art, New York, Robert Motherwell:Works on Paper,

cance of titles, including literary allusions and references; statements

September 1965 (circulating).

by Motherwell about the work; any special circumstances (such as a

If an exhibition did not have a proper catalogue, but only a

commission) surrounding the work’s inception or installation; the

checklist or a brochure, the expression “cat. no.” is nonetheless used to

sources of collage elements; and conservation or condition issues.

designate the numbers given in the exhibition checklist or other ephem-

For series of works done around the same time, the main body

era (our source for the “cat. no.” is described in the List of Exhibitions).

of information about the series is generally given in the Comments for

Errors or discrepancies in titles are noted as erroneous when relevant. If a work was shown under an alternative title, this is noted in Exhibitions, and foreign titles are also noted and translated.

the first work (or the first numbered work) in the series. If a work is illustrated with a reproduction that is not of normal quality and format, the source of the reproduction is mentioned in the Comments (that it is from a Polaroid or black-and-white photograph,

References

for example, or from an auction catalogue or a color slide).

The References are listed in an abbreviated form, by author and year,

Photographs have provided important information about

and are arranged chronologically and alphabetically within each year.

the revision and dating of works. Unless stated otherwise, studio pho-

The abbreviated form corresponds to the author and year listed in the

tographs are from the Dedalus Foundation Archives. For photographs

full citation located in the Bibliography (see volume 1), which is also

taken by professional photographers, we cite the photographer’s

organized chronologically and alphabetically within each year by the

archive numbers whenever possible. Motherwell gave his own inven-

author and year. Each citation in the References includes the page

tory numbers to his prints of the photographs taken by Peter A. Juley

numbers on which the work is discussed, illustrated, or both.

& Son, which we cite; the Smithsonian American Art Museum has

When an author is cited in two or more references within a

subsequently posted the Juley photographs on its web site, using

given year, the citations are differentiated with the letters a, b, c, and

Juley’s negative numbers. So for Juley photographs we give both

so forth; these do not indicate order of importance, but rather how

Motherwell’s archive number for the print (which sometimes had cru-

the citations are alphabetized in the Bibliography.

cial information written on the verso) and the Smithsonian American

When Motherwell is quoted discussing a work in a published

Art Museum number, which always starts with “J000.” (In a few

source, this is indicated by an abbreviated form that contains

instances, there was no Motherwell archive number or no Smithsonian

Motherwell’s name and the source and year. The full citations for such

American Art Museum negative number; in those cases only a single

references are located in “Writings by the Artist,” in the Bibliography.

number is given.)

When a work is reproduced only as a comparative figure in an

When we describe a photograph as “early,” we mean that it

exhibition catalogue, or when it is listed in the catalogue but did not

was taken early in the work’s history—that is, at a time close to the

appear in the exhibition, the citation is given under References rather

creation of the work, or of a state of the work.

than in Exhibitions. (In citations to exhibition catalogues, only works that were exhibited are listed under Exhibitions.) But in such a case, the full citation to the exhibition catalogue will be found in the List of Exhibitions rather than in the Bibliography. xii

key to th e catal o g ue en tri es

Paintings on Canvas and Panel

La Belle Mexicaine (Maria) Alternative Titles: Mexican Portrait; La Belle Mexicaine; Maria (Emilia Ferreira y Moyers) 1941 Oil on canvas 29½ x 23¾ in. (74.9 x 60.3 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper right, incised [painted over]: [Motherwell \ 14 June 1941] Recto, upper right [painted over]: [M][illegible] Recto, lower left: Motherwell Verso (on horizontal crossbar): Motherwell #1 Artist’s Studio Number P41-1610 Present Owner Dedalus Foundation Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991

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Solo Exhibitions New Gallery, Bennington College, Vt., 1959, cat. no. 2, as Mexican Portrait.

p. 251, as La Belle Mexicaine; Pleynet 1998, p. 93, as La Belle Mexicaine; Wentrup 2001, p. 45, illus. (fig. 8).

Museo Rufino Tamayo, Mexico City, 1991 (traveling), cat. no. 1, color illus. p. 39, as Maria (Emilia Ferreira y Moyers).

Comments The subject of this portrait is Maria Emilia Ferreira y Moyers, whom Motherwell met on his way to Mexico in June 1941 and married in August 1942. A photograph in the Sidney Janis Gallery archives, which was taken at Motherwell’s 1959 Bennington College exhibition, is inscribed on the back in an unknown hand: “Pic of Maria \ Summer ’41 in \ Mexico \ La Belle Mexicaine \ First serious oil ptg.” This information no doubt came from Motherwell. This work is the only oil painting Motherwell is known to have done during the six months he spent in Mexico that year, which included three months in Taxco with his close friend and mentor, the Chilean painter Matta (Roberto Antonio Sebastián Matta Echaurren, 1911–2002). The overpainted, incised date on the recto of the canvas indicates that Motherwell began to work on it within days of his arrival in Mexico

References Arnason 1966a, illus. p. 25 (fig. 1), as La Belle Mexicaine; Cooney 1968, p. 22, illus. n.p. (pl. 4), referred to in text and in illus. erroneously as Portrait of Maria/La Bella Mexicana; O’Hara 1975, p. 70, as La belle méxicaine; Mattison 1985a, pp. 91–93, illus. p. 92 (fig. 8); Mattison 1985b, pp. 55–58, 64, 73, 100, illus. n.p. (fig. 23), referred to in text and in illus. as La Belle Mexicaine; Mattison 1987, pp. 38–40, 51, 56, 79, illus. p. 48 (fig. 12), referred to in text and in illus. as La Belle Mexicaine; Mattison 1988, p. 185; Pleynet 1989b, pp. 17–20, color illus. p. 18; Manthorne 1990, p. 67, as La Belle Mexicaine; Flam 1991, color illus. n.p. (pl. 1); Pleynet 1991, p. 18, as La Belle Mexicaine; Pleynet 1995, p. 102, as Maria: la belle Mexicaine; Gilbert 1998,

City. He probably finished it in Taxco sometime within the next two months. Elements of the automatist painting process with which this work began are still clearly visible at the center of the image, and the layering of automatist and figurative approaches may in part have resulted from the different times and places in which Motherwell worked on the painting. When first exhibited in 1959, the painting was titled Mexican Portrait; starting around 1966, Motherwell favored La Belle Mexicaine as the title (see Arnason 1966a), to which he subsequently added the subtitle Maria.

Three Figures Ca. 1941 Oil on canvas 41½ x 33½ in. (105.4 x 85.1 cm) Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated Verso: For Livingston + Virginia \ Robert Motherwell \ 1942 Verso (on frame) [crossed out]: [Robert Motherwell \ «El Miedo de la Obscuridad» \ Juillet 1942] Present Owner Martha Gearhart Schermerhorn Provenance Livingston and Virginia Gearhart, 1942; Livingston Gearhart, 1953; Martha Gearhart Schermerhorn, 1984 references Waring 2002, p. 206, as The Three Sisters. Comments This work was probably begun toward the end of 1941, after Motherwell had returned to New York from Mexico. He may have worked on it until 1942, but

the 1942 date on the verso refers to when he dedicated it to his friends, the composer Livingston Gearhart (1916– 1996) and the concert pianist Virginia Gearhart (b. 1915). The crossed-out inscription on the back of the frame refers to Recuerdo de Coyoacán (P8), which was originally titled El Miedo de la Obscuridad. Motherwell had reused the frame from that picture for Three Figures when he gave the work to the Gearharts late in 1942. This painting is referred to as Three Figures in a letter of May 22, 1946, from Motherwell to Dorothy Miller, curator of painting and sculpture at the Museum of Modern Art, New York; this is his only written reference to its title (see “Writings by the Artist,” in the Bibliography).

The Little Spanish Prison Alternative Title: Abstraction with Yellow Stripes 1941–44/ca. 1959/1969 Oil on canvas 27¼ x 17⅛ in. (69.2 x 43.5 cm) Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated Verso covered by relining, no longer visible Artist’s Studio Number P41-1529; P41-5044 Present Owner The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Gift of Renate Ponsold Motherwell Provenance Renate Ponsold Motherwell; Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1985 Solo Exhibitions Art of This Century, New York, October 1944, cat. no. 5. Arts Club of Chicago, 1946 (traveling), cat. no. 2, as Abstraction with Yellow Stripes.

New Gallery, Bennington College, Vt., 1959, cat. no. 4. Museu de Arte Moderna, São Paulo, Brazil, 1961, cat. no. 1. Pasadena Art Museum, Calif., February 1962, cat. no. 1, illus. n.p. Museum of Modern Art, New York, Robert Motherwell, September 1965 (traveling), New York, cat. no. 6, illus. p. 16; Amsterdam, cat. no. 5, illus. n.p.; Essen, cat. no. 6; Turin, cat. no. 6, illus. p. 66 (pl. 66). Art Museum, Princeton University, N.J., 1973, cat. no. 54, illus. p. 40. Museo de Arte Moderno, Mexico City, 1975, cat. no. 1. Städtische Kunsthalle Düsseldorf, 1976 (traveling), cat. no. 1, color illus. p. 55, illus. p. 97. Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, 1977, color illus. n.p. Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1978, cat. no. 1, illus. p. 14. Centro Cultural de la Caixa de Pensions, Barcelona, 1980 (traveling),

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Barcelona, cat. no. 1; Madrid, cat. no. 1, color illus. n.p. Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, 1983 (traveling), cat. no. 1, color illus. p. 17. Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, 1984, cat. no. 11. Group Exhibitions Museum of Modern Art, New York, June 1969, cat. no. 72. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1969, cat. no. 253, illus. p. 231. Cleveland Museum of Art, 1979, cat. no. 89, illus. p. 149. City Art Centre and Fruitmarket Gallery, Edinburgh, 1981, cat. no. 24. Bell Gallery, Brown University, Providence, R.I., and Cantor Art Gallery, College of the Holy Cross, Worcester, Mass., 1985 (traveling), cat. no. 34, illus. p. 75. Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, March 1987 (traveling), cat. no. 28, color illus. p. 54. References Schiff 1961, illus. p. 63; Langsner 1962, p. 46; Moritz 1962, p. 310; Nordland 1962a, p. 22; Lippard 1965, p. 34; Tillim 1965, illus. p. 34; Arnason 1966a, pp. 22, 33, illus. p. 25 (fig. 2); Arnason 1966b, pp. 19, 25, 32; Baro 1966b, illus. p. 6; Grinke 1966, p. 7, erroneously as Little Spanish Prisoner; Schneede 1966, p. 32; Ashton 1967, color illus. p. 16; Cooney 1968, pp. 20, 22, 36, 54, illus. n.p. (pl. 3); Arnason 1969, p. 51; Simon 1969, p. 35; Sandler 1970, p. 203, illus. p. 204 (fig. 16-2); Boehs 1971, p. 119; Rose 1971, p. 55, illus. p. 56; Freed 1972a, p. 8; Motherwell in Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, exh. cat. 1972, p. 17; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, exh. cat. 1972, illus. p. 12 (fig. 2); Britannica Encyclopedia of American Art 1973, p. 382; Volboudt 1973b, p. 83; Wilmerding 1973, p. 284, illus. p. 284; Hobbs 1975b, pp. 5, 104, 118–24, 131– 32, 212–13, illus. n.p. (pl. 1); O’Hara 1975, p. 70; Pleynet 1975, illus. p. 7; Arnason 1976, pp. 13, 22, 55; Der Spiegel 1976, p. 169; Miller 1976, p. 12; Arnason 1977a, p. 535; Arnason 1977b, pp. 12, 17–18, 28–29, 41, 72–73, 82, 97, color illus. n.p. (pl. 58); Cavaliere and Hobbs 1977, p. 112, illus. p. 115; Hughes 1977, p. 50, color illus. p. 51; Motherwell in Arnason 1977b, n.p.; Pleynet 1977, p. 187; Tyler 1977, sec. F,

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p. 7; Wilson 1977b, sec. Calendar, p. 1; Wolfowicz 1977, p. 15; Bonet 1978, p. 6; Carmean 1978, pp. 100, 110; Fineberg 1978, pp. 53–54, 56, illus. p. 53; Hilton 1978, p. 63; MacMillan 1978, illus. p. 6; Overy 1978, p. 10; Pischel 1978, p. 695, color illus. p. 695; Quantrill 1978, p. 48, illus. p. 47 (upside down); Spurling 1978, p. 230; Janie C. Lee Gallery exh. cat. 1979, illus. n.p.; Motherwell in Diamonstein 1979b, p. 378; ABC 1980, p. 21, as Little Prison; Ashton 1980, p. 4; Bonet 1980, pp. 15, 17, illus. p. 20; Chapman 1980, p. 52, illus. p. 51 (fig. 2); Corredór-Matheos 1980, p. 40; Garcia 1980, p. 3; Guisasola 1980, p. 55;

Hernandez 1980, illus. p. 28; Anderson 1981, pp. 109, 132, 221; Lader 1981, p. 273; [Pleynet] 1981, p. 19; Arnason 1982, pp. 9, 17–18, 28–29, 41, 72, 82, color illus. p. 18 (pl. 7); Mattison 1982, p. 13; Winter 1982, p. 76; AlbrightKnox Art Gallery Calendar 1983, p. 3; Ashton 1983, p. 34, color illus. p. 17; Brenson 1983b, sec. 2, p. 35; Meewis 1983, p. 198; Morgan 1983, sec. D, p. 3; Motherwell in Albright-Knox Art Gallery exh. cat. 1983, p. 15, color illus. p. 17; Van Hook 1983, pp. 103, 104, 105, 106, illus. p. 102 (fig. 2); Baitz 1984, sec. Reader’s Guide, p. 15; Collins 1984, p. 94; Gelles 1984, p. 37, illus.

p. 11; Hayes 1984, p. 44; Regan 1984, sec. Review, p. 12; Wallach 1984b, pt. 2, p. 5; Winter 1984, sec. “Things to Do,” p. 3; Berman 1985, p. 64; Danto 1985, p. 59; Digby and Digby 1985, p. 175; Gray 1985, sec. C, p. 4; Kimball 1985, pp. 32, 37; Mattison 1985a, pp. 92, 93; Mattison 1985b, pp. 57, 60, 73, 78–83, 89, 90, 122, 132, 142, 144, 149, 205, 238, illus. n.p. (fig. 40); Rosand 1985, p. 93; Chamorro 1986, p. 214; Permanyer ca. 1986, illus. p. 114; Pleynet 1986, pp. 66, 67; Danto 1987, p. 50; Loughery 1987, p. 111; Mattison 1987, pp. 18–19, 40, 41, 56, 59, 68, 69, 72, 73, 98, 108, 111, 115–16, 177, 202,

illus. p. 66 (fig. 21); Motherwell 1987, p. 7; Soler 1987, p. 37; Clarke 1988, p. 170; Lloyd 1988c, p. 17; Pleynet 1989a, p. 75; Pleynet 1989b, pp. 12, 14, 17–20, 23–24, 27, 66, 215, color illus. p. 67; Brunet-Weinmann 1991, sec. B, p. 2; Danto 1991, color illus. p. 111; Flam 1991, pp. 12–15, 19, 26, color illus. n.p. (pl. 2); Levin 1991, p. 8, illus. p. 8 (fig. 8), referred to in text and in illus. as Spanish Prison (Window); Pleynet 1991, p. 18; Polcari 1991, pp. 302, 304, 307; Scully 1991, p. 19; Kingsley 1992, pp. 304–5, 319; Franzke 1994, p. 6, cover color illus.; Pleynet 1995, p. 106; Sawin 1995, pp. 359, 361; Bonet 1996, p. 8, color illus. p. 6; Caws 1996b, pp. 9, 115, 118, 127, 144, illus. p. 11, color illus. n.p.; Fundació Antoni Tàpies exh. cat. 1996, illus. p. 20; Ràfols-Casamada 1996, p. 19; Anfam 1997, p. 504; Cernuschi 1997, pp. 111– 13, illus. p. 110; del Conde 1997, p. 78; Lynton 1997, p. 39; Rosand 1997, p. 20; Zucker 1997, illus. p. 256 (fig. 33); Chalumeau 1998, p. 8, color illus. p. 11 (pl. 3); Gilbert 1998, pp. 256, 262, 338, 470, illus. p. 547 (fig. 32); Pleynet 1998, p. 92; Ward 1998, p. 55; Scott and Rutkoff 1999, p. 305; Barnier 2000, p. 108; Wentrup 2001, pp. 45, 47, 49, 59, 83, illus. (fig. 10); Anfam 2002, pp. 67, 114, 167, color illus. p. 64 (fig. 47); Caws 2003, pp. 15, 40, 41, 69, 100, 121, 147, illus. p. 40 (ill. 30); Peggy Guggenheim Collection exh. cat. 2003, p. 310; Museum Morsbroich exh. cat. 2004, color illus. p. 18; Van Hensbergen 2004, p. 167; Cooper and Luke 2006, p. 44, color illus. p. 45 (fig. 29); Ashton and Banach 2007, illus. 345; Mattison et al. 2009, p. 54, color illus. p. 31. Comments Motherwell stated that Little Spanish Prison was one of the first paintings he created after his return from Mexico in November 1941 (interview with Arthur Cohen, 1969, which contains Motherwell’s most detailed discussion of this painting; see “Writings by the Artist,” in the Bibliography). However, he subsequently reworked the picture in small but significant ways. The horizontal rectangle at the upper left was originally what Motherwell described as “a window” that revealed “spontaneous underpainting” (Mattison 1987, p. 59). Sometime between 1941 and 1944, he painted this rectangle red, and the picture was

exhibited at Art of This Century and the Arts Club of Chicago in that form. Then, sometime before sending the work to his retrospective exhibition at Bennington College in 1959, he repainted the rectangle black. (According to Hobbs 1975b, p. 118, Motherwell painted this area black as early as 1942–43; but the painting is described in Motherwell’s handwriting as still having “a red rectangle” in an annotated copy of the 1946 Arts Club of Chicago catalogue, now in the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art archives. Thus, we can say with certainty only that the rectangle was painted black sometime between 1946 and the 1959 Bennington College exhibition, when it was referred to by Eugene C. Goossen in his foreword to the exhibition catalogue as “the black interloper in the prophetic ‘Little Spanish Prison.’ ”) But ten years later, on the occasion of the 1969 exhibition The New American Painting, organized by the Museum of Modern Art, Motherwell asked the museum’s conservation department to remove the black paint on the small rectangle, once again revealing the original red. The date of this painting has been given variously, ranging between 1941 and 1944. When first shown at Art of This Century, it was dated 1944 on the exhibition checklist. Then, beginning with the Bennington College exhibition in 1959, it was dated to 1941. From the 1965 Museum of Modern Art retrospective on, it has generally been dated 1941–44, which we follow here. We have nonetheless placed this painting among works from 1941 because it appears that the basic composition was set then, shortly after Motherwell’s return from Mexico.

Spanish Picture with Window Alternative Title: White Painting 1941 Oil on canvas 42 x 34 in. (106.7 x 86.4 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper left: Motherwell 1941 Verso covered by relining and remounting to a hollow-core panel, no longer visible (inscriptions known from a pretreatment photograph) Verso: R. Motherwell \ 1941 Verso (on original top horizontal stretcher): spanish picture with window Verso (on original horizontal crossbar): Motherwell #1 Artist’s Studio Number P41-512 Present Owner Collection of the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth. Museum purchase, the Friends of Art Endowment Fund Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, 1993 Solo Exhibitions New Gallery, Bennington College, Vt., 1959, cat. no. 3, as White Painting. Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, 1977. Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, 1983 (traveling), cat. no. 2, color illus. p. 53; shown in Buffalo and San Francisco only. Padiglione d’Arte Contemporanea, Milan, 1989, cat. no. 1, color illus. p. 30. Museo Rufino Tamayo, Mexico City, 1991 (traveling), cat. no. 3, color illus. p. 38. Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, 1993. Fundació Antoni Tàpies, Barcelona, 1996 (traveling), cat. no. 1, color illus. p. 73. Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, 2004. Group Exhibitions Museum of Modern Art, New York, June 1969, cat. no. 71. City Art Centre and Fruitmarket Gallery, Edinburgh, 1981, cat. no. 23.

Neuberger Museum, State University of New York at Purchase, 1986 (traveling), illus. p. 41. Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, 2002, color illus. p. 115, illus. p. 266. References Arnason 1969, p. 51, illus. p. 50, referred to in text and in illus. as White Painting; Motherwell 1969, n.p.; I. 1971, p. 17; Britannica Encyclopedia of American Art 1973, p. 382; Arnason 1976, pp. 13, 55; Hobbs 1976b, p. 45, illus. p. 37; Arnason 1977a, p. 535; Arnason 1977b, pp. 12, 17–18, 28, 61, 73, illus. p. 16 (pl. 4); Pleynet 1977, p. 187; Gaugh 1978, p. 31; Royal Academy of Arts exh. cat. 1978, illus. p. 14 (cat. no. 2); Anderson 1981, pp. 109, 132, 221, as White Painting; Mattison 1981, p. 199, erroneously as Spanish Wall with Window; [Pleynet] 1981, p. 19; Arnason 1982, pp. 17–18, 28, 61, 73, illus. p. 16 (pl. 4); Alley 1984, p. 56; Kangas 1984, sec. Arts & Leisure; Regan 1984, sec. Review, p. 12; Gaugh 1985, p. 71; Mattison 1985b, pp. 60, 61, 72–73, 75–79, 170–71, 217, 239–40, illus. n.p. (fig. 39); Pleynet 1986, pp. 66, 67; Mattison 1987, pp. 41, 42, 56–59, 183, 203, illus. p. 65 (fig. 20); Appella 1989, p. 3; Ashton 1989, p. 15, color illus. p. 30 (cat. no. 1); D’Amico 1989, p. 31; Flam 1991, pp. 13, 15, 26; Levin 1991, p. 8, illus. p. 8 (fig. 7); Pleynet 1991, p. 13; Kingsley 1992, p. 319; Terenzio 1992b, p. 19, illus. n.p.; Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth Calendar 1993, pp. 1, 3, color illus. p. 4; Tyson 1993a, p. 1; Vogel 1993, sec. C, p. 29; Falgàs 1995, p. 37, erroneously as Spanish Wall with Window; Caws 1996b, p. 144; Ràfols-Casamada 1996, p. 19; Lynton 1997, p. 39; Gilbert 1998, pp. 252, 254, 256, 338, 470, illus. p. 546 (fig. 31); Pleynet 1998, p. 88; Scott and Rutkoff 1999, p. 305; Lynton 2001, color illus. p. 176; Wentrup 2001, pp. 47, 48, illus. (fig. 13); Caws 2003, p. 40, illus. p. 40 (ill. 29); Peggy Guggenheim Collection exh. cat. 2003, p. 355; Mattison et al. 2009, pp. 13–14, 130, color illus. p. 13. Comments This painting is signed and dated 1941, but according to Motherwell’s first wife, Maria Emilia Ferreira y Moyers, it was worked on during the summer of 1942 in Provincetown (unpublished manuscript, “Mr. Motherwell’s Ghost,” by Maria Emilia Ferreira, in the Dedalus

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Foundation Archives). She also states that during the 1940s it had been called The Whiteness of the Whale, after Chapter 42 in Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick. The work was not exhibited until 1959, when it was shown as White Painting. Motherwell gave it the present title when it was exhibited in 1969, after he had done many of the paintings in the Open series. At that time he added the new title to the top horizontal stretcher. In a 1969 questionnaire for the Museum of Modern Art, Motherwell remarked that an early state of this canvas included “a single tiny ‘window,’ almost fully filled with an orange oval sun” where the three vertical bands now are (see “Writings by the Artist,” in the Bibliography). The painting was relined and mounted on a hollow-core panel with the artist’s approval around 1979.

Mexican Night Ca. 1942 Oil on canvas 42 x 34 in. (106.7 x 86.4 cm) Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated Verso not seen Present Owner Unknown Provenance The artist References Arnason 1977b, p. 18, illus. p. 16 (pl. 5); Pleynet 1977, p. 187; [Pleynet] 1981, p. 19; Arnason 1982, p. 18, illus. p. 16 (pl. 5); Mattison 1985b, p. 73, illus. n.p. (fig. 38); Pleynet 1986, pp. 66, 67; Mattison 1987, p. 56; Flam 1991, p. 13; Anfam 2002, p. 67. Comments This work is known only from an early black-and-white photograph (Dedalus Foundation Archives), and we are not certain that it still exists. It was

illustrated in Arnason 1977b with a credit line stating that it was in an “Anonymous Collection.” Arnason used information from Motherwell in his discussion of this painting and related pictures, describing Mexican Night as “a rectangular study in subdued grays and beige with a considerable amount of tonality gradation. This shows a face, suggestive of certain Surrealist works and interesting in terms of Motherwell’s subsequent development of images having to do with the form of the triangle and his obsession with panels.” Arnason goes on to say that this was one of “three or four paintings executed shortly after Motherwell returned from Mexico” (see also P6 and P7), and which, except this one, had “disappeared” (Arnason 1977b, p. 18). Arnason dates this work to 1941– 42, but we believe that it is more likely to have been done in 1942. In 1979, Motherwell gave another painting the title Mexican Night (P974).

{ Title unknown} 1942 Oil on canvas (?) 42 x 34 in. (106.7 x 86.4 cm), approx. Inscriptions Recto, lower right: Motherwell 42 Verso not seen Present Owner Unknown Provenance The artist References Mattison 1985b, p. 90, illus. n.p. (fig. 45, as Untitled [black painting]). Comments This painting is known only from an early black-and-white photograph (Juley photo no. 44; J0004840) and may no longer exist in the form illustrated here. On the back of a print of this photograph from the Sidney Janis Gallery archives, a note in an unknown hand states: “This is a wall.” This note appears to be related to

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the concept of a wall space described in a large untitled drawing that Motherwell executed around 1942 (see fig. 13 in volume 1) on the theme of the “hours of the day,” a concept that had been suggested to him by Matta. That drawing includes a diagram for a gallery installation described on the drawing itself as a “ceiling, floor + end wall.” For more on this drawing, see the Comments for The Sentinel (P10) and Chapter 1 in volume 1.

{ Title unknown}

Recuerdo de Coyoacán

1942 Oil on canvas (?) 42 x 34 in. (106.7 x 86.4 cm), approx.

Alternative Title: El Miedo de la Obscuridad 1942 Oil on canvas 42 x 34 in. (106.7 x 86.4 cm)

Inscriptions Recto, lower right: Motherwell 42 Verso not seen Present Owner Unknown Provenance The artist References Mattison 1985b, p. 90, illus. n.p. (fig. 44, upside down, as Untitled [black painting]). Comments This painting is known only from an early black-and-white photograph (Juley photo no. 46; J0004842) and may no longer exist in the form illustrated here.

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Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated Verso covered by relining, no longer visible (inscription from pretreatment photograph) Verso: Motherwell \ «Recuerdo de \ Coyoacan» Verso: Aug \ 1942 Artist’s Studio Number P41-940 Present Owner Dedalus Foundation Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991 Solo Exhibitions Museo Rufino Tamayo, Mexico City, 1991 (traveling), cat. no. 2, color illus. p. 39.

Fundació Antoni Tàpies, Barcelona, 1996 (traveling), cat. no. 2, color illus. p. 75. Museum Morsbroich, Leverkusen, Germany, 2004, color illus. p. 37. Group Exhibitions Whitlaw Reid Mansion, New York, 1942, illus. n.p. (in early state), as El Miedo de la Obscuridad; possibly not shown. Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y., 1978 (traveling), Ithaca and New York, illus. p. 90 (fig. 92), as Recuerdo de Coyoacan (Memory of Coyoacan); shown in Ithaca and New York only. Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, Conn., 1993 (traveling), cat. no. 160, as Recuerdo de Coyoacán/ Memory of Coyoacan. Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid, 1999 (traveling), color illus. p. 221. El Museo del Barrio, New York, 2009, color illus. p. 192.

References Celentano 1957, pp. 33, 107, illus. n.p. (fig. 38), referred to in text and in illus. as El Miedo de la Obscuridad; Mattison 1985a, p. 93, illus. p. 93 (fig. 10); Mattison 1985b, pp. 72–79, 90–91, 110, 177, 201, 232, illus. n.p. (fig. 37); Mattison 1987, pp. 56–59, 64, 73, 93, 147, 177, 199, illus. p. 64 (fig. 19); Kutner 1992a, sec. C, p. 4; Sawin 1995, p. 230, as El Miedo de la Obscuridad; Gilbert 1998, pp. 252, 254, 256, 338, illus. p. 545 (fig. 30, erroneously as Recuerdo de Coyoacun). Comments The earliest known version of this work, in which two of the white rectangles were painted in darker colors, was reproduced in the catalogue for the 1942 First Papers of Surrealism exhibition, although it is not certain that the work was actually shown there; in that catalogue it was titled El Miedo de la Obscuridad (Fear of Darkness). The present title, however, was mentioned as early as September 25, 1942, in a letter from Motherwell to Meyer Schapiro, in which he said that he had

given it “the somewhat evasive title (though since I know the content of the picture, I don’t care if anyone else does) of ‘Recuerdo de Coyoacan,’ ” which he translated as “Remembrance of Coyoacan” (see “Writings by the Artist,” in the Bibliography; the accents are missing in the letter). This original title was not published until 1978, when the painting was shown in the traveling exhibition Abstract Expressionism: The Formative Years. In the catalogue for that exhibition, this work was also reproduced for the first time in its present state; when preparing the painting for that exhibition, Motherwell had supervised its restoration and made additional revisions in response to the exigencies of conservation. Motherwell stated that the mood of this painting was “anxiety” (Mattison 1987, p. 57). Coyoacán is the neighborhood in Mexico City near where Motherwell lived during the fall of 1941, next door to the Surrealist painter Wolfgang Paalen. It is also where Leon Trotsky had been assassinated only a year earlier, in August 1940. In

Motherwell’s September 25, 1942, letter to Meyer Schapiro, he explains that he had recently been reading Trotsky’s History of the Russian Revolution and that this picture was “an image of his murder.” The relation to Trotsky is also elaborated in handwritten notes by Motherwell from the summer of 1942 (see fig. 177 in volume 1), in which he lists several potential titles for the picture, including La assassination a Coyoacan, La Morte a Coyoacan, and La Chambre de Morte a Coyoacan (misspelling of “Mort” and accents missing in the original; see “Writings by the Artist,” in the Bibliography). A letter from Motherwell to arts patron William Lee McKim, dated February 22, 1946, discusses this work in terms of “a theme I constantly recur to, of dead (and assassinated) political leaders (e.g., ‘Remembrance of Coyoacan,’ exhibited with French surrealists in N.Y. in ’43 [sic])” (see “Writings by the Artist,” in the Bibliography).

{ Title unknown} Ca. 1942 Oil on canvas (?) 42 x 34 in. (106.7 x 86.4 cm), approx. Inscriptions Unknown Present Owner Unknown Provenance The artist Group Exhibitions Whitlaw Reid Mansion, New York, 1942 (not in catalogue). References VVV 1943, illus. p. 86 (in exhibition, reproduced upside down); Gibson 1984, illus. p. 488 (fig. 50, in exhibition); Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía exh. cat. 1999, illus. p. 267 (in exhibition); Noguchi Museum exh. cat. 2005, illus. p. 118 (fig. 69, in exhibition). Comments In our reproduction of this work, it is highlighted in a detail of a photograph paint ing s on canvas and pane l

P10

taken by John D. Schiff when it was installed at the First Papers of Surrealism exhibition in October 1942. The work is known only from this photograph and from its presence in the background of a photographic portrait of Marcel Duchamp by Arnold Newman taken at the same exhibition. (The white lines that intersect it in the photograph are parts of the labyrinthine web of twine that Marcel Duchamp installed throughout the gallery, which was referred to in the exhibition catalogue as his twine, and is now called Sixteen Miles of String.) Motherwell wrote about this painting in a letter of October 13, 1980, to the art historian Yve-Alain Bois: “At the same time there was something about Mondrian’s painting that penetrated my heart, so much so that in the famous huge Surrealist show installed by Marcel Duchamp called The First Papers of Surrealism there is an installation photograph showing a very Mondrianesque painting in that show that has puzzled many art historians in later years, not realizing it was painted

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by me. If the design is somewhat Mondrianesque, the colors are not at all.” Motherwell further remarked that when Mondrian was asked what he thought of this painting, he “replied to the effect that he thought it was a very good picture but ‘too tragic,’ which I was later to learn meant, in Mondrian’s eccentric vocabulary, ‘too personal’ or ‘too particular’ ” (Motherwell 1992, p. 238). The catalogue for the exhibition reproduced a different work, Recuerdo de Coyoacán (P8), then titled El Miedo de la Obscuridad. We do not know whether this work still exists in the form illustrated here.

P10

The Sentinel Alternative Title: Painting (?) 1942 Oil and graphite on canvas 33⅞ x 41⅞ in. (86 x 106.4 cm) Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated Verso: studio, 33 W. 8, N.Y.C. Verso: Robert Motherwell \ «The Sentinel» \ NYC \ October \ 1942 Artist’s Studio Number P42-1460 Present Owner Dedalus Foundation Provenance Art of This Century, 1943; Robert Motherwell, 1945; Dedalus Foundation, 1991 Group Exhibitions Norlyst Gallery, New York, 1943, cat. no. 74. Art of This Century, New York, May 1943, cat. no. 27, as Painting (?).

El Museo del Barrio, New York, 2009, color illus. p. 193. References Mattison 1985b, pp. 60, 91, 177, 206, illus. n.p. (fig. 46); Mattison 1987, p. 41; Peggy Guggenheim Collection exh. cat. 2003, pp. 89, 353. Comments This painting is related to a large untitled drawing (ca. 1942) by Motherwell (see fig. 13 in volume 1) on the theme of the “hours of the day,” which was suggested to Motherwell by Matta. That drawing was in turn a study for an installation of various object-images that Motherwell planned to mount at Peggy Guggenheim’s gallery, Art of This Century, but which was never realized. As in the untitled drawing and in the unrealized gallery installation, certain forms in The Sentinel have quasi-narrative overtones. The irregular, vertical striped form on the left side of the painting, for example, is related to a form that Motherwell described on his untitled drawing as “The Threshold (Spanish Door),”

which was meant to be a pivoting figure, painted on both sides of a panel, that was to have acted as a kind of turnstile for viewers as they entered the gallery space and also as a sentinel. The word no is incised in cursive handwriting (upside down) into the surface of the small purple area at the upper center of this work, an early instance of Motherwell’s use of words in his paintings. It is likely that The Sentinel was the work exhibited as Painting in the May 1943 Spring Salon for Young Artists exhibition at Art of This Century, as it was the first work by Motherwell that Peggy Guggenheim purchased, per the gallery’s sales records for 1942 and 1943 (Bernard Reis Papers, Archives of American Art). The Sentinel was later returned to the artist, perhaps as part of the transaction when Peggy Guggenheim acquired Motherwell’s collage Personage (Autoportrait) (C8).

P11

Personage Alternative Titles: Untitled (Mexico); Dead Personage 1943 Oil, charcoal, and graphite on canvas 48 x 38 in. (121.9 x 96.5 cm)

Provenance Norton Museum of Art, West Palm Beach, Fla., 1946 Solo Exhibitions Art of This Century, New York, October 1944, cat. no. 3, as Untitled (Mexico).

Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y., 1978 (traveling), Ithaca and New York, illus. p. 91 (fig. 95); Tokyo, color illus. n.p. Visual Arts Gallery, Florida International University, Miami, 1982, cat. no. 18.

Inscriptions Recto, upper left: Robert Motherwell 1943

Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, 1983 (traveling), cat. no. 6, color illus. p. 57.

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, March 1987 (traveling), cat. no. 30, illus. p. 56.

Verso (on upper flap of the canvas): Motherwell #1

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, 1984, cat. no. 14.

Verso covered by relining, no longer visible

Group Exhibitions Society of the Four Arts, Palm Beach, Fla., 1946, cat. no. 27.

References Farber 1944, p. 626, as [Untitled ] (Mexico); Museum of Modern Art Bulletin 1951, illus. p. 13; Seitz 1955, pp. 61, 136, illus. n.p. (fig. 139); College Art Journal 1957, illus. p. 84; Arnason 1977b, illus. n.p. (pl. 63, in exhibition); Cavaliere 1979a, illus. p. 29, as Personnage; Arnason 1982, illus. p. 106 (pl. 113, in exhibition); Ashton 1983,

Artist’s Studio Number P43-5001 Present Owner Norton Museum of Art. Purchase, the Palm Beach Art League Construction Account, 46.10

Playhouse Gallery, Miami, 1959. Art Gallery, McCormick Place, Chicago, 1960, cat. no. 20. John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, Sarasota, Fla., 1962.

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p. 34, color illus. p. 57; Seitz 1983, pp. 22, 51, color illus. n.p. (fig. 151); Gaugh 1985, p. 73; Kimball 1985, p. 32; Mattison 1985b, pp. 62, 117–19, illus. n.p. (fig. 66); Mattison 1987, pp. 42, 97–98, illus. p. 99 (fig. 32); Mattison 1988, p. 176, illus. p. 177 (fig. 3); Mackie 1989, pp. 183, 184, illus. n.p., as Personage (Dead Personage); Terenzio 1992b, p. 87; Falgàs 1995, p. 22; OrrCahall et al. 1995, pp. 172–73, color illus. p. 170; Gilbert 1998, p. 454; Peggy Guggenheim Collection exh. cat. 2003, pp. 307, 311, as Untitled (Mexico), illus. p. 77; Arca, Chiesa di San Marco, exh. cat. 2008, illus. p. 140 (in exhibition). Comments Motherwell first called this picture Untitled (Mexico), then Dead Personage; but the title was changed to Personage by his dealer, Samuel M. Kootz. In a letter of February 22, 1946, from Motherwell to arts patron William Lee McKim, the artist pointed out the relationship of his title to “a theme I constantly recur to, of dead (and assassinated) political leaders. . . . The kind of picture I am talking about is what French poets, musicians, and painters mean when they name a work ‘le tombeau de so-and-so.’ In the picture is quite evidently the contour of a coffin, open at the top, which at the same time is a door, with gardens and night at the sides. But these associations have been dropt [sic] by Mr Kootz calling it simply ‘personage’—which does not seem to me to affect its general tonal quality which, for me, is sombre, mournful, subdued, with an undertone of violence, but deliberately generalized in the way that unprogramatic [sic] music is—that is why I hate here to give a ‘program’ ” (see “Writings by the Artist,” in the Bibliography).

P12

The Spanish Prison (Window) Alternative Title: The Spanish Prison 1943–44 Oil on canvas 52¼ x 42⅛ in. (132.7 x 107 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper left [date revised ]: Robert Motherwell \ 194[3]4 Verso covered by relining, no longer visible Artist’s Studio Number P43/44-5011 Present Owner Mr. and Mrs. Meredith J. Long, Houston Provenance Mr. and Mrs. H. Gates Lloyd, 1946; [Christie’s, New York, May 5, 1987, lot 69, illus.]; Mr. and Mrs. Meredith J. Long, Houston, 1987 Solo Exhibitions Art of This Century, New York, October 1944, cat. no. 6. Museum of Modern Art, New York, Robert Motherwell, September 1965 (traveling), New York, cat. no. 7, illus. p. 12 (in early state); Amsterdam, cat. no. 6, illus. n.p. (in early state); Essen, cat. no. 7; Turin, cat. no. 7, illus. p. 67 (pl. 6, in early state). Group Exhibitions Mortimer Brandt Gallery, New York, 1944, cat. no. 43, as The Spanish Prison. Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, 1946, cat. no. 283, as Spanish Prison. Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, 1958, cat. no. 208, as Spanish Prison. Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1963, cat. no. 284, as Spanish Prison. American Federation of Arts, New York, 1967 (circulating), cat. no. 43, illus. p. 14, as Spanish Prison. Institute of Contemporary Art, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, 1967, cat. no. 23, as Spanish Prison. Institute of Contemporary Art, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, 1972, as Spanish Prison. Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y., 1978

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(traveling), Ithaca and New York, illus. p. 91 (fig. 94); Tokyo, illus. n.p. Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1986, illus. p. 52, as Spanish Prison. References Janis 1944, p. 50, as The Spanish Prison; Motherwell in Janis 1944, p. 65, illus. p. 65 (pl. 39, in early state), referred to in text and in illus. as The Spanish Prison; New York Sun 1944, p. 9, as Spanish Prison; R[iley] 1944b, p. 8, as Spanish Prison; Stroup 1944, p. 16, as The Spanish Prison; Motherwell in Tyler 1945, p. 39; Weitz 1950, pp. 88–92, as The Spanish Prison; Seitz 1953, p. 81, illus. p. 81 (in early state), referred to in text and in illus. as Spanish Prison; Seitz 1955, pp. 61–62, 137–38, 192, 213, 279– 80, 399, illus. n.p. (fig. 149, in early state), referred to in text and in illus. as The Spanish Prison; Lanes 1959, p. 29, as The Spanish Prison; Vogue 1965, illus. p. 140 (cat. no. 2, in exhibition); Arnason 1966a, p. 34, illus. p. 26 (fig. 9, in early state), referred to in text and in illus. as Spanish Prison; Robertson 1966a, p. 91, as Spanish Prison; Cooney 1968, p. 40, illus. n.p. (pl. 17); Arnason 1969, illus. p. 50 (in early state, as Spanish Prison); Buettner 1973, p. 253, illus. p. 440 (fig. 18, in early state), referred to in text and in illus. as Spanish Prison; Hobbs 1975b, pp. 124– 26, 132, 137, illus. n.p. (pl. 2, in early state); Arnason 1977b, pp. 21–22, illus. p. 17 (pl. 6, in early state, as Spanish Prison Window); Hadler 1977, p. 107, illus. p. 108 (fig. 15, in early state), referred to in text and in illus. as Spanish Prison; Carmean 1978, p. 100, illus. p. 100 (fig. 5); Polcari 1979, p. 133, as The Spanish Prison; Foster 1980, p. 11, as Spanish Prison; Buettner 1981, pp. 76–77, illus. p. 78 (pl. 10, in early state); Arnason 1982, pp. 21–22, illus. p. 17 (pl. 6, in early state), referred to in text and in illus. as Spanish Prison Window; Seitz 1983, pp. 22, 51–52, 72, 79, 103, 147, color illus. n.p. (fig. 161); Van Hook 1983, p. 106, as Spanish Prison Window; Alley 1984, p. 58, as Spanish Prison Window; Collins 1984, p. 94, illus. p. 94 (fig. 1, in early state); Mattison 1985b, pp. 30–31, 60, 119–20, 179, 206, 240, illus. n.p. (fig. 73), referred to in text and in illus. as The Spanish Prison; Mattison 1987, pp. 41, 98, 148, 177, 203, illus. p. 101 (fig. 34, in early state), referred to in text and in illus. as Spanish Prison; Mackie 1989,

pp. 183, 184; Flam 1991, color illus. n.p. (pl. 6); Levin 1991, p. 8, illus. p. 9 (fig. 9); Polcari 1991, pp. 53, 302, 304, 307, illus. p. 302 (fig. 236), referred to in text and in illus. as The Spanish Prison; MacLeod 1993, p. 145; Zucker 1997, pp. 37, 187, as The Spanish Prison Window; Chalumeau 1998, color illus. p. 12 (pl. 4), as Prison espagnole (Spanish Prison); Gilbert 1998, p. 470; Ward 1998, p. 53, as The Spanish Prison; Scott and Rutkoff 1999, p. 305, as Spanish Prison Window; Wentrup 2001, pp. 46, 54–55, as Spanish Prison Window, illus. (fig. 11); Anfam 2002, p. 67, as Spanish Prison Window; Thierolf 2002, p. 292, illus. p. 292 (fig. 3, in early state), referred to in text and in illus. as Spanish Prison Window; Ashton and Banach 2007, illus. p. 37; Mattison et al. 2009, p. 14, as Spanish Prison. Comments This painting was shown in its final state at Art of This Century in October 1944 as The Spanish Prison (Window), but it was reproduced in an early state in Sidney Janis’s book Abstract and Surrealist Art in America, published that November, along with Motherwell’s comments on it in the caption giving the title as The Spanish Prison (see Motherwell in Janis 1944, p. 65). These variations in title and the publication of the early-state photograph (Juley photo no. 42; J0004838) were consequences of the time gap between Motherwell’s submission of materials to Janis and the book’s publication date. The photograph of the early state was widely reproduced until 1978, when Motherwell had the final state of the painting photographed for the first time; and even after that, the early state was sometimes still reproduced. In subsequent years, the title given for the work also varied frequently, with the word Window sometimes included in or out of parentheses. In the catalogue for his 1950 solo exhibition at the Samuel M. Kootz Gallery, Motherwell wrote that this painting was the “first of the ‘Spanish Elegies’ ” (see “Writings by the Artist,” in the Bibliography).

P12

P13

{ Title unknown} Ca. 1944 Oil on canvas (?) 48 x 38 in. (121.9 x 96.5 cm), approx. Inscriptions Unknown Present Owner Unknown Provenance The artist Solo Exhibitions Art of This Century, New York, October 1944. Comments Our reproduction of this work is extracted from a photograph of it on the wall at Motherwell’s first solo show at Art of This Century in 1944. This painting is one of a number of works in that exhibition that are known only from photographs, and it is among the two still-unidentified works listed under “Oils” on the checklist for it: The Ambiguity of Experience and Equilibrium Abstracted. We do not know which titles

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were assigned to which works, and after their 1944 showing there is no further trace of either the paintings or the titles, except for an inquiry sent to Peggy Guggenheim in September 1945 about possibly including Equilibrium Abstracted in the exhibition A Painting Prophecy—1950 at the Memorial Art Gallery, University of Rochester, New York (Dedalus Foundation Archives). It is possible that the two unidentified oils were painted over sometime after the Art of This Century exhibition, as was the case with another oil painting listed on the same checklist, The Spanish Jailer’s Wife, which was soon repainted and retitled Wall Painting with Stripes (P16).

P14

{ Title unknown} Ca. 1944 Oil on canvas (?) 54 x 72 in. (137.2 x 182.9 cm), approx. Inscriptions Recto, upper left: [illegible] Verso not seen Present Owner Unknown Provenance The artist Solo Exhibitions Art of This Century, New York, October 1944. References Arnason 1977b, illus. n.p. (pl. 64, in exhibition); Arnason 1982, illus. p. 106 (pl. 114, in exhibition); Peggy Guggenheim Collection exh. cat. 2003, illus. p. 311 (fig. 139, in exhibition); Arca, Chiesa di San Marco, exh. cat. 2008, illus. p. 143 (in exhibition).

Comments The painting next to Motherwell in this photograph, taken at Art of This Century in October 1944, is one of the unidentified oil paintings shown there that was subsequently lost from view and possibly painted over or destroyed. See the Comments for P13.

P15

Figure in Pink and Green Alternative Title: Figure in Green and Pink 1944 Oil and sand on canvas 40 x 28 in. (101.6 x 71.1 cm) Inscriptions Recto, lower right, incised: Motherwell 44 Verso: Dec 44 Artist’s Studio Number P44-5133 Present Owner Collection of Phyllis and Jerome Lyle Rappaport Provenance Private collection, ca. 1944; Samuel M. Kootz Gallery, 1946; Mr. and Mrs. John Murray Cuddihy, 1954; Marisa del Re Gallery, Inc., ca. 1982; Phyllis and Jerome Lyle Rappaport, 1985 Solo Exhibitions Samuel M. Kootz Gallery, New York, January 1946, cat. no. 6, as Figure in Green and Pink.

Group Exhibitions Museum of Modern Art, New York, September 1946 (traveling), cat. no. 61, illus. p. 37; shown in New York only. Stamford Museum & Nature Center, Conn., 1982, illus. p. 21, as Figure on Pink and Green. Marisa del Re Gallery, New York, November 1982. References McB[ride] 1946, p. 9; Wolf 1946a, p. 17; Goossen 1959, illus. p. 34; Jinishian 1982, sec. C, p. 9, as Figure on Pink and Green; Raynor 1982, sec. 23, p. 26, as Figure on Pink and Green; Van Hook 1983, p. 104, illus. p. 105 (fig. 5); Mattison 1985b, illus. n.p. (fig. 108); Caws 2003, illus. p. 20 (ill. 13).

P16

Wall Painting with Stripes Alternative Titles: The Spanish Jailer’s Wife; Black and White; Black and Ochre Painting 1944/1945 Oil on canvas 54 x 67⅛ in. (137.2 x 170.5 cm)

Provenance Leo Castelli, before 1952; J. Patrick Lannan Sr., 1958; Lannan Foundation, 1977; Art Institute of Chicago, 1997 Solo Exhibitions Art of This Century, New York, October 1944, cat. no. 7 (shown in early state), as The Spanish Jailer’s Wife.

Inscriptions Recto, lower right: R. Motherwell 44

Arts Club of Chicago, 1946 (traveling), cat. no. 3.

Verso covered by relining, no longer visible (inscriptions known from a pretreatment photograph)

Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin College, Ohio, 1952 (not on checklist).

Verso [painted over]: [«The Spanish Jailer’s Wife»] Verso: black & white 1944 Artist’s Studio Number P44-5013 Present Owner The Art Institute of Chicago. Restricted gift of Muriel Kallis Steinberg Newman in honor of her grandchildren, Ellen Steinberg and Peter Steinberg; gift of Lannan Foundation, 1997.161

Museum of Modern Art, New York, Robert Motherwell, September 1965 (traveling), New York, cat. no. 9, color illus. p. 28; Amsterdam, cat. no. 9, illus. n.p.; Essen, cat. no. 9; Turin, cat. no. 9, illus. p. 69 (pl. 9). Group Exhibitions Lannan Foundation Gallery, Los Angeles, 1989. Lannan Foundation Gallery, Los Angeles, 1991.

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P16

References Frankenstein 1946a, p. 7; Harper’s Bazaar 1948, illus. p. 87 (in studio); Seitz 1955, pp. 78–79, illus. n.p. (fig. 151, in studio, in early state), illus. n.p. (fig. 152); Bennington College exh. cat. 1959, n.p. (erroneously dated 1947), as Black and Ochre Painting; Davis 1965, p. 20, illus. p. 20; Lippard 1965, p. 34; Tillim 1965, illus. p. 35; Arnason 1966a, illus. p. 27 (fig. 8); Arnason 1966b, pp. 19, 20, 28; Robertson 1966a, p. 89, illus. p. 92; Cooney 1968, pp. 36, 37, 38, 56, illus. n.p. (pl. 12); Arnason 1969, pp. 51, 52; Simon 1969, p. 35; Boehs 1971, p. 31; Galerie im Erker exh. cat. 1971, illus. p. 9 (in s tudio, in early state); Art Museum, Princeton University, exh. cat. 1973, illus. p. 18 (in studio, in early state); Hobbs 1975b, p. 214; Arnason 1976, p. 13; Arnason 1977b, pp. 26, 36, 73, illus. n.p. (pls. 62, in studio, in early state, 179); Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University, exh. cat. 1978, Ithaca and New York, illus. p. 89 (fig. 90, in studio, in early state), Tokyo, illus. n.p. (in studio, in early state); Museo de Arte Contemporaneo de Caracas exh. cat. 1979, illus. n.p. (in studio, in early state); Arnason 1982, pp. 26, 36, 73, illus. p. 29 (pl. 18, in studio, in early state), illus. p. 158 (pl. 219); Motherwell in Arnason 1982, p. 158; Albright-Knox Art Gallery exh. cat. 1983, illus. p. 130 (in studio, in early state); Seitz 1983, pp. 28, 51, illus. n.p. (fig. 163, in studio, in early state), color illus. n.p. (fig. 164); Van Hook 1983, pp. 104, 106; Bannon 1984a, illus. p. 100 (in studio, in early state); Glueck 1984b, illus. sec. Magazine, p. 72 (in studio, in early state); Mattison 1985b, pp. 61, 81, 122, 142–46, 149, 227, 243, 250, illus. n.p. (fig. 104); Mattison 1987, pp. 42, 68, 98, 115–16, 123–24, 205, 218–19, illus. p. 91 (fig. 31, in studio, in early state), illus. p. 120 (fig. 44); American Art 1991, illus. p. 70 (in studio, in early state); Danto 1991, illus. p. 111 (in studio, in early state); Flam 1991, illus. p. 30 (in studio, in early state); Rose 1991, illus. p. 8 (in studio, in early state); Terenzio 1992b, cover illus. (in studio, in early state); Huntington 1993, illus. p. 8 (in studio, in early state); Dortch 1994, illus. p. 134 (fig. 60, in studio, in early state); Fineberg 1995, illus. p. 69 (fig. 3.31, in studio, in early state); Craven 1996, illus. p. 27 (in

studio, in early state); Artner 1997, sec. 1, p. 18, illus. sec. 1, p. 18; Chalumeau 1998, illus. p. 8 (fig. j, in studio, in early state); Schulman 1999, p. 12, color illus. p. 13; Scott and Rutkoff 1999, illus. p. 304 (in studio, in early state); Fineberg 2000, illus. p. 69 (fig. 3.31, in studio, in early state); Gordon 2001, illus. p. 50 (in studio); Smith 2009, sec. C, p. 5. Comments An early composition on this canvas was exhibited in October 1944 in Motherwell’s solo exhibition at Art of This Century as The Spanish Jailer’s Wife. It was then repainted and shown as Wall Painting with Stripes at the Arts Club of Chicago in 1946. Photographs of the verso taken prior to its relining in 1985 reveal the inscription “The Spanish Jailer’s Wife,” covered over but still partially legible; another title, “Black and White,” painted below this, was never used publicly. This painting was almost entirely repainted after it was shown at Art of This Century. An intermediary state can be seen in a photograph taken of the artist in his studio at 33 West Eighth Street sometime in 1944 or 1945 (see fig. 32 in volume 1). In that photograph the painting is visible in a form similar to the final state, but remnants of figurative forms can still be clearly discerned. Pentimenti and heavy traces of previous impasto forms on the surface of the finished painting bear evidence of the early state that depicted three stylized figures, similar to those in another large painting of about the same dimensions (P14), which was also shown in Motherwell’s 1944 solo exhibition at Art of This Century. That painting and this one, then called The Spanish Jailer’s Wife, were the largest paintings we know to have been included in the 1944 exhibition, which indicates the importance of the “three figures” motif to him at the time. (In 1943–44, Motherwell had developed the pictorial language of these figurative works in a series of over thirty drawings, including several that depict three figures being shot, as in fig. 9 in volume 1.)

P17

{ Title unknown} Ca. 1944 Oil on canvas (?) 36 x 30 in. (91.4 x 76.2 cm), approx. Inscriptions Unknown Present Owner Unknown Provenance The artist References Seitz 1955, illus. n.p. (fig. 151, in studio); Galerie im Erker exh. cat. 1971, illus. p. 9 (in studio); Art Museum, Princeton University, exh. cat. 1973, illus. p. 18 (in studio); Arnason 1977b, illus. n.p. (pl. 62, in studio); Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University, exh. cat. 1978, Ithaca and New York, illus. p. 89 (fig. 90, in studio), Tokyo, illus. n.p. (in studio); Museo de Arte Contemporaneo de Caracas exh. cat. 1979, illus. n.p. (in studio); Arnason 1982, illus. p. 29 (pl. 18, in studio); Albright-Knox Art Gallery exh. cat. 1983, illus. p. 130 (in

studio); Seitz 1983, illus. n.p. (fig. 163, in studio); Bannon 1984a, illus. p. 100 (in studio); Glueck 1984b, illus. sec. Magazine, p. 72 (in studio); American Art 1991, illus. p. 70 (in studio); Danto 1991, illus. p. 111 (in studio); Flam 1991, illus. p. 30 (in studio); Rose 1991, illus. p. 8 (in studio); Terenzio 1992b, cover illus. (in studio); Huntington 1993, illus. p. 8 (in studio); Dortch 1994, illus. p. 134 (fig. 60, in studio); Fineberg 1995, illus. p. 69 (fig. 3.31, in studio); Craven 1996, illus. p. 27 (in studio); Chalumeau 1998, illus. p. 8 (fig. j, in studio); Scott and Rutkoff 1999, illus. p. 304 (in studio); Fineberg 2000, illus. p. 69 (fig. 3.31, in studio). Comments This painting is known only from a photograph taken of Motherwell in his studio, where it appears (here highlighted) on the wall above his head and to his right (Juley photo no. J0004981; this photograph is frequently misdated 1943, but it dates from late 1944 or early 1945). The painting may have been repainted or destroyed after the photograph was taken.

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P18

Figuration 1945 Oil, sand, and graphite on canvas 18 x 14 in. (45.7 x 35.6 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper right: Motherwell 45 Verso: Jan 45 \ “Figuration” Artist’s Studio Number P45-5145 Present Owner Collection of Joann and Gifford Phillips Provenance Joann and Gifford Phillips, 1960 Solo Exhibitions Museum of Modern Art, New York, Robert Motherwell, September 1965 (traveling), New York, cat. no. 10, illus. p. 16; Amsterdam, cat. no. 10, illus. n.p.; Essen, cat. no. 10; Turin, cat. no. 10, illus. p. 70 (pl. 10). Otis Art Institute, Los Angeles, 1974, cat. no. 3, illus. n.p.

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P19

Städtische Kunsthalle Düsseldorf, 1976 (traveling), cat. no. 4, illus. p. 98.

P19

Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, 1983 (traveling), cat. no. 8, illus. p. 58; not shown in Los Angeles and Washington, D.C.

Alternative Title: Figure 1945 Oil on Masonite 24 x 18 in. (61 x 45.7 cm)

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, 1984, cat. no. 1.

Inscriptions Recto, upper left, incised and inscribed: Motherwell 45

Group Exhibitions UCLA Art Galleries, Los Angeles, 1962, cat. no. 66. References Kay 1965, p. 4; Arnason 1966a, p. 34, illus. p. 29 (fig. 13, upside down); Cooney 1968, illus. n.p. (pl. 16); Arnason 1977b, p. 25; Pleynet 1977, p. 189; Arnason 1982, p. 25; Inje 1984, p. 13; Mattison 1985b, p. 165, illus. n.p. (fig. 122); Pleynet 1986, p. 70; Mattison 1987, pp. 141, 148.

Figure in Red

Verso: R. Motherwell 1945 \ “Figure” Verso [circled ]: [4] Figure \ in \ Red Artist’s Studio Number P45-5016; P46-5059 Present Owner Private collection, New York Provenance Samuel M. Kootz Gallery, ca. 1945; private collection, ca. 1946; private collection, New York, ca. 1984 Solo Exhibitions Arts Club of Chicago, 1946 (traveling), cat. no. 4.

Group Exhibitions Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, 1945, cat. no. 109, as Figure. Museum of Modern Art, New York, September 1946 (traveling), cat. no. 64, illus. p. 38 (upside down); not shown in Bloomington. Des Moines Art Center, 1948, cat. no. 83. Marisa del Re Gallery, New York, November 1982. References Jewell 1945b, sec. 2, p. 7, as Figure; Seitz 1955, illus. n.p. (fig. 154b); Celentano 1957, p. 35; Seitz 1983, illus. n.p. (fig. 167, upside down); Mattison 1985b, pp. 179–81, 218, illus. n.p. (fig. 157); Mattison 1987, pp. 148–49, 184, illus. p. 157 (fig. 63, upside down).

P20

Still Life with Black 1945 Oil on canvas 18¼ x 14 in. (46.4 x 35.6 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper right: Robert Motherwell \ 45 Verso not seen [“dated Jan 45 and partially titled on the reverse; titled on the stretcher,” per Sotheby’s 1997] Present Owner Unknown Provenance Walter Pistole, 1945; Estate of Walter Pistole, 1994; [Sotheby’s, New York, May 7, 1997, lot 236, illus.]; unknown owner, 1997 Solo Exhibitions Samuel M. Kootz Gallery, New York, January 1946, cat. no. 3. Arts Club of Chicago, 1946 (traveling), cat. no. 7. References Coates 1946, p. 50.

Comments Our reproduction of this work comes from the 1997 Sotheby’s auction catalogue.

P21

P22

Head

Brown Study

1945 Oil on canvas 18 x 14 in. (45.7 x 35.6 cm)

1945 Oil on canvas board 18 x 13¾ in. (45.7 x 34.9 cm)

Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated

Inscriptions Recto, upper right: R. Motherwell 45

Verso covered by relining, no longer visible [“signed, dated, and titled,” per present owner]

Verso: R. Motherwell \ “Brown Study” \ 1945

Present Owner Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Robert Straus Provenance Samuel M. Kootz Gallery, 1945; Mr. and Mrs. Robert Straus, 1946 Group Exhibitions Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, 1947, cat. no. 35. Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, 1975.

Artist’s Studio Number P45-7 Present Owner Denver Art Museum Collection. Acquired through the generosity of the Dedalus Foundation and the following donors: Florence R. & Ralph L. Burgess Trust, Laurencin Deaccessions Fund, Vance Kirkland Acquisitions Fund, and the Marion G. Hendrie Fund. Major memorial gifts from Joan E. Anderman, Mr. and Mrs. Hugh R. Catherwood, Mr. and Mrs. John B. Chafee, Mr. and Mrs. Thomas E. Congdon, Mr. and Mrs. Cortlandt S. Dietler, Suzanne Farver, Katherine L. Lawrence, Jan and Frederick Mayer,

paint ing s on canvas and pane l

P22

Caroline Morgan, Linda Ringsby, Mr. and Mrs. Walter S. Rosenberry III, Sally H. Story, and three anonymous donors. Additional funding from the Motherwell Angels: Mark and Polly Addison, Philip and Nancy Anschutz, Nancy Lake-Benson, H. Kirk Brown III, Robin and Steven Chotin, Colorado National Bank, John and Lisa Dorn, William L. and Dr. Margaret B. Dorn, Mr. and Mrs. Lewis W. Douglas Jr., Duncan Oil, Inc., First Interstate Bank of Denver, Charles and Diane Gallagher, Dorothy Strear Goodstein, Diane and Bob Greenlee, Fred and Jane Hamilton, Dr. Charles and Linda Hamlin, Mark and Diana Hayden, Hinckley & Schmitt, Inc., J. Charles Jordy Jr., Key Bank of Colorado, Elizabeth T. Kirkpatrick, Amie Knox and Jim Kelley, Mr. and Mrs. William C. Kurtz, Edward and Margaret Leede, Susan and John W. Madden III, Jan and Frederick Mayer, McClain-Finlon Advertising, Inc., Lilly and Paul Merage, Larry and Carol Mizel, Andrea Pollack, Priscilla Press and Joel Ehrlich, Judy and Ken Robins, Barbara and George

pa in tin gs on ca n v as an d pa n el

Schmitt, Tremont Corporation, Vail Valley Arts Council, Ginny Williams, and Robbi and Carl Williams Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Denver Art Museum, 1994 Solo Exhibitions Denver Art Museum, 1995, illus. n.p. References Mattison 1985b, illus. n.p. (fig. 128); Paglia 1996, p. 56; Tieken 2000, illus. n.p.

P23

Abstraction on Turquoise Alternative Titles: [Untitled (Figure in Turquoise)]; {Line Figure in Turquoise Green} 1945 Oil, enamel, sand, and charcoal on canvas board 24 x 19¾ in. (61 x 50.2 cm) Inscriptions Recto, lower right, incised: Motherwell 45 Verso not signed, not dated Artist’s Studio Number P45-2487 Present Owner Dedalus Foundation Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991 Solo Exhibitions Samuel M. Kootz Gallery, New York, January 1946, cat. no. 9.

Group Exhibitions Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid, 1999 (traveling), color illus. p. 253, as Line Figure on Turquoise Green; shown in Madrid only. References Mattison 1985b, p. 165, illus. n.p. (fig. 121), referred to in text and in illus. erroneously as Figure in Turquoise; Mattison 1987, p. 141, illus. p. 138 (fig. 53), referred to in text and in illus. erroneously as Line Figure in Green; Caws 2003, illus. p. 16 (ill. 7). Comments A photograph of this painting taken around 1982 by Eric Pollitzer shows it without the red paint drip at the upper right. According to conservator Matthew Skopek, the red drip belongs to the original paint film and may have been caused by exposure to heat sometime after 1982.

P24

Line Figure on Green 1945 Oil and sand on canvas board 16 x 11⅞ in. (40.6 x 30.2 cm) Inscriptions Recto, lower right: Motherwell 45 Verso not signed, not dated Artist’s Studio Number P45-2484 Present Owner Dedalus Foundation Provenance Samuel M. Kootz Gallery, 1946; Vera G. and Albert A. List, 1946; private collection; [Parke-Bernet Galleries, Inc., New York, May 13, 1964, lot 50]; Marlborough-Gerson Gallery, Inc., New York, 1964; Robert Motherwell, 1966; Dedalus Foundation, 1991 Solo Exhibitions Samuel M. Kootz Gallery, New York, January 1946, cat. no. 4.

Group Exhibitions Samuel M. Kootz Gallery, New York, May 1946. References Mattison 1985b, p. 165, illus. n.p. (fig. 123), referred to in text and in illus. as Line Figure in Green; Mattison 1987, p. 141, as Line Figure in Green. Comments In 1966, Motherwell reacquired this painting and another early work (P35) from the Marlborough-Gerson Gallery in exchange for two recent drawings: Beside the Sea No. 40 (unknown owner), and Spontaneity No. 1 (The Century Association, New York).

P25

P26

P25

P26

Untitled

Ca. 1945 Oil and sand on canvas board 12 x 9 in. (30.5 x 22.9 cm) Inscriptions Unknown

Alternative Titles: {Two Figures}; {Untitled (The Studio)} 1945 Oil and sand on canvas board 11⅞ x 9 in. (30.2 x 22.9 cm)

Present Owner Unknown

Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated

Provenance Unknown owner; [Sotheby Parke Bernet, Inc., New York, October 16, 1981, lot 197A, illus.]; unknown owner, 1981; [Sotheby Parke Bernet, Inc., New York, November 5, 1987, lot 103A, illus.]; unknown owner, 1987

Verso not signed, not dated

Comments Our reproduction of this painting comes from the 1987 Sotheby Parke Bernet auction catalogue.

Artist’s Studio Number P45-2486 Present Owner Dedalus Foundation Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991 Solo Exhibitions Manny Silverman Gallery, Los Angeles, 2000, cat. no. 30, as Two Figures. Group Exhibitions Guild Hall Museum, East Hampton, N.Y., 1996, as Two Figures.

Arts Club of Chicago, 1946 (traveling), cat. no. 5.

paint ing s on canvas and pane l

P27

Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid, 1999 (traveling), color illus. p. 255, as Untitled (The Studio); shown in Madrid only. References Mattison 1985b, p. 165, illus. n.p. (fig. 120); Mattison 1987, illus. p. 136 (fig. 51).

P27

P28

P29

Untitled

Figuration

Ca. 1945 Oil on Masonite 12 x 9 in. (30.5 x 22.9 cm)

1945 Oil and sand on canvas Dimensions unknown

Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated

Inscriptions Recto, lower right: Motherwell 45

Alternative Title: Flight 1945 Oil and graphite on canvas 23⅜ x 19½ in. (59.4 x 49.5 cm), approx.

Verso: For \ Ann + Frank \ their friendly relative \ Robert Motherwell \ 1951

Verso not seen

Present Owner Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. Anonymous gift, 1997.48 Provenance Ann Rosener, 1951; Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, 1997 Comments This painting appears to be a variation on the compositional structure of two other untitled works of the same size (P25 and P26). It is inscribed on the verso to the artist’s stepsister Ann Rosener and her husband, the art dealer Frank Perls. The 1951 date on the verso refers to the date of the dedication, not to the date when the work was executed. 22

pain tin gs on ca n v a s a n d pan el

P29

P28

Present Owner Unknown Provenance The artist References Mattison 1985b, illus. n.p. (fig. 130). Comments This work is known only from an early black-and-white photograph. We do not know whether it still exists in the form illustrated here.

Inscriptions Recto, upper left: Motherwell 45 Verso not seen [“signed, titled, and dated on reverse upper left \ inscribed on reverse upper left ‘Sketch May 1945,’ ” per document in the Dedalus Foundation Archives] Present Owner Unknown Provenance Samuel M. Kootz Gallery, 1946; Mr. and Mrs. George Wittenborn, ca. 1947; private collection; private collection, 1967; unknown owner, ca. 1970 References Mattison 1985b, illus. n.p. (fig. 141). Comments In a letter written to Motherwell sometime around 1965, Joyce Wittenborn

P30

(the wife of George Wittenborn, the publisher of the Documents of Modern Art series) lists this work with the title Flight (Dedalus Foundation Archives). The title Figuration, however, is recorded on multiple black-and-white photographs (Dedalus Foundation Archives).

P31

P30

P31

Figure

Personnage

1945 Oil on canvas mounted on board 30 x 21¾ in. (76.2 x 55.3 cm)

1945 Oil and charcoal on canvas board 23½ x 17½ in. (59.7 x 44.5 cm)

Inscriptions Recto: [“signed,” per Sotheby Parke Bernet 1971]

Inscriptions Recto, upper right: Motherwell 45

Verso not seen [“signed, titled, and dated 1945,” per Sotheby Parke Bernet 1971]

Present Owner National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. Gift of Aaron I. Fleischman, in honor of the 50th anniversary of the National Gallery of Art

Present Owner Unknown Provenance Samuel M. Kootz Gallery, 1945; unknown owner; [Sotheby Parke Bernet, Inc., New York, November 24, 1971, lot 117, illus.]; unknown owner, 1971 Comments Our reproduction of this work comes from the 1971 Sotheby Parke Bernet auction catalogue; the signature is not visible in the reproduction.

Verso not signed, not dated

Kunstmuseum St. Gallen, Switzerland, 1966, cat. no. 88. Galerie Beyeler, Basel Art Fair, Switzerland, 1971. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1991, color illus. p. 363. Comments During the 1940s Motherwell used both the English and French spellings of the word “personage” in his titles.

Provenance G. David Thompson; Galerie Beyeler, 1960; private collection, 1983; private collection, 1984; Forum Gallery, ca. 1988; André Emmerich Gallery, 1989; Aaron I. Fleischman, 1990; National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1991 Group Exhibitions Kunsthaus Zürich, 1960 (traveling), Zurich, cat. no. 155; Düsseldorf, cat. no. 155; The Hague, cat. no. 149; Turin, cat. no. 103.

paint ing s on canvas and pane l

P32

Small Personage 1945 Oil on canvas board 10 x 8 in. (25.4 x 20.3 cm) Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated Verso not seen Present Owner Unknown (said to have been destroyed, ca. 1946) Provenance Margarete and Heinz Schultz, 1945; Robert Motherwell, ca. 1946 Solo Exhibitions Arts Club of Chicago, 1946 (traveling), cat. no. 8. Group Exhibitions Museum of Modern Art, New York, September 1946 (traveling), cat. no. 68, illus. p. 36; shown in New York only. References Celentano 1957, pp. 35, 98; Mattison 1985b, p. 165, illus. n.p. (fig. 125); Mattison 1987, p. 141.

pain tin gs on ca n v a s a n d pan el

Comments The composition of this painting is similar to that of a painting titled Large Personage, which was an early version of In Yellow and Black (P46). John Cuddihy, who in the mid-1950s codirected the HC Gallery in Provincetown with Nathan Halper (and who kept extensive Motherwell scrapbooks, which are now in the archives of the Museum of Modern Art, New York), wrote in his copy of the catalogue for the 1946 exhibition Fourteen Americans that this painting was “Sold to Schultz, retrieved, destroyed.” (Heinz Schultz was the co-owner of Wittenborn, Schultz, Inc., the publishers of the Documents of Modern Art series.) Our reproduction of this work comes from the 1946 Museum of Modern Art catalogue.

P33

Composition 1945 Oil on canvas board 24 x 20 in. (61 x 50.8 cm) Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated Verso not seen [“signed, titled, and dated 1945,” per Sotheby’s 1988] Artist’s Studio Number P45-5189 Present Owner Unknown Provenance Samuel M. Kootz Gallery, 1946; private collection; unknown owner; [Sotheby’s, New York, February 19, 1988, lot 3, illus. (not sold)]; [Sotheby’s, New York, October 8, 1988, lot 17, illus. (not sold)] Solo Exhibitions Samuel M. Kootz Gallery, New York, January 1946, cat. no. 7. Arts Club of Chicago, 1946 (traveling), cat. no. 6.

Comments Our reproduction of this work comes from the October 1988 Sotheby’s catalogue.

P34

Line Figure in Beige and Mauve Alternative Title: Untitled 1946 Oil and sand on canvas board 30 x 22 in. (76.2 x 55.9 cm) Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated Verso: Robert Motherwell \ 1946 \ oil on canvas Verso (on pasted cardboard): Robert Motherwell \ oil on canvas \ 1946 Present Owner Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford, Conn. The Ella Gallup Sumner and Mary Catlin Sumner Collection Fund Provenance Mr. and Mrs. Pierre Chareau, ca. 1946; Dollie Chareau, 1950; Kay Hillman, New York; [Sotheby Parke Bernet, Inc., New York, May 3, 1974, lot 503, illus.]; Acquavella Contemporary Art, Inc., 1974; Nancy Ittleson, 1974; [Sotheby’s, New York, October 4, 1990, lot 16,

P35

illus.]; Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford, Conn., 1990

P35

Solo Exhibitions Samuel M. Kootz Gallery, New York, January 1946, cat. no. 5.

1946 Oil and sand on canvas board 17⅜ x 13⅝ in. (44.1 x 34.6 cm)

Group Exhibitions Museum of Modern Art, New York, September 1946 (traveling), cat. no. 66; shown in New York only.

Inscriptions Recto, upper right: R. Motherwell 46

Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford, Conn., 1991, as Untitled.

Artist’s Studio Number P46-8

Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford, Conn., 2005, as Untitled.

Present Owner Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh. Purchase, gift of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Denby, by exchange

References Coates 1946, p. 50; New York Herald Tribune 1946, p. 7, as Beige and Mauve. Comments We have restored the original title of this work, which was forgotten after 1946. Motherwell commented on his use of mauve in a letter of May 22, 1946, to Dorothy Miller: “I have always intended to repaint the border of the Chareau picture, so that ought to be kept in mind if you intend borrowing it, the hue is a little too sweet, I think” (see “Writings by the Artist,” in the Bibliography).

Abstraction

Verso not signed, not dated

References Mattison 1985b, p. 179, illus. n.p. (fig. 159), referred to in text and in illus. as Figuration; Caws 2003, illus. p. 43 (ill. 31). Comments Motherwell reacquired this painting and another early work (P24) from the Marlborough-Gerson Gallery in 1966, in exchange for two recent ink-onpaper works: Beside the Sea No. 40 (unknown owner) and Spontaneity No. 1 (The Century Association, New York).

Provenance Vera G. and Albert A. List, ca. 1946; [Parke-Bernet Galleries, Inc., New York, May 13, 1964, lot 58]; Marlborough-Gerson Gallery, Inc., New York, 1964; Robert Motherwell, 1966; Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, 1994 Group Exhibitions Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, 2002, cat. no. 199. paint ing s on canvas and pane l

P36

The Poet Alternative Title: Figure with Stars 1946 Oil and sand on canvas board 24 x 20 in. (61 x 50.8 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper right: Motherwell 46 Verso: Motherwell \ “The Poet” \ Jan–June 1946 Artist’s Studio Number P46-5150; P46-5250 Present Owner Private collection Provenance Samuel M. Kootz Gallery, 1946; Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Kootz, ca. 1947; [Christie’s, New York, November 12, 1980, lot 14, illus.]; unknown owner, 1980; private collection, 2011 Solo Exhibitions Samuel M. Kootz Gallery, New York, April 1947, cat. no. 9, as Figure with Stars. Group Exhibitions Galerie Maeght, Paris, 1947, illus. n.p. 26

pain tin gs on can v as an d pa n el

P37

P38

Musée National d’Art Moderne, Paris, 1947.

P37

P38

Indian Head

Red Head

References Cahiers d’art 1947, illus. p. 333, as Personnage à l’étoile (Figure with Stars); W[olf] 1947, p. 21, as Figure with Stars; Mattison 1985b, p. 179, illus. n.p. (fig. 160), as Starry Personage; Paul 1986, p. 69, as Starry Personage; Mattison 1987, p. 148, as Starry Personage.

1946 Oil and sand on canvas 18 x 14⅛ in. (45.7 x 35.9 cm)

1946 Oil on Masonite 18 x 14 in. (45.7 x 35.6 cm)

Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated

Inscriptions Recto, lower right, incised: Motherwell

Verso: R. Motherwell

Verso: “red head” \ 1946 \ Motherwell

Present Owner Private collection, Munich

Artist’s Studio Number P46-5199

Provenance Samuel M. Kootz Gallery, ca. 1947; unknown owner; [Sotheby Parke Bernet, Inc., New York, April 26, 1972, lot 113, illus.]; unknown owner, 1972; Stefan T. Edlis; [Christie’s, New York, November 3, 1987, lot 3, illus.]; private collection, Munich, 1987

Present Owner Private collection

Comments This painting is the first in a series of especially well-realized figurative compositions that would preoccupy Motherwell during the following year (see P56–P58 and c42). The figures in these works, composed of disconnected oval body forms and stick-like arms, are related to those in drawings that Motherwell had done since 1943 (see, for example, fig. 9 in volume 1). This painting anticipates by almost a year one of Motherwell’s major early collages (c42), which he also later titled The Poet.

Group Exhibitions Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, 1947, cat. no. 254.

Provenance Samuel M. Kootz Gallery, 1946; Vera G. and Albert A. List; [Sotheby’s, New York, May 3, 1989, lot 90, illus.]; Waddington Galleries, London, 1989; private collection, London, 1990; [Christie’s, New York, September 23, 2005, lot 156, illus.]; private collection, 2005

P39

P40

P39

P40

P41

{ Title unknown}

Crystal and Earth Yellow

Western Figure

Ca. 1946 Paint on canvas (?) 54 x 36 in. (137.2 x 91.4 cm), approx.

1946 Oil on canvas 18 x 14 in. (45.7 x 35.6 cm)

1947 Oil on panel 16½ x 7¾ in. (41.9 x 19.7 cm)

Inscriptions Unknown

Inscriptions Recto, upper right, incised: Motherwell 46

Inscriptions Recto, lower right, incised: RM 47

Present Owner Unknown Provenance The artist Comments This work is known only from a 1946 photograph by Francis Lee of Motherwell in his East Hampton studio, where it appears (here highlighted) on the artist’s easel; it may have been subsequently painted over or destroyed.

Verso not seen [signed, titled “Chrystal [sic] and Earth Yellow,” and dated “Ap 14–May 29 1946,” per André Emmerich Gallery Papers, Archives of American Art] Artist’s Studio Number P46-5148 Present Owner Private collection Provenance Vera G. and Albert A. List; Mr. and Mrs. Jerome M. Comar, 1964; Waddington Galleries, London, 1977; private collection, Greece, 1977; James Goodman Gallery, New York, 1986; private collection, 1986 References Mattison 1985b, pp. 194, 201–2, illus. n.p. (fig. 169).

Verso not seen [“Western Figure / Motherwell,” per present owner; “signed, inscribed with title, and dated again on the reverse,” per Christie’s 1983]

P41

cat. no. 34, illus. n.p.; Bloomfield Hills and Memphis, cat. no. 28, illus. n.p. Emily Lowe Gallery, Hofstra University, Hempstead, N.Y., 1969. Montclair Art Museum, N.J., 1972, cat. no. 8. References Mattison 1985b, illus. n.p. (fig. 179); Paul 1986, p. 67, color illus. p. 67.

Artist’s Studio Number P47-5157 Present Owner Basha Szymanska Lewis Provenance Betty Parsons, ca. 1949; [Christie’s, New York, November 9, 1983, lot 338, illus. (not sold)]; private collection, 1983; Basha Szymanska Lewis, ca. 2004 Group Exhibitions Galerie Maeght, Paris, 1947. Finch College Museum of Art, New York, March 1968 (traveling), New York, paint ing s on canvas and pane l

P42

P43

P44

P42

P43

P44

P45

Composition

The Dark Lady

The Night

Yellow Still Life

1947 Oil on Masonite 36 x 28 in. (91.4 x 71.1 cm)

Ca. 1947/1985 Oil and oil stick on Masonite 24 x 20 in. (61 x 50.8 cm)

Inscriptions Recto, lower center, incised: 47 \ RM

Alternative Title: French Ochre with Sky and Personal Objects 1945–47 Oil on canvas 54 x 38 in. (137.2 x 96.5 cm)

Verso not seen

Inscriptions Recto, lower right, incised [painted over]: [Motherwell]

Alternative Title: Figure 1947 Oil on canvas 53¼ x 37¼ in. (135.3 x 94.6 cm)

Present Owner Private collection

Verso: R. Motherwell \ c. 1948 \ oil on masonite

Provenance Samuel M. Kootz Gallery, ca. 1947; Vera G. and Albert A. List; [Sotheby Parke Bernet, Inc., Los Angeles, May 15, 1972, lot 79, illus.]; unknown owner, 1972; [Sotheby Parke Bernet, Inc., New York, May 2, 1973, lot 142A, illus.]; private collection, 1973; private collection, before 2001

Artist’s Studio Number P48-3140

References Réalités nouvelles exh. cat. 1947, illus. p. 59.

pain tin gs on ca n v as an d pa n el

Present Owner Dedalus Foundation Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991 group exhibitions Washburn Gallery, New York, 2007, cat. no. 7. Comments This work was retouched by Motherwell with an oil stick in 1985; originally, some of the upper right corner had been white. The verso signature and “c. 1948” date were added later, probably in 1985 when the oil-stick modifications were made.

Inscriptions Recto, lower left, incised [partially obscured by frame]: R Motherwell 4[illegible] Verso not seen Present Owner Fayez Sarofim Collection Provenance Samuel M. Kootz Gallery, ca. 1947; private collection, 1950; Mr. and Mrs. Meredith J. Long, Houston, 1987; Fayez Sarofim, 1987

Inscriptions Recto, upper right: RM 47 Verso not seen [“Robert Motherwell May 1945–February 46–September 46,” per document in the Dedalus Foundation Archives; “signed, titled, and dated May 1945–February 46– September 46 on the reverse; titled and dated on the stretcher,” per Sotheby’s 1994] Present Owner Unknown Provenance Samuel M. Kootz Gallery, 1947; private collection, 1952; Sam Porter Fine Arts, 1992; unknown owner; [Sotheby’s, New York, November 1, 1994, lot 18, illus. (not sold)]

P45

Solo Exhibitions Samuel M. Kootz Gallery, New York, April 1947, cat. no. 1.

P46

In Yellow and Black

Group Exhibitions University of Iowa, Iowa City, 1948, cat. no. 76.

Alternative Title: Large Personage 1945–47 Oil on canvas 54 x 44 in. (137.2 x 111.8 cm)

References Greenberg 1947, p. 665.

Inscriptions Recto, upper left, incised: RM 45/47

Comments The alternative title given in the Sotheby’s 1994 auction catalogue, French Ochre with Sky and Personal Objects, may be inscribed on the verso, but we have not been able to verify this.

Recto, lower left: RM 45/47 Verso [painted over]: [illegible] Verso: R. Motherwell \ 21 Oct 45– March 47 Verso [painted over]: “[illegible]” \ [illegible]

P46

Present Owner Collection of the Tel Aviv Museum of Art. Gift of Samuel M. Kootz, New York, through the Norman Foundation, 1957 Provenance Samuel M. Kootz Gallery, 1947; Tel Aviv Museum of Art, 1957 Solo Exhibitions Samuel M. Kootz Gallery, New York, January 1946, cat. no. 2 (shown in early state), as Large Personage. Samuel M. Kootz Gallery, New York, April 1947, cat. no. 14.

Verso (upside down) [painted over]: [illegible]

Group Exhibitions University of Iowa, Iowa City, 1947, cat. no. 80, as Yellow and Black.

Verso (upside down): 45/46 \ Robert Motherwell

Jewish Museum, New York, 1948, cat. no. 77.

Artist’s Studio Number P45/47-5154

Tel Aviv Museum of Art, 2005.

Comments The first version of this work, titled Large Personage, was painted in 1945. In an undated letter (ca. January 1947), Jane Kootz (the wife of Motherwell’s dealer) refers to this canvas as having been repainted during the winter of 1946–47 (Dedalus Foundation Archives). Pentimenti indicate that the earlier composition was similar to that of Small Personage (P32). In Yellow and Black is the earliest instance of a compositional structure that Motherwell would revisit in a number of works during the next few years, such as Montauk Montage (C41), Dirge (W9), and a 1948 ink drawing called Sailor’s Cemetery (see fig. 43 in volume 1).

References Wolf 1946a, p. 17; W[olf] 1947, illus. p. 21; Celentano 1957, p. 36, as Yellow and Black; Mattison 1985b, illus. n.p. (fig. 192); Greenberg 1986b, p. 152.

paint ing s on canvas and pane l

P47

Western Air Alternative Title: Construction 1946–47 Oil on canvas 72 x 54 in. (182.9 x 137.2 cm) Inscriptions Recto, lower left: R. Motherwell 46/7 Verso covered by relining, no longer visible Artist’s Studio Number P46/47-5022 Present Owner The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Purchase (by exchange) Provenance Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1950 Solo Exhibitions Samuel M. Kootz Gallery, New York, April 1947, cat. no. 10, as Construction. Museum of Modern Art, New York, Robert Motherwell, September 1965 (traveling), New York, cat. no. 13, illus. p. 13; Amsterdam, cat. no. 13, illus. n.p.;

pa in tin gs on ca n v as an d pa n el

Essen, cat. no. 15; Turin, cat. no. 15, illus. p. 72 (pl. 12). Städtische Kunsthalle Düsseldorf, 1976 (traveling), cat. no. 7, illus. p. 99. Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, 1983 (traveling), cat. no. 14, color illus. p. 63; shown in Buffalo only. Group Exhibitions Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1950. Museum of Modern Art, New York, January 1951 (traveling), cat. no. 72, illus. p. 114; shown in New York only. Museum of the University City, Caracas, Venezuela, 1954. Wesleyan University, Middletown, Conn., 1957. Museum of Modern Art, New York, June 1969, cat. no. 74. Indiana University Art Museum, Bloomington, 1970, cat. no. 45, illus. n.p. Centro Cultural Arte Contemporáneo, Mexico City, 1987, cat. no. 23. Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, 1992, cat. no. 70.

P48

References Greenberg 1947, p. 665, as Construction; W[olf] 1947, p. 21, as Construction; Kees 1948, illus. p. 86, as Construction; Soby 1948, illus. p. 72, as Construction; Burrows 1950b; Devree 1950b, sec. 1, p. 27; Museum of Modern Art Bulletin 1950–51, p. 30; Motherwell in Louchheim 1951a, p. 17, illus. p. 17; S[euphor] 1951a, p. 21, illus. p. 21; Time 1951a, p. 46; Time 1956, p. 75, color illus. p. 72; Celentano 1957, pp. 36, 104, 110, illus. n.p. (fig. 43); Eliot 1957, p. 277, color illus. p. 276; Apollonio et al. 1958, p. 305; Apollonio et al. 1962, p. 291; Nordland 1962a, p. 22; Nordland 1962b, p. 50; Institut Mathildenhöhe exh. cat. 1964, illus. p. 42 (sideways); B[erkson] 1965, p. 42; Carver 1965, p. 6; Charmet 1965, p. 168; Tillim 1965, illus. p. 35; Arnason 1966a, p. 35, illus. p. 29 (fig. 14); Rose 1967, p. 180, illus. p. 178 (ill. 6-28); Supovitz 1967, p. 23; Cooney 1968, illus. n.p. (pl. 15); Apollo 1969b, p. 345, illus. p. 345 (fig. 4); Hunter 1972, illus. p. 181 (pl. 327); Hobbs 1975b, p. 84; O’Hara 1975, p. 67; Rose 1975, p. 154, illus. p. 152 (ill. 6-24); Arnason 1977b, p. 25; Moore 1980,

cover illus.; Arnason 1982, p. 25, illus. p. 25 (pl. 13); Seitz 1983, illus. n.p. (fig. 173); Gelles 1984, p. 38; Mattison 1985b, p. 86, illus. n.p. (fig. 170); Greenberg 1986b, p. 152, as Construction; Mattison 1987, p. 71; Flam 1991, color illus. n.p. (pl. 11); Qin 1996, p. 38, illus. p. 93 (fig. 29); Wentrup 2001, p. 54, illus. (fig. 24); Anfam 2002, p. 114. Comments The granular substance present in the paint film of this work, sometimes described as sand, is probably dry pigment (as per conservator Matthew Skopek). This painting was begun in 1946 and finished before April 1947. A photograph taken by Francis Lee in 1946 shows Motherwell standing next to a radically different early state of the work, which is still visible in the pentimenti (see fig. 185 in volume 1). In 1951 Motherwell described this picture as follows: “My painting takes on this particular abstract quality because this way I can express my search for a direct, mystical experience. There is a feeling of an abyss, a void

P50

P49

between one’s self and everything outside and an impulse to bridge it. I’m not interested in painting the embellishments of reality, but in finding a direct, intense single sense of oneness with it. This picture is of the West, where I come from—no shadows, dryness, big shapes—made lyrical” (Louchheim 1951a). A wall label from Motherwell’s 1965 Museum of Modern Art retrospective reads: “If you ask the painter why he called his picture Western Air, he explains that the name has a double meaning: when he was painting it he had in mind the clear dry air and clean color of the southwestern states; at the same time, ‘air’ means ‘tune’ and ‘Western Air’ suggests that his painting is to be enjoyed not as a representation of a scene, but as a kind of visual music” (Research Library, The Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles).

P48

P49

P50

In Blue with Crosses

Figuration

The Red Stripe

1947 Oil on canvas 54 x 38 in. (137.2 x 96.5 cm)

1947 Oil on Masonite 20¾ x 15⅜ in. (52.7 x 39.1 cm)

1947 Oil on canvas 37 x 31 in. (94 x 78.7 cm)

Inscriptions Recto, lower right, incised: RM 47

Inscriptions Recto, lower right: 47 \ RM

Inscriptions Recto, lower right: R.M. 47

Verso not signed, not dated

Verso not seen [“signed and dated ’47,” per Christie’s 1987]

Verso not seen

Present Owner Private collection Provenance Samuel M. Kootz Gallery, 1947; unknown owner; Northeastern University Libraries, Archives and Special Collections Department, 1956; [Robert W. Skinner, Boston, May 19, 2006, lot 438, illus.]; private collection, 2006; [Christie’s, New York, November 14, 2007, lot 156, illus. (not sold)] Solo Exhibitions Samuel M. Kootz Gallery, New York, April 1947, cat. no. 12. Comments This painting underwent significant restoration in 2006, when major paint loss, cracking, and two punctured areas on the canvas were repaired.

Present Owner Solomon & Company Fine Art, Inc. (present whereabouts unknown, stolen, 1988) Provenance Samuel M. Kootz Gallery, 1947; unknown owner; [Christie’s, New York, February 21, 1987, lot 11, illus. (not sold)]; Solomon & Company Fine Art, Inc., 1987; present whereabouts unknown (stolen from Solomon & Company Fine Art, Inc., 1988) Comments Our reproduction of this painting comes from the 1987 Christie’s auction catalogue. The painting was stolen from Solomon & Company Fine Art in July 1988.

Artist’s Studio Number P46-5058 Present Owner Mr. and Mrs. Robert Rowan Provenance Samuel M. Kootz Gallery, 1947; private collection, 1947; Mr. and Mrs. Robert Rowan, 1959 Solo Exhibitions Samuel M. Kootz Gallery, New York, April 1947, cat. no. 7. Pasadena Art Museum, Calif., February 1962, cat. no. 3, illus. n.p. Otis Art Institute, Los Angeles, 1974, cat. no. 6, illus. n.p.

paint ing s on canvas and pane l

P51

P52

Group Exhibitions San Francisco Museum of Art, 1955.

P51

P52

In Black and Grey

Black Still Life with Red

Ferus Gallery, Los Angeles, 1960. Montgomery Center, Pomona College, Claremont, Calif., 1960.

1947 Oil on Masonite 21¼ x 16 in. (54 x 40.6 cm)

1947 Oil on Masonite 20½ x 13¾ in. (52.1 x 34.9 cm)

Pasadena Art Museum, Calif., October 1962.

Inscriptions Recto, lower right: RM 47

University of California, Irvine, 1967 (traveling), cat. no. 94.

Verso not signed, not dated

Inscriptions Recto, upper left, incised [painted over]: [RM]

Art Gallery, University of California at Riverside, 1973, illus. p. 25. References House and Garden 1951, p. 128, color illus. (installation view); S[eldis] 1960, sec. G, p. 6; Seldis 1974b, sec. C, p. 82; Mattison 1985b, pp. 178–79, illus. n.p. (fig. 155), referred to in text and in illus. as The Red Stripes; Mattison 1987, pp. 147–48, illus. p. 156 (fig. 62), referred to in text and in illus. as The Red Stripes.

Present Owner The Syracuse University Art Collection. Gift of the Irwin and Marjorie Guttag Foundation, Inc.

Recto, upper right, incised: RM

Provenance Samuel M. Kootz Gallery, 1947; Vera G. and Albert A. List, 1955; Stanley N. Barbee; [Parke-Bernet Galleries, Inc., New York, November 11, 1959, lot 94]; unknown owner, 1959; [Parke-Bernet Galleries, Inc., New York, January 24, 1963, lot 140, illus.]; Marjorie and Irwin Guttag, 1963; Syracuse University Art Collection, N.Y., 1963

Artist’s Studio Number P47-5156

Solo Exhibitions Samuel M. Kootz Gallery, New York, April 1947, cat. no. 2.

pa in tin gs on ca n v a s a n d pan el

Recto, lower left, incised: RM 47 Verso: black \ stillife [sic] \ with \ red

Present Owner Private collection, San Francisco Provenance Samuel M. Kootz Gallery, 1947; private collection, ca. 1948; Pamela Lehrer Beck, ca. 1984; [Christie’s, New York, May 1, 1985, lot 3, illus. (not sold)]; Phyllis C. Wattis, 1985; private collection, San Francisco, 2003

Solo Exhibitions Samuel M. Kootz Gallery, New York, April 1947, cat. no. 8. References W[olf] 1947, p. 21.

P53

P54

Otis Art Institute, Los Angeles, 1974, cat. no. 7.

P54

1947 Oil on Masonite 13¼ x 20¼ in. (33.7 x 51.4 cm)

Group Exhibitions Art Center School Galleries, Los Angeles, 1949.

1947 Oil on canvas 29¼ x 38 in. (74.3 x 96.5 cm)

Inscriptions Recto, lower right: RM 47

Pasadena Art Museum, Calif., 1963, cat. no. 46.

Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated

Verso: in yellow + white \ Robert Motherwell \ 1947

La Jolla Museum of Contemporary Art, Calif., 1976.

Verso not seen

Present Owner Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Alan L. Freeman

References Mattison 1985b, illus. n.p. (fig. 182, sideways).

P53

In Yellow and White

Provenance Samuel M. Kootz Gallery, 1947; Earl Stendahl Collection, ca. 1949; Zurier Collection, before 1963; [Christie’s, New York, May 5, 1982, lot 10, illus. (not sold)]; Mr. and Mrs. Alan L. Freeman, 1982 Solo Exhibitions Samuel M. Kootz Gallery, New York, April 1947, cat. no. 5. Pasadena Art Museum, Calif., February 1962, cat. no. 6.

Still Life, Ochre and Red

References Seldis 1974b, sec. C, p. 82; Mattison 1985b, pp. 201–2, illus. n.p. (fig. 172).

Present Owner Private collection, Los Angeles Provenance Samuel M. Kootz Gallery, ca. 1947; Vera G. and Albert A. List; private collection, Los Angeles, 1959 Solo Exhibitions Pasadena Art Museum, Calif., February 1962, cat. no. 5. Otis Art Institute, Los Angeles, 1974, cat. no. 5, color illus. n.p. Group Exhibitions Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1965, cat. no. 62, illus. p. 133.

paint ing s on canvas and pane l

P55

A Very Abstract Woman 1947 Oil on Masonite 54¾ x 36¾ in. (139.1 x 93.4 cm) Inscriptions Recto, lower right, incised: Motherwell 47 Verso not seen Artist’s Studio Number P47-5084 Present Owner Private collection Provenance Samuel M. Kootz Gallery, ca. 1947; Fred Olsen, ca. 1947; unknown owner, after 1954; private collection, 1978; private collection, 2003

pain tin gs on ca n v a s a n d pan el

Group Exhibitions Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, Conn., 1954, cat. no. 25, illus. n.p. References Mattison 1985b, illus. n.p. (fig. 184, erroneously as A Very Abstract Person).

P56

Poet with Orange Alternative Title: Poet 1947 Oil, casein, and sand on canvas 54½ x 36 in. (138.4 x 91.4 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper left: RM 47 Verso: “Poet with orange” \ 1947 \ R. Motherwell Artist’s Studio Number P47-5020 Present Owner Seattle Art Museum. Partial and promised gift of Mr. and Mrs. T. Evans Wyckoff Provenance Samuel M. Kootz Gallery, ca. 1947; Smith College Museum of Art, Northampton, Mass., 1949; Samuel M. Kootz Gallery, 1950; Leslie and Rufus Stillman, ca. 1950; [Sotheby Parke Bernet, Inc., New York, November 4, 1987, lot 46, illus.]; Ann P. Wyckoff, 1987; Seattle Art Museum

Solo Exhibitions Samuel M. Kootz Gallery, New York, April 1947, cat. no. 4, as Poet. Group Exhibitions Art Institute of Chicago, 1947, cat. no. 166, as Poet. American Federation of Arts, Washington, D.C., 1948 (circulating), cat. no. 41, as Poet. Seattle Art Museum, 1988. References Kees 1948, illus. p. 86, as Poet; Seitz 1955, illus. n.p. (fig. 159); Seitz 1983, color illus. n.p. (fig. 171); Mattison 1985b, illus. n.p. (fig. 164). Comments This is one of a group of paintings related to The Poet (C42). See the Comments for The Poet (P36).

P57

Orange Personage 1947 Oil and sand on canvas 54¾ x 37 in. (139.1 x 94 cm) Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated Verso covered by relining, no longer visible Artist’s Studio Number C47-5155 Present Owner Private collection, New York Provenance Samuel M. Kootz Gallery, 1947; Vera G. and Albert A. List, ca. 1952; private collection, New York; private collection, New York, 2008 Solo Exhibitions Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin College, Ohio, 1952, cat. no. 4.

Indiana University Art Center, Bloomington, 1951, cat. no. 17, dated 1949 in the cat. University Gallery, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, 1951, cat. no. 50, illus. n.p. Samuel M. Kootz Gallery, New York, April 1952 (traveling); shown in Rio de Janeiro and Buenos Aires only. References Paul 1986, p. 69; Olds 2008, color illus. p. 8. Comments This is one of a group of paintings related to The Poet (C42). See the Comments for The Poet (P36).

P58

Yellow Figure 1947 Oil on canvas 55 x 37 in. (139.7 x 94 cm), approx. Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated Verso not seen Artist’s Studio Number P47-5158 Present Owner Unknown

References Artnews 1947a, p. 45, as Yellow Picture; L[ansford] 1947, p. 19; W[olf] 1947, p. 21; Mattison 1985b, illus. n.p. (fig. 163, erroneously as Untitled [poet II]). Comments Our reproduction of this work comes from an early black-and-white photograph (Rainford photo no. K590). This is one of a group of paintings related to The Poet (C42). See the Comments for The Poet (P36).

Provenance Samuel M. Kootz Gallery, 1947; private collection, 1953; private collection, ca. 1965; private collection, before 1979; unknown owner Solo Exhibitions Samuel M. Kootz Gallery, New York, April 1947, cat. no. 16.

Group Exhibitions Galerie Maeght, Paris, 1947.

Group Exhibitions Samuel M. Kootz Gallery, New York, 8 Paintings, September 1947.

Samuel M. Kootz Gallery, New York, Male + Female, March 1951.

Sierra Nevada Museum of Art, Reno, Nev., 1979, as Yellow Figures.

paint ing s on canvas and pane l

P59

P60

P59

P60

P61

Untitled

[ Untitled (Black on Green) ]

Woman in Green

Ca. 1947 Oil on canvas board 10 x 8 in. (25.4 x 20.3 cm)

1947 Oil on canvas board 9⅞ x 8 in. (25.1 x 20.3 cm)

Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated

Inscriptions Recto, upper right, incised: RM 47

Alternative Title: Dark Lady 1947 Oil on canvas 54½ x 36 in. (138.4 x 91.4 cm)

Verso [circled]: [583]

Recto, lower left, incised [painted over]: [RM]

Present Owner Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Mark L. Brock, Concord, Mass. Provenance Unknown owner, ca. 1947; John Lameray, 2007; Mr. and Mrs. Mark L. Brock, Concord, Mass., 2008 References Olds 2008, color illus. p. 20.

Artist’s Studio Number P47-2485

Verso covered by relining and remounting to a hollow-core panel, no longer visible (inscriptions known from a p retreatment photograph)

Present Owner Dedalus Foundation

Verso [lightly crossed out]: [“woman \ in green” \ Aug. 47]

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991

Verso: Robert Motherwell

Verso not signed, not dated

Solo Exhibitions Manny Silverman Gallery, Los Angeles, November 2002, cat. no. 26. References Mattison 1985b, illus. n.p. (fig. 168, as Untitled).

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Inscriptions Recto, upper right, incised: Motherwell 47

Verso (upside down) [painted over]: [top] \ [the Tyrant of] [illegible] \ [illegible] [47] Verso (on original top horizontal stretcher) [painted over]: [illegible] Present Owner Columbia University in the City of New York. Gift of Mr. Samuel M. Kootz, 1960

P61

Provenance Samuel M. Kootz Gallery, ca. 1947; Columbia University, New York, 1960 Comments For conservation purposes, this work was relined and remounted to a hollowcore panel around 1976; at that time, the original stretchers were removed and photographs were taken of the verso inscriptions (the photographs are in the archives of the Miriam & Ira D. Wallach Art Gallery, Columbia University, New York). The photographs of the original inscriptions reveal that during the painting process Motherwell had titled and dated this work before turning it upside down, completing it, and signing the work again in its final orientation. The original title, Woman in Green, was crossed out in pencil in the verso inscription and the words “dark lady” were added in a hand other than Motherwell’s. The very dark, nearly illegible figure in this painting is similar to the segmented figure in Orange Personage (P57); cracking in the surface of this work reveals that it, too, once had a mostly orange surface.

P62

P63

P62

P63

P64

{ Title unknown}

Ca. 1947 Paint on canvas (?) 16 x 13½ in. (40.6 x 34.2 cm), approx.

Ca. 1947 Paint on canvas (?) 48 x 24 in. (121.9 x 61 cm), approx.

Personage, with Yellow Ochre and White

Inscriptions Unknown

Present Owner Unknown

Provenance The artist

References Harper’s Bazaar 1948, illus. p. 87 (in studio).

Comments This painting is known only from a photograph taken in Motherwell’s studio in late August 1947 and published in Harper’s Bazaar in June 1948 (see also P63). Our reproduction is a detail of that photograph, in which the painting is seen highlighted next to the seated Pierre Chareau. The work may no longer exist in the form illustrated here.

Comments This painting is known only from a photograph taken in Motherwell’s studio in late August 1947 and published in Harper’s Bazaar in June 1948 (see also P62). Our reproduction is a detail of that photograph in which the artist is seated next to his painting. This work may no longer exist in the form illustrated here.

Alternative Titles: Woman in Ochre and White; Painter; Figure on White; Figure in Ochre and White; In Ochre and White 1947 Oil on canvas 72 x 54 in. (182.9 x 137.2 cm) Inscriptions Recto, lower left, incised: Motherwell 47 Verso covered by relining, no longer visible [“green chalk—(old title(?) crossed out with blue, illegible) \ green chalk ‘Jan–Aug 47’ \ blue chalk ‘In Ochre + White,’ ” per the Museum of Modern Art, New York] Artist’s Studio Number P47-5018 Present Owner The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Samuel M. Kootz

Provenance Samuel M. Kootz Gallery, ca. 1947; Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1957 Solo Exhibitions Samuel M. Kootz Gallery, New York, May 1948, cat. no. 2, illus. n.p., as Painter. Museum of Modern Art, New York, Robert Motherwell, September 1965 (traveling), New York, cat. no. 16, illus. p. 24; shown in New York only. Group Exhibitions Samuel M. Kootz Gallery, New York, Women, September 1947, illus. n.p., as Woman in Ochre and White. Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, 1950, as Figure on White. Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, 1951, cat. no. 241, as Figure in Ochre and White. Samuel M. Kootz Gallery, New York, 1955, as In Ochre and White. Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1957, as In Ochre and White. Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1958 (circulating), Madrid, cat. no. 46; Amster dam, cat. no. 47; Brussels, cat. no. 46, paint ing s on canvas and pane l

P65

The Red Skirt 1947 Oil on Masonite 48 x 24 in. (121.9 x 61 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper right, incised: Motherwell 47 Verso not signed, not dated Artist’s Studio Number P47-5019 Present Owner Whitney Museum of American Art, New York. Purchase 49.3 Provenance Samuel M. Kootz Gallery, ca. 1947; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, 1949 Solo Exhibitions Samuel M. Kootz Gallery, New York, May 1948, cat. no. 1. Art Center in Hargate, St. Paul’s School, Concord, N.H., 1970, cat. no. 1. Group Exhibitions Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, December 1947, cat. no. 106. Milwaukee Art Institute, 1951. Rathaus Schöneberg, Berlin, 1951 (traveling), cat. no. 46, illus. p. 26. Memorial Hall, Hofstra College, Hempstead, N.Y., 1953. P64

illus. p. 51; Paris, cat. no. 45; London, cat. no. 45, illus. p. 53; New York, cat. no. 45, illus. p. 57. Albany Institute of History and Art, 1959. Visual Arts Museum, School of Visual Arts, New York, 1975. Guild Hall of East Hampton, N.Y., 1976, illus. p. 38. References Artnews 1947c, p. 39; Reed 1947, p. 10; Artnews 1948, p. 49; Greenberg 1948, p. 613, as Painter; Hunter 1948b, sec. 2, p. 8, as Painter; Kees 1948, illus. p. 88, as Woman in Ochre and White; W[olf] 1948, p. 19, as Painter; Seitz 1955, p. 240, as Woman in Ochre and White, illus. n.p. (fig. 156, installation view), illus. n.p. (fig. 157); Celentano 1957, pp. 36, 104, 110, illus. n.p. (fig. 44), referred to in text and in illus. as Women in Ochre and White; Apollonio et al. 1958, p. 305, 38

pain tin gs on ca n v as an d pa n el

as The Painter; Knox 1958, illus. p. 31; Apollonio et al. 1962, p. 291, as The Painter; Arnason 1966a, p. 34, illus. p. 29 (fig. 14); Cooney 1968, p. 39, illus. n.p. (pl. 13B); Arnason 1977b, p. 25, as Personage with Yellow and Ochre; Pleynet 1977, p. 189; Arnason 1982, p. 25, as Personage with Yellow and Ochre; Seitz 1983, p. 89, illus. n.p. (fig. 169); Mattison 1985b, illus. n.p. (fig. 186); Pleynet 1986, p. 70; Mattison 1987, illus. p. 174 (fig. 69); Cinqualbre et al. 1993, illus. p. 83 (installation view); Gibson 1997, p. 55, as Woman in Ochre and White. Comments This painting was exhibited under several different titles while it belonged to the Samuel M. Kootz Gallery. Motherwell gave it its present title on a questionnaire for the Museum of Modern Art in 1957, when it entered the museum’s collection. He also noted

that this work was painted in East Hampton, and made the following comments: “The ‘subject’ is a personage, with a black hat; I always remember this picture with pleasure; there is no torment in it. . . . One is supposed to feel a human presence, and the r adiance of paint, at least I did” (see “Writings by the Artist,” in the Bibliography). The distinctive hat shape in this and related works has affinities with Picasso’s Dora Maar in a Wicker Chair, 1938 (see fig. 36 in volume 1), and Chinese imperial portraits (see E. A. Carmean in the exhibition catalogue for the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, November 1972, p. 15, and Mattison 1982, passim).

Fine Arts Gallery, University of Colorado, Boulder, 1953. Fleming Museum, University of Vermont, Burlington, 1956. Grand Rapids Art Gallery, Mich., 1957, cat. no. 22. Coe College, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, 1959. Wilmington Society of the Fine Arts, Delaware Art Center, 1960. Society of the Four Arts, Palm Beach, Fla., 1962, cat. no. 26. Centenary College for Women, Hackettstown, N.J., 1962. University of Rhode Island, Kingston, 1963, cat. no. 24. University of Notre Dame Art Gallery, Ind., 1963. Treat Gallery, Bates College, Lewiston, Maine, 1965. University Art Museum, University of Texas, Austin, 1966, illus. p. 55.

North Shore Community Arts Center, Great Neck, N.Y., 1967. Telfair Academy of Arts and Sciences, Savannah, Ga., 1968 (traveling). Whitney Museum of American Art, Downtown Branch, New York, 1975. Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts, Ala., 1978 (traveling), illus. p. 53. Whitney Museum of American Art, Fairfield County, Stamford, Conn., 1988 (traveling). Arnold Herstand and Company, New York, 1990, color illus. n.p. Nassau County Museum of Art, Roslyn Harbor, N.Y., 2007, color illus. p. 50. References Artnews 1948, p. 49; Hunter 1948b, sec. 2, p. 8; Kees 1948, illus. p. 88; Tiger’s Eye 1948a, illus. p. 95; Arnheim 1954, illus. p. 112; Seitz 1955, p. 63, illus. n.p. (fig. 158); Celentano 1957, p. 36; Goossen 1959, pp. 33, 51; Goodrich and Baur 1961, illus. p. 210; Hobbs 1975b, p. 233; Seibu Museum of Art exh. cat. 1976, illus. n.p. (fig. 1); Seitz 1983, p. 23, illus. n.p. (fig. 170); Mattison 1985b, pp. 175, 194, 205–7, 209, 212, illus. n.p. (fig. 175); Paul 1986, p. 69, color illus. p. 71; Mattison 1987, pp. 146, 165, 176–78, 180, illus. p. 172 (fig. 67); Haenlein 1991, illus. sec. A, p. 1; Koch 1991, illus. sec. A, p. 9; Van Siclen 1991, color illus. sec. D, p. 1; Gibson 1997, p. 55, color illus. p. 56 (fig. 51); Franks 2002, illus. p. 11. Comments In a 1951 Whitney Museum questionnaire about this painting, Motherwell wrote: “ ‘The Red Skirt’ is one of a series of ‘abstract’ single personages in oil—usually on a format 24" x 48"— made during 1947, more or less. There were perhaps eight of them, the others all now in private collections; of them all, I like ‘The Red Skirt’ the least, a feeling which I believe now was unconsciously incorporated in the title, which is not only descriptive, but the ‘skirt’ is also to be taken in the idiomatic sense of an unflattering reference to a woman, which is not my usual attitude. To me the work has a dramatic, soiled, brutal felt quality, in relation to the body of my work; and I prefer the ones that are, within my own framework, more lyrical, pure, and radiant—e.g., ‘Western Air’ (Mus. Mod. Art), ‘Granada,’ ‘The Star of David,’ P65

paint ing s on canvas and pane l

P66

‘The Voyage’ (Mrs. J. D. Rockefeller III); or, to take one much closer in iconography, ‘The Emperor of China.’ (priv. coll.). These remarks are to be taken as a reflection of my personal taste and not as a reflection on the validity of ‘The Red Skirt’ in its own terms” (see “Writings by the Artist,” in the Bibliography).

P66

Young Girl 1947 Oil on canvas Dimensions unknown Inscriptions Recto, upper left: Motherwell 47 Verso not seen Artist’s Studio Number P47-5159 Present Owner Unknown Provenance Samuel M. Kootz Gallery, ca. 1947; unknown owner, ca. 1948 Solo Exhibitions Samuel M. Kootz Gallery, New York, May 1948, cat. no. 8, as Young Girl [possibly shown; the work in question may have been P67]. References Greenberg 1948, p. 613 [the work in question may have been P67]; W[olf] 1948, p. 19 [the work in question may have been P67]; Mattison 1985b,

pa in tin gs on ca n v as an d pa n el

P67

illus. n.p. (fig. 176); Greenberg 1986b, p. 242 [the work in question may have been P67]. Comments This painting is known only from an early black-and-white photograph (Rainford photo no. K597). It may have been included in Motherwell’s May 1948 solo exhibition at the Samuel M. Kootz Gallery as Young Girl; we do not know whether this or The Checkered Skirt (P67) was shown as Young Girl at that exhibition.

P67

The Checkered Skirt Alternative Title: Young Girl 1947 Oil on board 48 x 21 in. (121.9 x 53.3 cm) Inscriptions Recto, lower left: Motherwell 47 Verso [circled]: [598] Artist’s Studio Number P47-5152 Present Owner North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh. Gift of the Olsen Foundation Provenance Samuel M. Kootz Gallery, ca. 1947; Fred Olsen, ca. 1948; Olsen Foundation; North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, 1958 Solo Exhibitions Samuel M. Kootz Gallery, New York, May 1948, cat. no. 8, as Young Girl [possibly shown; the work in question may have been P66].

Group Exhibitions Samuel M. Kootz Gallery, New York, March 1948. Toledo Museum of Art, Ohio, 1950, cat. no. 54, as Young Girl. North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, 1967, cat. no. 54, illus. p. 30, as Young Girl. Rocky Mount Arts and Crafts Center, N.C., 1978, cat. no. 35, as Young Girl. Asheville Art Museum, N.C., 1978, as Young Girl. References Greenberg 1948, p. 613, as Young Girl [the work in question may have been P66]; Hunter 1948a, sec. 2, p. 11; W[olf] 1948, p. 19, as Young Girl [the work in question may have been P66]; Mattison 1985b, illus. n.p. (fig. 176); Greenberg 1986b, p. 242, as Young Girl [the work in question may have been P66]. Comments This painting was first shown at the Samuel M. Kootz Gallery in March 1948 as The Checkered Skirt (as evidenced by the mention of a work with that title in Hunter 1948a). It may have

P68

been shown again at the Kootz Gallery two months later as Young Girl (it is not clear whether this or another painting titled Young Girl, P66, is referred to on the exhibition checklist), and that title is written on the verso of this work in a hand other than Motherwell’s. This painting continued to be shown as Young Girl from that point on, and that was the title it had when the North Carolina Museum of Art acquired it in 1958. Because The Checkered Skirt was the title under which this work was first shown, and also appears on several black-and-white photographs that belonged to Motherwell and are in his card file index of photographed works (Dedalus Foundation Archives), we have restored the original title.

Solo Exhibitions Samuel M. Kootz Gallery, New York, May 1948, cat. no. 6, illus. n.p.

P68

The Emperor of China 1947 Oil on Masonite 48 x 36 in. (121.9 x 91.4 cm)

Museum of Modern Art, New York, Robert Motherwell, September 1965 (traveling), New York, cat. no. 14, illus. p. 17; Amsterdam, cat. no. 14, illus. n.p.; Essen, cat. no. 12; Turin, cat. no. 12.

Inscriptions Recto, lower left: Motherwell 8 Sept 47 Verso not seen Artist’s Studio Number P47-5023; P47-5104

Group Exhibitions Samuel M. Kootz Gallery, New York, 8 Paintings, September 1947.

Present Owner Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Richard A. Brodie

Samuel M. Kootz Gallery, New York, June 1950.

Provenance Samuel M. Kootz Gallery, 1947; unknown owner, ca. 1947; private collection, ca. 1961; Chrysler Art Museum of Provincetown, Mass., 1965; private collection, ca. 1971; Mr. and Mrs. Maxwell Jospey, 1976; Mr. and Mrs. Richard A. Brodie, 2004

Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y., 1978 (traveling), Ithaca and New York, color illus. p. 47 (fig. 33); shown in Ithaca and New York only.

paint ing s on canvas and pane l

P69

References Devree 1947a, sec. 2, p. 9; Hunter 1948b, sec. 2, p. 8; B[reuning] 1950b, p. 16; Devree 1950c, sec. 2, p. 10; Seitz 1955, illus. n.p. (fig. 162); Celentano 1957, pp. 36, 130, illus. n.p. (fig. 45); Goossen 1959, p. 33, illus. p. 34; Hudson 1965, sec. G, p. 7; Kay 1965, p. 4; Lippard 1965, p. 34; Arnason 1966a, p. 35, illus. p. 29 (fig. 16); Robertson 1966a, p. 90; Cooney 1968, p. 41, illus. n.p. (pl. 21); Hunter 1970, color illus. p. 35 (fig. 9); Sandler 1970, p. 203, illus. p. 205 (fig. 16-4); Price 1972, illus. p. 314; Volboudt 1973b, p. 83; Wilmerding 1973, color illus. p. 275; Hobbs 1975b, p. 232; Hobbs 1976b, p. 45; Arnason 1977b, p. 25; Gaugh 1978, p. 31; Hobbs 1979, p. 101; Arnason 1982, p. 25; Mattison 1982, pp. 9–14, illus. p. 8; Meewis 1983, p. 198; Seitz 1983, illus. n.p. (fig. 174); Gibson 1984, p. 328; Gaugh 1985, p. 75; Mattison 1985a, p. 92; Mattison 1985b, pp. 163, 175–77, 182, 194–96, 207–18, 224, 228, 233, 237, 243, 250, illus. n.p. (fig. 188); Mattison 1987, pp. 81, 146– 47, 159, 165, 166, 177–84, 196, 199, 202,

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205, 219, illus. p. 186 (fig. 70); Mattison 1988, p. 183; Gibson 1997, pp. 15, 55; Motherwell in Gibson 1997, p. 15; Belgrad 1998, p. 152; Gilbert 1998, pp. 444, 501; Craven 1999, p. 6; Barnier 2000, p. 110. Comments The title of this painting refers to a short story of the same name by Paul Goodman, published in Possibilities, no. 1 (winter 1947–48), in which building the Great Wall symbolizes the creative act by which the Emperor protects himself from anxiety. The pose of the figure and the hat he wears allude to a Picasso drawing (see fig. 36 in volume 1) and to Chinese Imperial portraiture (see Mattison 1982 for a detailed discussion of the literary and visual sources of this work).

P69

Ulysses Alternative Titles: Man with Raised Arm; Man 1947 Oil on paperboard and wood 33¾ x 28 in. (85.7 x 71.1 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper right: Motherwell 47 Verso (on upper wood plank) [crossed out]: [illegible] Verso (on upper wood plank): Man with raised arm 47 Verso [circled ]: [1503] \ R. Motherwell \ “ulysses” \ 1947 Artist’s Studio Number P47-513 Present Owner Tate. Acquired by purchase and gift from the Dedalus Foundation, 1996 Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Tate, London, 1996

Solo Exhibitions Samuel M. Kootz Gallery, New York, May 1948, cat. no. 5, as Man. Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, 1977, illus. n.p. Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1978, cat. no. 3, illus. p. 14. Arthur A. Houghton Jr. Gallery, Cooper Union, New York, 1988, cat. no. 29. Group Exhibitions Edmonton Art Gallery, Alberta, Canada, 1975. Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y., 1978 (traveling), Tokyo, illus. n.p.; shown in Tokyo only. Arnolfini, Bristol, England, 2005 (traveling), color illus. p. 90. References Greenberg 1948, p. 613; Hunter 1948b, sec. 2, p. 8, as Man; O’Brien 1962, illus. sec. Magazine, pt. 1, p. 52 (installation view); Arnason 1977b, p. 25, illus. n.p. (pl. 60); Motherwell in Arnason 1977b, n.p.; Hilton 1978, p. 63; Arnason

P70

1982, p. 25, illus. p. 104 (pl. 111); Motherwell in Arnason 1982, p. 104; Mattison 1985b, illus. n.p. (fig. 181); Flam 1991, color illus. n.p. (pl. 15); Wentrup 2001, p. 34. Comments This work is unusual for its rough paint handling, and for the way the handmade support of paperboard is mounted with tacks between two horizontal wooden planks on the back, and with two painted vertical wooden strips on the front. The ensemble gives the impression of being almost as much a construction as a painting. When it was shown at Motherwell’s 1948 exhibition at the Samuel M. Kootz Gallery as Man, Clement Greenberg singled it out as “a turbid and vehemently brushed picture unlike anything of Motherwell’s I have seen before” (see Greenberg 1948, p. 613).

P70

Portrait of Maria 1948 Oil on canvas 38¾ x 30⅛ in. (98.4 x 76.5 cm) Inscriptions Recto, lower right, incised: 48 \ Motherwell Verso covered by relining, no longer visible Present Owner Collection of Joanne and Roberto de Guardiola Provenance Harold and May Rosenberg; May Rosenberg, ca. 1978; [Sotheby’s, New York, November 2, 1994, lot 96, illus.]; Joanne and Roberto de Guardiola, 1994 Group Exhibitions Montclair Art Museum, N.J., 1973, cat. no. 40. References Mattison 1985b, illus. n.p. (fig. 199, as Untitled).

P71

Comments The title refers to Motherwell’s first wife, Maria Emilia Ferreira y Moyers.

P71

{ Figure with Rectangular Window} 1948 Oil and crayon on Masonite 95¾ x 48 in. (243.2 x 121.9 cm) Inscriptions Recto, lower left, incised: Motherwell 48 Verso not signed, not dated Artist’s Studio Number P48-3769 Present Owner Reis Private Collection Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Reis Private Collection, 2006

paint ing s on canvas and pane l

P73

P72

Solo Exhibitions Fundació Antoni Tàpies, Barcelona, 1996 (traveling), cat. no. 9, color illus. p. 89. Group Exhibitions Centro Culturale Candiani, Mestre, Italy, 2002, cat. no. 93, color illus. p. 195. References Mattison 1985b, illus. n.p. (fig. 178, as Untitled).

P72

[ Untitled (Figuration) ] 1948 Oil and sand on Masonite 95¾ x 48 in. (243.2 x 121.9 cm) Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated Verso: 1948 Verso: very fragile Artist’s Studio Number P48-1590; P48-3124 Present Owner Collection San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Gift of the Moldaw Family Foundation Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, 2000 Group Exhibitions Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid, 1999 (traveling), color illus. p. 318; shown in Madrid only.

pain tin gs on ca n v as an d pa n el

P73

P74

Window

Untitled

1948 Oil on Masonite 17½ x 13½ in. (44.5 x 34.3 cm)

1948 Oil and enamel on canvas board 15½ x 11½ in. (39.4 x 29.2 cm)

Inscriptions Recto, upper left, incised: Motherwell 48

Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated

Verso not signed, not dated Present Owner Collection of Luther W. Brady Provenance Harold and May Rosenberg; May Rosenberg, ca. 1978; Knoedler & Company; Luther W. Brady Group Exhibitions Montclair Art Museum, N.J., 1973, cat. no. 39.

Verso: For Matta \ Robert Motherwell \ Aug 1948 Present Owner Pierre and Maria Gaetana Matisse Foundation Collection Provenance Roberto Antonio Sebastián Matta Echaurren, 1948; Patricia Kane, ca. 1949; Pierre Matisse, 1972; Maria Gaetana Matisse, 1989; Pierre and Maria Gaetana Matisse Foundation, 2003 Comments The verso inscription is to the Chilean painter Matta (Roberto Antonio Sebastián Matta Echaurren, 1911– 2002), who was a close friend and mentor to Motherwell.

P74

P75

{ Title unknown} Ca. 1948 Paint on canvas board (?) 8 x 10 in. (20.3 x 25.4 cm), approx.

and White. Based on its relative size compared to known works hanging next to it, it appears to have measured about 8 x 10 inches.

P75

P76

Bird Ca. 1948 Paint on canvas board (?) 10 x 8 in. (25.4 x 20.3 cm), approx.

Inscriptions Unknown

Present Owner Unknown

Provenance Samuel M. Kootz Gallery, ca. 1948

Provenance The artist

Solo Exhibitions Samuel M. Kootz Gallery, New York, May 1948.

solo Exhibitions Samuel M. Kootz Gallery, New York, May 1948, cat. no. 19, as Bird on White (?).

Comments The only known images of this work are from black-and-white photographs taken of Motherwell’s exhibition at the Samuel M. Kootz Gallery in May 1948. Our reproduction is a detail from one of those photographs. The title of this painting is unknown; it is one of five still-unidentified works from this exhibition, three of which could possibly be this painting: Woolworth’s Worst, In Brown and White, and In Ochre

Group Exhibitions Akron Art Institute, Ohio, 1950. Comments This work is known only from a blackand-white installation photograph of the exhibition at the Akron Art Institute in January 1950. It may be the work that was exhibited as Bird, on White at the Samuel M. Kootz Gallery in May 1948 (cat. no. 19).

P76

Bird imagery was fairly common in Motherwell’s early work. In a February 13, 1954, televised artists’ panel, he d iscussed a drawing of a bird: “I often used to watch the birds feed outside my studio on Long Island during a severe winter and I became quite attached to them. Presently, without reflection about it at all, I had begun to draw and paint birds—I began to have some of the same feelings towards them that I do towards dogs, a peculiar sense of their livingness, alert and quick, but with a certain pathos. . . . Still my interest in birds is not scientific, but personal; this drawing is not a scientific rendering of a particular species of bird, such as a sea gull, but a drawing of birdness. Even now when I have the impulse to draw, I find myself inventing birds” (see “Writings by the Artist,” in the Bibliography). We do not know whether this work still exists in the form illustrated here.

paint ing s on canvas and pane l

P77

Birdness 1948 Oil on Masonite 14 x 18 in. (35.6 x 45.7 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper center, incised: Motherwell Verso: birdness Motherwell \ 48 Artist’s Studio Number P48-2488 Present Owner Dedalus Foundation Provenance Samuel M. Kootz Gallery, 1948; private collection, 1948; [Sotheby Parke Bernet, Inc., New York, May 22, 1975, lot 322, illus.]; private collection, 1975; Robert Motherwell, 1976; Dedalus Foundation, 1991 Solo Exhibitions Samuel M. Kootz Gallery, New York, May 1948, cat. no. 16.

pain tin gs on can v as an d pa n el

References Artnews 1948, p. 49; W[olf] 1948, p. 19; Mattison 1985b, illus. n.p. (fig. 173, sideways); Mattison 1987, p. 175, illus. p. 170 (fig. 65, sideways), referred to in text and in illus. as The Bird. Comments Regarding the concept of “birdness” expressed in the title of this work, see the Comments for Bird (P76). In 1976, Motherwell traded Läkerol with Black Stripe (c386) for this work.

P78

P79

Untitled

Man in Grey

1948 Oil on Masonite 14⅛ x 18 in. (35.9 x 45.7 cm)

1948 Oil on canvas 30 x 24 in. (76.2 x 61 cm)

Inscriptions Recto, upper left, incised: RM 48

Inscriptions Recto, lower right, incised: Motherwell 48

Verso not signed, not dated Present Owner Private collection. Courtesy Locks Gallery, Philadelphia Provenance Unknown owner, ca. 1948; [Sotheby Parke Bernet, Inc., New York, May 5, 1987, lot 94, illus.]; private collection, 1987 Solo Exhibitions Marian Locks Gallery, Philadelphia, 1989, color illus. n.p. Locks Gallery, Philadelphia, 1992, color illus. p. 18.

Verso: man in grey \ 48 Verso [circled]: [12] Present Owner Joni and Monte Gordon Collection, Los Angeles. Courtesy Newspace, Los Angeles Provenance Samuel M. Kootz Gallery, 1948; Mr. and Mrs. Harry W. Sherwood, Los Angeles, ca. 1950; Joni and Monte Gordon, Los Angeles, 1976 Solo Exhibitions Pasadena Art Museum, Calif., February 1962, cat. no. 9. Group Exhibitions Watkins Gallery, American University, Washington, D.C., 1950.

P79

Comments This work is one of two paintings given similar titles. Another painting, titled Man, in Grey, was shown at Motherwell’s solo exhibition at the Samuel M. Kootz Gallery in 1948. The title of that painting (P80) was later changed to Mariner, but we are fairly certain that it was that picture (with the distinctive comma before in Grey) and not this one that was shown at the Kootz Gallery exhibition.

P80

Mariner Alternative Title: Man, in Grey 1948 Oil on canvas 28½ x 23 in. (72.4 x 58.4 cm) Inscriptions Recto, lower left, incised: Motherwell 48 Verso [crossed out]: [“man, in grey”] \ mariner/48 Artist’s Studio Number P46-5149; P46-5249 Present Owner Private collection Provenance Samuel M. Kootz Gallery, ca. 1948; unknown owner; [Sotheby Parke Bernet, Inc., New York, May 2, 1973, lot 144, illus. (not sold)]; private collection, 1973; Zachary Berk and Marlene Krauss, 1994; [Sotheby’s, New York, November 12, 2009, lot 177, illus.]; private collection, 2009

P80

Solo Exhibitions Samuel M. Kootz Gallery, New York, May 1948, cat. no. 13, as Man, in Grey. References Mattison 1985b, pp. 179, 180–81, 218, illus. n.p. (fig. 158); Mattison 1987, pp. 148–49, 184. Comments This painting was shown in Motherwell’s solo exhibition at the Samuel M. Kootz Gallery in May 1948 (Juley photo no. 16; J0004813) as Man, in Grey (as distinct from Man in Grey, P79). Motherwell later crossed out that title on the verso of the picture and retitled it Mariner.

P81

Brown Figure 1948 Oil on canvas 40 x 30 in. (101.6 x 76.2 cm) Inscriptions Recto, lower center: Motherwell \ 48 Verso not seen [“inscribed with title and dated again on the reverse,” per Sotheby’s 2001] Present Owner Private collection of Caroline Hirsch Provenance Samuel M. Kootz Gallery, 1948; Vera G. and Albert A. List, 1955; [Christie’s, New York, November 3, 1978, lot 6, illus.]; Frank and Betsy Goodyear, 1978; [Sotheby Parke Bernet, Inc., New York, May 4, 1982, lot 9, illus. (not sold)]; [Christie’s, New York, November 8, 1983, lot 31, illus.]; unknown owner, 1983; [Sotheby’s, New York, May 7, 1992, lot 231, illus.]; Harvey and Rosemary Oxenberg, 1992; [Sotheby’s, New York, May 16, 2001, lot 187, illus.]; Caroline Hirsch, 2001

paint ing s on canvas and pane l

P81

Solo Exhibitions Samuel M. Kootz Gallery, New York, May 1948, cat. no. 18. Group Exhibitions Architecture Building, College of Fine and Applied Arts, Urbana, Ill., 1949, cat. no. 84, illus. n.p. (pl. 13). References Greenberg 1948, p. 613; Greenberg 1986b, p. 242.

P82

The Homely Protestant 1948 Oil on Masonite 47½ x 23½ in. (120.7 x 59.7 cm) Inscriptions Recto, lower right: Motherwell Verso: the \ homely \ protestant. \ /48

Museum of Modern Art, New York, January 1951 (traveling); not shown in New York.

Artist’s Studio Number P48-5162; P48-5173

Syracuse Museum of Fine Arts, N.Y., 1953, cat. no. 22.

Present Owner Private collection

Columbus Gallery of Fine Arts, Ohio, 1976 (traveling), New York, cat. no. 37a, illus. p. 75; shown in New York only.

Provenance Samuel M. Kootz Gallery, 1948; Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1949; Samuel M. Kootz Gallery, 1950; Harriet and Donald Peters, ca. 1950; Mr. and Mrs. John Murray Cuddihy, ca. 1962; private collection, 1977 Solo Exhibitions Samuel M. Kootz Gallery, New York, May 1948, cat. no. 12. Group Exhibitions Museum of Modern Art, New York, October 1949.

pain tin gs on ca n v as an d pa n el

P82

Museen der Stadt Köln, Cologne, Germany, 1981, cat. no. 237, color illus. p. 122, illus. p. 373. References Tiger’s Eye 1948b, illus. p. 24; Burrows 1949; De Antonio and Tuchman 1984, p. 63; Flam 1991, color illus. n.p. (pl. 17, as The Homely Protestant [Smaller Study]); Breslin 1995, pp. 24–25, as The Homely Protestant (Smaller Study); Rosenblum et al. 2004, color illus. p. 88 (pl. 61).

Comments Early in 1948, Motherwell painted two works that he would call The Homely Protestant—this picture and another that is twice as large (P85). He wrote about this picture in a 1949 Museum of Modern Art questionnaire: “Wholly non-representational works of the same year & perhaps month exist by me; it seems to be less essential whether there is a figure or not through the importance of memory—the ‘Homely Protestant’ is made by the same process by which a child works.” In that same questionnaire, Motherwell remembered that the title had been “chosen by free association” from James Joyce’s Finnegans Wake (see “Writings by the Artist,” in the Bibliography). In a 1970 interview, Motherwell elaborated on the way he chose the title of these two pictures: “In this particular picture,

P83

which puzzled me, I wanted an accurate title, could not find one, and then I remembered the Surrealist device, which I’d never used before, of taking a book—and it had to be a favorite book, so I took Joyce—and opened it at random. Without looking at it, I put my finger on a page, and where my finger rested, it said, ‘The homely Protestant,’ and I thought, ‘Of course. The picture is The Homely Protestant,’ which is to say, it is myself. And I called it that” (see De Antonio and Tuchman 1984, p. 63). Joyce’s phrase reads: “A disgrace to the homely protestant religion!” (Finnegans Wake [New York: Viking Press, 1943], p. 530; this is the edition Motherwell used). This work was acquired by the Museum of Modern Art on March 24, 1949, and deaccessioned January 27, 1950, at the same time that the museum acquired Western Air (P47) by purchase and exchange. In the 1949 Museum of Modern Art questionnaire, Motherwell stated that he may have used casein for the underpainting of this work.

P84

P83

P84

Still Life

The Homely Protestant (Bust)

Alternative Title: Woman as Still Life 1948 Oil on canvas 30 x 24 in. (76.2 x 61 cm)

Alternative Title: Sailor 1947–48 Oil on canvas 30 x 23⅞ in. (76.2 x 60.6 cm)

Inscriptions Recto, lower left: R.M.

Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated

Verso: still life \ 48

Verso (on top horizontal stretcher): 1 Dec 47

Verso: Robert Motherwell \ 1948 Present Owner Private collection Provenance Samuel M. Kootz Gallery, 1948; private collection; private collection, 1976 Solo Exhibitions Samuel M. Kootz Gallery, New York, May 1948, cat. no. 4, as Woman as Still Life.

Verso [painted over]: [illegible] Verso [painted over]: [Robert Motherwell] Verso: Robert Motherwell \ 4.XII.47– 19.II.48 \ “sailor” Artist’s Studio Number P47/48-1531 Present Owner Musée National d’Art Moderne, Centre Pompidou. Purchase and gift of the Dedalus Foundation, 2003 Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Musée National d’Art Moderne, Centre Pompidou, Paris, 2003

Solo Exhibitions Samuel M. Kootz Gallery, New York, May 1948, cat. no. 14, as Sailor. Museu de Arte Moderna, São Paulo, Brazil, 1961, cat. no. 5, as Sailor. Pasadena Art Museum, Calif., February 1962, cat. no. 8, as Sailor. Museum of Modern Art, New York, Robert Motherwell: Works on Paper, September 1965 (circulating), as Sailor. Art Museum, Princeton University, N.J., 1973, cat. no. 19, as Sailor. Museo de Arte Moderno, Mexico City, 1975, cat. no. 4, as Marinero [Sailor]. Städtische Kunsthalle Düsseldorf, 1976 (traveling), cat. no. 8, color illus. p. 57, illus. p. 99. Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, 1977, color illus. n.p., as Homely Protestant. Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh, 1977. Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, 1983 (traveling), cat. no. 15, color illus. p. 32.

paint ing s on canvas and pane l

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, 1984, cat. no. 16. Padiglione d’Arte Contemporanea, Milan, 1989, cat. no. 4, illus. p. 33. Fundació Antoni Tàpies, Barcelona, 1996 (traveling), cat. no. 7, color illus. p. 85.

P85

Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, 1959.

The Homely Protestant

Museum Fridericianum, Kassel, Germany, 1959, cat. no. 1.

1948 Oil and casein on Masonite 97¾ x 48¼ in. (248.3 x 122.6 cm)

Cleveland Museum of Art, 1960, cat. no. 54, illus. p. 36.

Inscriptions Recto, lower left, incised: 48 \ Motherwell

Institute of Contemporary Art, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, 1965.

Verso: “the homely \ protestant” Verso: february 48 \ may 48

Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1969, cat. no. 255, illus. p. 232.

Edmonton Art Gallery, Alberta, Canada, 1975.

Artist’s Studio Number P48-3242; P48-5024

New York State Museum, Albany, 1977, cat. no. 538.5.

Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y., 1978 (traveling), Ithaca and New York, illus. p. 93 (fig. 98); Tokyo, illus. n.p. (fig. 31); shown in Ithaca and New York only.

Present Owner The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Gift of the artist, 1987 (1987.60)

Cleveland Museum of Art, 1979, cat. no. 92, color illus. n.p. (pl. 32), illus. p. 152.

Provenance Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1987

Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, 1986.

Group Exhibitions Institute of Contemporary Art, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, 1965, as Sailor.

Joseph Helman Gallery, New York, May 2000. References Hobbs 1976b, pp. 45, 46, erroneously as The Homely Protestant, Portrait Bust; Arnason 1977b, p. 25, illus. n.p. (pl. 69); Baillie 1977, p. 8; Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University, exh. cat. 1978, Tokyo, illus. n.p. (fig. 31); Arnason 1982, p. 25, color illus. p. 110 (pl. 120); Mattison 1982, p. 9, as The Homely Protestant Bust; Regan 1984, sec. Review, p. 12; Gaugh 1985, color illus. p. 75; Kimball 1985, p. 32; Mattison 1985b, illus. n.p. (fig. 197); Mattison 1987, p. 183; Pleynet 1989b, pp. 30–32, 77, color illus. p. 77; Flam 1991, p. 20, color illus. n.p. (pl. 16); Anfam 1997, p. 505, illus. p. 505 (fig. 73); Hayes 2004, color illus. p. 103 (pl. 49). Comments This work was called Sailor until December 1975, when Motherwell changed the title prior to its exhibition at the Edmonton Art Gallery.

Solo Exhibitions Samuel M. Kootz Gallery, New York, April 1952 (not on checklist). New Gallery, Bennington College, Vt., 1959, cat. no. 11. Museu de Arte Moderna, São Paulo, Brazil, 1961, cat. no. 6. Pasadena Art Museum, Calif., February 1962, cat. no. 10. Smith College Museum of Art, Northampton, Mass., 1963, cat. no. 3, illus. n.p. New Gallery, Charles Hayden Memorial Library, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, 1963. Museum of Modern Art, New York, Robert Motherwell, September 1965 (traveling), New York, cat. no. 20, illus. p. 19; Amsterdam, cat. no. 19, illus. n.p.; Essen, cat. no. 19, color illus. n.p.; Turin, cat. no. 19, color illus. p. 77 (pl. 17). Art Museum, Princeton University, N.J., 1973, cat. no. 18, illus. p. 51. Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, 1983 (traveling), cat. no. 16, color illus. p. 32. Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, 1984, cat. no. 17. Group Exhibitions Cincinnati Art Museum, 1952, cat. no. 23. Arts Club of Chicago, 1953 (traveling), cat. no. 13. University of Utah, Salt Lake City, 1958, illus. n.p.

pa in tin gs on ca n v a s a n d pan el

References Greenberg 1948, p. 613; Seitz 1955, p. 65; Goossen 1959, p. 34; Motherwell in Smith College Museum of Art exh. cat. 1963, n.p.; B[erkson] 1965, p. 42; Claus 1965, p. 3; Hudson 1965, sec. G, p. 7; Lippard 1965, pp. 33–34; Arnason 1966a, p. 35, illus. p. 30 (fig. 18); Arnason 1966b, pp. 19, 27, 38, 39; Robertson 1966a, p. 90; Murphy 1967, sec. Magazine, p. 47; Cooney 1968, p. 41, illus. n.p. (pl. 23); Arnason 1969, p. 64; House & Garden 1969, color illus. p. 48 (installation view), color illus. p. 50 (installation view); Krauss 1969, p. 27; Rose 1969, p. 62; Friend 1973, p. 19; Hobbs 1975b, pp. 20, 172, 233; O’Hara 1975, illus. p. 10 (in exhibition); Arnason 1976, pp. 55, 56; Catoir 1976b, p. 8; Hobbs 1976b, pp. 45–46, 47; Winter 1976a, p. 55; Arnason 1977b, pp. 25, 30, 37, 58, 88, color illus. n.p. (pl. 70); Hughes 1977, p. 50; Huser 1977, p. 55; Motherwell in Arnason 1977b, n.p.; Tyler 1977, sec. F, p. 7; Cuddihy 1978, p. 192, cover color illus.; Hilton 1978, p. 63; Motherwell in Maloon 1978, p. 17, illus. p. 17; Ashton 1980, p. 8; Anderson 1981, pp. 110, 132, 158, 217, 222; Arnason 1982, pp. 13, 25, 30, 37, 58, 92, color illus. p. 111 (pl. 122); Firestone 1982, p. 116; Mattison 1982, p. 13, illus. p. 13; Motherwell in Arnason 1982, p. 111; Ashton 1983, p. 34, color illus. p. 32; Motherwell in Albright-Knox Art Gallery exh. cat. 1983, p. 13, color illus. p. 32; Seitz 1983, p. 23, illus. n.p. (fig. 175); De Antonio and Tuchman 1984, p. 63; Kangas 1984, sec. Arts & Leisure; Regan 1984, sec. Review, p. 12;

Cooke 1985, p. 193; Gaugh 1985, p. 73; Kimball 1985, pp. 32, 40; Mattison 1985a, p. 92; Mattison 1985b, pp. 163– 64, 177, 182, 192, 195, 200, 201, 214–18, 224, 227, 250, illus. n.p. (fig. 200); Greenberg 1986b, p. 242; Hemenway 1986, p. 43; Mattison 1987, pp. 146, 147, 159, 165, 166, 175, 181–84, 196, 219, illus. p. 191 (fig. 75); Metropolitan Museum of Art 1987, p. 70, illus. p. 70; Mattison 1988, p. 176; Enright 1989, color illus. p. 10; Motherwell 1989, p. 74; Pleynet 1989b, pp. 30–32, 77, color illus. p. 78; Flam 1991, pp. 10, 20, color illus. n.p. (pl. 18); Pleynet 1991, pp. 15, 21, 23, illus. p. 16; Polcari 1991, pp. 306, 308, illus. p. 305 (fig. 240); Terenzio 1992b, p. 51; McEvilley 1993, pp. 26, 49; Belgrad 1994, pp. 137–38; Breslin 1995, pp. 24–25; Falgàs 1995, p. 19; Caws 1996b, p. 80, illus. p. 82; Denson and McEvilley 1996, pp. 59, 79; Jones 1996, pp. 283–84; del Conde 1997, p. 97; Gibson 1997, pp. 14–15, 29, 55, color illus. p. 13 (fig. 13); Chalumeau 1998, color illus. p. 14 (pl. 6); Pleynet 1998, pp. 90, 96, 98; Cateforis 2000–2001, pp. 8, 10, illus. p. 7 (fig. 5); Caws 2003, pp. 96, 143, 157, 176, illus. p. 97 (ill. 66); Ashton and Banach 2007, illus. p. 65; Mattison et al. 2009, pp. 59–61, color illus. p. 59. Comments As can be seen in the pentimenti of this painting, Motherwell began it as an enlarged version of the smaller Homely Protestant (P82), but it became radically transformed as he worked on it. This painting was not included with the smaller version in Motherwell’s May 1948 solo exhibition at the Samuel M. Kootz Gallery. In fact, it was not shown until Motherwell’s April 1952 exhibition at the Kootz Gallery, where it is visible in photographs of the exhibition though it is not on the checklist. This was the tallest painting Motherwell had done to date. In 1970, he remembered: “The Homely Protestant [1948] was the result of all kinds of revisions. It’s what’s left over after revising and revising and revising. There was always meant to be a figure in it. There has been such interest in my Elegies to the Spanish Republic and collages and some of the abstract pictures that it tends to be forgotten that I was involved in a very abstract, but nevertheless really figurative painting” (see De Antonio and Tuchman 1984, p. 63).

P85

P86

Granada 1948–49 Oil and casein on paper mounted on Masonite 47 x 55½ in. (119.4 x 141 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper right, incised: R. Motherwell Verso: R Motherwell - 1948 Artist’s Studio Number P49-5026 Present Owner Kykuit, National Trust for Historic Preservation. Nelson A. Rockefeller bequest Provenance Nelson A. Rockefeller, 1952; Kykuit, National Trust for Historic Preservation, Tarrytown, N.Y., 1979 Solo Exhibitions Samuel M. Kootz Gallery, New York, November 1950, cat. no. 3A, illus. n.p. Group Exhibitions Samuel M. Kootz Gallery, New York, February 1950, illus. n.p. City Art Museum of Saint Louis, 1951, cat. no. 51, illus. p. 30. Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston, 1954, cat. no. 28. Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1955 (circulating), Zurich, cat. no. 67, illus. n.p. (pl. 14); Barcelona, cat. no. 84, illus. n.p. (pl. 29); London, cat. no. 84, illus. n.p. (pl. 23). Museum of Modern Art, New York, May 1969, illus. p. 95, as Granada: Elegy to the Spanish Republic, II. References Coates 1950, p. 73; Devree 1950a, sec. C, p. 9; H[ess] 1950a, p. 51; S[harp] 1950, p. 25; Condon [1951]; Hess 1951, p. 132, illus. p. 136 (fig. 81); Faison 1952b, p. 392; H[ess] 1952, p. 44; Fitzsimmons 1954, p. 20; Seitz 1955, p. 138, illus. n.p. (fig. 164); Heron 1956, p. 17, illus. p. 17; Motherwell 1956, illus. p. 5; Celentano 1957, pp. 36, 37, 130, illus. n.p. (fig. 46); Seuphor 1957, illus. p. 229; Genauer 1959a, sec. 4, p. 7; Goossen 1959, illus. p. 38; Henning 1964a, p. 217; Lippard 1965, p. 35; Arnason 1966b, pp. 20, 25, 26, illus. p. 23; Melville 1966, p. 478; Bowness 1967, p. 288; DMFA Newsletter 1967, n.p.; Frankenstein 1967a, p. 26; Cooney

1968, p. 52; Arnason 1969, p. 52; Iowa City Press-Citizen 1974, sec. A, p. 7; Hobbs 1975b, pp. 3, 5, 145, 186, 237, illus. n.p. (pl. 10); O’Hara 1975, p. 74; Carmean 1976, p. 95; Hobbs 1976a, p. 30; Arnason 1977b, pp. 26–27, 30–31, illus. p. 27 (pl. 10); Carmean 1978, pp. 99–100, 102, 106, 108, 110, illus. p. 99 (fig. 4); Fineberg 1978, pp. 53, 55; Du Journal 1979, illus. p. 60 (fig. 6); Motherwell in Diamonstein 1979b, p. 382; Torroella 1980, p. 17; Anderson 1981, p. 222; Arnason 1982, pp. 26, 27, 30–31, illus. p. 26 (pl. 14); Seitz 1983, pp. 23, 29, 52, 126, illus. n.p. (fig. 177); Collins 1984, p. 94; Knight 1984, sec. E, p. 3; Colony Newsletter 1985, n.p.; Gaugh 1985, p. 74; Mattison 1985b, pp. 192, 241–44, illus. n.p. (fig. 217); Mattison 1987, pp. 165, 204–6, illus. p. 213 (fig. 84); Soler 1987, p. 37; Pleynet 1989b, p. 215; Vinson 1990, p. 969; Flam 1991, p. 23; Kingsley 1992, pp. 307, 313; Terenzio 1992b, p. 71; Firestone 1994, p. 16; Falgàs 1995, p. 29; Qin 1996, pp. 13, 38, illus. p. 68 (fig. 2); Craven et al. 1998, illus. p. 13 (fig. 3); Scott and Rutkoff 1999, p. 307; Sylvester 2001, p. 365; Wentrup 2001, pp. 65, 66, 80; Anfam 2002, p. 163; Thierolf 2002, p. 304, illus. p. 304 (fig. 2); Museum Morsbroich exh. cat. 2004, illus. p. 143; Tedeschi 2004, pp. 166, 168. Comments Granada, Motherwell’s first large Elegy painting, was painted on a sheet unevenly cut from a large roll of waxy brown butcher paper, which was subsequently mounted on a Masonite panel as per Motherwell’s instructions, and then worked on again after mounting. Although most of the work on this picture was done in December 1948, and it is dated 1948 on the verso, Motherwell did further painting on the mounted composition in the early part of 1949, hence our date of 1948–49. Motherwell said that he painted Granada and The Voyage (P87) in two eighteen-hour sessions during a blizzard (Fineberg 1978, p. 55). This blizzard, which dropped over nineteen inches of snow on New York City, began on December 19 and ended on December 20, as reported in the New York Times, December 20, 1948. The medium and support of this painting link it not only to The Voyage, but to two other works from the winter

of 1948–49: Doorway with Figure (P88) and Untitled (P89). All four works were painted on sheets of the same kind of butcher paper, all four were done with a combination of oil and tempera or casein that Motherwell frequently employed at this time, and all were worked on again after they had been mounted on Masonite panels. Motherwell had done the first composition in what would become his Elegy to the Spanish Republic series earlier in 1948, as a small drawing to accompany a poem by Harold Rosenberg. That drawing later (in 1961) became known as Elegy to the Spanish Republic No. 1, 1948 (see fig. 44 in volume 1). Later that year, Motherwell painted At Five in the Afternoon (w10), a small elegy composition on paperboard. Granada is the first Elegy painting named after a city, the same city where Federico García Lorca was raised, and also where he was arrested by the Falangists (Spanish fascists) just before his execution in 1936. Lorca had great importance to Motherwell, who referred to him and his writings throughout his life as a painter (see the Comments for the two versions of At Five in the Afternoon, P96 and W10). In the catalogue for Motherwell’s solo exhibition at the Samuel M. Kootz Gallery in November 1950, where he showed for the first time a number of Elegy to the Spanish Republic paintings as a group, he described them as follows: “The Spanish ‘Elegies’ are an effort to symbolize a subjective image of modern Spain. They are all in black and white: they are funeral pictures, laments, dirges, elegies—barbaric and austere.”

P87

The Voyage 1948–49 Oil, tempera, and charcoal on paper mounted on Masonite 48 x 94 in. (121.9 x 238.8 cm) Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated Verso not signed, not dated Artist’s Studio Number P49-5027 Present Owner The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Gift of Blanchette Hooker Rockefeller Provenance Blanchette Hooker Rockefeller, 1950; Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1955 Solo Exhibitions Samuel M. Kootz Gallery, New York, November 1950, cat. no. 1C, illus. n.p. Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin College, Ohio, 1952, cat. no. 2, erroneously as The Happy Voyage. Museum of Modern Art, New York, Robert Motherwell, September 1965 (traveling), New York, cat. no. 23, illus. p. 25 (installation view), color illus. p. 27; shown in New York only. Group Exhibitions Samuel M. Kootz Gallery, New York, September 1949. Samuel M. Kootz Gallery, New York, [September] 1950. Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, 1950, cat. no. 91. Museum of Modern Art, New York, June 1951. Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, 1955 (traveling), illus. p. 58; shown in New York only. Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1957. Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1958 (circulating), cat. no. 46, color illus. p. 59; shown in New York only. Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, September 1966, cat. no. 193, illus. p. 125. Museum of Modern Art, New York, June 1969, cat. no. 75. Musée National d’Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, 1977, illus. p. 529. paint ing s on canvas and pane l

P87

References De Ezcurra ca. 1949, illus.; K[rasne] 1950b, p. 18; McBride 1950, illus. p. 51; Preston 1950a, sec. B, p. 9; Motherwell 1951, illus. p. 20; Seuphor 1951b, illus. p. 4; Allen Memorial Art Museum Bulletin 1952, illus. p. 110, erroneously as The Happy Voyage; Seitz 1955, p. 80, illus. n.p. (fig. 165); Celentano 1957, pp. 36, 130; Goodrich et al. 1957, illus. p. 249; Apollonio et al. 1958, p. 306, cover color illus., color illus. p. 307 (pl. 150); Goossen 1959, pp. 33–34, illus. p. 33; Hunter 1959, color illus. n.p. (pl. 34); Russell 1959, color illus. p. 38; Alloway 1961, p. 33; Apollonio et al. 1962, pp. 292–93, color illus. p. 300 (pl. 28); Nordland 1962a, p. 22; Nordland 1962b, p. 50; Ashton 1963a, p. 8; Fried 1963, p. 68; McCoubrey 1963, pp. 118–19, cover illus., illus. p. 108 (pl. 63); Tillim 1963, p. 41; Bourdon 1965, p. 13; Hudson 1965, sec. G, p. 7; Newsweek 1965, p. 98; O’Hara 1965b, p. 264; Wasserman 1965, illus. p. 18; Arnason 1966b, pp. 19–20, 28, 40, illus. p. 21; Hunter 1966a, color illus. n.p. (pl. 34); Editors of Art in

pain tin gs on can v as an d pa n el

America 1967, color illus. p. 218; Cooney 1968, illus. n.p. (pl. 24); Arnason 1969, pp. 52, 61, illus. p. 51; Orlandini 1970, illus. n.p.; Sandler 1970, p. 203, illus. p. 206 (fig. 16-5); Galerie im Erker exh. cat. 1971, illus. p. 10 (installation view); Volboudt 1973b, p. 85; Davidson 1974, p. 149, color illus. pp. 134–35 (pl. 122); Acha 1975, p. 82; Hobbs 1975b, pp. 104, 186– 88, illus. n.p. (pl. 11); Arnason 1976, p. 56; Arnason 1977b, pp. 26–27, 29, 31, 36, 59, 66, color illus. n.p. (pl. 74), illus. n.p. (pl. 75, installation view); Cavaliere and Hobbs 1977, p. 111; Motherwell in Arnason 1977b, n.p.; Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris exh. cat. 1977, illus. n.p.; Pleynet 1977, p. 191; Carmean 1978, pp. 99, 114, illus. p. 103 (fig. 6); Hilton 1978, p. 63; Joseph H. Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, exh. cat. 1980, illus. p. 10 (fig. 1); Anderson 1981, pp. 159, 226; Soffer 1981, illus. pp. 42–43; Arnason 1982, pp. 11, 26–27, 29, 31, 36, 60, 66, illus. p. 114 (pl. 126, installation view), color illus. p. 115 (pl. 128); Mattison

1982, p. 13; Motherwell in Arnason 1982, pp. 115, 158; Albright-Knox Art Gallery exh. cat. 1983, color illus. p. 36; Ashton 1983, pp. 37, 38, color illus. p. 36; Meewis 1983, p. 198; Seitz 1983, pp. 22–23, 29, color illus. n.p. (fig. 178); Alley 1984, p. 56; Duffy 1984, pp. 61, 93; Knight 1984, sec. E, p. 3; Gaugh 1985, p. 75; Kimball 1985, pp. 32, 36; Mattison 1985b, pp. 182, 226, 241–45, 251, illus. n.p. (fig. 215); Rosand 1985, p. 93; Pleynet 1986, p. 73; Thaw 1986– 87, p. 29; Mattison 1987, pp. 1, 159, 197, 204–6, 219, illus. p. 212 (fig. 83); Lloyd 1988b, p. 20; Lloyd 1988c, p. 17, illus. p. 16; Mackie 1989, illus. n.p.; Padiglione d’Arte Contemporanea exh. cat. 1989, illus. p. 56 (installation view); Pleynet 1989b, pp. 25, 32, 35–37, 40–41, 50, 54, 79, 215, color illus. p. 79; Flam 1991, p. 23, color illus. n.p. (pl. 23), illus. n.p. (pl. 24, installation view); Hopps 1991, p. 32, illus. p. 28 (fig. 20); Pleynet 1991, pp. 12, 18; Polcari 1991, pp. 311–12, 317; Kingsley 1992, pp. 307, 315; Terenzio 1992b, p. 114, color illus. n.p.; Gooch 1993, p. 446; Heckscher Museum exh. cat. 1993, color illus.

p. 24 (fig. 4); Thistlewood 1993, p. 26; Firestone 1994, p. 16; Falgàs 1995, p. 19; Caws 1996b, pp. 13, 59, 142–43, illus. p. 12; Fundació Antoni Tàpies exh. cat. 1996, illus. p. 55; Torner 1996, color illus. p. 16; Anfam 1997, p. 504; Chalumeau 1998, color illus. p. 15 (pl. 7); Pleynet 1998, pp. 87, 93; Jachec 2000, illus. p. 155 (fig. 12); Wentrup 2001, pp. 66, 67; Caws 2003, pp. 94, 100, 118, 120, illus. p. 95 (ill. 64); Museum Morsbroich exh. cat. 2004, color illus. p. 44; Tedeschi 2004, p. 168; Balken 2005, p. 29, color illus. p. 29 (fig. 17); Mattison et al. 2009, p. 105, color illus. p. 104. Comments This painting was begun in December 1948 and finished early in 1949, at the same time as Granada (P86); both works were painted in two eighteenhour sessions during a blizzard in December 1948. And as with Granada and the related works Doorway with Figure (P88) and Untitled (P89), The Voyage was painted on unevenly cut, waxy brown butcher paper, then

P88

mounted on Masonite, following Motherwell’s instructions. After the work was mounted on the Masonite panel, he did some additional painting on it. In a 1957 Museum of Modern Art questionnaire, Motherwell stated that The Voyage “is a reference to the Baudelairian tradition of ‘voyaging toward the unknown’ ” (see “Writings by the Artist,” in the Bibliography). He later stated, “The title refers to the sense we had in the 1940s of voyaging on unknown seas . . . and, of course, refers to Baudelaire’s famous poem The Voyage, the last line of which is: ‘Au fond de l’Inconnu pour trouver du nouveau!’ [To the depths of the Unknown to find the new!]” (Motherwell in Arnason 1982, p. 115).

P88

Doorway with Figure Alternative Titles: Painting; Beach Scene; Summer Figure; Summer Bath House 1949 Oil and casein on paper mounted on Masonite 48 x 39¾ in. (121.9 x 101 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper left, incised: 49 \ Motherwell Verso: R. Motherwell \ 1949 Artist’s Studio Number P51-1532 Present Owner Denver Art Museum Collection. Acquired in memory of Margaret Ann Chafee. For a full list of donors, see the entry for P22.

Provenance Joann and Gifford Phillips, 1954; Robert Motherwell, 1959; Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Denver Art Museum, 1994 Solo Exhibitions Samuel M. Kootz Gallery, New York, November 1950, cat. no. 1B, as Beach Scene. Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin College, Ohio, 1952, cat. no. 3, as Summer Figure.

Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, 1983 (traveling), cat. no. 18, color illus. p. 64; shown in Buffalo only. Denver Art Museum, 1995, illus. n.p. Fundació Antoni Tàpies, Barcelona, 1996 (traveling), cat. no. 13, color illus. p. 97. Group Exhibitions Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, December 1949, cat. no. 95, as Painting.

Städtische Kunsthalle Düsseldorf, 1976 (traveling), cat. no. 13, illus. p. 101.

California Palace of the Legion of Honor, San Francisco, 1950, illus. n.p., as Painting.

Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, 1977, color illus. n.p.

Frank Perls Gallery, Beverly Hills, Calif., 1951 (traveling), as Painting.

Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh, 1977.

Arts Club of Chicago, 1953 (traveling), cat. no. 14, as Painting.

Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1978, cat. no. 6. paint ing s on canvas and pane l

P89

Museum of Cranbrook Academy of Art, Bloomfield Hills, Mich., 1953, cat. no. 30, as Summer Bath House. Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston, 1954, cat. no. 30, as Summer Bath House. Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig Wien, Vienna, 1997, color illus. p. 303. References Sorzano 1951, illus. p. 28; Arnason 1977b, pp. 32–33, 107, color illus. n.p. (pl. 78); Baillie 1977, p. 8; Motherwell in Arnason 1977b, n.p.; Hilton 1978, p. 63; Hernandez 1980, illus. p. 27; Arnason 1982, pp. 32–33, color illus. p. 113 (pl. 125); Motherwell in Arnason 1982, p. 113; Mattison 1985a, p. 92; Mattison 1985b, illus. n.p. (fig. 216); Pleynet 1989b, pp. 36–37, 51, 82, color illus. p. 83; Flam 1991, color illus. n.p. (pl. 27); On & Off the Wall 1995, color illus. p. 12; Paglia 1996, p. 56; Lynton 1997, p. 41, color illus. p. 40; Cateforis 2000–2001, p. 8; Tieken 2000, illus. n.p.; Lynton 2001, p. 181, color illus. p. 181; Caws 2003, p. 183, color illus. p. 184 (ill. 130).

pa in tin gs on ca n v as an d pa n el

Comments The painting medium and unevenly cut paper support of this work link it to three other significant pictures from the winter of 1948–49: Granada (P86), The Voyage (P87), and Untitled (P89). Motherwell has acknowledged painting Granada and The Voyage concurrently, yet Doorway with Figure and Untitled have not previously been linked to this turning point in Motherwell’s career. Though often dated 1950, or “circa 1951,” this painting is signed with the date “49,” and was first exhibited in the 1949 Whitney Annual exhibition as Painting. It was not exhibited under its present title until Motherwell’s 1976 retrospective in Düsseldorf. The position of the figure and the alternative titles, Summer Bath House, Summer Figure, and Beach Scene, suggest an affinity with Picasso’s 1928 Dinard paintings of a female bather standing next to the door of a beach cabana.

P90

P89

Untitled Alternative Title: {Untitled (Elegy)} 1949 Oil, tempera, and graphite on paper mounted on Masonite 48 x 28¼ in. (121.9 x 71.8 cm) Inscriptions Recto, lower left, incised: Motherwell 49 Verso not signed, not dated Artist’s Studio Number P49-1587 Present Owner Collection of Henry Cornell Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Henry Cornell, 2005 Comments This work was done at the same time as Granada (P86), The Voyage (P87), and Doorway with Figure (P88), with which it shares the same medium, the unevenly cut paper support, and the mounting on Masonite. The pentimenti

in this picture reveal that the initial composition included an additional oval at the right center, along with vertical bars and an area of the same green used in The Voyage. The repeated ovals and vertical bars originally linked this painting to the compositional format of Granada and The Voyage, but the oval at the right center and the vertical bar at the center were eventually painted over in black.

P91

P90

The Little Voyage Alternative Titles: The Little Voyage. Sketch; Painting; Voyage 1949 Oil on canvas 20 x 30 in. (50.8 x 76.2 cm) Inscriptions Recto, lower left, incised: RM Verso not seen Present Owner Private collection Provenance Myron Simons, 1951; [Christie’s, New York, November 19, 1997, lot 245, illus.]; private collection, 1997 Solo Exhibitions Samuel M. Kootz Gallery, New York, November 1950, cat. no. 2C, as The Little Voyage. Sketch. New Gallery, Bennington College, Vt., 1959, cat. no. 9, as Painting. Group Exhibitions Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass., 1964, cat. no. 23, as Voyage.

References Wyer 1988, p. 46.

P91

Comments Regarding the theme of this painting, see the Comments for The Voyage (P87).

Alternative Title: Málaga (Spanish Elegy Series) 1949 Oil and enamel on Masonite 14 x 18 in. (35.6 x 45.7 cm)

Málaga

Inscriptions Recto, upper left, incised [painted over]: [RM] Verso: R. Motherwell Present Owner The Art Institute of Chicago. Gift of Mr. and Mrs. James W. Alsdorf, 1970.1038 Provenance Private collection, after 1953; private collection, 1965; Mr. and Mrs. James W. Alsdorf; Art Institute of Chicago, 1970 Solo Exhibitions Samuel M. Kootz Gallery, New York, November 1950, cat. no. 2A.

Group Exhibitions Arts Club of Chicago, 1953 (traveling), cat. no. 12. Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid, 2002, color illus. p. 98. References Preston 1950b, sec. 2, p. 10; Arnason 1977b, p. 30; Arnason 1982, p. 30; Flam 1991, p. 23; Kingsley 1992, p. 307. Comments Several of the earliest Elegy paintings contained the names of Spanish cities in their titles. Motherwell discontinued this practice in the early 1950s, shortly after he began to number the Elegy paintings, in part because he wanted to avoid inadvertently commemorating a Republican defeat, and partly “to avoid any suggested correspondence a viewer might project between an individual picture and an actual locale” (Carmean 1978, p. 102).

Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin College, Ohio, 1952, cat. no. 6, as Malaga (Spanish Elegy Series).

paint ing s on canvas and pane l

P92

Sevilla 1950 Oil on Stretch-R-Panel canvas panel 14 x 18 in. (35.6 x 45.7 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper right, incised: RM 50 Verso not signed, not dated Present Owner The Collection of Lynn and Allen Turner Provenance Gerald Nordland, 1952; Mr. and Mrs. Sam J. Levin; [Sotheby’s, New York, February 25, 1992, lot 121, illus.]; Lynn and Allen Turner, 1992 Solo Exhibitions Samuel M. Kootz Gallery, New York, November 1950, cat. no. 1A. Group Exhibitions Joe and Emily Lowe Art Gallery, University of Miami, Coral Gables, Fla., 1962. Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, 1994, cat. no. 95, as Seville.

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References Arnason 1966b, p. 26; Hobbs 1975b, p. 214, illus. n.p. (pl. 13); Carmean 1976, p. 95; Arnason 1977b, p. 30; Arnason 1982, p. 30; Flam 1991, p. 23; Kingsley 1992, p. 307. Comments When this painting was first shown at the Samuel M. Kootz Gallery in November 1950, its date was given as 1949, but it is dated 1950 on the canvas.

P93

Barcelona 1950 Oil on canvas 30 x 38 in. (76.2 x 96.5 cm) Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated Verso (on top horizontal stretcher) [circled ]: [C1566] barcelona Artist’s Studio Number P50-514 Present Owner High Museum of Art, Atlanta. Purchase with funds from Alfred Austell Thornton in memory of Leila Austell Thornton and Albert Edward Thornton Sr., and Sarah Miller Venable and William Hoyt Venable and gift of the Dedalus Foundation Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; High Museum of Art, Atlanta, 2000 Solo Exhibitions Samuel M. Kootz Gallery, New York, November 1950, cat. no. 7A.

Fundació Antoni Tàpies, Barcelona, 1996 (traveling), cat. no. 10, color illus. p. 91. Group Exhibitions Pfalzgalerie Kaiserslautern, Germany, 1997, color illus. p. 59. Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon, France, 2008, cat. no. 57, color illus. p. 214. References Carmean 1976, p. 95; Flam 1991, p. 23; Kingsley 1992, p. 307; Lynton 2001, color illus. p. 167; Ashton and Banach 2007, illus. p. 87. Comments This painting was listed as a work in casein when it was first exhibited at the Samuel M. Kootz Gallery in 1950, but the medium was later described as oil. It has not been possible to verify with certainty our description of the medium as oil paint.

P94

Madrid Alternative Title: [Untitled (Elegy)] Ca. 1950 Oil on canvas 29⅞ x 38 in. (75.9 x 96.5 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper right, incised: RM Verso not seen Artist’s Studio Number P50-516 Present Owner Private collection, Los Angeles Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; James Kelly Contemporary Art, Santa Fe, N.Mex., 2001; private collection, Los Angeles, 2001 Solo Exhibitions Samuel M. Kootz Gallery, New York, November 1950, cat. no. 6A. Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin College, Ohio, 1952, cat. no. 5.

Group Exhibitions Samuel M. Kootz Gallery, New York, June 1950. Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, 1999 (traveling), color illus. p. 125, as Untitled (Elegy). References Gordon 2001, illus. p. 52; Horyn 2004, illus. sec. 9, p. 11. Comments Given its size and its inclusion on a list of works returned by the Samuel M. Kootz Gallery in 1955, this painting is almost certainly the work shown as Madrid at the Kootz Gallery in June and November 1950. The original title was subsequently forgotten and the work was shown after the artist’s death as Untitled (Elegy). In 1980, Motherwell titled another painting Madrid (p1009).

P95

{ Title unknown} Ca. 1950 Oil on canvas (?) 24 x 30 in. (61 x 76.2 cm), approx. Inscriptions Unknown Present Owner Unknown Provenance The artist References Bujese 1982, illus. p. 21 (installation view); Phoenix II Gallery exh. cat. 1982, illus. p. 21 (installation view); Namuth 1989, illus. p. 45 (installation view); Museo Rufino Tamayo exh. cat. 1991, illus. p. 31 (installation view); Terenzio 1992b, illus. n.p. (installation view); Kimball 1995, illus. p. 155 (installation view); Nassau County Museum of Art exh. cat. 2000, illus. p. 38 (installation view); Gordon 2001, illus. p. 52 (installation view); Engberg and Banach 2003, p. 43, illus. p. 43 (fig. 13, installation view); Museum

P95

Morsbroich exh. cat. 2004, illus. p. 9 (installation view); Gordon 2007, illus. p. 134 (installation view). Comments This work is known only from a blackand-white photograph taken around the summer of 1951 by Hans Namuth of Motherwell in his East Hampton home and studio. Our reproduction is a detail of that photograph. Given the relative size and proportions of the painting, it may well be an unidentified 24 x 30–inch work called “Little” Spanish Drum Roll, which was exhibited at the Samuel M. Kootz Gallery in November 1950 and at the Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin College, in April 1952. We do not know whether this work still exists in the form illustrated here.

paint ing s on canvas and pane l

P96

At Five in the Afternoon Alternative Title: Five in the Afternoon 1950 Oil on Masonite 36 x 48 in. (91.4 x 121.9 cm) Inscriptions Recto, lower center, incised: Motherwell 50 Verso: Five in the Afternoon Artist’s Studio Number P50-5028 Present Owner Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. Bequest of Josephine Morris, 2003.25.4 Provenance Paul and Josephine Kantor, before 1955; Wright and Josephine Morris, ca. 1959; Josephine Morris, 1998; Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, 2003 Solo Exhibitions Samuel M. Kootz Gallery, New York, November 1950, cat. no. 5A. Pasadena Art Museum, Calif., February 1962, cat. no. 16.

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Museum of Modern Art, New York, Robert Motherwell:Works on Paper, September 1965 (circulating); shown in San Francisco only. Group Exhibitions Los Angeles County Museum, 1951, cat. no. 106, illus. p. 24. Brooklyn Museum, November 1951, cat. no. 62, as Five in the Afternoon. Cincinnati Art Museum, 1952, cat. no. 22, illus. n.p. Samuel M. Kootz Gallery, New York, March 1953. Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, 1954, cat. no. 364, as Five in the Afternoon. Art Building and Iowa Memorial Union, State University of Iowa, Iowa City, 1954, cat. no. 50, as Five in the Afternoon. Paul Kantor Gallery, Beverly Hills, Calif., 1955. Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1965, cat. no. 64, illus. p. 135.

P97

Montgomery Art Gallery, Pomona College, Claremont, Calif., 1979, cat. no. 1, illus. p. 31. Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, 1999, color illus. p. 367 (fig. 701). References Baur 1951b, illus. n.p. (fig. 98); Coates 1951a, p. 89; B[rach] 1953, p. 20; Seitz 1955, pp. 79, 138, 399, illus. n.p. (fig. 166); Seldis 1962b, sec. A, p. 24, illus. sec. A, p. 24; Henning 1964a, p. 217; Kozloff 1965a, illus. p. 35; Newman 1965, illus. p. 40, erroneously as 5 O’Clock in the Afternoon; Seldis 1965, sec. C, p. 3; Hobbs 1975b, pp. 2, 3, 5, 145, 150, 167, 212, 213, 237, 277– 81, illus. n.p. (pl. 8); Fineberg 1978, pp. 53, 55–56, illus. p. 56; Carmean 1980, illus. p. 76; Motherwell in Arnason 1982, p. 117; Meewis 1983, p. 199; Seitz 1983, pp. 22–23, 29, 52, 89, 126, 147, illus. n.p. (fig. 179); Pleynet 1991, pp. 21, 24; Baker 2003, sec. D, p. 3, color illus. sec. D, p. 3; Tedeschi 2004, illus. n.p. (fig. 25); Mattison et al. 2009, color illus. p. 14.

Comments Motherwell based the composition of this work on At Five in the Afternoon (W10), a painting on paperboard that he had done a year earlier, and that he considered the first painted Elegy to the Spanish Republic. The title comes from a line in the refrain of Federico García Lorca’s poem “Llanto por Ignacio Sánchez Mejías” (Lament for Ignacio Sánchez Mejías), which refers to the hour when the bullfighter was mortally wounded: “a los cinco de la tarde” (at five in the afternoon). In an assertion of the lasting significance of this image to him, Motherwell would paint a large-scale version of this composition on canvas more than twenty years later (P647).

P98

P99

P97

P98

P99

{ Untitled (In Black, Ochre, and White)}

Untitled

Composition

Ca. 1950 Oil on Masonite 30 x 38 in. (76.2 x 96.5 cm)

1950 Oil on Masonite 23½ x 29½ in. (59.7 x 74.9 cm)

Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated

Inscriptions Recto, lower right, incised: RM

Verso not signed, not dated

Artist’s Studio Number P51-517

Present Owner Museu de Arte Moderna do Rio de Janeiro. Gift from Nelson Rockefeller in 1952

Ca. 1950 Oil and graphite on canvas 23¾ x 48 in. (60.3 x 121.9 cm) Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated Verso not seen Artist’s Studio Number P50-1461 Present Owner Private collection Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; private collection, 2005

Present Owner Dedalus Foundation Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991

Museum of Modern Art, New York, February 1975 (circulating), not in catalogue; shown in Rio de Janeiro only. References Museu de Arte Moderna do Rio de Janeiro 1999, p. 340, illus. p. 341.

Provenance Nelson A. Rockefeller, 1952; Museu de Arte Moderna do Rio de Janeiro, 1952 Group Exhibitions Museu de Arte Moderna do Rio de Janeiro, January 1953, cat. no. 34. Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1962 (circulating); not in catalogue; shown in Rio de Janeiro only. Museu de Arte Moderna do Rio de Janeiro, 1962.

paint ing s on canvas and pane l

P100

Mural Study Alternative Title: Untitled Ca. 1950 Oil, crayon, and charcoal on Bone Board 20 x 24 in. (50.8 x 61 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper left: RM Verso: “mural study” Verso [circled]: [oil on panel] Artist’s Studio Number P52-2760 Present Owner Dedalus Foundation Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991 Solo Exhibitions Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, 1984, cat. no. 32, as Untitled. Group Exhibitions Long Point Gallery, Provincetown, Mass., 1984.

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References Drudi 1984, color illus. p. 29 (in studio); Glenn 1984, color illus. p. 91 (in studio); Drudi 1988b, color illus. p. 29 (in studio); Pleynet 1989b, color illus. p. 173 (in studio); Galerie Bernd Klüser exh. cat. 2001, color illus. p. 60 (in studio). Comments This work has strong affinities with other paintings from around 1950. It later served as the basis for Untitled (Figure in Doorway) (P1081). Motherwell did not give it the title Mural Study until the summer of 1984, when it was exhibited at the Long Point Gallery in Provincetown; the verso inscription was added at that time.

P101

Wall Painting 1950–51 Oil on Homasote 44 x 58 in. (111.8 x 147.3 cm) Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated Verso [partially cut off]: [Rober]t Motherwell 1951 \ Wall Painting Verso [circled ]: [C1582] Present Owner The Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University Art Museums. Gift of Mr. G. David Thompson, in memory of his son, G. David Thompson Jr., class of 1958 Provenance Private collection, 1954; Harold Diamond, Inc., New York, 1957; G. David Thompson, ca. 1958; Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge, Mass., 1959 Solo Exhibitions Samuel M. Kootz Gallery, New York, November 1950, cat. no. 6C; shown in early state.

Group Exhibitions Art Institute of Chicago, April 1951. Samuel M. Kootz Gallery, New York, June 1951, cat. no. 15. Sidney Janis Gallery, New York, 1951 (traveling), cat. no. 20. Birmingham Museum of Art, Ala., 1953. Detroit Institute of Arts, 1954, cat. no. 23. Addison Gallery of American Art, Andover, Mass., 1960. Fine Arts Gallery, Indiana University, Bloomington, 1964, cat. no. 50, illus. n.p. Bunkamura Museum of Art, Tokyo, 1999 (traveling), cat. no. 54. References Coates 1951b, p. 58; Devree 1951c, sec. 2, p. 9; di S. L. 1951, illus. p. 109; Fitzsimmons 1952a, p. 9, illus. p. 9; Mendelowitz 1960, pp. 600, 603, illus. p. 602 (fig. 21-11); O’Brian 1999, pp. 169–71, illus. p. 170 (fig. 74).

P102

Comments Several inches were cut from the right side of this work by the artist shortly after it was shown at the Samuel M. Kootz Gallery in 1950, as evidenced by the truncated signature and the remains of only part of the Kootz Gallery label on the verso. “Wall Paintings” constituted one of three categories of paintings, along with “Elegies (to the Spanish Republic)” and “Capriccios,” that Motherwell discussed in the catalogue for his exhibition at the Samuel M. Kootz Gallery in November 1950. Writing about these works, he stated: “The ‘Wall Paintings’ are not conceived of as easel paintings, but as enhancements of a wall, and so called; and their subject is not an image, whether subjective or ‘real,’ but the culture of modern painting.” In 1952, Motherwell took up the theme again and began a numbered series of works called Wall Painting (see P135).

P102

Mural Fragment Alternative Title: Mural Project. Fragment 1950 Oil on Masonite 96 x 144 in. (243.8 x 365.8 cm)

Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin College, Ohio, 1952, cat. no. 1, as Mural Fragment (in three sections). Group Exhibitions Samuel M. Kootz Gallery, New York, October 1950. Architectural League, New York, 1950.

Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated

Kirby Student Center, University of Minnesota, Duluth, 1956.

Verso not seen

Saint Paul Gallery of Art, 1956.

Artist’s Studio Number P50-5032; P52-5032

Minneapolis Institute of Arts, 1957, cat. no. 97, illus. pp. 26–27.

Present Owner Collection of the Frederick R. Weisman Art Museum at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis. Gift of Katherine Ordway

Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, 1960, cat. no. 38, illus. p. 33.

Provenance Katherine Ordway, 1952; Frederick R. Weisman Art Museum at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, 1952 Solo Exhibitions Samuel M. Kootz Gallery, New York, November 1950, cat. no. 7C, as Mural Project. Fragment.

References Brian 1950, illus. p. 11 (detail, as Mural); H[ess] 1950b, p. 48; Louchheim 1950, sec. 2, p. 9; Arts & Architecture 1951, illus. p. 19; Finberg 1956, pp. 1, 5, illus. p. 1 (installation view); UMD Statesman 1956, p. 1; Arnason 1966b, illus. p. 21; Hunter 1970, illus. p. 94; Arnason 1977b, p. 29; Arnason 1982, p. 29; Seitz 1983, p. 29, color illus. n.p. (fig. 184); University of Minnesota and University Art Museum 1986, pp. xi, 360, color illus. n.p. (pl. 31).

Comments In 1950 Samuel M. Kootz, Motherwell’s dealer, organized a number of collaborations between architects and artists from his gallery. Motherwell was commissioned to design a mural for a junior high school in Attleboro, Massachusetts, built by the Architects Collaborative, under the direction of Walter Gropius, with whom he would later collaborate on a mural for the John F. Kennedy Federal Building in Boston (P366). The designated wall space, in the lobby of the school, was sixty-three feet wide. Motherwell executed a maquette in gouache for this project, Mural Design for a Junior High School in Massachusetts, 1950 (see fig. 196 in volume 1), along with these three full-scale panels. Although none of the collaborative projects was realized, all were exhibited at the Samuel M. Kootz Gallery in October 1950. In 1951 Katherine Ordway, whose fortune came from the 3M Corporation and who had purchased this painting, asked Motherwell’s permission to have a full-scale replica made of the composition in Scotchlite, a new reflective paint ing s on canvas and pane l

P103

material manufactured by 3M. This Scotchlite replica was exhibited at the Whitney Museum of American Art in October 1951 and was later installed along the driveway of her Connecticut estate. Motherwell granted permission with the explicit understanding that the replica would not be considered a work by him.

P103

Black Plant and Window Alternative Title: {Black Figuration on Blue} 1950 Oil on Masonite 35½ x 47½ in. (90.2 x 120.7 cm) Inscriptions Recto, lower right, incised: 50 \ Motherwell Verso [circled]: [C1564] Artist’s Studio Number P50-1468 Present Owner Grand Rapids Art Museum. Purchase, Kate Pew Wolters family in memory of Richard Wolters, and partial gift of the Dedalus Foundation, 2006.1 Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Grand Rapids Art Museum, Mich., 2006 Solo Exhibitions Samuel M. Kootz Gallery, New York, November 1950, cat. no. 7B.

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Group Exhibitions Samuel M. Kootz Gallery, New York, June 1951, cat. no. 14, illus. n.p. Art Institute of Chicago, 1952. References Burrows 1951a, sec. 4, p. 6, as Black Plant; Devree 1951c, sec. 2, p. 9. Comments This painting was exhibited three times between 1950 and 1952 as Black Plant and Window; that original title was subsequently overlooked and it was sold in 2006 as Black Figuration on Blue. We have restored the original title. The black form at the center of the composition appears to be derived from the leaf shapes in Matisse’s late work.

P104

Black Leaves 1950 Oil on Bone Board 25 x 30 in. (63.5 x 76.2 cm) Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated Verso [circled]: [C1553] Artist’s Studio Number P45-3695 Present Owner Dedalus Foundation Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991 Solo Exhibitions Samuel M. Kootz Gallery, New York, November 1950, cat. no. 13B. Museum Morsbroich, Leverkusen, Germany, 2004, color illus. p. 35. Group Exhibitions Asheville Art Museum, N.C., 2006.

P105

Black Still Life Alternative Title: Black Interior 1950 Oil on Masonite 40 x 48 in. (101.6 x 121.9 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper right: RM Verso [circled]: [C1565] Artist’s Studio Number P50-5030 Present Owner Collection of Joann and Gifford Phillips Provenance Joann and Gifford Phillips, 1953 Solo Exhibitions Samuel M. Kootz Gallery, New York, November 1950, cat. no. 12B. Pasadena Art Museum, Calif., February 1962, cat. no. 15. Museum of Modern Art, New York, Robert Motherwell:Works on Paper, September 1965 (circulating); shown in San Francisco only.

Otis Art Institute, Los Angeles, 1974, cat. no. 9, illus. n.p. Group Exhibitions Samuel M. Kootz Gallery, New York, June 1951, cat. no. 16, as Black Interior. Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, November 1951, cat. no. 102, illus. n.p. College of Fine and Applied Arts, Urbana, Ill., 1952, illus. n.p. (pl. 112), as Black Interior. Cincinnati Art Museum, 1952, cat. no. 24, as Black Interior. Art Building, Fair Grounds, Pomona, Calif., 1953, cat. no. 104, illus. p. 54. UCLA Art Galleries, Los Angeles, 1962, cat. no. 68, illus. p. 4. References Devree 1951b, sec. 2, p. 9; Seitz 1955, p. 138, illus. n.p. (fig. 168); Nordland 1962a, illus. p. 21; Nordland 1962c, illus. p. 76; Seldis 1962b, sec. A, p. 24; Moffat 1967, illus. p. 21 (in exhibition); Seitz 1983, p. 52, illus. n.p. (fig. 181).

P106

Picture in Black Alternative Title: {Untitled (Black and White)} Ca. 1950 Oil on Homasote 36 x 48 in. (91.4 x 121.9 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper left, incised: RM

M. Kootz Gallery between June 1951 and January 1952; a 1955 document from the gallery refers to it as Picture in Black (Dedalus Foundation Archives). It may be the unidentified work that was exhibited under the title Black Painting at the California Palace of the Legion of Honor, San Francisco, in January 1952.

Verso not signed, not dated Artist’s Studio Number P49-1152 Present Owner Des Moines Art Center Permanent Collections. Purchased with funds from the Coffin Fine Arts Trust and partial gift of the Dedalus Foundation, Nathan Emory Coffin Collection of the Des Moines Art Center, 2004.3 Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Des Moines Art Center, 2004 Comments Records pertaining to this work show that it probably first entered the Samuel

paint ing s on canvas and pane l

P107

Yellow Still Life 1950 Oil on canvas panel 18 x 24 in. (45.7 x 61 cm) Inscriptions Recto, lower right, incised: RM 50 Verso (on section from original canvas board backing): Yellow Still Life Verso (on section from original canvas board backing) [circled ]: [C1548] Artist’s Studio Number P50-1102 Present Owner Dedalus Foundation Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991 Solo Exhibitions Samuel M. Kootz Gallery, New York, November 1950, cat. no. 3B, illus. n.p.

Hollis Taggart Galleries, New York, 2007, color illus. p. 81 (pl. 28). References McB[ride] 1947, p. 9; W[olf] 1947, p. 21; Greenberg 1986b, p. 152; Kingsley 1992, color illus. p. 313; Windrow 1992, color illus. p. 4. Comments This work was originally painted on a Stretch-R-Panel brand canvas panel. In 2000 the original backing was removed from the canvas, which was then relined for conservation purposes. At that time, the sections of the original backing that bore the artist’s inscriptions and exhibition labels were removed and mounted within a plastic sleeve on the new backing board.

P108

Capriccio 1950 Oil on Bone Board 24½ x 29½ in. (62.2 x 74.9 cm) Inscriptions Recto, lower left, incised: Motherwell Verso not signed, not dated Artist’s Studio Number P40/50-3315; P45-3694 Present Owner The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens. Purchased with the Connie Perkins Endowment Fund and gift of the Dedalus Foundation Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens, San Marino, Calif., 2001

Museo Rufino Tamayo, Mexico City, 1991 (traveling), cat. no. 4.

Solo Exhibitions Samuel M. Kootz Gallery, New York, November 1950, cat. no. 4B.

Group Exhibitions ACA Galleries, New York, 2004.

Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, 1996, cat. no. 52.

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Fundació Antoni Tàpies, Barcelona, 1996 (traveling), cat. no. 5, color illus. p. 81. Group Exhibitions Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid, 1999 (traveling), color illus. p. 254. References Museum Morsbroich exh. cat. 2004, color illus. p. 27. Comments In Motherwell’s solo exhibition at the Samuel M. Kootz Gallery in November 1950, he grouped a number of diverse works, including this one, into a category he called Capriccios. This painting was the only one in the group, however, that was actually given the title Capriccio. Motherwell described the characteristics of this group in the exhibition catalogue: “The word ‘Capriccio’ is used as by musicians, to mean a ‘composition in a more or less free form,’ often fantastic. The subjects are the classical ones of 20th Century Parisian abstract

P109

painting: figures, interiors, still lifes. The fantasy is brutal and ironical” (see “Writings by the Artist,” in the Bibliography).

P109

Room 8, Hotel Flora, Cannes Alternative Title: Room 8, Hotel Flora 1950 Oil on Masonite 36 x 48 in. (91.4 x 121.9 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper left, incised: RM Verso [circled]: [C1555] Verso: “room 8, hotel flora, cannes” 1950 Artist’s Studio Number P50-1475 Present Owner Collection of the Art Fund, Inc., at the Birmingham Museum of Art, with funds provided by the Merton Brown Estate and the Thelma Brown Trust Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Birmingham Museum of Art, Ala., 2001 Solo Exhibitions Samuel M. Kootz Gallery, New York, November 1950, cat. no. 6B, illus. n.p.

Fundació Antoni Tàpies, Barcelona, 1996 (traveling), cat. no. 11, color illus. p. 93. Group Exhibitions Art Institute of Chicago, October 1951, cat. no. 115, illus. n.p., as Room 8, Hotel Flora. J. B. Speed Art Museum, Louisville, Ky., 1952, cat. no. 23, as Room 8, Hotel Flora.

Comments The title of this painting is unusually specific, and is clearly related to two other paintings done around the same time, Hotel Flora (P110) and The Hotel Corridor (P111), but we have not been able to identify a Hotel Flora in Cannes, either past or present, or a reference to one in any literary work.

Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, February 1954 (traveling), illus. n.p. John Herron Art Museum, Indianapolis, 1955, cat. no. 26. Círculo de Bellas Artes, Madrid, 2004 (traveling), color illus. p. 77. References K[rasne] 1950b, p. 17; McBride 1950, p. 51; Preston 1950b, sec. 2, p. 10; Bier 1952b, illus. p. 4; Celentano 1957, pp. 36, 130; Carmean 1978, p. 110; Anfam 1997, p. 504; Mattison et al. 2009, color illus. p. 32.

paint ing s on canvas and pane l

P110

Hotel Flora 1950 Oil on Masonite 36 x 48 in. (91.4 x 121.9 cm) Inscriptions Recto, lower left, incised: Robert Motherwell

University Galleries, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, 1953. American Federation of Arts, New York, 1954 (circulating). University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, 1957.

P111

The Hotel Corridor 1950 Oil on Masonite 44 x 55 in. (111.8 x 139.7 cm)

Oklahoma Art Center, Oklahoma City, 1958.

Inscriptions Recto, upper left, incised: Motherwell 50

Verso: Hotel Flora

Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha, 1961.

Verso, on top strainer [circled ]: [C1560]

Present Owner Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery and Sculpture Garden, University of Nebraska–Lincoln. UNL–F. M. Hall Collection

Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery, Lincoln, Neb., 1963, cat. no. 72, illus. n.p.

Verso: The Hotel Corridor

Minneapolis Institute of Arts, 1963.

Present Owner Dedalus Foundation

Provenance Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery and Sculpture Garden, University of Nebraska–Lincoln, 1951 Solo Exhibitions Samuel M. Kootz Gallery, New York, November 1950, cat. no. 10B. Group Exhibitions University Galleries, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, 1951, cat. no. 115.

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Charlotte Crosby Kemper Gallery, Kansas City Art Institute, Mo., 1965. Grand Rapids Art Museum, Mich., 1967, cat. no. 50, illus. p. 31. References K[rasne] 1950b, p. 17; Geske and Janovy 1988, pp. 132, 313, color illus. p. 133 (pl. 66), illus. p. 313. Comments Regarding the title of this work, see the Comments for Room 8, Hotel Flora, Cannes (P109).

Artist’s Studio Number P51-517; P55/60-709

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991 Solo Exhibitions Samuel M. Kootz Gallery, New York, November 1950 (not in catalogue). Group Exhibitions College of Fine and Applied Arts, Urbana, Ill., 1951, illus. n.p. (pl. 56).

New Gallery, Charles Hayden Memorial Library, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, 1951. Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1953, cat. no. 148. Downtown Gallery, New York, 1954, cat. no. 20. Toledo Museum of Art, Ohio, 1954, cat. no. 44. References K[rasne] 1950b, p. 17.

P112

P113

In the Summer Sun

Star of David

1950 Oil on canvas board 14 x 18 in. (35.6 x 45.7 cm)

1951 Oil on canvas 60 x 72 in. (152.4 x 182.9 cm)

Inscriptions Recto, upper right, incised: Motherwell 50

Inscriptions Recto, upper left: Motherwell 51

Verso not signed, not dated

Present Owner Unknown

Present Owner Knoedler & Company Provenance Private collection, New York, 1950; Dr. and Mrs. Jeffrey Zissu, New York, 2004; [Sotheby’s, New York, May 11, 2006, lot 142, illus.]; Knoedler & Company, 2006 Solo Exhibitions Samuel M. Kootz Gallery, New York, November 1950, cat. no. 5B. Group Exhibitions Kent Gallery, New York, 2009, color illus. p. 57. References Preston 1950b, sec. 2, p. 10.

Verso not seen

Provenance The artist Group Exhibitions Samuel M. Kootz Gallery, New York, 5 x 6, March 1951. References Preston 1951b, sec. 2, p. 9. Comments This painting was exhibited at the Samuel M. Kootz Gallery in March 1951. At the time, Motherwell was generating ideas for his commission to do a mural for the Congregation B’nai Israel Synagogue in Millburn, New Jersey, but had not yet begun work on

P113

the actual mural (see P114). Although the composition of this work is not directly related to that of the painting for the synagogue, it reflects Motherwell’s exploration of Jewish iconography during this period just before he undertook work on the panels of the large mural. According to Preston 1951b, the Star of David is blue on an orange ground. Our reproduction of this work comes from an early black-and-white photograph (Rainford photo no. K1585). It may no longer exist in the form illustrated here.

P114

Wall of the Temple 1951 Oil on Masonite 96 x 192 in. (243.8 x 487.7 cm) Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated Verso not signed, not dated Artist’s Studio Number P51-5033 Present Owner Congregation B’nai Israel of Millburn, N.J. Provenance Congregation B’nai Israel of Millburn, N.J., 1951 Group Exhibitions Samuel M. Kootz Gallery, New York, October 1951. Jewish Museum, New York, 2010. References Benson 1951a, sec. Society, p. 19; Benson 1951b, p. 30, illus. p. 30; B[ird] 1951, p. 23; Chanin 1951, p. 24; Fitzsimmons 1951, pp. 15, 23, illus.

paint ing s on canvas and pane l

P114

p. 23; Genauer 1951b, sec. 4, p. 9; Interiors 1951, pp. 12–14, illus. p. 14; Louchheim 1951b, sec. 2, p. 9; Motherwell in Benson 1951b, p. 8; R[eed] 1951, p. 45; Reiss 1951, p. 29; Time 1951b, p. 87, illus. p. 87, erroneously as Tablets, Ladder, Ark & Candelabrum; Bier 1952a, sec. 5, p. 4; Motherwell 1952, n.p., illus. n.p.; Architectural Forum 1953, illus. p. 120 (installation view); Goodman 1953, illus. p. 11 (installation view); Seitz 1955, pp. 62–63, 138–39, 213, 229, illus. n.p. (fig. 173, installation view), color illus. n.p. (fig. 174); Freireich 1961, illus. p. 12 (installation view); Arnason 1966b, p. 27; Seitz 1983, pp. 23, 52, 79, 85, color illus. n.p. (fig. 186, erroneously as Mural); Wong 1994, p. 37, illus. p. 38 (fig. 1, installation view); Kimball 1995, illus. p. 156 (in progress); Banach 1996, illus. p. 16; Miriam & Ira D. Wallach Art Gallery, Columbia University, exh. cat. 2001, illus. p. 60 (cat. no. 23b, fig. 56, installation view); Freudenheim 2010, sec. D, p. 9, color illus. sec. D, p. 9; Rosenberg 2010, sec. C, p. 28, color illus. sec. C, p. 28

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(in exhibition); Solomont 2010, p. 42, color illus. p. 42. Comments This work was commissioned for the main wall in the entry of the Congregation B’nai Israel Synagogue in Millburn, New Jersey, designed by the architect Percival Goodman. (Adolph Gottlieb designed the Torah curtain for the temple, and Herbert Ferber created a sculpture on the theme of the Burning Bush for the exterior facade.) Motherwell began work on the project in late spring and finished the painting in September. During the summer, he worked on at least one of the Masonite panels while he was at Black Mountain College (as per a photograph reproduced in Kimball 1995, p. 156). In this mural, Motherwell uses unusually specific imagery to refer to the wall of the historical Temple in Jerusalem. In the background, the blue and white rectangles represent the keystones, and the orange areas represent wooden planks. The symbols, from left to right, are as follows: the tablets

of Moses (the Decalogue or Tablets of Law); Jacob’s ladder; the Ark (containing three different symbols: the dots representing the twelve tribes of Israel, the criss-crossing lines standing for the diaspora, and the four gray triangles denoting the four corners of the world); and the menorah, a seven-branched candelabra meant also to stand for the Tree of Life. Motherwell discussed the symbolism in detail in a statement published on the occasion of the dedication ceremony for the artworks in the synagogue on June 15, 1952 (see Motherwell 1952). He also made a handwritten outline of the symbols, which is reproduced in Drudi 1988b, p. 51. Motherwell did several painted studies and sketches for the mural (P115, P116, P117, and W14), as well as a number of drawings. In some, the menorah form is replaced by a symbol of the burning bush.

P115

Sketch for The Tablets of Moses, the Diaspora, and the Burning Bush, for Temple B’nai Israel, Millburn, New Jersey 1951 Oil on panel (?) 18 x 36 in. (45.7 x 91.4 cm), approx. Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated Verso not seen Present Owner Unknown Provenance The artist References Magazine of Art 1951, illus. p. 217. Comments This study for the Millburn synagogue mural (P114) is known only from an early black-and-white photograph, which has the title of the work written on the back (Rainford photo, unnumbered; Dedalus Foundation

P115

P116

Archives). The dimensions given above are noted on the back of the photograph and described as approximate. The composition is close to that of the final mural, but without the Jacob’s ladder form, and with an image of the burning bush in place of the menorah on the right side of the picture.

P117

P116

P117

Jacob’s Ladder

Decalogue, Jacob’s Ladder, and Burning Bush

Alternative Title: Ladder and Candelabra 1951 Oil on canvas 12 x 24 in. (30.5 x 61 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper right, incised: RM Verso not seen Present Owner Private collection Provenance Private collection, 1952; Kay Hillman, New York; Stephen Mazoh & Co., 1985; Knoedler & Company, 1985; [Sotheby’s, New York, May 18, 2000, lot 411, illus.]; private collection, 2000

Alternative Title: Decalogue, Jacob’s Ladder and Burning Bush (as Candelabra) 1951 Oil on Masonite 47½ x 59½ in. (120.7 x 151.1 cm) Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated Verso [circled ]: [C2527] Artist’s Studio Number P51-1156

Solo Exhibitions Samuel M. Kootz Gallery, New York, April 1952, cat. no. 4.

Present Owner The Jewish Museum, New York. Purchase: Philip and Lynn Straus Fund in memory of Joy UngerleiderMayerson and gift of the Dedalus Foundation, 1994-680

Group Exhibitions Jewish Museum, New York, 1966 (traveling), as Ladder and Candelabra.

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Jewish Museum, New York, 1994

Stephen Mazoh & Co., New York, 1985, cat. no. 7, color illus. n.p., as Ladder and Candelabra.

Solo Exhibitions Samuel M. Kootz Gallery, New York, April 1952, cat. no. 12, as Decalogue,

Jacob’s Ladder and Burning Bush (as Candelabra). Group Exhibitions Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, November 1952, cat. no. 93. College of Fine and Applied Arts, Urbana, Ill., 1953, illus. n.p. (pl. 83). Art Institute of Chicago, 1953. Samuel M. Kootz Gallery, New York, October 1953. Birmingham Museum of Art, Ala., 1953. Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, Conn., 1954, cat. no. 26. Albuquerque Museum, N.Mex., 1999, color illus. p. 103 (pl. 40), erroneously as Tables of Moses, Jacob’s Ladder and Menorah. Jewish Museum, New York, 2004 (traveling), as Tablets of Moses, Jacob’s Ladder and Menorah. References Devree 1953, sec. 2, p. 12.

paint ing s on canvas and pane l

P118

Interior with Pink Nude 1951 Oil on Masonite 44 x 55 in. (111.8 x 139.7 cm) Inscriptions Recto, lower right: Motherwell 51 Verso not signed, not dated Artist’s Studio Number P51-1147 Present Owner Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University, Saint Louis. University purchase, Charles H. Yalem Art Fund, and gift of the Dedalus Foundation, 1995 Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University, Saint Louis, 1995 Solo Exhibitions Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, 1983 (traveling), cat. no. 19, color illus. p. 65.

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Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, 1984, cat. no. 30. Washington University Gallery of Art, Saint Louis, 1995, cat. no. 3. References Glowen 1984; Richard 1984, sec. D, p. 13; Virshup 1984, illus. p. 31; Wilson 1984, sec. Calendar, p. 75, illus. sec. Calendar, p. 75; Danto 1985, p. 59; Gaugh 1985, color illus. p. 75; Danto 1987, p. 50; Drudi 1988b, illus. p. 113 (in studio); Pleynet 1989b, pp. 37–38, color illus. p. 82; Washington University Gallery of Art Bulletin 1995, pp. 2, 3, cover illus.; Banach 1996, illus. p. 20 (in studio).

P119

P120

Untitled

1951 Oil and charcoal on Masonite 30 x 24 in. (76.2 x 61 cm)

Ca. 1951 Oil and graphite on Masonite 24 x 20 in. (61 x 50.8 cm)

Inscriptions Recto, lower right, incised: RM

Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated

Verso: 1951

Verso not signed, not dated

Artist’s Studio Number P51-1464

Artist’s Studio Number P50-1101

Present Owner Dedalus Foundation

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991 Comments We have assigned a ca. 1951 date to this painting based on its composition and drawing (see for example p119, p122, and W13).

P120

P121

Interior with Nude Alternative Title: African Interior (with Nude) 1951 Oil on Masonite 9 x 12 in. (22.9 x 30.5 cm) Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated Verso [circled]: [#c2522] Verso: R. Motherwell \ “african interior \ (with nude)” \ 1951 Verso [partially torn off]: [illegible] Artist’s Studio Number P52-5125 Present Owner Private collection Provenance Eleanor Ward, after 1954; private collection, 1977 Solo Exhibitions Samuel M. Kootz Gallery, New York, April 1952, cat. no. 3.

P121

Museum of Modern Art, New York, Robert Motherwell, September 1965 (traveling), New York, cat. no. 24, illus. p. 62; Amsterdam, cat. no. 21, illus. n.p.; Essen, cat. no. 21; Turin, cat. no. 21, illus. p. 80 (pl. 20/A).

References D[resser] 1952, p. 3; H[ess] 1952, p. 44; Artnews 1953, illus. p. 43; Houston Post 1954, illus. sec. 5, p. 1; Arnason 1966b, p. 27; Cooney 1968, illus. n.p. (pl. 38); Cateforis 2000–2001, p. 8.

Group Exhibitions Worcester Art Museum, Mass., 1952, as African Interior (with Nude).

Comments Motherwell inscribed the title African Interior (with Nude) on the verso of this painting, but it was first exhibited with the title Interior with Nude in his April 1952 solo exhibition at the Samuel M. Kootz Gallery. He restored the current title to the work when it was included in his 1965 retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art. The composition appears to have been based on The Painter and His Model by Henri Matisse (see fig. 59 in volume 1) that was reproduced as Studio Interior, 1936, in Jean Cassou’s Matisse (New York: Tudor, 1939, pl. 19). Motherwell had acquired a copy of the Cassou book shortly after it was published, and a color reproduction of this painting that he removed from that

Furniture Gallery, John Wanamaker’s department store, Great Neck, N.Y., 1953, cat. no. 32. Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston, 1954, cat. no. 34. Städtisches Museum Schloß Morsbroich, Leverkusen, Germany, 1954, cat. no. 50, as Afrikanisches Interieur (African Interior). United States Pavilion, Brussels World’s Fair, 1958 (traveling), Brussels, cat. no. 143; London, cat. no. 31; as Untitled. World House Galleries, New York, 1958, cat. no. 25, as Untitled.

book is visible in photographs taken of his studio in 1960, 1964, and 1975 (Motherwell preserved the reproduction among his studio accessories, now in the Dedalus Foundation Archives).

paint ing s on canvas and pane l

P122

Orange Figure with Interior Ca. 1951 Oil and charcoal on canvas 20 x 24 in. (50.8 x 61 cm) Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated Verso not signed, not dated Artist’s Studio Number P53-1463 Present Owner Collection of the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth. Museum purchase, the Friends of Art Endowment Fund Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, 1993 Solo Exhibitions Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, 1983 (traveling), cat. no. 22, color illus. p. 67; not shown in Los Angeles. Padiglione d’Arte Contemporanea, Milan, 1989, cat. no. 5. Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, 1993.

pain tin gs on can v as an d pa n el

Fundació Antoni Tàpies, Barcelona, 1996 (traveling), cat. no. 15, color illus. p. 101. Group Exhibitions Pace Gallery, New York, 1979, as Untitled. Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., 1980, cat. no. 28, illus. p. 72. References Landau 1980, p. 388, illus. p. 387 (fig. 14); Ashton 1989, p. 19; Flam 1991, color illus. n.p. (pl. 30); Lynton 1997, p. 41, color illus. p. 40; Cateforis 2000–2001, p. 8; Lynton 2001, p. 181, color illus. p. 181. Comments The composition of this work appears to be another variant on Matisse’s The Painter and His Model, 1936; see fig. 59 in volume 1 and the Comments for Interior with Nude (P121).

P123

P124

[ Untitled (Orange, Brown) ]

Bird I

Ca. 1951 Oil on canvas 20⅛ x 23⅞ in. (51.1 x 60.6 cm)

1951 Oil on canvas 24 x 20 in. (61 x 50.8 cm)

Inscriptions Recto, upper right, incised: RM

Inscriptions Unknown

Verso not signed, not dated

Present Owner Unknown

Artist’s Studio Number P53-1462 Present Owner Dedalus Foundation Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991 Comments The color, use of incisions, and figurative imagery in this work suggest a date of around 1951.

Provenance The artist Solo Exhibitions Samuel M. Kootz Gallery, New York, April 1952, cat. no. 6, as Bird. References Preston 1952b, sec. 2, p. 11, as Bird. Comments This is one of a number of images Motherwell based on a photograph of a magpie that he clipped from a December 13, 1951, New York Times article about an exhibition held by the Queens Pigeon Fanciers Association at the American Museum of Natural History (Dedalus Foundation

P124

Archives). A 1952 drawing called Magpie (collection unknown), based on the same photograph, was reproduced on the cover of the catalogue for Motherwell’s exhibition at the Samuel M. Kootz Gallery in April 1952. Although this work was also exhibited in that show, simply as Bird, gallery documents from that year list the titles of this work and that of P125 respectively as Bird I and Bird II. Our reproduction of this work is cropped from a black-and-white photograph of the 1952 exhibition at the Kootz Gallery.

P125

Bird II Alternative Title: Bird No. 2 1951 Oil on canvas 24 x 20 in. (61 x 50.8 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper right: R.M. Verso: Robert Motherwell Present Owner Collection of Sandra W. and David B. Landers, MD Provenance Private collection, 1953; Sandra W. and David B. Landers, 1984 Solo Exhibitions Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin College, Ohio, 1952, cat. no. 9, as Bird No. 2.

P125

Comments Regarding the subject and title of this work, see the Comments for Bird I (P124).

P126

[ Untitled (Bird) ] Ca. 1951 Oil on canvas 12 x 9 in. (30.5 x 22.9 cm) Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated Verso not signed, not dated Artist’s Studio Number P45-3775 Present Owner Dedalus Foundation Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991 Comments We date this work to ca. 1951 because of its relationship to other, similar bird imagery Motherwell created at this time.

Group Exhibitions Samuel M. Kootz Gallery, New York, April 1952 (traveling); shown in Rio de Janeiro and Buenos Aires only.

paint ing s on canvas and pane l

P127

Havana 1951 Oil on Masonite 30 x 39 in. (76.2 x 99.1 cm) Inscriptions Recto, lower right: R. Motherwell Verso: R. Motherwell Artist’s Studio Number P51-5166 Present Owner The Israel Museum, Jerusalem. Gift of Joseph H. Hazen, New York, to American Friends of the Israel Museum Provenance Harriet and Donald Peters, 1952; Joseph H. Hazen, ca. 1960; Israel Museum, Jerusalem, 1975

References Hobbs 1975b, p. 216, illus. n.p. (pl. 17). Comments This is the first Elegy painting with areas of bright color, and the only early Elegy painting with a title that contains the name of a place outside Spain. In naming this work, Motherwell may have had in mind the poet Federico García Lorca, who lectured in Havana in 1930 and had invoked that city in his poems “Oda a Walt Whitman” (Ode to Walt Whitman) and “El poeta llega a La Habana” (The Poet Arrives in Havana). While in Havana, Lorca delivered his famous lecture on the Duende (“Teoría y juego del duende”), the concept that was so important to Motherwell’s thoughts and feelings about the Elegy series (see Chapters 1 and 4 in volume 1).

P128

Andújar (España) 1951 Oil on Masonite 36 x 48 in. (91.4 x 121.9 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper right: RM Verso [circled ]: [#C2526] Verso: “andújar (españa)” \ Robert Motherwell \ 1951 Artist’s Studio Number P51-1465 Present Owner Collection of the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth. Museum purchase, the Friends of Art Endowment Fund Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, 1993

Group Exhibitions Art Center in La Jolla, Calif., 1962 (traveling).

Solo Exhibitions Samuel M. Kootz Gallery, New York, April 1952, cat. no. 10.

Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass., 1966, cat. no. 55.

Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, 1993, erroneously as Andáyar (España).

pain tin gs on ca n v a s a n d pan el

Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, 1994, erroneously as Andáyar (España). References Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth Calendar 1993, p. 2, color illus. p. 2, referred to in text and in illus. erroneously as Andáyar (España). Comments This painting is named for the Andalusian town of Andújar, near Cordoba, which witnessed a good deal of military action in 1937.

P129

Catalonia 1951 Oil on canvas 48 x 60 in. (121.9 x 152.4 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper right, incised: R. Motherwell Verso: “catalonia” \ 1951 \ Robert Motherwell Artist’s Studio Number P50/51-689 Present Owner The Saint Louis Art Museum. Funds given by the Shoenberg Foundation, Inc., and gift of the Dedalus Foundation

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Saint Louis Art Museum, 1995 Solo Exhibitions Samuel M. Kootz Gallery, New York, April 1952, illus. n.p. (not on checklist). Fundació Antoni Tàpies, Barcelona, 1996 (traveling), cat. no. 12, color illus. p. 95. Group Exhibitions Birmingham Museum of Art, Ala., 1953.

title refers to the province of Catalonia, which scored early victories during the 1936–39 Civil War but eventually suffered an especially bitter defeat that resulted in a loss of autonomy and in severe restrictions on the use of the Catalan language and social practices. The title also calls to mind George Orwell’s memoir of the Spanish Civil War, Homage to Catalonia, first published in 1938.

References Faison 1952b, p. 392; Fitzsimmons 1954, p. 20; Carmean 1976, p. 95; Flam 1991, p. 23; Kingsley 1992, p. 307; Anfam 1997, p. 504, illus. p. 504 (fig. 71). Comments The composition of this painting closely resembles that of an earlier work on paper, Spanish Prison III (W11). The

paint ing s on canvas and pane l

P130

Cape de Gata (España)

Lynchburg, Va., 1953, cat. no. 28, as Cape de Gata.

1951 Oil on Masonite 30 x 38 in. (76.2 x 96.5 cm)

Museum für Gegenwartskunst Basel, Switzerland, 1999, cat. no. 83, illus. p. 215.

Inscriptions Recto, lower right: RM

References American Abstract Artists 1957, illus. p. 110; Arnason 1977b, p. 30, erroneously as Cape la Gratta.

Verso [circled]: [#C2524] “cape de gata (españa)” \ Robert Motherwell 1951 Artist’s Studio Number P51-5165 Present Owner Kunstmuseum Basel. Bequest of Marietta von Meyenburg, Zurich, 1986 Provenance Marietta von Meyenburg, Zurich, 1954; Kunstmuseum Basel, Switzerland, 1986 Solo Exhibitions Samuel M. Kootz Gallery, New York, April 1952, cat. no. 8. Group Exhibitions Arts Club of Chicago, 1953 (traveling), cat. no. 10, as Cape de Gata. Randolph-Macon Art Gallery, Randolph-Macon Woman’s College,

pa in tin gs on ca n v a s a n d pan el

Comments The title refers to the region on the Andalusian coast within which Federico García Lorca set his play Bodas de sangre (Blood Wedding).

P131

Castile (España) Alternative Title: Castile 1952 Oil on Masonite 47¼ x 71¼ in. (120 x 181 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper right: RM Verso: “castile (españa)” \ Robert Motherwell \ 1952 Artist’s Studio Number P52-1589 Present Owner Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh. Purchase, gift of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Denby, by exchange Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, 1994 Solo Exhibitions Samuel M. Kootz Gallery, New York, April 1952, cat. no. 13. Group Exhibitions Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh, 1952 (traveling), cat. no. 187, as Castile.

Centro Cultural de Arte Contemporáneo, Mexico City, 1996, color illus. p. 437. Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh, 2002. References Kantner 1952b, sec. 1, p. 19, illus. sec. 1, p. 19 (installation view); Krasne 1952, p. 8, erroneously as Granada; Frankenstein 1953, p. 23. Comments The title of this picture, the largest Elegy that Motherwell had painted to date, refers to the Castile region of central Spain. The verso of the Masonite panel on which this picture is executed contains a slightly earlier untitled composition that Motherwell later covered with white paint before beginning to work on Castile (España). That composition on the verso was previously known only through a 1952 photograph and was thought to be an unlocated, still-extant work (see the Comments for P140); in the photograph it is seen facing the post of Motherwell’s easel (see figure at

P131

right). In the photograph, Motherwell is working on another painting on Masonite that appears to have been attached to the opposite side of the same thick strainer; that other painting is almost certainly Wall Painting III (P136), the only other painting on Masonite of the same size that Motherwell did at this time.

Photograph by Kay Bell Reynal of Motherwell in his studio in 1952, with the verso of the panel on which he painted P131 visible on his easel

paint ing s on canvas and pane l

P132 P134

P133

P135

P132

P133

P134

P135

Cádiz (España)

The Jewish Candelabra

La Danse

Wall Painting No. 1

1952 Oil on canvas 9 x 12 in. (22.9 x 30.5 cm)

1952 Oil on canvas 23⅜ x 48 in. (59.4 x 121.9 cm)

1952 Oil on Masonite 8 x 10 in. (20.3 x 25.4 cm)

Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated

Inscriptions Recto, lower right, incised: RM

Verso (on top horizontal stretcher): “cádiz” Robert Motherwell 1952

Verso: [“signed, titled, and dated 1952 on the stretcher,” per Sotheby Parke Bernet 1969]

Inscriptions Recto, lower right, incised: R Motherwell

Verso (on bottom horizontal stretcher) [circled]: [C2505] Present Owner Blanden Memorial Art Museum. Gift of Miss Ann Smeltzer Provenance Blanden Memorial Art Museum, Fort Dodge, Iowa, 1952 Solo Exhibitions Samuel M. Kootz Gallery, New York, April 1952, cat. no. 1. Group Exhibitions Arts and Industries Building, Iowa State Teachers College, Cedar Falls, 1952. Blanden Art Museum, Fort Dodge, Iowa, 2008.

pa in tin gs on ca n v a s a n d pan el

Present Owner Unknown Provenance Dollie Chareau, 1952; [Sotheby Parke Bernet, Inc., New York, October 8, 1969, lot 60]; unknown owner, 1969 Solo Exhibitions Samuel M. Kootz Gallery, New York, April 1952, cat. no. 2. Comments Our reproduction of this work comes from an early black-and-white photograph (Clements photo no. 45-040).

Verso not seen Present Owner Private collection, Barcelona Provenance Private collection, Barcelona, before 1965 Solo Exhibitions Samuel M. Kootz Gallery, New York, April 1952, cat. no. 9. References Tàpies 1981, illus. p. 333. Comments This work is Motherwell’s earliest painting titled La Danse, and may have been meant to be number I in the La Danse series (see P138 and P139).

Verso (on backing board): “wall painting, no. 1” \ 1952 \ Robert Motherwell \ oil on masonite Artist’s Studio Number P52-1545 Present Owner Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto. Purchased with funds from an anonymous donor, with support from the Dedalus Foundation, 1998 Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, 1998 Solo Exhibitions Museu de Arte Moderna, São Paulo, Brazil, 1961, cat. no. 10.

P136

Pasadena Art Museum, Calif., February 1962, cat. no. 17, erroneously as Wall Painting Number L. Städtische Kunsthalle Düsseldorf, 1976 (traveling), cat. no. 14, color illus. p. 59, illus. p. 102.

painting is the first of a series of numbered works with that title; some are given Arabic numbers, others Roman numerals. Regarding the concept behind the Wall Painting theme, see the Comments for Wall Painting (P101).

P136

Wall Painting III 1952 Oil on Masonite 47½ x 71½ in. (120.7 x 181.6 cm)

Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, 1977, illus. n.p.

Inscriptions Recto, upper left, incised [painted over]: [Motherwell]

William Benton Museum of Art, University of Connecticut, Storrs, 1979, cat. no. 2 (brochure); cat. no. 2 (catalogue), illus. p. 23.

Verso not seen [“ ‘wall painting iii’ \ Robert Motherwell 1952,” per Smithsonian American Art Museum]

References Arnason 1966b, p. 28; Hobbs 1975b, pp. 219–20, 239–40, illus. n.p. (pl. 19); Arnason 1977b, pp. 33, 34, 36, illus. n.p. (pl. 86); Arnason 1982, pp. 33–34, 36, illus. p. 36 (pl. 25); Pleynet 1986, pp. 83, 84; Pleynet 1989b, pp. 38–39, color illus. p. 39; Muehlig and Jones 1999, p. 198, illus. p. 198 (fig. 54).

Present Owner Smithsonian American Art Museum. Gift of the Dedalus Foundation and museum purchase made possible by the American Art Forum

Comments Prior to this painting, Motherwell had done two rather different works called Wall Painting: Wall Painting with Stripes (P16) and Wall Painting (P101). This

Artist’s Studio Number P52-688

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C., 1995 Solo Exhibitions Samuel M. Kootz Gallery, New York, April 1952, cat. no. 14.

Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, 1983 (traveling), cat. no. 20, color illus. p. 66; shown in Buffalo and San Francisco only. Group Exhibitions Samuel M. Kootz Gallery, New York, November 1952. Arts Club of Chicago, 1953 (traveling), cat. no. 9. Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service, Washington, D.C., 2000 (circulating), no. 42 (on checklist; not in catalogue). Patricia and Phillip Frost Art Museum, Florida International University, Miami, 2008 (traveling), color illus. pp. 178–79. References Devree 1952, sec. 2, p. 9; Fitzsimmons 1952b, p. 18; Fitzsimmons 1954, p. 20, illus. p. 18; Seitz 1955, illus. n.p. (fig. 172); Arnason 1982, pp. 33, 36; Seitz 1983, p. 29, illus. n.p. (fig. 185); Glowen 1984; Larson 1985, illus. p. 72; Amepnka 1986, color illus. p. 47; Ashton 1989, illus. p. 13; Pleynet 1989b,

paint ing s on canvas and pane l

P137

color illus. p. 84; Kramer 1991c, illus. p. 14; Robertson 1991, illus. p. 25; Memorial Art Gallery Magazine 2001a, illus. p. 6. Comments Another work in the Wall Painting series, done the following year, was also given the number III (see P154). There is no work titled Wall Painting II.

P137

Île-de-France (France) 1952 Oil on Masonite 48 x 60 in. (121.9 x 152.4 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper right, incised: RM Verso: 1952 “île-de-france (france)” \ 1952 \ R. Motherwell Artist’s Studio Number P52-5031 Present Owner Walter and Dawn Clark Netsch Provenance Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1952; Samuel M. Kootz Gallery, 1953; Walter and Dawn Clark Netsch, 1956 Solo Exhibitions Samuel M. Kootz Gallery, New York, April 1952, cat. no. 11. Group Exhibitions Arts Club of Chicago, 1953 (traveling), cat. no. 16, illus. n.p.

pain tin gs on ca n v as an d pa n el

Samuel M. Kootz Gallery, New York, May 1954. Paul Kantor Gallery, Beverly Hills, Calif., 1955. New Gallery, Charles Hayden Memorial Library, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Mass., 1961. Miami University Art Museum, Oxford, Ohio, 1983 (traveling), cat. no. 31, color illus. p. 35. Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, October 1985. References Fitzsimmons 1952b, p. 18; Walker Art Center Calendar 1953, illus. n.p.; D[evree] 1954, p. 33; Fitzsimmons 1954, p. 20, illus. p. 22; Seitz 1955, illus. n.p. (fig. 169); Nordland 1962a, p. 22; Nordland 1962b, p. 50; Seitz 1983, p. 29, illus. n.p. (fig. 182).

P138

La Danse II 1952 Oil on canvas 60 x 76 in. (152.4 x 193 cm) Inscriptions Recto, lower right: RM 52 Verso (on top horizontal stretcher) [circled]: [C2529] “la danse, ii” Robert Motherwell 1952 Artist’s Studio Number P52-5039 Present Owner The Metropolitan Museum of Art. George A. Hearn Fund, 1953 (53.94) Provenance Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1953 Solo Exhibitions Samuel M. Kootz Gallery, New York, April 1953. Group Exhibitions Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1965.

P138

Knoedler & Company, New York, June 1981. Hunter College Art Gallery, New York, 1984, illus. n.p. Lingotto, Turin, Italy, 1992, color illus. p. 187. Nassau County Museum of Art, Roslyn Harbor, N.Y., February 1993, color illus. p. 39. References F[itzsimmons] 1953b, p. 17, as Danse II; Seitz 1955, pp. 65, 175, 340; Geldzahler 1965, p. 192, illus. p. 192; Arnason 1966b, p. 27; Collins 1970, illus. p. 24 (installation view, as La Danse); Batterberry 1973, pp. 231–32, color illus. p. 232 (pl. 181, as The Dance); New York Times 1974, p. 18; Hobbs 1975b, p. 220, illus. n.p. (pl. 20); Metropolitan Museum of Art 1975, p. 205; Arnason 1977b, p. 33, illus. p. 33 (pl. 13, installation view); Pleynet 1977, p. 197; [Pleynet] 1981, p. 24; Arnason 1982, p. 33, illus. p. 33 (pl. 23, installation view, as La Danse No. 2); Seitz 1983, pp. 23–24, 65, 126, illus. n.p. (fig. 194); Pleynet 1986, pp. 83, 84;

Thaw 1986–87, p. 9, color illus. p. 7 (fig. 5); Pleynet 1989b, pp. 38, 39, color illus. p. 38; Vetrocq 1992, p. 69; Muehlig and Jones 1999, pp. 198–99, 201; Wentrup 2001, pp. 78–79, as La Danse, illus. (fig. 43). Comments Documents in the Dedalus Foundation Archives indicate that this painting was used as a maquette for a ruglike tapestry (measuring 62½ x 78¼ inches) fabricated by Edward Fields, who also created a tapestry from a design by Motherwell for the Temple Beth El, Springfield, Massachusetts, in 1953 (see fig. 204 in volume 1). No painting in the La Danse series was given the number I, but there is an earlier work that was called La Danse; see the Comments for that painting (P134).

P139

La Danse III Alternative Title: La Danse 1952 Oil on canvas 30 x 38 in. (76.2 x 96.5 cm)

P139

Solo Exhibitions Samuel M. Kootz Gallery, New York, April 1953. Smith College Museum of Art, Northampton, Mass., 1996, as La Danse.

Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated

Fundació Antoni Tàpies, Barcelona, 1996 (traveling), cat. no. 14, color illus. p. 99, as La Danse.

Verso (on original stretcher now replaced; inscriptions known from a pretreatment photograph) [circled ]: “la danse” Robert Motherwell 1952 [C2532]

Group Exhibitions Smith College Museum of Art, Northampton, Mass., 1999 (traveling), cat. no. 60, color illus. p. 199, as La Danse.

Artist’s Studio Number P52-515

Mount Holyoke College Art Museum, South Hadley, Mass., 2003, as La Danse.

Present Owner Smith College Museum of Art, Northampton, Mass. Purchased with the gift of Jane Chace Carroll, class of 1953, and Eliot Chace Nolen, class of 1954, and gift of the Dedalus Foundation, 1995:7-1

References C[ampbell] 1953, p. 52, as La Danse; Faison 1953, pp. 333–34, as La Danse; Preston 1953, sec. 2, p. 9; Seitz 1955, illus. n.p. (fig. 182); Johnson et al. 1963, illus. p. 10 (installation view); Pythoud 1990, p. 97, as La Danse; Pleynet 1991, p. 18, as La Danse; Smith College Museum of Art Newsletter and Calendar 1996, n.p., as La Danse, cover illus.; Pleynet 1998, p. 93, as La Danse;

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Smith College Museum of Art, Northampton, Mass., 1995

paint ing s on canvas and pane l

P141

Muehlig and Jones 1999, pp. 198–201, color illus. p. 199 (cat. no. 60), referred to in text and in illus. as La Danse; Herskovic 2003, color illus. p. 239, as La Danse. Comments The title for this painting was given as La Danse III on an April 6, 1953, list of works consigned to the Samuel M. Kootz Gallery for Motherwell’s solo show there later that month (Dedalus Foundation Archives). Although the inscription of the title on the verso reads simply “la danse,” we have retained the title under which it was exhibited when shown with other paintings from this series.

P140

P141

{ Painted-over work}

The Painter’s Wife Pregnant

This catalogue raisonné number was reserved for a composition that was previously thought to be an independent work but turned out to be on the verso of Castile (España) (P131). Prior to our examining the verso of Castile (España) the untitled work on the back was known only from a photograph taken in 1952 by Kay Bell Reynal (Archives of American Art), which we reproduce in the entry for P131.

Alternative Title: Pregnant Nude 1953 Oil on canvas 60 x 48 in. (152.4 x 121.9 cm) Inscriptions Recto, lower right: R.M. Verso not seen Present Owner Private collection Provenance Private collection; private collection, ca. 1972 Solo Exhibitions Samuel M. Kootz Gallery, New York, April 1953. References F[itzsimmons] 1953b, illus. p. 17; Seitz 1955, pp. 65, as Pregnant Nude, 139, illus. n.p. (fig. 181); Muehlig and Jones 1999, p. 199. Comments At the time this work was painted, Motherwell’s second wife, Betty

pain tin gs on ca n v as an d pa n el

P142

Little, was pregnant with their first daughter, Jeannie, who was born on January 28, 1953. The forms behind the figure here and in related paintings (P142–P144) are similar to those in a now lost work by Motherwell, probably executed in ink on paper, which appears in a photograph of Motherwell and his wife published in Dugan 1952.

P143

P144

P145

P142

P143

P144

P145

Pregnant Nude II

Pregnant Nude III

{ Title unknown}

The Nightmare

1953 Oil on canvas board 12 x 9 in. (30.5 x 22.9 cm)

1953 Oil on canvas board 10 x 8 in. (25.4 x 20.3 cm)

Ca. 1953 Paint on canvas board (?) 12 x 9 in. (30.5 x 22.9 cm), approx.

Inscriptions Recto, lower right: RM

Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated

Inscriptions Unknown

Alternative Title: Nightmare 1953 Oil on Masonite 9 x 12 in. (22.9 x 30.5 cm)

Verso not seen

Verso [partially torn away]: “[Pre]gnant Nude, III” \ Robert Motherwell \ 1953

Present Owner Unknown

Present Owner Private collection, California

Provenance The artist

Provenance Unknown owner; Hollis Taggart Galleries; private collection, California, 2005

solo Exhibitions Kootz Gallery, Provincetown, Mass., July 1953.

Present Owner Unknown Provenance The artist Solo Exhibitions Samuel M. Kootz Gallery, New York, April 1953. References Seitz 1955, illus. n.p. (fig. 180). Comments Our reproduction of this work comes from an early black-and-white photograph. We do not know whether it still exists in the form illustrated here.

Solo Exhibitions Samuel M. Kootz Gallery, New York, April 1953. References C[ampbell] 1953, p. 52, as Pregnant Nude.

Comments This work is known only from a blackand-white installation photograph taken during the summer of 1953 of an informal exhibition of works by Samuel M. Kootz Gallery artists at the Kootz Gallery in Provincetown (Nathan Halper Papers, Archives of American Art). We do not know whether the work still exists in the form illustrated here.

Inscriptions Recto, upper left, incised: RM Recto, upper right, incised: 53 Verso not seen Artist’s Studio Number P50Present Owner Armand Bartos Jr. Fine Art, Inc. Provenance Private collection, 1955; private collection, ca. 1986; private collection; Armand Bartos Jr. Fine Art, Inc., 2007 Solo Exhibitions Samuel M. Kootz Gallery, New York, April 1953. Group Exhibitions Birmingham Museum of Art, Ala., 1953, as Nightmare.

paint ing s on canvas and pane l

P146

P147

[ Untitled (Orange and Ochre) ]

Abstract Head

Alternative Title: {Untitled (Orange-Ochre)} 1953 Oil on Bone Board 24 x 18 in. (60.1 x 45.7 cm) Inscriptions Recto, lower right, incised and inscribed: RM Verso: Robert Motherwell \ 1953 Artist’s Studio Number P53-9

Alternative Titles: Untitled; Untitled (Abstract Head) 1953 Oil and crayon on canvas 23⅝ x 20 in. (60 x 50.8 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper left, incised: R Motherwell Recto, upper right: 53 Verso not signed, not dated Artist’s Studio Number P53-1100

Present Owner Private collection

Present Owner Denver Art Museum Collection. For a full list of donors, see the entry for P22.

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; private collection, 2006

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Denver Art Museum, 1994 Solo Exhibitions Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, 1983 (traveling), cat. no. 21, color illus. p. 68.

pain tin gs on ca n v a s a n d pan el

P147

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, 1984, cat. no. 18. Denver Art Museum, 1995, illus. n.p. Group Exhibitions Pace Gallery, New York, 1979, as Untitled. Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., 1980, cat. no. 29, illus. p. 72, as Untitled. Stamford Museum & Nature Center, Conn., 1982, illus. p. 23, as Untitled (Abstract Head). CDS Gallery, New York, 1988, as Untitled. References Flam 1991, color illus. n.p. (pl. 28); Paglia 1996, p. 56; Tieken 2000, illus. n.p. Comments The title Abstract Head was not given to this work until around 1983, when Motherwell was preparing for his retrospective at the Albright-Knox Art Gallery.

P148

Spanish Elegy (Alcaraz) XV 1953 Oil and charcoal on canvas board 10½ x 13½ in. (26.7 x 34.3 cm) Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated Verso: “spanish elegy (alcaraz)” xv \ Robert Motherwell \ 1953 Verso [circled]: [C2549] Present Owner Collection of Richard and Susan Rieser Provenance Michael and Dorothy Blankfort, ca. 1962; Dorothy S. Blankfort Trust, ca. 1998; [Sotheby’s, New York, May 19, 1999, lot 208, illus.]; Richard and Susan Rieser, 1999 Solo Exhibitions Samuel M. Kootz Gallery, New York, April 1953. Pasadena Art Museum, Calif., February 1962, cat. no. 18.

P148

Otis Art Institute, Los Angeles, 1974, cat. no. 14, illus. n.p., erroneously as Spanish Elegy (Alcazar) XV. Group Exhibitions Paul Kantor Gallery and Frank Perls Gallery, Beverly Hills, Calif., 1964, cat. no. 32, erroneously as Spanish Elegy (Alcazar) XV. Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1982, cat. no. 127, illus. p. 70, as Spanish Elegy XV. References Hobbs 1975b, p. 220. Comments This is the first Elegy to the Spanish Republic painting on canvas, canvas board, or panel that was given a number. At the time that he inscribed the title on the verso of this work, he seems to have been unsure about exactly where to place the number: the number XV is not only placed after the subtitle that contains the name of the city but also placed outside the quotation marks within which he set the rest of the title. Only a short time later, when the painting was shown at the Samuel M. Kootz

Gallery in April 1953, it appeared on the exhibition checklist with its title given in the format that he later used, with the number preceding the subtitle: Spanish Elegy XV (Alcaraz). When Motherwell first began to number the works in the Elegy series, he included drawings and paintings on paper as part of the ongoing numbering sequence. Indeed, the first numbered Elegy painting was a work on paper, Spanish Elegy XIV (Palamos) (W17). But even if we take works on paper into account, the numbering system is inconsistent and full of gaps: certain Elegy paintings have no numbers, and some numbers are not assigned to any Elegy painting. The subtitle of this painting refers to Alcaraz, a village in Albacete, in the Castile–La Mancha region of Spain.

P149

Spanish Elegy XVII (Segura) Alternative Title: Elegy to the Spanish Republic No. 17 (Segura) 1953 Oil on Masonite 9 x 12 in. (22.9 x 30.5 cm) Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated Verso: Robert Motherwell \ 1953 Verso: Robert Motherwell Present Owner Unknown

Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, Conn., 1984, illus. p. 68, as Spanish Elegy Number 17. Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford, Conn., 1991. References Arnason 1966b, pp. 27, 28, illus. p. 23 (upside down), referred to in text and in illus. as Elegy to the Spanish Republic, No. 17 (Segura); Arnason 1977b, pp. 34, 36, as Elegy to the Spanish Republic No. 17 (Segura); Carmean 1978, p. 108, illus. p. 108 (fig. 9, upside down), referred to in text and in illus. as Elegy to the Spanish Republic No. 17 (Segura); Arnason 1982, pp. 34, 36, as Elegy to the Spanish Republic No. 17 (Segura).

Provenance Tremaine Collection, 1958; [Christie’s, New York, November 12, 1991, lot 3, illus.]; Mr. and Mrs. Murray Bring, 1991; Comments [Christie’s, New York, November 10, 2009, This painting has usually been reproduced as it is shown here; but two lot 38, illus.]; unknown owner, 2009 important publications (Arnason 1966b Solo Exhibitions and Carmean 1978) reproduce it rotated Samuel M. Kootz Gallery, New York, at 180 degrees from our illustration. April 1953. This was apparently done because the Group Exhibitions composition of the work as painted is University of Utah, Salt Lake City, 1958, quite unusual among Motherwell’s illus. n.p., as Spanish Elegy, XVII Elegy images: usually the black forms (Segura, 1953). are suspended from the top of the image paint ing s on canvas and pane l

P150

rather than rising from the bottom, and the thrust of their curves is usually down toward the right. In this painting the opposite occurs. In fact, the only other Elegy in which the forms are not generally suspended from the top is Spanish Elegy with Marine Blue of 1977 (P948); and only in Irish Elegy of 1965 (P340) do the vertical forms thrust so strongly to the right. We are quite certain, however, that this painting was originally meant to be seen as illustrated here. Most important, the signature inscription on the verso and all exhibition labels are oriented in this direction. Furthermore, when the painting was photographed by Peter A. Juley & Son in 1953 (Juley photo no. 189; J0004979), a clear indication was given of how it should be oriented. The information that is written adjacent to the top edge of the framed painting in the photograph reads: “spanish elegy xvii top 1953 segura.” The subtitle of this painting refers to Segura, a city in the Basque region of Spain.

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P150

Elegy for the Spanish Republic XXX 1953 Oil on canvas board 8 x 10 in. (20.3 x 25.4 cm) Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated Verso: “elegy for the spanish republic, xxx” \ Robert Motherwell 1953 Verso [circled]: [#C2561] Present Owner Private collection Provenance Private collection, 1954; Marc Moyens, after 1963; [Sotheby’s, New York, May 13, 2004, lot 111, illus.]; private collection, 2004 Solo Exhibitions Watkins Gallery, American University, Washington, D.C., 1963. Group Exhibitions Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston, 1954, cat. no. 32.

P151

Comments This painting was the first individual work that Motherwell specifically called an “Elegy” for, or to, “the Spanish Republic,” even though he had used the term in a generic sense in the catalogue for his November 1950 exhibition at the Samuel M. Kootz Gallery, where he described one of his types of paintings as “elegies (to the spanish republic).” Although the paintings in the series were later usually titled “Elegy to the Spanish Republic,” this work—along with the Elegy paintings numbered XXXIV and XXXV (P156 and P168)—was titled “Elegy for the Spanish Republic.” As noted in the Comments for Spanish Elegy (Alcaraz) XV (P148), the numbering of the Elegy paintings was inconsistent, in part because initially Motherwell appears to have included works on paper and Elegy-like compositions without numbers as part of the ongoing series.

P151

Small Elegy 1953 Oil on canvas board 9 x 12 in. (22.9 x 30.5 cm) Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated Verso: Robert Motherwell \ 1953 \ for Hans Namuth \ 1958 Present Owner Yale University Art Gallery. Gift of the Woodward Foundation Provenance Hans Namuth, 1958; private collection, 1965; Woodward Foundation, before 1967; Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, Conn., 2006 Group Exhibitions Washington Gallery of Modern Art, D.C., 1967, cat. no. 36. Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, Conn., 1977. References Raynor 1978a, sec. 23, p. 12, illus. sec. 23, p. 12.

P152

Comments In 1958 Motherwell gave this small painting to Hans Namuth, who photographed his wedding to the painter Helen Frankenthaler on April 6 of that year. The work was given to Namuth without a title, and it was sold by the Leo Castelli Gallery in 1965 as Untitled. In 1967, it was exhibited as Small Elegy at the Washington Gallery of Modern Art, and it came to be known under that title thereafter; but that title does not appear to have come from Motherwell himself.

P152

Untitled Alternative Title: {Untitled (Elegy Study)} Ca. 1953 Oil on canvas board 9 x 12 in. (22.9 x 30.5 cm) Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated Verso: Rbt Motherwell \ 1950 Artist’s Studio Number P50-3329 Present Owner Art Gallery of Ontario. Purchased with funds from an anonymous donor, with support from the Dedalus Foundation, 1998 Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, 1998 Solo Exhibitions Knoedler & Company, New York, 1994, cat. no. 9, as Untitled (Elegy Study).

P153

Comments The verso of this painting on canvas board shows evidence of it having been glued to a previous backing and then subsequently removed; as a result, the paperboard backing is torn and the upper layers of it are sheared off. Because of these factors, the work was re-signed by Motherwell at a later date. The studio card gives its date as “ca. 1950s,” and the 1950 studio number assigned to it was an approximation. But the style and size of the picture, and its heavy impasto, suggest a date of 1953.

P153

The Tomb of Cap’tain Ahab 1953 Oil on canvas board 7⅞ x 10 in. (20 x 25.4 cm) Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated Verso: “the tomb of cap’tain \ ahab” Verso [circled]: [#C2560] Verso: R Motherwell \ 1953 Artist’s Studio Number P53-5067 Present Owner Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute, Museum of Art, Utica, N.Y. Provenance Private collection, 1954; MunsonWilliams-Proctor Arts Institute, Utica, N.Y., 1959 Group Exhibitions Art Museum Association of America, San Francisco, 1986 (circulating), cat. no. 75, color illus. p. 89.

paint ing s on canvas and pane l

P154

Lowe Art Museum, University of Miami, Coral Gables, Fla., 1989 (traveling), cat. no. 73, illus. p. 48 (pl. 28). Spencer Museum of Art, University of Kansas, Lawrence, 1995 (traveling), illus. p. 137 (fig. 7.1). Knoxville Museum of Art, Tenn., 1998. References Hobbs 1975b, p. 223, illus. n.p. (pl. 23), referred to in text and in illus. as Tombs of Capitain; Zucker 1997, p. 171. Comments The title refers to Captain Ahab in Herman Melville’s novel Moby-Dick, of whom Melville wrote: “Old age is always wakeful; as if, the longer linked with life, the less man has to do with aught that looks like death. Among sea-commanders, the old greybeards will oftenest leave their berths to visit the night-cloaked deck. It was so with Ahab; only that now, of late, he seemed so much to live in the open air, that truly speaking, his visits were more to the cabin, than from, the cabin to the planks. ‘It feels like going down into one’s tomb,’—he would mutter to

pa in tin gs on ca n v as an d pa n el

himself,—‘for an old captain like me to be descending this narrow scuttle, to go to my grave-dug berth.’ ” Motherwell was also acquainted with Hart Crane’s poem, “At Melville’s Tomb,” which explores a similar theme.

P154

Wall Painting No. III Alternative Titles: Spanish Afternoon; Wall Painting IV; Wall Painting V 1953 Oil on canvas 54½ x 72⅛ in. (138.4 x 183.2 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper right: RM Verso not seen [partially crossed out]: [“Robert Motherwell 1953 ‘Wall Painting No. [IV] III,’ ” per present owner]

November 14, 1995, lot 15, illus. (not sold)]; Collection Onnasch, 2003 Solo Exhibitions Sidney Janis Gallery, New York, May 1957, cat. no. 2. Group Exhibitions Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, 1954 (added mid-show), as Spanish Afternoon. Margaret Brown Gallery, Boston, 1954, as Wall Painting No. 4.

Artist’s Studio Number P54-5040

Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, 1955 (traveling), as Wall Painting V.

Present Owner Collection Onnasch

Martha Jackson Gallery, New York, 1956 (?).

Provenance Mr. and Mrs. Donald Grossman, 1957; [Sotheby Parke Bernet, Inc., New York, May 4, 1982, lot 64, illus.]; Leonard Stern, New York, 1982; [Christie’s, New York, November 1, 1984, lot 31, illus.]; Mr. and Mrs. Elliott B. Barnett, 1984; [Christie’s, New York, November 7, 1990, lot 16, illus.]; private collection, New York, 1990; [Christie’s, New York,

United States Pavilion, Brussels World’s Fair, 1958 (traveling), Brussels, cat. no. 144, illus. n.p.; London, cat. no. 32; as Wall Painting IV. World House Galleries, New York, 1958, cat. no. 26, as Wall Painting IV. Sokolniki Park, Moscow, 1959 (traveling), Moscow, cat. no. 38, as Wall Painting No. 4; New York, as Wall Painting No. 4.

P155

Robert Elkon Gallery, New York, 1982, as Wall Painting No. IV. Museum of Art, Fort Lauderdale, Fla., 1986, illus. p. 43 (pl. 8), as Wall Painting No. 4. Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, September 1987, cat. no. 43, color illus. p. 209, as Wall Painting No. 4. Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona, 2001 (traveling), color illus. p. 57. Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona, 2007, color illus. p. 613. Fondation Beyeler, Basel, Switzerland, 2008, cat. no. 104, color illus. p. 166. References A[shton] 1956, p. 67 (?); Ashton 1957a, p. 4, as Wall Painting; Coates 1957, p. 87, as Wall Painting IV; Coates 1958, p. 62, as Wall Painting IV; Life 1958, illus. p. 78 (in exhibition, as Wall Painting); Sidney Janis Gallery 1958, illus. n.p. (pl. 73, as Wall Painting #IV); Vogue 1958, color illus. p. 60, as Wall Painting IV; Ashton 1960c, illus. p. 211; Sidney Janis Gallery exh. cat. 1961, illus. n.p. (in exhibition); Sawyer 1965, illus. p. 83

(as Wall painting IV ); Arnason 1977b, pp. 33, 36, illus. n.p. (pl. 88, as Wall Painting No. 4); Arnason 1982, pp. 33, 36, illus. p. 37 (pl. 26, as Wall Painting No. 4); Ashton 1983, p. 34, color illus. p. 66; Reif 1984, sec. C, p. 23; Jachec 2000, illus. p. 214 (fig. 22, in exhibition); Grimaldi Forum exh. cat. 2006, color illus. p. 100 (pl. 34). Comments Motherwell inscribed two of his Wall Paintings with the series number IV on the verso, this work and Wall Painting IV (P155). When the error was called to his attention in 1984, he renumbered this one “No. III,” apparently forgetting that another painting, done in 1952, had already been given the title Wall Painting III (P136). To further complicate matters, this painting also was titled Wall Painting V when shown at the Whitney Museum of American Art in 1955. The original title of this painting, Spanish Afternoon, links it to earlier Spanish themes such as the Elegy to the Spanish Republic series and At Five in the Afternoon (W10). See also Afternoon in Barcelona (p171).

P155

Wall Painting IV 1954 Oil and charcoal on canvas 54⅛ x 72⅛ in. (137.5 x 183.2 cm) Inscriptions Recto, lower right, incised: RM Verso: New York \ 1954 \ Robert Motherwell Verso (on horizontal crossbar): “Wall Painting, IV” 1954 Artist’s Studio Number P54-5040 Present Owner Collection of Harry W. and Mary Margaret Anderson Provenance Ben Heller, 1956; [Sotheby Parke Bernet, Inc., New York, November 9, 1983, lot 53, illus.]; Harry W. and Mary Margaret Anderson, 1983 Solo Exhibitions Sidney Janis Gallery, New York, May 1957, cat. no. 3. Museum of Modern Art, New York, Robert Motherwell, September 1965

(traveling), New York, cat. no. 27, illus. p. 43; shown in New York only. Group Exhibitions Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, 1954, cat. no. 37, illus. n.p. (replaced mid-show). Art Institute of Chicago, 1954, cat. no. 105. Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, 1956, cat. no. 163. University of Utah, Salt Lake City, 1958, illus. n.p., as Wall Painting. Museum of Modern Art, New York, September 1961 (circulating), illus. n.p. San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, 2000, cat. no. 195, color illus. p. 73 (pl. 14). References Faison 1954, p. 509; Seitz 1955, pp. 80, 175, illus. n.p. (fig. 183); Alloway 1960, illus. p. 59 (fig. 9); Ulanov 1965, p. 96; Arnason 1966b, p. 28, illus. p. 23; Cooney 1968, illus. n.p. (pl. 29A); Arnason 1977b, pp. 33, 36–37, illus. n.p. (pl. 87, erroneously as Wall Painting No. 3); Gaugh 1978, p. 29; Arnason 1982, pp. 33, 36–37, illus. p. 37 (pl. 27); paint ing s on canvas and pane l

Herwig 1983, illus. sec. D, p. 5; Los Angeles Times 1983, sec. 6, p. 4; Seitz 1983, pp. 29, 52, 65, illus. n.p. (fig. 195); Reif 1984, sec. C, p. 23; Flam 1991, color illus. n.p. (pl. 29); Cateforis 2000–2001, p. 7, illus. p. 5 (fig. 3). Comments Regarding the title and number of this work, see the Comments for Wall Painting No. III (P154).

P156

Elegy to the Spanish Republic XXXIV Alternative Titles: Elegy for the Spanish Republic XXXIV; Elegy to the Spanish Republic No. 34 1953–54 Oil on canvas 80 x 100 in. (203.2 x 254 cm)

Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Buenos Aires, 1969, cat. no. 106, illus. p. 117. Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, 1972. Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, 1976 (traveling), cat. no. 55, illus. n.p.

Verso covered by relining, no longer visible (inscriptions on verso and crossbar known from a pretreatment photograph)

National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1978, cat. no. 3, color illus. p. 30 (pl. 13), illus. p. 107 (fig. 8).

Artist’s Studio Number P53/54-5065 Present Owner Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, N.Y. Gift of Seymour H. Knox Jr., 1957 Provenance Seymour H. Knox Jr., 1957; AlbrightKnox Art Gallery, Buffalo, 1957 Solo Exhibitions New Gallery, Bennington College, Vt., 1959, cat. no. 17, as Elegy for the Spanish Republic. Museum of Modern Art, New York, Robert Motherwell, September 1965 (traveling), New York, cat. no. 25, illus. p. 34; shown in New York only. Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, 1983 (traveling), cat. no. 23, color frontispiece. Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, 1984, cat. no. 20. Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, 1992, cat. no. 3. Group Exhibitions Sidney Janis Gallery, New York, April 1957, cat. no. 6, illus. n.p. Albright Art Gallery, Buffalo, 1957, cat. no. 13, illus. n.p. Columbus Gallery of Fine Arts, Ohio, 1960, cat. no. 28, illus. n.p. Cleveland Museum of Art, 1960, cat. no. 52, illus. p. 37. National College of Art and Design, Dublin, 1963, cat. no. 31, illus. n.p. City Art Museum of Saint Louis, 1964, illus. p. 54. pain tin gs on ca n v a s a n d pan el

National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1968, illus. p. 54.

Inscriptions Recto, upper right, incised: RM

Verso (on original horizontal crossbar) [partially painted over]: [illegible]” Robert Motherwell/1953–4/“elegy for the spanish republic, xxxiv”

Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966, cat. no. 122, color illus. n.p.

Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, September 1987, cat. no. 42, color illus. p. 208. Wexner Center for the Arts, Ohio State University, Columbus, 1996, color illus. p. 51. Centre National d’Art et de Culture Georges Pompidou, Paris, 1996, color illus. p. 315. Williams College Museum of Art, Williamstown, Mass., 1998. Centre Cultural de la Fundació “la Caixa,” Barcelona, 1999 (traveling), Barcelona, color illus. p. 68; Frankfurt, color illus. pp. 76–77. Centro-Museo Vasco de Arte Contemporáneo, Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain, 2006, color illus. p. 155, as Elegía a la República Espagñola (Elegy to the Spanish Republic). References S[iegel] 1957, p. 12; Smith 1957, p. 70, illus. p. 32, as Elegy to the Spanish Republic; Gallery Notes 1958, illus. p. 17; Goossen 1959, illus. p. 35; Sidney Janis Gallery exh. cat. 1959, illus. n.p. (in exhibition); Goldwater 1960, illus. p. 35; Ponente 1960, color illus. p. 77; Laidman 1961, illus. p. 129; Townsend 1962, illus. p. 68; O’Doherty 1963, sec. 1, p. 16; Stark 1963, illus. p. 15, erroneously as Elegy to the Spanish Republic XXIV; Dorival et al. 1964, color illus. p. 221 (upside down); Faison 1964, p. 23, illus. p. 23 (fig. 48); Claus 1965, p. 3; Hudson 1965, sec. G, p. 7; Kozloff 1965b, p. 258; Arnason 1966b, p. 28, illus. p. 23; Baigell 1966, illus. p. 10; O’Doherty 1967, p. 73; Cooney 1968, illus. n.p. (pl. 30); Kozloff 1968, p. 171; Motherwell 1970, p. 26, illus. p. 26; Orlandini 1970, illus. n.p.; Rose 1970, color illus. p. 71;

Sandler 1970, p. 206, illus. p. 208 (fig. 16-7); Cohen 1971, p. 237; Lambert 1971, illus. p. 211; McFarland et al. 1972, color illus. p. 583; Sandler et al. 1972, pp. 39, 427, color illus. p. 37; Britannica Encyclopedia of American Art 1973, pp. 4, 5; Davidson and Editors of American Heritage 1973, illus. p. 380, as Elegy to the Spanish Republic; Everitt 1975, color illus. n.p. (pl. 26); Hobbs 1975a, p. 287, illus. p. 288 (fig. 12-5); Hobbs 1975b, pp. 220, 223, 237–38, 260, illus. n.p. (pl. 21); Russell 1975, illus. p. 24 (fig. 35); Carmean 1976, p. 96, illus. p. 95; Glubok 1976, p. 17, illus. p. 16; Lipman and Franc 1976, p. 144, color illus. p. 145; Arnason 1977b, p. 34, color illus. p. 35 (pl. 14); Hartford Courant 1977, illus. sec. F, p. 14; Tighe and Lang 1977, illus. p. 272 (fig. 197); Carmean 1978, pp. 106–9, 112, 119, illus. p. 107 (fig. 8); Kingsley 1978, p. 113; Lynton 1980, p. 243, illus. p. 243 (fig. 214); Spencer 1980, illus. p. 301; Hughes 1981b, pp. 111, 159, 161, 163, 314, color illus. p. 162 (pl. 103); Vogt 1981, p. 14, color illus. p. 43 (pl. 4); Arnason 1982, p. 34, color illus. p. 35 (pl. 24); Cunningham and Reich 1982, illus. p. 440 (fig. 415); Albright-Knox Art Gallery Calendar 1983, p. 3, illus. p. 2; Hasiotis 1983, color illus. n.p. (fig. 3); Hughes 1983, color illus. p. 69; Ratcliff 1983, illus. p. 92; Ayars and Degatina 1984, illus. sec. Calendar, p. 103; Baitz 1984, sec. Reader’s Guide, p. 15; Bannon 1984a, color illus. p. 39; Bannon 1984b, p. 31, color illus. p. 31; Boettger 1984, p. 19, illus. p. 19; Cleaver 1984, p. 414, illus. p. 414 (fig. 19-71); Cunningham and Reich 1984; Danieli 1984, p. 1, illus. p. 1; Duffy 1984, pp. 60, 92, illus. p. 59; Guggenheim Calendar of Events 1984, n.p., illus. n.p.; Hayes 1984, p. 44; Hüllenkremer 1984, p. 107, color illus. pp. 106–7; Kangas 1984, sec. Arts & Leisure; Knight 1984, sec. E, p. 3, illus. sec. E, p. 3 (upside down); Los Angeles County Museum of Art Members’ Calendar 1984, cover color illus.; Los Angeles Herald Examiner 1984; McClintic 1984, p. 41, color illus. p. 41; Morch 1984a, illus.; News Chronicle/Thousand Oaks 1984, sec. A, p. 11; Peninsula Times-Tribune 1984, illus. sec. D, p. 1; Regan 1984, illus. sec. Review, p. 12; Richard 1984, sec. D, p. 13, illus. sec. D, p. 1; San Gabriel Valley Herald 1984, p. 3; San Marino Tribune and San Marino News 1984;

P156

Silverman 1984, p. 32; Stevens 1984, color illus. p. 67; Tarzan 1984, sec. E, p. 1, illus. sec. E, p. 1; Valley Times 1984, illus. p. [2]; Wallach 1984a, sec. F, p. 5, illus. sec. F, p. 5; West 1984, pp. 15–16, illus. p. 16; West Art 1984, p. 1, illus. p. 1; Winter 1984, sec. “Things to Do,” p. 3; Garcia-Herraiz 1985, p. 307, illus. p. 307; Kimball 1985, pp. 35, 37; Mattison 1985b, pp. 234–35, illus. n.p. (fig. 220); Rosand 1985, p. 93, cover illus.; Amepnka 1986, color illus. p. 45; Arnason 1986, color illus. p. 403 (pl. 190); Miller 1986, cover color illus.; Rose 1986, color illus. p. 79; Danto 1987, color illus. n.p.; Mattison 1987, pp. 200–201, illus. p. 214 (fig. 85); Clarke 1988, p. 169; Codognato 1988, illus. p. 10; Krantz 1988, p. 912; Ashton 1989, illus. p. 16; Enright 1989, color illus. pp. 8–9; Mackie 1989, p. 178, illus. n.p.; Pleynet 1989b, p. 85, color illus. p. 85; Ross 1990, color illus. n.p.; Domino and Husson 1991, color illus. p. 85; Flam 1991, p. 8, color illus. n.p. (pl. 31); Hoffman 1991, illus. p. 26 (fig. 1.15); Levin 1991, p. 8, illus. p. 9 (fig. 11); Polcari 1991, pp. 314, 316–17, illus. p. 315 (fig. 254); White 1991, front and back cover color illus.; Wilson 1991, illus. sec. F, p. 4; Feldman 1992, color illus. p. 173; Fisher 1992, p. 158; Harbison and Laderman 1992, cover color illus.; Kingsley 1992, p. 311; Martin et al. 1992, color illus. n.p. (pl. 124); Ruhrberg 1992, p. 104, color illus. p. 105 (pl. 28); Terenzio 1992b, p. 81; Joachimides, Rosenthal, and Anfam 1993, p. 85, illus. p. 85 (fig. 1); Jones 1993, p. 642, illus. p. 643 (fig. 3); Kramer 1993, illus. sec. 7, p. 3 (in studio); Murray and Isabella Rayburn Foundation exh. cat. 1993, illus. p. 162; Preble and Preble 1994, color illus. p. 453; Sayre 1994, p. 33, color illus. p. 33 (fig. 39, upside down); Pleynet 1995, p. 115; Journal of Aesthetic Education 1996, cover illus.; Rosenthal 1996, color illus. p. 283; Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum exh. cat. 1996, color illus. p. 283; Anfam 1997, p. 504; Sayre 1997, p. 37, color illus. p. 37 (fig. 43); Arnason 1998, p. 466, color illus. p. 460 (pl. 255); Chalumeau 1998, color illus. p. 26 (pl. 22); Ross 1998, sec. C, p. 3; Craven 1999, illus. p. 13 (fig. 5); Preble, Preble, and Frank 1999, color illus. p. 452; Spaulding 1999, p. 182, color illus. p. 183; Froomkin et al. 2000, cover color illus.; Herskovic 2000, color illus. p. 259; Shiff et al. 2000,

pain tin gs on ca n v a s a n d pan el

color illus. p. 157; Bocola 2001, color illus. p. 95 (cat. no. 466); Wentrup 2001, pp. 68, 73, 78, illus. (fig. 33); Anfam 2002, illus. p. 167 (fig. 132); Preble, Preble, and Frank 2002, p. 446, illus. p. 446 (fig. 637); Thierolf 2002, p. 305, illus. p. 304 (fig. 3); Caws 2003, p. 16; Herskovic 2003, color illus. p. 240; Hunter, Jacobus, and Wheeler 2004, p. 278, color illus. p. 278 (fig. 499); Museum Morsbroich exh. cat. 2004, color illus. p. 146; Balken 2005, p. 49, color illus. p. 50 (fig. 33); Landau 2005, illus. n.p. (fig. 13); Perl 2005, illus. p. 72; Hess 2006, p. 70, color illus. p. 71; Brommer 2007, p. 553, color illus. p. 553 (fig. 17.4), referred to in text and in illus. as Elegy to the Spanish Republic; Marter 2007, pp. 75–76, illus. p. 75 (fig. 19); Sandler 2009, color illus. p. 123. Comments Although this work was inscribed on the horizontal strainer as “elegy for the spanish republic, xxxiv,” it has almost always been shown and published with its present title, using “to” instead of “for,” so we retain that title here. See also the Comments for Elegy for the Spanish Republic XXX (P150) and Elegy for the Spanish Republic XXXV (P168). This work was first shown in 1957 with the Elegy number XXXIV, in Roman numerals; subsequently, starting with the National Gallery of Art in 1978, it was exhibited with the Arabic “No. 34.” Motherwell was inconsistent in his numbering of the Elegy paintings, both with regard to their numerical sequence and to how he wrote the number itself. (Various exhibition catalogues and other publications were equally idiosyncratic about this, usually letting their house styles determine how the numbers were written.) During the 1950s, Motherwell seems to have preferred Roman numerals for the Elegy paintings, but later he usually used Arabic numbers. In fact, Motherwell used Roman numerals in the titles of only eight of the numbered Elegy paintings (numbers 14, 15, 16, 17, 30, 34, 35, and 40). The colors in the left vertical area partly covered by a black vertical form recall the colors of the flag of the Second Spanish Republic (1931–39).

P157

Je t’aime No. II 1955 Oil and charcoal on canvas 54 x 72 in. (137.2 x 182.9 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper right, incised: RM Verso: Robert Motherwell 55 \ New York–Feb–June \ 1955 Verso (on top horizontal stretcher) [partially covered by labels]: “je t’aime ii” [Motherwell] 1955 Artist’s Studio Number P55-2173 Present Owner Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Gilbert W. Harrison Provenance B. H. Friedman, 1956; private collection, after 1976; Mr. and Mrs. Gilbert W. Harrison, ca. 1990 Solo Exhibitions Sidney Janis Gallery, New York, May 1957, cat. no. 6. Museo de Arte Moderno, Mexico City, 1975, cat. no. 7. Centro Cultural de la Caixa de Pensions, Barcelona, 1980 (traveling), Barcelona, cat. no. 2; Madrid, cat. no. 2, color illus. n.p. Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, 1984, cat. no. 24. Group Exhibitions Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh, 1955, cat. no. 207, illus. n.p. (pl. 75). Minneapolis Institute of Arts, 1957, cat. no. 98. Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, April 1958, cat. no. 118, illus. p. 52. Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, June 1964, cat. no. 87, illus. p. 52. Katonah Gallery, N.Y., 1976, cat. no. 67, illus. n.p. References Faison 1955, p. 583, as Je t’aime; Ashton 1957a, p. 4; Ashton 1957c, sec. 2, p. 14; Coates 1957, p. 87; Arnason 1966b, p. 28; Skurka 1974, illus. p. 43 (installation view); Acha 1975, p. 82; Arnason 1977b, pp. 2, 38, 40, color illus. n.p. (pl. 93); Motherwell in Arnason 1977b, n.p.; Pleynet 1977, p. 198; Fineberg 1978, p. 53, color illus. p. 52; Rubio

1980, color illus. p. 20; Arnason 1982, pp. 11, 38, 40, color illus. p. 131 (pl. 143); Motherwell in Arnason 1982, p. 130; Pleynet 1986, p. 85; Pleynet 1989b, p. 46, color illus. p. 97; Flam 1991, color illus. n.p. (pl. 33); Pleynet 1991, pp. 19, 21, illus. p. 20; Polcari 1991, pp. 307, 308, illus. p. 308 (fig. 244); Terenzio 1992b, color illus. n.p.; Fineberg 1995, p. 71, color illus. p. 72 (fig. 3.35); Kaiser 1995, p. 123, illus. n.p.; Fundació Antoni Tàpies exh. cat. 1996, illus. p. 34; Torner 1996, pp. 13–16, color illus. p. 3 (in exhibition), illus. p. 14 (in exhibition), color illus. p. 15; Chalumeau 1998, color illus. p. 33 (pl. 30); Gilbert 1998, pp. 289–90, illus. p. 553; Pleynet 1998, pp. 94, 96–97; Sjölin 1998, p. 101, illus. p. 102 (fig. 22); Fineberg 2000, p. 71, color illus. p. 72 (fig. 3.35); Herskovic 2000, color illus. p. 260; Thierolf 2002, illus. p. 268 (fig. 4). Comments This work is given the number II in the Je t’aime series, but there is no known work with the number I in the series. (Motherwell may have thought of an early Je t’aime drawing or an unfinished painting begun that same year, P344, as the first Je t’aime work, but there is no way of knowing.) The title (French for “I love you”) meant a great deal to Motherwell at this time. In a letter of November 10, 1956, to John Alford, he wrote, “For the last 2 years I have been making a series of paintings with ‘je t’aime’ written across them in calligraphy . . . sometimes tenderly, sometimes a shriek—I never thought much about it, but I am sure in part it is some kind of emphasis or existing in what is thought” (see “Writings by the Artist,” in the Bibliography). He also frequently emphasized the very personal aspect of the title in conversation, describing it as a desperate declaration of his desire to love at a time when he was torn by the disintegration of his marriage and other emotional involvements. The title also alludes to Paul Eluard’s deeply evocative poem “Je t’aime,” which was first published in Le Phénix (1951).

P157

P158

Je t’aime No. IIA 1955–57 Oil on canvas 71⅛ x 53¼ in. (180.7 x 135.3 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper right, incised: RM/55 Recto, upper right [painted over]: [R. Motherwell] Recto, lower left [painted over]: [Motherwell NY 1955] Verso (on top stretcher bar): the love of the three oranges \ 1955 Verso [partially crossed out]: “je t’aime, No. II”a 1955 \ [54" x 72"] Robert Motherwell Artist’s Studio Number P55-5111 Present Owner Collection Dorothy and Sidney Kohl Provenance Mr. and Mrs. Donald Grossman, 1960; [Sotheby’s, New York, May 2, 1995, lot 6, illus. (not sold)]; Dorothy and Sidney Kohl, 1996 Solo Exhibitions Sidney Janis Gallery, New York, May 1957, cat. no. 5. New Gallery, Bennington College, Vt., 1959, cat. no. 16, as Je t’aime. Museum of Modern Art, New York, Robert Motherwell, September 1965 (traveling), New York, cat. no. 28, illus. p. 38 (in early state); Amsterdam, cat. no. 23, illus. n.p. (in early state); Essen, cat. no. 23; Turin, cat. no. 23, as T’amo II 1975, color illus. n.p. (pl. 25); Thomas 1976, p. 14, color illus. n.p. (pl. 36); (Je t’aime No. II). Arnason 1977b, p. 40, illus. n.p. (pl. 92); Museum of Modern Art, New York, Motherwell in Arnason 1977b, n.p.; Robert Motherwell:Works on Paper, Arnason 1982, pp. 11, 40, color illus. September 1965 (circulating); shown p. 51 (pl. 44, in exhibition), illus. p. 130 in San Francisco only. (pl. 142); Motherwell in Arnason 1982, Group Exhibitions p. 130; Meewis 1983, p. 200; Pleynet Whitney Museum of American Art, 1989b, illus. p. 95; Flam 1991, illus. n.p. New York, 1957, cat. no. 131. (pl. 34); Rose 1991, illus. p. 8; Kimball 1995, illus. p. 160 (installation view, in John and Mable Ringling Museum of early state); Qin 1996, p. 55, illus. p. 108 Art, Sarasota, Fla., 1961, cat. no. 17. (fig. 52, in early state); Thierolf 2002, References illus. p. 269 (fig. 5); Caws 2003, p. 66. Coates 1957, p. 87; Time 1957b, illus. Comments p. 60; Seuphor 1962, color illus. p. 215 This picture was first shown in its final (pl. 358); Sawyer 1965, illus. p. 82 state at the Sidney Janis Gallery in (installation view); Vogue 1965, illus. May 1957. p. 141 (cat. no. 6, in exhibition); The “A” in the title appears to McConathy 1966, illus. p. 84; Cooney have been added as an afterthought, 1968, illus. n.p. (pl. 39); Sandler 1970, perhaps when Motherwell realized that p. 209, color illus. p. 246 (pl. 19); Everitt

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P158

there was already a No. II in the series. The alternative title refers to an Italian folk tale in which love triumphs over adversity. An early state is reproduced in Kimball 1995, p. 160; a slightly later state (Juley photo no. 40; J0004835) was mistakenly reproduced as the finished painting in a number of later publications.

P159

Je t’aime No. III with Loaf of Bread 1955 Oil and charcoal on canvas 72 x 54 in. (182.9 x 137.2 cm) Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated Verso not seen [“signed, inscribed with title, and dated 27 April 1955 and July 1955,” per Christie’s 1982] Artist’s Studio Number P56-5170 Present Owner Private collection Provenance Clement and Janice Greenberg, 1956; [Christie’s, New York, May 5, 1982, lot 39, illus.]; private collection, 1982

P159

P160

Solo Exhibitions Sidney Janis Gallery, New York, May 1957, cat. no. 7. Group Exhibitions Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, 1956, cat. no. 165, as Je T’aime III. Camino Gallery, New York, 1956. Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1958 (circulating), Madrid, cat. no. 48, illus. n.p.; Amsterdam, cat. no. 49; Brussels, cat. no. 49, illus. p. 53; Paris, cat. no. 48, illus. n.p. (pl. 10); London, cat. no. 48, illus. p. 55; New York, cat. no. 48. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1979. Cleveland Museum of Art, 1986, color illus. n.p. (fig. 26), as Je T’Aime. References S[awin] 1957, p. 56; Weller 1963, p. 290, illus. p. 290; Greenberg 1964, color illus. p. 94 (installation view); Arnason 1966b, p. 28; Arnason 1977b, pp. 38, 40, illus. p. 40 (pl. 19); Arnason 1982, pp. 11, 40, illus. p. 40 (pl. 32); Ianco-Starrels 1982, sec. C, p. 83; Reif 1982a, sec. C, p. 17;

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Reif 1982b, sec. C, p. 26; Artnewsletter 1983, p. 4; Walker and Brooks 1983, p. 9; Flam 1991, color illus. n.p. (pl. 35); Thierolf 2002, illus. p. 269 (fig. 6). Comments The loaf of bread in the title of this painting alludes to poems by two poets whose works were important to Motherwell. It appears in the third line of Paul Eluard’s poem “Je t’aime,” from his collection Le Phénix (1951), which reads, “Pour l’odeur du grand large et l’odeur de pain chaud” (For the smell of the high seas and the smell of warm bread). The still-life elements in the painting further allude in a fairly specific way to the opening lines of Paul Valéry’s “Palme”: “De sa grâce redoubtable / Voilant à peine l’éclat, / Un ange met sur ma table / Le pain tender, le lait plat” (In the shadow of the blaze / Of his grace informed with dread, / An angel on my table lays / A bowl of milk, a loaf of bread); translated by Denis Devlin, in Selected Writings of Paul Valéry (New York: New Directions, 1950), p. 51. Valéry’s poem is dedicated to his wife Jeannie, which is also the name of Motherwell’s first daughter,

who was born in 1953; his second daughter, Lise, was born at the same time that he was working on this painting. The phrase “ce dessin me plait” (this drawing pleases me) that is inscribed on the loaflike form echoes the inscription in a well-known Matisse lithograph, which was used in a 1945 Galerie Maeght poster. Motherwell also used the phrase “ce dessin me plait” on a number of 1956 drawings. In a letter of July 24, 1974, to the art historian H. H. Arnason, Motherwell noted that this painting was partly inspired by Piero della Francesca, whom he listed as among his lasting influences: “Piero (one of his hats appears in Greenberg’s Je t’aime)” (see “Writings by the Artist,” in the Bibliography). He was apparently alluding to the hourglasslike form in the upper half of this painting, which resembles the tall hats worn by the male figures in Piero della Francesca’s fresco cycle in the church of San Francesco at Arezzo. This painting was given as a wedding present to Janice and Clement Greenberg.

P160

Je t’aime No. VII 1956/1983/1985–87 Oil, charcoal, and graphite on canvas 36 x 48 in. (91.4 x 121.9 cm) Inscriptions Recto, lower left: RM \ 56 Verso not seen [“signed on the reverse Je t’aime No. VII 1956 oil on linen,” per present owner] Artist’s Studio Number P56-1151 Present Owner Collection of Geraldine and Harold Alden Provenance Geraldine and Harold Alden, 1987 Solo Exhibitions Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, 1983 (traveling), cat. no. 25, color illus. p. 69; shown in early state; not shown in Los Angeles. Group Exhibitions Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, Conn., 1983, cat. no. 42 (shown in early state).

P161

References Raynor 1983a, sec. 23, p. 18; Drudi 1984, illus. p. 106 (in studio, in early state); Drudi 1988b, illus. p. 112 (in studio, in early state); Pleynet 1989b, color illus. p. 94. Comments The basic composition of this painting dates from 1956, but the color and some details were reworked several times during the 1980s, particularly the pink elements, which were not part of the original composition. The “56” date inscribed on the recto was preserved by Motherwell despite his later reworkings of the picture (photographs of three different versions are in the Dedalus Foundation Archives). The composition is similar to Monument to Jackson Pollock (W24). The number VII was given to this work around 1983, which is why the numbering of it within

the Je t’aime series appears to be out of sequence. There is no number V in the Je t’aime series, and Je t’aime No. VI is a 1973 painting on paper (see W453).

P161

Je t’aime No. IV 1955–57 Oil and charcoal on canvas 70⅛ x 100 in. (178.1 x 254 cm)

Solo Exhibitions Sidney Janis Gallery, New York, May 1957, cat. no. 13. Museu de Arte Moderna, São Paulo, Brazil, 1961, cat. no. 12, illus. n.p.

Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated

Pasadena Art Museum, Calif., February 1962, cat. no. 20, illus. n.p.

Verso: “je t’aime, no. iv” \ 100" x 70" \ Robert Motherwell \ 1955–57

Museum of Modern Art, New York, Robert Motherwell, September 1965 (traveling), New York, cat. no. 29, illus. p. 38; Amsterdam, cat. no. 24; Essen, cat. no. 24, cover illus., back cover illus., color illus. n.p.; Turin, cat. no. 24, color illus. p. 85 (pl. 25, erroneously as T’amo II [Je t’aime No. II]).

Artist’s Studio Number P55/57-5112 Present Owner Pinakothek der Moderne. Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen, inv. nr. 14836 Provenance Walter Bareiss, 1961; Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich, 1983

Group Exhibitions Nationalgalerie Berlin, 1976, cat. no. 57, color illus. n.p. (pl. 4). Haus der Kunst, Munich, 1981, cat. no. 125, color illus. p. 125.

paint ing s on canvas and pane l

P162

References Ashton 1957a, p. 4; H[ess] 1957, illus. p. 21; Rice 1957, illus. p. 9 (in studio); S[awin] 1957, p. 56; Ashton 1959d, illus. p. 53 (fig. 3, as Je t’aime); Schiff 1961, illus. p. 63; Sidney Janis Gallery exh. cat. 1961, illus. n.p. (in exhibition); Secunda 1962, illus. p. 6; Seldis 1962b, sec. A, p. 24; Claus 1965, illus. p. 7, as Je t’aime; Edgar 1965, p. 40, illus. p. 40 (fig. 6); Fabri 1965, illus. p. 10; Kozloff 1965b, p. 258; Vogue 1965, illus. p. 141 (cat. no. 6, in exhibition); Arnason 1966b, p. 28, illus. p. 36; Baro 1966b, illus. p. 40; Robertson 1966a, color illus. p. 90; Tono 1966, illus. p. 27; Cooney 1968, pp. 59, 60, illus. n.p. (pl. 40); Kozloff 1968, p. 171; Rose 1968, illus. n.p. (pl. 49); Kahmen 1971, p. 162, illus. p. 252 (ill. 327); Hobbs 1975b, p. 245; Arnason 1977b, pp. 38, 39, 40, illus. p. 38 (pls. 15, in progress, 16); Catoir 1980, illus. p. 282 (fig. 3, as Je t’aime); Arnason 1982, pp. 11, 38, 39–40, illus. p. 38 (pls. 29, in progress, 30), color illus. p. 51 (pl. 44, in exhibition); Brenson 1982, sec. C, p. 16, as Je t’Aime; Ude 1982, illus. p. 15 (in exhibition); Belting 1983, p. 67; Maier 100

and Steingräber 1983, pp. 386–87, color illus. p. 385 (fig. 1), referred to in text and in illus. as Je t’aime; Alley 1984, color illus. p. 57; Fort Worth Art Museum exh. cat. September 1985, illus. p. 14 (in progress); Mattison 1985b, pp. 133, 162, illus. n.p. (fig. 113), referred to in text and in illus. as Je t’aime; Mattison 1987, p. 141, illus. p. 134 (fig. 49); Steir 1989, p. 127, illus. p. 125; Flam 1991, color illus. n.p. (pl. 36); Martin et al. 1992, illus. p. 569 (pl. 603); Windrow 1992, p. 26; Franzke 1994, color illus. p. 5 (fig. 4, as Je t’aime); Burg et al. 1995, p. 169, color illus. p. 169; Schulz-Hoffmann et al. 1995, p. 234, color illus. p. 234; RàfolsCasamada 1996, color illus. p. 17, erroneously as Yo te amo no. IIA (Je t’aime no. IIA); Tesch and Hollmann 1997, color illus. p. 144; Bjone 2002, p. 147, illus. p. 147; Thierolf 2002, pp. 264–73, color illus. p. 265 (cat. no. 21), illus. p. 270 (fig. 8); Kultur Szene 2004, illus.; Scherrer 2005, color illus. p. 101; Cooper and Luke 2006, pp. 44, 46, illus. p. 46 (fig. 30); Sachs 2006, p. 43, color illus. p. 43.

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Comments This is by far the largest of the Je t’aime paintings, and it bears a strong resemblance to a still life with a figure standing next to it. The main compositional motif, a triangular form containing two ovals near its center, also appears in a number of 1956 drawings from the Je t’aime series and in the 1958 series of Madrid drawings.

P162

Red Je t’aime No. VIII Alternative Title: Je t’aime Ca. 1957/1982–83/1988 Oil on canvas 50 x 70 in. (127 x 177.8 cm) Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated Verso not seen [“Motherwell 1959,” per studio card] Artist’s Studio Number P-1455; P59-1455 Present Owner Fayez Sarofim Collection Provenance Fayez Sarofim, 1988 Solo Exhibitions Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, 1984, cat. no. 23 (shown in early state), as Je t’aime. Group Exhibitions Centre Cultural de la Fundació “la Caixa,” Barcelona, 1999 (traveling), Barcelona, color illus. p. 69; Frankfurt, color illus. p. 79.

P163

Comments Though this painting is dated 1959 on the verso, Motherwell probably began it around 1957, when he was completing other major canvases from the Je t’aime series. As late as 1982, this painting had neither a title nor a date in his inventory records. In the autumn of 1982, it was brought from storage to his Greenwich studio, and by January 1983 he had repainted the red ground and signed and dated the verso (with a date of 1959), in preparation for his retrospective at the Albright-Knox Art Gallery. In Motherwell’s correspondence related to that exhibition, this painting is referred to as “Je t’aime No. 4A,” but it was never shown with that title. The painting was exhibited at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (the final venue of the Albright-Knox retrospective) in 1984, as Je t’aime, without a number. Prior to consigning the work to Knoedler & Company in January 1988, Motherwell made some further revisions to the canvas and designated it as number VIII within the series, inadvertently duplicating the number of another Je t’aime painting (P163).

P163

Je t’aime No. VIII Alternative Title: Mallarmé’s Swan: Homage to Philip Guston 1957/1982 Oil and charcoal on canvas 42 x 40 in. (106.7 x 101.6 cm) Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated Verso [painted over]: [illegible] Verso: 1957 · 40" x 42" \ Robert Motherwell Artist’s Studio Number P57-1469 Present Owner Delaware Art Museum. F. V. du Pont Acquisition Fund and partial gift of the Dedalus Foundation, 1998 Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Delaware Art Museum, Wilmington, 1998 Solo Exhibitions Sidney Janis Gallery, New York, May 1957, cat. no. 15 (shown in early state), as Mallarmé’s Swan: Homage to Philip Guston.

Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, 1983 (traveling), cat. no. 26, color illus. p. 70. Padiglione d’Arte Contemporanea, Milan, 1989, cat. no. 6, cover color illus. (detail), color illus. p. 34. Fundació Antoni Tàpies, Barcelona, 1996 (traveling), cat. no. 18, color illus. p. 107, erroneously as Je t’aime No. VIII (Mallarmé’s Swan: Homage). Delaware Art Museum, Wilmington, 1999, erroneously as Je t’aime No. VIII (Mallarmé’s Swan: Homage). Group Exhibitions Pfalzgalerie Kaiserslautern, Germany, 1997, color illus. p. 61. References Coates 1957, p. 87, as Mallarmé’s Swan: Homage to Philip Guston; Rice 1957, p. 9, as Homage to Philip Guston; Ashton 1989, p. 19, cover color illus. (detail), color illus. p. 34 (cat. no. 6); Zanetti 1990, color illus. p. 90 (fig. 1); Caws 1996b, illus. p. 19, color illus. n.p., erroneously as Je t’aime No. VIII (Mallarmé’s Swan: Homage); Sozanski 1999, sec. F,

p. 11, illus. sec. F, p. 11; Caws 2003, p. 61, color illus. p. 62 (ill. 42, erroneously as Je t’aime No. VIII [Mallarmé’s Swan: Homage]). Comments An early state of this painting was shown at the Sidney Janis Gallery in 1957 as Mallarmé’s Swan: Homage to Philip Guston, a clear reference to Motherwell’s large collage Mallarmé’s Swan (C11). In 1982, Motherwell inscribed the words “Je t’aime” on the canvas, leaving the rest of the earlier composition as it was. He changed the title at the same time, removing the reference to Philip Guston. The following year, this painting was shown with the new title at Motherwell’s AlbrightKnox Art Gallery retrospective. When exhibited in 1996 at the Fundació Antoni Tàpies, this work was erroneously given the title Je t’aime No. VIII (Mallarmé’s Swan: Homage), apparently a misreading of the original title.

p aint ing s on canvas and pane l

101

P164

Jour La Maison, Nuit La Rue Alternative Title: Painting 1957–58 Oil on canvas 69¾ x 89⅝ in. (177.2 x 227.7 cm) Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated Verso not seen [“signed on the reverse side,” per Fundació Antoni Tàpies exh. cat. 1996] Artist’s Studio Number P57-5122 Present Owner Unknown Provenance William Cluff Janss, 1962; Mary Janss, ca. 1996; [Sotheby’s, New York, November 17, 1998, lot 39, illus.]; unknown owner, 1998 Solo Exhibitions Museu de Arte Moderna, São Paulo, Brazil, 1961, cat. no. 13. Pasadena Art Museum, Calif., February 1962, cat. no. 21, cover color illus.

102

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Museum of Modern Art, New York, Robert Motherwell, September 1965 (traveling), New York, cat. no. 31, color illus. p. 63; Amsterdam, cat. no. 26, illus. n.p.; Essen, cat. no. 26; Turin, cat. no. 26, color illus. p. 81 (pl. 21). Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, 1983 (traveling), cat. no. 27, color illus. p. 71. Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, 1984, cat. no. 31. Fundació Antoni Tàpies, Barcelona, 1996 (traveling), cat. no. 19, color illus. p. 109. Group Exhibitions Hetzel Union Gallery, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, 1958, as Painting. Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1958 (circulating), Madrid, cat. no. 49; Amsterdam, cat. no. 50; Brussels, cat. no. 50; Paris, cat. no. 49; London, cat. no. 49; New York, cat. no. 49. Albany Institute of History and Art, 1959. Signa Gallery, East Hampton, N.Y., 1960.

Art Institute of Chicago, 1961, cat. no. 161. Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1965, cat. no. 66, color illus. p. 137. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1973, color illus. n.p. San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, 1977, cat. no. 35, as Jour La Maison. Centro Cultural de Arte Contemporáneo, Mexico City, 1996, color illus. pp. 438–39. References Nordland 1962a, p. 22; Claus 1965, illus. p. 7; Hudson 1965, sec. G, p. 7; Kay 1965, p. 4; Kozloff 1965a, color illus. p. 36; O’Hara 1965b, p. 264; Arnason 1966b, pp. 30, 32, illus. p. 22; Rose 1967, p. 181, illus. p. 181 (ill. 6-31); Orlandini 1970, illus. n.p.; Galerie im Erker exh. cat. 1971, illus. p. 13 (in exhibition); Volboudt 1973a, p. 81; Hobbs 1975b, p. 167; Arnason 1977b, pp. 42–43, illus. p. 42 (pl. 21, in studio); Arnason 1982, p. 43, color illus. p. 42 (pl. 34), illus. p. 63 (in exhibition); Bonet 1983, p. 135; Meewis 1983, p. 200; Motherwell in Flam 1983, p. 13, color

illus. p. 71; O’Hara 1983, p. 178; Baitz 1984, sec. Reader’s Guide, p. 15; Duffy 1984, pp. 61, 92, illus. p. 93; Wallach 1984b, illus. pt. 2, p. 5; Flam 1991, p. 10, color illus. n.p. (pl. 39); Terenzio 1992b, p. 81, as Jour La Maison; Gooch 1993, p. 446; Ràfols-Casamada 1996, p. 19; Caws 2006, p. 117, illus. p. 118. Comments The title of this work comes from the words inscribed at the center: “Jour la maison nuit la rue,” which was translated by Motherwell as “In daytime at home, at night in the streets” (interview with Paul Cummings, 1971, see “Writings by the Artist,” in the Bibliography). This refers to the first line of Paul Eluard’s poem “Par un baiser,” from his book of poems Le dur désir de durer (1946), which reads, “Jour la maison et nuit la rue.” Motherwell discussed the significance of this phrase and his deep interest in Eluard during the 1950s, in his interview with Cummings. He also used this phrase in two 1956 collages: Histoire d’un Peintre (C66) and Yellow Envelope (C67). The dark lettering above the title phrase is a fragment of the phrase “Je t’aime.”

P165

{ Title unknown} Ca. 1957 Oil on canvas 70 x 100 in. (177.8 x 254 cm) Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated Verso not seen Present Owner Destroyed Provenance The artist Comments This painting is known only from an early black-and-white photograph (Juley photo no. 105; J0004897). It was apparently destroyed by the artist at an unknown date, though at least one small fragment of the original composition remains (see figure at right). The lower part of the canvas originally contained the lines “Sus muslos se me escapaban / come peces sorprendidos” (Her thighs eluded me / like startled fish), from Lorca’s “La

casada infiel” (The Unfaithful Wife), translated by Will Kirkland and Christopher Maurer in Federico García Lorca: Collected Poems, ed. Christopher Maurer, rev. ed. (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2002), p. 563. The writing was once more prominent, but Motherwell subsequently covered it over with white paint. The pentimenti and the manner in which they were overpainted suggest stylistic resemblances to Fishes with Red Stripe, 1954 (W19). The art historian Robert Hobbs noted in 1975 that the canvas was apparently still in Motherwell’s collection: “The canvas is in the artist’s collection. He has related that because the words were too prominent, late one night he painted over them with white paint, unaware that he was using white enamel instead of a thin white wash. Even though the work was destroyed, he has still kept it” (Hobbs 1975b, p. 204, n. 116). Hobbs, however, has affirmed that he never actually saw the painting itself (verbally, to Jack Flam, in July 2009).

On June 24, 1993, a small section of this work (measuring 25 x 14 inches) was sold at auction by the Galerie Kornfeld in Bern, Switzerland, under the title Red and Grey (lot 605; this fragment was later sold at Sotheby’s, New York, October 6, 2005, lot 113). The forms within this small fragment of the large painting appear not to have been altered, and one can still discern the partial remains of the words from the Lorca poem under the white paint. We do not know when this section was cut from the larger work, but we doubt that Motherwell had anything to do with that procedure, or with the initials “RM” that appear at the lower right of this fragment.

Fragment cut from the upper right portion of P165 by persons unknown

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P166

{ Unfinished painting} Alternative Title: [Untitled (Pastel Colors and Red Stripe)] Ca. 1957 Oil on canvas 54 x 72¼ in. (137.2 x 183.5 cm) Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated

for it are the same as those of another unfinished painting undertaken around the same time (P167).

P167

P168

{ Unfinished painting}

Elegy for the Spanish Republic XXXV

Ca. 1957 Oil on canvas 54 x 72 in. (137.2 x 182.9 cm) Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated Verso not signed, not dated

Verso not signed, not dated

Artist’s Studio Number P**-1155

Artist’s Studio Number P68-1594

Present Owner Dedalus Foundation

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991

Comments This painting was probably begun around 1957, but it was never completed. The support is made of the same kind of unusually thin stretchers and type of canvas as those used for another unfinished work from the same period (P166).

Comments Motherwell probably undertook this painting around 1957 as an attempt to work further with the imagery and brush technique that he had used in Fishes with Red Stripe (W19), but it was left unfinished. The unusually thin stretchers and the type of canvas used

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Alternative Title: Elegy to the Spanish Republic No. 35 1954–58 Oil and Magna on canvas 80 x 100 in. (203.2 x 254 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper right, incised: Motherwell 1954 Verso: Finished in Bocour \ “Magna” plastic paint. \ Do not clean with \ turpentine Verso [date revised]: “elegy for the spanish \ republic, xxxv.” \ Robert Motherwell \ 1954–5[6]8 \ 100" x 80" Present Owner Metropolitan Museum of Art. The Muriel Kallis Steinberg Newman Collection, gift of Muriel Kallis Newman, in memory of Albert Hardy Newman, 2006 (2006.32.46)

P168

P169

Provenance Muriel Kallis Steinberg Newman, 1958; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 2006 Group Exhibitions Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1958 (circulating), Amsterdam, cat. no. 48, illus. n.p.; Brussels, cat. no. 48, illus. p. 52; Paris, cat. no. 47; London, cat. no. 47, illus. p. 54; New York, cat. no. 47, illus. p. 8 (in exhibition), illus. p. 58; not shown in Madrid. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1981, illus. p. 83. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 2007, cat. no. 50, color illus. p. 161. References Life 1958, illus. p. 78 (in exhibition); Time 1958, color illus. p. 43 (in exhibition); Motherwell 1959, p. 8; Page 1964, 106

sec. 5, p. 3, illus. sec. 5, p. 3 (installation view); Ulanov 1965, p. 96; Hoffmann 1966, sec. F, p. 8, illus. sec. F, p. 8; Hobbs 1975b, pp. 218, 260, illus. n.p. (pl. 18); Arnason 1977b, pp. 34, 43, illus. n.p. (pl. 81, in studio); Museum of Modern Art exh. cat. 1979, illus. p. 29 (in exhibition); Kramer 1981, sec. C, p. 1; Loercher-Pazicky 1981, color illus. p. 20; Arnason 1982, pp. 34, 43, illus. p. 43 (pl. 35, in studio); Wolff 1982, illus. sec. Home Forum, p. 20; AlbrightKnox Art Gallery Calendar 1983, illus. p. 4 (in studio, in progress); Barr 1986, illus. n.p. (in exhibition); Thaw 1986– 87, color illus. pp. 40–41 (fig. 33); Qin 1996, pp. 17, 57, illus. p. 71 (fig. 5). Comments This work is one of the three early Elegy paintings that were originally titled “Elegy for the Spanish Republic” rather than “Elegy to the Spanish

p ain tin gs on ca n v a s a n d pan el

Republic” (see P150 and P156). We have retained the “for” in the title of this work since it has always been exhibited and published that way. The number of this work in the Elegy series was probably assigned when Motherwell began it in 1954, just after he began Elegy to the Spanish Republic XXXIV (P156), which is the same size. This painting was revised and signed in 1956, then reworked again (largely in Magna paint over the original oil) in 1958. The date on the verso was originally written “1954–56,” but Motherwell subsequently wrote an “8” over the “6,” which is still visible. The composition is very close to that of Elegy to the Spanish Republic XL (W25), a small painting on paper that was probably a study for the last stage of this large painting.

P169

Diary of a Painter 1958 Oil and charcoal on canvas 70¼ x 99½ in. (178.4 x 252.7 cm) Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated Verso: R. Motherwell \ 1958 \ here \ signed: Nov 1976 Present Owner The Marieluise Hessel Collection Provenance Philippe Dotremont, Brussels, 1958; [Parke-Bernet Galleries, Inc., New York, April 14, 1965, lot 33, illus.]; private collection, 1965; unknown owner, ca. 1968; [Sotheby Parke Bernet, Inc., New York, May 2, 1973, lot 155, illus.]; private collection, 1973; Marieluise Hessel, 1983

P170

Group Exhibitions Stedelijk Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, the Netherlands, 1960, cat. no. 54, illus. n.p. Kunstverein Düsseldorf, 1961, cat. no. 56, illus. n.p. Kunsthalle Basel, Switzerland, 1961, illus. n.p. Reese Palley Gallery, San Francisco, 1968. References Schoenenberger 1961, p. 32, illus. p. 31; Pellegrini 1966, illus. p. 117; Spears 2004, p. 100, color illus. p. 102 (installation view). Comments In a 1958 photograph of Motherwell’s studio (see fig. 207 in volume 1), an early state of this painting is seen alongside Spanish Elegy XIV (Palamos) of 1953 (W17), making clear that it began as an enlargement of the earlier composition. Motherwell subsequently extended the black forms in this painting, emphasizing the massiveness of the blacks in a way that anticipates the

Iberia paintings that he would develop the following summer. The verso inscription appears to have been done all at once, indicating that the artist was confirming the 1958 date of the painting when he signed it in 1976.

P170

Akron Art Institute, Ohio, 1978.

Black and White Plus Passion

Lowe Art Museum, University of Miami, Coral Gables, Fla., 1985, erroneously as Black and White Passion.

1958 Oil on canvas 50¼ x 80⅛ in. (127.6 x 203.5 cm) Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated Verso not seen [“signed and dated on back: ‘R. Motherwell 1958,’ ” per Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden exh. cat. 1974)

Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, September 1987, cat. no. 44, color illus. p. 210, erroneously as Black and White Passion.

Present Owner Collection Martin Z. Margulies, Miami Provenance Joseph H. Hirshhorn, 1959; Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., 1966; Knoedler & Company, 1981; Martin Z. Margulies, Miami, 1981 Group Exhibitions Coliseum, New York, 1958. Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., 1974, cat. no. 696, illus. p. 479. paint ing s on canvas and pane l

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P171

Afternoon in Barcelona 1958 Oil and Magna on canvas 54 x 73 in. (137.2 x 185.4 cm)

Group Exhibitions Crown Hall, Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago, 1961, cat. no. 87. Washington Gallery of Modern Art, Washington, D.C., 1964, cat. no. 104.

Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated

Whitney Museum of American Art, Fairfield County, Stamford, Conn., 1981.

Verso: “Afternoon in Barcelona” \ Robert Motherwell \ 1958

Whitney Museum of American Art, Downtown at Federal Reserve Plaza, New York, 1989.

Verso: Finished in plastic \ paint, do not clean \ with turpentine or \ gasoline or essence Present Owner Whitney Museum of American Art, New York. Gift of Robert and Jane Meyerhoff 79.35 Provenance Arnold H. Maremont, 1959; [Sotheby Parke Bernet, Inc., New York, May 1, 1974, lot 56, illus.]; Robert and Jane Meyerhoff, 1974; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, 1979 Solo Exhibitions New Gallery, Bennington College, Vt., 1959, cat. no. 25.

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Whitney Museum of American Art, Downtown at Federal Reserve Plaza, New York, 1991, illus. p. 11. Asheville Art Museum, N.C., 1999. Blanton Museum of Art, University of Texas at Austin, 2000 (traveling). Palazzo Reale, Milan, 2002, color illus. p. 66 (upside down). Nagasaki Prefectural Art Museum, Japan, 2005 (traveling), cat. no. 34, color illus. p. 107. References Seuphor 1962, illus. p. 222 (pl. 385); Seuphor 1964, color illus. p. 166 (pl. 112); Jaffé 1967a, color illus.

P172

p. 363; Jaffé 1967b, color illus. p. 207; Jaffé 1967c, color illus. p. 207; Arnason 1977b, p. 49; Arnason 1982, p. 49; Anderson and Whitney Museum of American Art 2002, p. 213, color illus. p. 213. Comments This painting was begun before Motherwell’s 1958 trip to Spain and France with Helen Frankenthaler, probably in anticipation of it. The composition is closely related to Spanish Still Life (W26), which was probably a small-scale study for this work, which anticipates the Two Figures series, begun later that year. It is also related to an early state of The Wedding (P172). The “plastic paint” referred to in the verso inscription is Bocour Magna, an early turpentine-soluble acrylic that Motherwell began to use at this time.

P172

The Wedding 1958 Oil on canvas 70 x 76 in. (177.8 x 193 cm) Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated Verso not seen Present Owner Private collection Provenance Joseph H. Hirshhorn, 1959; Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., 1966; Knoedler & Company, 1981; private collection, 1983 Group Exhibitions Sidney Janis Gallery, New York, January 1959, illus. n.p. (pl. 6). United States Information Agency, Washington, D.C., 1961 (circulating), cat. no. 50. References Coates 1959, p. 78; Goossen 1959, p. 51, illus. p. 51; Preston 1959a, p. 15;

P173

S[chuyler] 1959, p. 10; Arnason 1966b, p. 30; Arnason 1977b, p. 43; Arnason 1982, p. 43; Cateforis 2000–2001, p. 8. Comments This work was painted in New York shortly before Motherwell’s wedding to Helen Frankenthaler on April 6, 1958. Its composition anticipates by several months the general format of the Two Figures series, which Motherwell associated with images of himself and Frankenthaler (Rudi Blesh, interview with Motherwell, 1961; see “Writings by the Artist,” in the Bibliography). In a letter to Motherwell dated May 12, 1958, the painter Adja Yunkers wrote, “Your picture ‘Marriage’ is still with me” (Dedalus Foundation Archives). The title “Marriage” referred to in the Yunkers letter may have been an early title of Motherwell’s or a misremembering by Yunkers.

An early state of this painting contained a triangular form similar to that in Afternoon in Barcelona (P171). That early state, with the canvas rotated 180 degrees, is visible in a 1958 photograph by Hans Namuth of Motherwell in his Ninety-fourth Street studio. In a slightly later photograph of another intermediate stage of this work (Juley photo no. 208; J0004996), the presence of two separate figures is quite clear, and there is a triangular form between them (still visible in the pentimenti), which resembles the tablelike form in Je t’aime No. IV (P161).

P173

A Sculptor’s Picture, with Blue 1958 Oil on canvas 70½ x 76 in. (179.1 x 193 cm) Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated Verso: Robert Motherwell \ 1958 Verso (on top horizontal stretcher): “a sculptor’s picture, with blue” 1958 70½" x 76" Verso (on horizontal crossbar): “a sculptor’s picture, with blue” Present Owner Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Stanley K. Sheinbaum Provenance Mr. and Mrs. Milton Sperling, 1959; Betty Sperling; Mr. and Mrs. Stanley K. Sheinbaum

Solo Exhibitions Sidney Janis Gallery, New York, March 1959, cat. no. 1. Pasadena Art Museum, Calif., February 1962, cat. no. 24, erroneously as Sculptor’s Eulogy. Group Exhibitions Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1965, cat. no. 67, illus. p. 138. San Francisco Museum of Art, 1970, cat. no. 30. Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., 1980, cat. no. 55, color illus. p. 98. References Lanes 1959, p. 28; Motherwell 1959, p. 8; M[ott] 1959, p. 53, illus. p. 53; Preston 1959b, sec. 2, p. 18; Lenox 1960, illus. sec. H, p. 16 (installation

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P174

P175

view); Kozloff 1965a, illus. p. 33; Arnason 1977b, p. 49, illus. p. 51 (pl. 25, in exhibition); Smithsonian 1980, color illus. p. 172; Arnason 1982, p. 49, illus. p. 50 (pl. 42, in exhibition); Taylor 1993, p. 10.

P174

Comments The composition of this work, almost certainly painted in New York prior to Motherwell’s trip to France and Spain, is similar to that of paintings in the Two Figures series that he would paint in France that summer. Motherwell later said that the sculptor referred to in the title of this work is David Smith (1906–1965), one of Motherwell’s closest friends (Arnason 1977b, p. 49).

Inscriptions Recto, upper right: Robert Motherwell \ St. Jean de Luz \ 1958

Two Figures No. 2 1958 Oil on canvas 82½ x 82½ in. (209.6 x 209.6 cm)

Verso (on horizontal crossbar): “two figures, no. 2” 83" x 83" 1958 Artist’s Studio Number P58-1588 Present Owner Collection Mr. and Mrs. Ronald Broatch Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Hollis Taggart Galleries, 2003; Mr. and Mrs. Ronald Broatch, 2005 References Art Market Report 2003a, p. 2, color illus. p. 2. Comments This work was painted during the summer of 1958 in Saint-Jean-de-Luz, France, on a support of what Motherwell

has described as bed linen (interview with Sigmund Koch and Jack Flam, 1986; see “Writings by the Artist,” in the Bibliography). It is the first numbered work in the Two Figures series; there is no known number 1. (The numbered works in the Two Figures series run through number 12, with three gaps in the sequence: numbers 1, 3, and 4.) When the Two Figures compositions were first shown as a group at the Sidney Janis Gallery in March 1959, seven numbered works were included (W34–W40), along with two unnumbered ones: Two Figures (P175); and Two Figures (P207), which was exhibited in an early state as Two Figures (for Helen Frankenthaler). Another painting, now called Chambre d’Amour (P190), was listed on a preliminary list for the Janis Gallery exhibition as Two Figures No. 3, but it was not exhibited and was later reworked and retitled. On the back of a photograph of this painting in the Sidney Janis Gallery archives, a note in Motherwell’s hand describes this painting as “Beauty and the Beast.”

P175

Two Figures Alternative Title: The Cockfight 1958 Oil on canvas 54 x 72 in. (137.2 x 182.9 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper right: RM 58 Verso not seen [“signed and dated 1958 on the reverse; titled on the stretcher,” per Sotheby’s 1991] Present Owner Private collection Provenance Chester Beatty, 1959; [Sotheby’s, New York, November 13, 1991, lot 24, illus.]; unknown owner, 1991; private collection; Carol M. Penn Fine Art, New York, ca. 2001; private collection, ca. 2001 Solo Exhibitions Sidney Janis Gallery, New York, March 1959, cat. no. 3.

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P176

References Goossen 1959, illus. p. 38, as The Cockfight. Comments This work was probably painted in Saint-Jean-de-Luz during the summer of 1958.

P176

Spanish Painting with the Face of a Dog 1958/1959/1960 Oil on canvas 37⅛ x 75¼ in. (94.3 x 191.1 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper right, incised [painted over]: Robert Motherwell \ St Jean de Luz [illegible] Verso not seen Artist’s Studio Number P58-5103 Present Owner Collection of Joann and Gifford Phillips Provenance Joann and Gifford Phillips, 1960 Solo Exhibitions New Gallery, Bennington College, Vt., 1959, cat. no. 22 (shown in early state). Pasadena Art Museum, Calif., February 1962, cat. no. 37. Museum of Modern Art, New York, Robert Motherwell, September 1965

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(traveling), New York, cat. no. 40, illus. p. 11; Amsterdam, cat. no. 35, illus. n.p.; Essen, cat. no. 35; Turin, cat. no. 35, illus. p. 89 (pl. 29). Museum of Modern Art, New York, Robert Motherwell:Works on Paper, September 1965 (circulating); shown in San Francisco only. Otis Art Institute, Los Angeles, 1974, cat. no. 16, illus. n.p. Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, 1983 (traveling), cat. no. 28, illus. p. 18 (in early state), color illus. p. 72. Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, 1984, cat. no. 41. Group Exhibitions Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, November 1958, cat. no. 121 (shown in early state). UCLA Art Galleries, Los Angeles, 1962, cat. no. 72. Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C., 1971. References Goossen 1959, p. 51; Arnason 1966b, p. 31; Hobbs 1975b, pp. 245–46, illus.

n.p. (pl. 32); Morrison 1976, illus. p. 16; Arnason 1977b, pp. 48, 94, illus. n.p. (pl. 110, in early state); Arnason 1982, pp. 48, 98, illus. p. 136 (pl. 150, in early state); Ashton 1983, p. 42, illus. p. 18 (in early state), color illus. p. 72; Glenn 1983, color illus. p. 117 (installation view); Motherwell in Albright-Knox Art Gallery exh. cat. 1983, pp. 17–18, illus. p. 18, color illus. p. 72; Regan 1984, sec. Review, p. 12; West 1984, p. 15; Danto 1985, p. 58; Gaugh 1985, p. 72; Kimball 1985, p. 36; Danto 1987, p. 49; Pleynet 1989b, p. 44, illus. p. 91 (in early state); Flam 1991, color illus. n.p. (pl. 40); Polcari 1991, p. 308; Caws 1996b, p. 65; Chalumeau 1998, color illus. p. 36 (pl. 33); Caws 2003, illus. p. 152 (ill. 100). Comments This work was painted in Saint-Jeande-Luz during the summer of 1958, on a support of what Motherwell later described as bed linen; see the Comments for Two Figures No. 2 (P174). It was shown at the Whitney Museum of American Art that November, then it was slightly modified before being

P177

shown at Bennington College in April 1959; it was revised yet again before being sold in May 1960. The title refers to Goya’s famous painting of a dog, Perro semihundido (1821–23), which Motherwell saw in the Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid, in June of 1958.

P177

Pasadena Art Museum, Calif., February 1962, cat. no. 25.

1958 Oil on canvas 47⅛ x 80¼ in. (119.7 x 203.8 cm)

Smith College Museum of Art, Northampton, Mass., 1963, cat. no. 10, as Iberia.

William Benton Museum of Art, University of Connecticut, Storrs, 1979, cat. no. 10 (brochure); cat. no. 12 (catalogue), illus. p. 47 (in exhibition), illus. pp. 138–39.

Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated

New Gallery, Charles Hayden Memorial Library, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, 1963, as Iberia.

Centro Cultural de la Caixa de Pensions, Barcelona, 1980 (traveling), Barcelona, cat. no. 3; Madrid, cat. no. 3, color illus. n.p.

Museum of Modern Art, New York, Robert Motherwell, September 1965 (traveling), New York, cat. no. 33; Amsterdam, cat. no. 28, illus. n.p.; Essen, cat. no. 28; Turin, cat. no. 28, illus. p. 84 (pl. 24).

Knoedler & Company, New York, February 1981, cat. no. 16.

Iberia No. 2

Verso: Robert Motherwell \ 1958 \ St. Jean de Luz, France Verso [painted over]: [illegible] Artist’s Studio Number P58-1538 Present Owner Tate. Acquired by purchase and gift from the Dedalus Foundation, 1996 Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Tate, London, 1996 Solo Exhibitions Sidney Janis Gallery, New York, March 1959, cat. no. 4. New Gallery, Bennington College, Vt., 1959, cat. no. 21. Museu de Arte Moderna, São Paulo, Brazil, 1961, cat. no. 15.

Toledo Museum of Art, Ohio, 1969 (traveling), cat. no. 16.

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, 1984, cat. no. 42. Fundació Antoni Tàpies, Barcelona, 1996 (traveling), cat. no. 25, color illus. p. 121.

Art Museum, Princeton University, N.J., 1973, cat. no. 11, illus. p. 36.

Group Exhibitions Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, 1959, cat. no. 87.

Städtische Kunsthalle Düsseldorf, 1976 (traveling), cat. no. 19, illus. p. 102.

Cleveland Museum of Art, 1960, cat. no. 53, illus. p. 37, as Iberia.

Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, 1977, illus. n.p.

Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1966 (circulating), Melbourne and Sydney, cat. no. 56, illus. n.p.; shown in Melbourne and Sydney only.

Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1978, cat. no. 9, illus. p. 15.

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P178

Pace Gallery, New York, 1974. Pace Gallery, New York, 1979, color illus. n.p. Knoedler & Company, New York, 1983, cat. no. 11, color illus. p. 15. Marisa del Re Gallery, New York, 1985, color illus. p. 41. Stux Modern, New York, 1990, color illus. n.p. References Goossen 1959, p. 51; Lanes 1959, p. 29, illus. p. 28, referred to in text and in illus. as Iberia; Arnason 1966b, illus. p. 36; Bruner 1969, p. 1; Hobbs 1975b, p. 243, illus. n.p. (pl. 29); O’Hara 1975, illus. p. 72 (fig. 1); Pleynet 1975, illus. p. 6; Arnason 1977b, illus. p. 47 (pl. 23); Cohen 1977, color illus. p. 232 (installation view); Terenzio 1979, p. 10; Bonet 1980, illus. p. 19; CorredórMatheos 1980, p. 40, as Iberia; Arnason 1982, color illus. p. 47 (pl. 37); Ashton 1983, p. 42; Glenn 1984, p. 87, color illus. p. 86 (installation view); Gaugh 1985, p. 72; Flam 1991, color illus. n.p. (pl. 41); McEvilley 1993, p. 49; Franzke

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1994, color illus. p. 5 (fig. 5); Denson and McEvilley 1996, p. 79; Chalumeau 1998, color illus. p. 37 (pl. 34); Thierolf 2002, p. 271, illus. p. 274 (fig. 1); Engberg and Banach 2003, illus. p. 46 (fig. 21). Comments This work was painted on what Motherwell later described as bed linen, in Saint-Jean-de-Luz during the summer of 1958; see the Comments for Two Figures No. 2 (P174). It was directly inspired by a bullfight Motherwell saw with Helen Frankenthaler at the Plaza de Toros Bayonne-Biarritz on August 3, 1958. Although the painting does not literally represent a bull, Motherwell later described how it was meant to evoke the presence of the bull, the “sweat, the foam at the mouth, the piss on the ground,” as well as its wild “torment and fury” (interview with Sigmund Koch and Jack Flam, 1986; see “Writings by the Artist,” in the Bibliography). Motherwell initiated both his Iberia and Bull series at this time, but later sometimes changed Bull paintings to Iberias.

P178

Iberia No. 4 Alternative Titles: The Black Bulls of Europe; Iberia No. 1 1958–59 Oil and shellac on paper mounted on Masonite 42½ x 96½ in. (108 x 245.1 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper right: 58 \ R. Motherwell Recto, upper right [painted over]: [58 \ Robert Motherwell] Verso (on top horizontal crossbar): “iberia no. 4” R. Motherwell Verso [painted over]: [the black bulls \ of europe] Verso [circled ]: [oil] Verso: Robert Motherwell \ 1958 Present Owner Audrey and David Mirvish, Toronto Provenance Samuel and Luella Maslon, 1962; [Sotheby’s, New York, May 15, 2002, lot 10, illus. (not sold)]; Audrey and David Mirvish, Toronto, 2002

Solo Exhibitions Sidney Janis Gallery, New York, March 1959, cat. no. 5 (shown in early state), as Iberia. New Gallery, Bennington College, Vt., 1959, cat. no. 20, as Iberia No. 1. Museum Morsbroich, Leverkusen, Germany, 2004, color illus. pp. 42–43. Group Exhibitions Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, 1959 (shown in early state). References Müller 2004, sec. A, p. 8. Comments Almost certainly painted in Saint-Jeande-Luz during the summer of 1958, this work may well have been the first Iberia painting. It was initially done on paper, then reworked after it was mounted on Masonite. In 1958 the title inscribed on the verso was “The Black Bulls of Europe,” but in 1959 the painting underwent revisions of both form and title and it was subsequently shown as both Iberia No. 1 and Iberia No. 4.

P179

It was first shown as Iberia No. 4, the title inscribed on the verso and the one that we retain here, in Houston in January 1959. That March it was exhibited simply as Iberia in a show at the Sidney Janis Gallery (see fig. 210 in volume 1). The painting was revised just before it was sent to the exhibition at Bennington College, which opened on April 24, 1959. At Bennington it was shown as Iberia No. 1, and hung directly above Iberia No. 2 (see fig. 211 in volume 1).

P180

P179

P180

Iberia No. 10

Iberia No. 18

1958 Oil on canvas board 7 x 9 in. (17.8 x 22.9 cm)

1958 Oil on canvas board 5⅛ x 7⅛ in. (13 x 18.1 cm)

Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated

Verso not seen

Verso not seen [“signed R. Motherwell; titled ‘Iberia, #18,’ dated 1958, and inscribed ‘oil on linen’ on verso frame strainer rail in pencil,” per document in Dedalus Foundation Archives]

Present Owner Unknown Provenance Private collection, 1967; private collection; private collection, 1978; unknown owner Comments This work was painted in Saint-Jeande-Luz during the summer of 1958. Our reproduction of it comes from a black-and-white photograph (Juley photo no. 217; J0005005).

p. 62; Amsterdam, cat. no. 30, illus. n.p.; Essen, cat. no. 30; Turin, cat. no. 30. Richard Feigen Gallery, Chicago, 1968 (traveling). Städtische Kunsthalle Düsseldorf, 1976 (traveling), cat. no. 20, illus. p. 102. Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, 1977. William Benton Museum of Art, University of Connecticut, Storrs, 1979, cat. no. 11 (brochure); cat. no. 15 (catalogue), illus. p. 141.

Artist’s Studio Number P58-1544

Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, 2004.

Present Owner Collection of the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth. Museum purchase, the Friends of Art Endowment Fund

Group Exhibitions Richard L. Feigen & Co., Chicago, 1988.

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, 1999 Solo Exhibitions Museum of Modern Art, New York, Robert Motherwell, September 1965 (traveling), New York, cat. no. 35, illus.

DePaul University Art Museum, Chicago, 2008, cat. no. 16, illus. p. 66. References Sandler 1970, p. 209, illus. p. 209 (fig. 16-8); Meewis 1983, p. 200.

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P181

Comments This work was painted in Saint-Jeande-Luz during the summer of 1958. The numbers 11, 15, and 17 in the Iberia series were assigned to paintings on paper (W68–W70); no works were given the numbers 12–14 and 16.

P181

Iberia 1958 Oil on canvas 70 x 89 in. (177.8 x 226.1 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper left, incised: R Motherwell 1958 Verso: 70" x 90" Verso: RM \ 1958 Verso (on horizontal crossbar): Robert Motherwell 1958 Artist’s Studio Number P58-2949 Present Owner Guggenheim Museum Bilbao Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, Spain, 1997

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Solo Exhibitions Fundació Antoni Tàpies, Barcelona, 1996 (traveling), cat. no. 24, color illus. p. 119. Group Exhibitions Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, Spain, 1997 (not on checklist). Pfalzgalerie Kaiserslautern, Germany, 1997, color illus. p. 65.

P182

A View No. 1 1958 Oil on canvas 81⅛ x 104 in. (206.1 x 264.2 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper right, incised: RM 58 Verso not seen

Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, Spain, 2003.

Artist’s Studio Number P58-5105

References Cateforis 2000–2001, p. 7, illus. p. 6 (fig. 4).

Present Owner La Colección Jumex, Mexico

Comments The blacks around the white form at the lower left corner of this painting appear to have been extended by Motherwell at a later date.

Provenance Mr. and Mrs. John Murray Cuddihy, 1959; [Christie’s, New York, November 3, 1978, lot 17, illus.]; André Emmerich Gallery, 1978; IBM Corporation, Armonk, N.Y., 1980; [Sotheby’s, New York, May 2, 1995, lot 12, illus.]; La Colección Jumex, Mexico, 1995

P182

P183

Solo Exhibitions Sidney Janis Gallery, New York, March 1959, cat. no. 2. Museum of Modern Art, New York, Robert Motherwell, September 1965 (traveling), New York, cat. no. 42, illus. p. 29; Amsterdam, cat. no. 37, illus. n.p.; Essen, cat. no. 37; Turin, cat. no. 37, illus. p. 88 (pl. 28). Museum of Modern Art, New York, Robert Motherwell:Works on Paper, September 1965 (circulating); shown in San Francisco only. Museo de Arte Moderno, Mexico City, 1975, cat. no. 13. Städtische Kunsthalle Düsseldorf, 1976 (traveling), cat. no. 18, illus. p. 102. Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, 1977. William Benton Museum of Art, University of Connecticut, Storrs, 1979, cat. no. 11 (catalogue), illus. pp. 26–27, illus. p. 46 (in exhibition), illus. p. 48 (in exhibition), as View No. 1. Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, 1983 (traveling), cat. no. 30, color illus. p. 74; not shown in Los Angeles. 118

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Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, 1984, cat. no. 34. Fundació Antoni Tàpies, Barcelona, 1996 (traveling), cat. no. 22, color illus. p. 115. Group Exhibitions Museum Fridericianum, Kassel, Germany, 1959, cat. no. 2, illus. p. 286. IBM Gallery of Science and Art, New York, 1989. References Haftmann 1959, illus. p. 15; It Is. 1959, illus. p. 72; Edgar 1965, p. 39, illus. p. 40 (fig. 5), referred to in text and in illus. as A View, 1; Fabri 1965, p. 9; Hudson 1965, sec. G, p. 7; Arnason 1966b, p. 31, illus. p. 35; Galerie im Erker exh. cat. 1971, illus. p. 13 (in exhibition); Acha 1975, p. 82; Pleynet 1975, p. 9; Arnason 1977b, pp. 49–50, illus. p. 51 (pl. 25, in exhibition); Moore 1980, p. 3; Arnason 1982, pp. 49–50, illus. p. 50 (pl. 42, in exhibition), illus. p. 63 (pl. 55, in exhibition), color illus. p. 153 (pl. 193); Motherwell in Arnason 1982, p. 153; Motherwell in AlbrightKnox Art Gallery exh. cat. 1983, p. 13, color illus. p. 74; Sozanski 1984, sec. H,

p. 16; Berman 1985, p. 65, color illus. p. 62; Pleynet 1989b, color illus. p. 98; Flam 1991, p. 10, color illus. n.p. (pl. 43); Qin 1996, pp. 17, 38, illus. p. 70 (fig. 4); Caws 2003, color illus. p. 178 (ill. 126).

P183

Comments The large diamond shape in this work, typical of the View series, was added after the underlying composition had been painted in; this is apparent in a photograph of the work in progress (Juley photo no. 76; J0004869). The Juley studio photograph of the early state without the diamond shape reveals the similarity of the forms beneath that shape to those in Two Figures No. 11 (W40). Speaking of the View paintings in a 1961 interview, Motherwell told Rudi Blesh, “about that title I meant it as a view, a point of view, one way of looking at painting” (see “Writings by the Artist,” in the Bibliography). As with many of Motherwell’s series, the numbering of the View series is irregular, and some of the works in it were changed into altogether different works (see, for example, P236).

Inscriptions Recto, upper right [painted over]: [RM]

A View No. 10 1958 Oil and Magna on canvas 69 x 85 in. (175.3 x 215.9 cm)

Verso: 1958 Verso: “A View, no. 10” \ Robert Motherwell \ 1958 Verso: partly plastic oil paint \ do not varnish Artist’s Studio Number P58-2556 Present Owner Private collection, Los Angeles Provenance Private collection, Los Angeles, 1982 Solo Exhibitions Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, 1983 (traveling), cat. no. 31, color illus. p. 75. Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, 1984, cat. no. 38.

P184

P185

P186

P184

P185

P186

Untitled

Seattle Fine Arts Pavilion, 1962, cat. no. 43.

1958–ca. 1967 Oil and acrylic on canvas board 12 x 9 in. (30.5 x 22.9 cm)

Knoedler & Company, New York, fall 1981, cat. no. 3.

Inscriptions Recto, upper right, incised: RM 58

Inscriptions Recto, lower right, incised: RM

Inscriptions Recto, lower left, incised: RM 58

References Goossen 1959, illus. p. 38 (in studio, in progress); Gaugh 1985, p. 75.

Verso not signed, not dated

Recto, upper left, incised (upside down) [painted over]: [RM 58]

Verso not signed, not dated

Group Exhibitions Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, 1961, cat. no. 87.

Artist’s Studio Number P58-1114

Verso not signed, not dated

Artist’s Studio Number P58-1113

Present Owner Dedalus Foundation

Artist’s Studio Number P58-1115

Present Owner Dedalus Foundation

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991

Present Owner Dedalus Foundation

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991

Comments The gray areas around the calligraphic forms in this work, and the similarly situated black areas in two related untitled works (P185 and P186), appear to have been added later; subsequently, in the case of this work and P186, those areas were apparently inscribed with the 1958 date of the original calligraphic composition.

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991

Comments See the Comments for P184.

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P187

View No. 2 (Juan Crisóstomo Arriaga) 1959 Oil on canvas 69 x 85 in. (175.3 x 215.9 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper left: RM Verso not seen Present Owner Unknown Provenance The artist Solo Exhibitions Sidney Janis Gallery, New York, March 1959, cat. no. 8. New Gallery, Bennington College, Vt., 1959, cat. no. 28, as View. Comments This work is known only through black-and-white photographs of it hanging in the Sidney Janis Gallery in 1959. Our reproduction of it is cropped from one of these installation photographs (Juley photo no. 85; J0004877).

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This canvas may have been subsequently painted over or destroyed. The Spanish composer Juan Crisóstomo Arriaga (1806–1826) was known as “the Basque Mozart.”

P188

P189

P188

P189

{ Title unknown}

Bull No. 9

Ca. 1959 Paint on canvas 85 x 69 in. (215.9 x 175.3 cm), approx.

1959–60 Oil and Magna on canvas 36 x 48 in. (91.4 x 121.9 cm)

Inscriptions Unknown

Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated

Present Owner Unknown

Verso: 10 Feb 1959

Provenance The artist Comments This work is known only from a studio photograph in which it is seen at an oblique angle, with part of the upper right side cut off by the right edge of the photograph (Juley photo no. 258; J0005042). This photograph can be dated to late 1959 by the presence of other known works, such as an early state of Elegy to the Spanish Republic No. 58 (P218), which is visible on the left. Based on comparison with the sizes of other works in the photograph, this painting seems to measure approximately 85 x 69 inches, a canvas size commonly used by Motherwell at this time. We do not know whether this work still exists in the form illustrated here.

Verso (on top horizontal stretcher): 10·feb·1959 Artist’s Studio Number P59-1466 Present Owner Dedalus Foundation Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991 Comments This is the first numbered painting on canvas in the Bull series, which Motherwell initiated at the same time as his Iberia paintings. The other numbered paintings in the Bull series were done on paperboard and have been classified as Paintings on Paper; see the Comments for Bull No. 1 (W60). The peach color was added in 1960.

P190

Chambre d’Amour Alternative Title: Two Figures No. 3 1958–59 Oil on canvas 66 x 91 in. (167.6 x 231.1 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper right, incised [painted over]: [R. Motherwell \ 1958] Verso: St.-Jean-de-Luz \ 1958 France \ R. Motherwell \ “Chambre \ d’Amour” Verso (on top horizontal stretcher) [painted over]: [illegible] Verso (on horizontal crossbar): R. Motherwell Verso (on horizontal crossbar) [painted over]: [illegible] Artist’s Studio Number P58-1578 Present Owner Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, N.H. Partial purchase through gifts from Melville Straus, class of 1960, and the Lathrop Fellows and partial gift of the Dedalus Foundation, Inc.

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, N.H., 1996 References Cateforis 2000–2001, p. 8. Comments This work was painted in Saint-Jeande-Luz during the summer of 1958 and photographed that fall (Juley photo no. 154; J0004945), then revised in New York some months later. The title contains a pun: the French term “Chambre d’Amour,” which can be translated as “love nest,” is also the name of a town around six miles (10 km) northeast of Saint-Jean-de-Luz. This painting, with the title Two Figures No. 3, was included on a preliminary list for Motherwell’s March 1959 exhibition at the Sidney Janis Gallery, but it was not shown.

P191

An Ungainly Figure Alternative Title: Ungainly Figure 1959 Oil on canvas 69 x 85 in. (175.3 x 215.9 cm) Inscriptions Recto, lower left: RM Verso (on top horizontal stretcher): 69" x 85"

Group Exhibitions Galerie Beyeler, Basel, Switzerland, 1959, cat. no. 23, illus. n.p. Kunsthaus Zürich, 1960 (traveling), Zurich, cat. no. 156, illus. n.p.; Düsseldorf, cat. no. 156, illus. n.p.; The Hague, cat. no. 150, illus. n.p.; Turin, cat. no. 104, illus. n.p. Kunstverein Hannover, Germany, 1966, cat. no. 141, [illus. n.p.].

Verso (on strainer): ungainly figure

Kunstmuseum St. Gallen, Switzerland, 1966, cat. no. 89, illus. n.p. (fig. 9).

Verso (on strainer) [crossed out and partially covered by gallery label]: love of an [illegible] 959

Kunstverein St. Gallen, Switzerland, 1977, cat. no. 26.

Present Owner Collection of Mary Ann Tighe and Dr. David Hidalgo Provenance Galerie Beyeler, Basel, Switzerland, 1959; private collection, Switzerland, 1968; private collection, 2003; Mary Ann Tighe and Dr. David Hidalgo, ca. 2004 Solo Exhibitions Sidney Janis Gallery, New York, March 1959, cat. no. 7.

Kunstverein St. Gallen, Switzerland, 1988, cat. no. 44, color illus. n.p. Kunstmuseum St. Gallen, Switzerland, 2000. References Cateforis 2000–2001, p. 8. comments The third verso inscription probably read “love of an ungainly figure 1959”; this painting was always exhibited as An Ungainly Figure.

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P192

Untitled Alternative Title: It Is 1959 Oil on canvas 84¼ x 109¼ in. (214 x 277.5 cm) Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated

Museu de Arte Moderna, São Paulo, Brazil, 1961, cat. no. 26, as It Is. Pasadena Art Museum, Calif., February 1962, cat. no. 39, as It Is. Group Exhibitions Museum Fridericianum, Kassel, Germany, 1959, cat. no. 5, illus. p. 285.

Verso (on horizontal stretcher): R. Motherwell March, 1959

John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, Sarasota, Fla., 1961, cat. no. 18, illus. n.p.

Present Owner Private collection, Switzerland

Galerie Beyeler, Basel Art Fair, Switzerland, 1971, color illus. p. 18.

Provenance Private collection, ca. 1962; private collection, Switzerland, 1973; private collection, Switzerland, 1981

Fondation Beyeler, Basel, Switzerland, 2008, cat. no. 105, color illus. p. 167.

Solo Exhibitions New Gallery, Bennington College, Vt., 1959.

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References It Is. 1959, cover color illus.; Nordland 1962a, p. 22; Engberg and Banach 2003, p. 45, illus. p. 45 (fig. 20).

Comments This work was reproduced on the cover of the winter–spring 1959 issue of the artists’ magazine It Is., which led to its being called such when exhibited in São Paulo in 1961 and in Pasadena in 1962.

P193

California 1959 Oil and charcoal on canvas 69¾ x 89½ in. (177.2 x 227.3 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper right: RM 59 Verso not seen Present Owner Private collection. Courtesy Locks Gallery, Philadelphia Provenance Private collection, 1961; Mr. and Mrs. Frederick R. Mayer, 1983; [Christie’s, New York, November 3, 1987, lot 30, illus.]; private collection, ca. 1987 Solo Exhibitions Sidney Janis Gallery, New York, April 1961 (not in catalogue).

P193

Marian Locks Gallery, Philadelphia, 1989, color illus. n.p. Locks Gallery, Philadelphia, 1992, color illus. p. 6. References J[udd] 1961, p. 84; Sandler 1961a, p. 44; Jay 1997, p. 56, color illus. p. 56 (installation view).

P194

Monster (for Charles Ives)

Pasadena Art Museum, Calif., February 1962, cat. no. 40, illus. n.p.

1959 Oil on canvas 78¼ x 118¼ in. (198.8 x 300.4 cm)

Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, 1983 (traveling), cat. no. 33, illus. p. 41; not shown in Seattle.

Inscriptions Recto, upper left, incised [painted over]: [R Motherwell 59]

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, 1984, cat. no. 145.

Recto, upper right, incised: RM Verso not seen Artist’s Studio Number P59-5182 Present Owner Smithsonian American Art Museum. Gift of S. C. Johnson & Son, Inc. Provenance S. C. Johnson & Son, Inc., 1962; Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C., 1969 Solo Exhibitions Sidney Janis Gallery, New York, April 1961, cat. no. 21, illus. n.p., illus. n.p. (detail).

Group Exhibitions United States Information Agency, Washington, D.C., 1962 (circulating), cat. no. 60, color illus. p. 291. Museo del Palacio de Bellas Artes, Mexico City, 1980, cat. no. 74, color illus. p. 189. Sezon Museum of Art, Tokyo, 1996 (traveling), cat. no. 41, color illus. p. 127. Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service, Washington, D.C., 2000 (circulating), color illus. p. 65. Patricia and Phillip Frost Art Museum, Florida International University, Miami, 2008 (traveling), color illus. p. 180.

References K[roll] 1961b, p. 10; Porter 1961, p. 379; Fortune 1962, p. 133, color illus. p. 134; Nordland 1962b, p. 50, as Monster; Robertson 1965, p. 16; Art Gallery Magazine 1968, illus. p. 39, as Monster; Cohen 1971, p. 237; Arnason 1976, p. 55; Arnason 1977b, pp. 58–59, 89, color illus. n.p. (pl. 108), illus. n.p. (pl. 109); Motherwell in Arnason 1977b, n.p.; Tyler 1977, sec. F, p. 7, illus. sec. F, p. 7; Anderson 1981, p. 159; Arnason 1982, pp. 58–59, 93, color illus. p. 135 (pl. 148), illus. p. 135 (pl. 149); Motherwell in Arnason 1982, p. 135; Ashton 1983, pp. 40, 41, illus. p. 41; Shere 1984, sec. Calendar, p. 4; Wilson 1984, sec. Calendar, p. 75; Gaugh 1985, p. 72; Drudi 1988b, p. 45, erroneously as Charles Ives; Pleynet 1989b, p. 44, illus. p. 43; Pleynet 1995, p. 113; Caws 1996b, pp. 40, 47, illus. p. 42; Fundació Antoni Tàpies exh. cat. 1996, illus. p. 56; Wibking 2001, p. 27; Caws 2003, illus. p. 181 (ill. 127).

Museu de Arte Moderna, São Paulo, Brazil, 1961, cat. no. 27.

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P194

Comments This painting is dedicated to the composer Charles Ives (1874–1954). The catalogue for Motherwell’s 1961 solo exhibition at the Sidney Janis Gallery states that it was done in Falmouth, Massachusetts, where Motherwell spent the summer. Motherwell later wrote, however, that it was painted in New York “during a WBAI Charles Ives’ recordings festival, to which I listened daily, and I dedicated this painting to Ives, for the title also refers to the monstrous ambiguity of the modernist artist’s situation” (Motherwell in Arnason 1977b, p. 123, caption for pl. 108). In fact, the painting may have been worked on both in Falmouth and New York.

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P195

Wall with Graffiti Ca. 1959 Oil and charcoal on canvas 46 x 50 in. (116.8 x 127 cm) Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated Verso: “wall with graffiti” \ R. Motherwell \ c. 1950 Artist’s Studio Number P50-1264 Present Owner Allentown Art Museum. Purchase: Gift of Estelle Reninger and gift of the Dedalus Foundation, 1994, 1994.024

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Allentown Art Museum, Pa., 1994 Solo Exhibitions Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, 1977. References Mattison 1997, n.p., illus. n.p. Comments It is uncertain when this painting was made, but the verso also has an inscription (“motherwell”) in the same hand (not Motherwell’s) that appears on a contemporaneous painting that was left unfinished (P196), and which is the same size and was built with the same kind of stretcher bars. The title of this work appears to have been given to it

just prior to Motherwell’s 1977 Paris retrospective, at which time he signed and dated the verso with the approximate date “c. 1950.”

P196

P195

P197

P196

{ Unfinished painting} Ca. 1959 Oil and alkyd on canvas 46 x 50 in. (116.8 x 127 cm)

similar kind of paint in P165. Visible on the surface are letters bleeding through from a verso inscription: “motherwell” (not written in the artist’s hand).

P197

P198

Untitled

Spanish Elegy

Ca. 1959 Oil on canvas board 14 x 18 in. (35.6 x 45.7 cm)

Alternative Title: Study for Elegy 1959 Oil and graphite on canvas board 9 x 12 in. (22.9 x 30.5 cm)

Inscriptions Recto, upper right, incised [painted over]: [RM 59]

Inscriptions Recto, lower right: RM Verso not seen (glued to backing board)

Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated

Verso not signed, not dated

Artist’s Studio Number P59-3675

Verso (on frame): Robert Motherwell 1959

Present Owner Ackland Art Museum, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Ackland Fund and gift of the Dedalus Foundation

Present Owner Collection of Kenneth and Judy Dayton

Artist’s Studio Number P68-1591 Present Owner Dedalus Foundation Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991 Comments This painting is signed and dated 1959 on the recto, and stamped “1959” on the back of the stretcher bar, but it was left unfinished. Motherwell’s use of commercial white alkyd paint on this canvas created an uneven and unstable surface, similar to that which resulted from the accidental use of a

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Ackland Art Museum, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1994 Group Exhibitions Ackland Art Museum, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1998, illus. p. 22.

Provenance Gimpel Fils, 1961; Robert and Jane Meyerhoff, 1961; Kenneth and Judy Dayton, 1986 Solo Exhibitions Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, 1992, cat. no. 6. Group Exhibitions Baltimore Museum of Art, 1966, as Study for Elegy. Baltimore Museum of Art, 1973, as Study for Spanish Elegy.

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P199

P198

References Sundell 1980, illus. p. ix, as Study for Spanish Elegy. Comments According to the studio card for this painting, Motherwell was asked to sign it at the time it was being sold in 1986. He signed and dated it on the frame. The title of this work was given by the Sidney Janis Gallery, as a generic designation for an image in the Elegy to the Spanish Republic series; the title first appears on a 1961 Janis Gallery accounting of sales, listed along with other small works that were given the same title by the gallery (P200 and P203), prior to being consigned to the Gimpel Fils gallery in London. The same title, along with the Gimpel Fils gallery number (a “G” number), is also written on the back of the work, but not in Motherwell’s hand.

P199

Spanish Elegy 1959–60 Oil on canvas board 9 x 12 in. (22.9 x 30.5 cm) Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated Verso not seen [“signed with initials, titled and dated 1959 on the reverse of the frame; signed and dedicated on the cardboard backing,” per Sotheby’s 1992] Present Owner Private collection. Courtesy Locks Gallery, Philadelphia Provenance Private collection, 1961; [Sotheby’s, New York, May 6, 1992, lot 3, illus.]; private collection, 1992 Solo Exhibitions Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, 1992, cat. no. 7. Group Exhibitions American Federation of Arts, New York, 1963, cat. no. 51.

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P200

References Hobbs 1975b, p. 240, illus. n.p. (pl. 25). Comments Though this painting is said to be dated 1959 on the verso, it appears in an early state in a studio photograph taken in February 1960 (Juley photo no. 244; J0005029) and was probably completed later that year. The title of this work was given by the Sidney Janis Gallery, as a generic designation for an image in the Elegy to the Spanish Republic series; the title first appears on a 1961 Janis Gallery accounting of sales, listed along with other small works that were given the same title by the gallery (P198, P200, and P203).

P200

Spanish Elegy 1959 Oil and graphite on canvas board 9⅛ x 12⅛ in. (23.2 x 30.8 cm) Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated Verso (on plywood backing board): R. Motherwell Present Owner Collection of Harry W. and Mary Margaret Anderson Provenance Gimpel Fils, 1961; private collection, 1966; private collection, 1975; private collection, ca. 1975; Margo Leavin Gallery, Los Angeles, 1975; Harry W. and Mary Margaret Anderson, 1976 Group Exhibitions San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, 2000, cat. no. 196, color illus. p. 318 (pl. 182), as Untitled. Comments The title of this work was given by the Sidney Janis Gallery, as a generic

P202

P201

designation for an image in the Elegy to the Spanish Republic series; the title first appears on a 1961 Janis Gallery accounting of sales, listed along with other small works that were given the same title by the gallery (P198 and P203), prior to being consigned to the Gimpel Fils gallery in London. The same title, along with the Gimpel Fils gallery number (a “G” number), is also written on the back of the work, but not in Motherwell’s hand.

P203

P201

P202

P203

In Black and White

Untitled

Spanish Elegy

1959 Oil on Masonite 9 x 12 in. (22.9 x 30.5 cm)

1959 Oil on canvas board 9 x 12 in. (22.9 x 30.5 cm)

Inscriptions Recto, upper right, incised: RM

Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated

Verso: R. Motherwell \ 1959 Present Owner Private collection Provenance E. C. Goossen, ca. 1959; [Christie’s, New York, May 10, 2000, lot 697, illus.]; private collection, 2000 Solo Exhibitions Smith College Museum of Art, Northampton, Mass., 1963, cat. no. 13.

Verso not seen [“signed and dated Robert Verso not signed, not dated Motherwell 1959,” per Christie’s 1991] Present Owner Present Owner Private collection Unknown Provenance Provenance Gimpel Fils, 1961; Waddington Ulfert Wilke, ca. 1968; [Christie’s, New Galleries, London, 1966; private York, February 14, 1991, lot 12, illus.]; collection, 1966 unknown owner, 1991; [Briest, Paris, March 17, 1992, lot 65, illus.]; unknown Group Exhibitions owner, 1992 Gimpel Fils, London, 1962, cat. no. 26, Group Exhibitions illus. p. 13. University of Iowa Museum of Art, Iowa City, 1972 (traveling), cat. no. 8, illus. p. 7. Comments The title of this work was given by University of Iowa Museum of Art, Iowa the Sidney Janis Gallery, as a generic City, 1975, cat. no. 372. designation for an image in the Elegy to References the Spanish Republic series; the title Arnason 1977b, illus. n.p. (pl. 111); first appears on a 1961 Janis Gallery Arnason 1982, illus. p. 137 (pl. 151). accounting of sales, listed along with Comments other small works that were given the Our reproduction comes from an same title by the gallery (P198 and early black-and-white photograph (Juley photo no. 314; J0005099). p aint ing s on canvas and pane l

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P205

P204

P200), prior to being consigned to the Gimpel Fils gallery in London. The same title, along with the Gimpel Fils gallery number (a “G” number), is also written on the back of the work, but not in Motherwell’s hand.

P204

Iberia 1959 Oil on canvas board 5 x 7 in. (12.7 x 17.8 cm)

P205

{ Title unknown} Ca. 1959 Oil on canvas board 5 x 7 in. (12.7 x 17.8 cm), approx. Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated

Verso not signed, not dated

Verso not seen

Present Owner Private collection. Courtesy Locks Gallery, Philadelphia

Present Owner Unknown

References Arnason 1977b, illus. n.p. (pl. 113, erroneously as Iberia No. 18); Arnason 1982, illus. p. 137 (pl. 153, erroneously as Iberia No. 18). Comments This work was published by H. H. Arnason in 1977 and in 1982 with

p ain tin gs on can v as an d pa n el

the title Iberia No. 18 as a result of confusion with another painting, Iberia No. 18 (P180), which is the same size and similar in style.

Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated

Provenance Porter McCray, ca. 1961; [Christie’s, New York, February 24, 1993, lot 11, illus. (not sold)]; [Christie’s, New York, May 5, 1993, lot 260, illus. (not sold)]; private collection, 1993

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P206

Provenance The artist Comments This work is known only through an early black-and-white photograph (Juley photo no. 220; J0005008) and from a February 1960 photograph of the artist’s studio (Juley photo no. 244; J0005029). Based on comparison with the other works in this studio photograph, its dimensions appear to be approximately 5 x 7 inches. We do not know whether it still exists in the form illustrated here.

P207

P206

P207

{ Title unknown}

Two Figures

Ca. 1959 Paint on canvas (?) Dimensions unknown

Alternative Title: Two Figures (for Helen Frankenthaler) 1958–59/1960 Oil and charcoal on canvas 69 x 85 in. (175.3 x 215.9 cm)

Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated Verso not seen Present Owner Unknown Provenance The artist Comments This work is known only from an early black-and-white photograph (Juley photo no. 96; J0004888). We do not know whether it still exists in the form illustrated here.

Inscriptions Recto, lower left, incised (upside down) [painted over]: [RM 59] Verso: R. Motherwell Verso (upside down) [painted over]: [illegible] \ [Motherwell] \ [illegible] \ [New York] Artist’s Studio Number P60-2970 Present Owner North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh. Purchased with funds from the North Carolina Art Society (Robert F. Phifer Bequest) and Arthur Leroy and Lila Fisher Caldwell, by exchange, and gift of the Dedalus Foundation, Inc. Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, 1998

Solo Exhibitions Sidney Janis Gallery, New York, March 1959, cat. no. 9 (shown in early state), as Two Figures (for Helen Frankenthaler).

the Two Figures series, which he associated with Frankenthaler and himself. An early version of the work was exhibited at the Sidney Janis Gallery in 1959 as Two Figures (for Helen Frankenthaler). In 1960 Motherwell turned the canvas upside down, reworked it extensively, and retitled it.

Group Exhibitions Castello di Rivoli Museo d’Arte Contemporanea, Turin, Italy, 1993, color illus. p. 249. Centro Cultural de Arte Contemporáneo, Mexico City, 1996, color illus. pp. 440–41. Centro Atlántico de Arte Moderno, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain, 1999 (traveling), color illus. p. 243. References Lanes 1959, p. 29, illus. p. 29 (in early state, as Two Figures [For Helen Frankenthaler]); Drudi 1984, color illus. p. 63 (in studio); Motherwell 1987, illus. p. 6 (in studio); Drudi 1988b, color illus. p. 63 (in studio). Comments When this painting was begun in 1958, around the time of Motherwell’s marriage to Helen Frankenthaler, it may have been meant as the first painting in

paint ing s on canvas and pane l

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P208

Two Figures with Cerulean Blue Stripe 1960 Oil on canvas 84 x 109¼ in. (213.4 x 277.5 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper left: RM 60 Verso not seen

1996, lot 5, illus.]; private collection, 1996 Solo Exhibitions Sidney Janis Gallery, New York, April 1961, cat. no. 3, illus. n.p. Museu de Arte Moderna, São Paulo, Brazil, 1961, cat. no. 30. Pasadena Art Museum, Calif., February 1962, cat. no. 43, illus. n.p.

Present Owner Private collection. Courtesy Locks Gallery, Philadelphia

Museum of Modern Art, New York, Robert Motherwell, September 1965 (traveling), New York, cat. no. 53, illus. p. 52; Amsterdam, cat. no. 48, illus. n.p.; Essen, cat. no. 48; Turin, cat. no. 48, illus. p. 102 (pl. 42).

Provenance Carlo and Janet Grossman, 1960; Boris and Sophie Leavitt, before 1965; [Christie’s, New York, November 20,

Museum of Modern Art, New York, Robert Motherwell:Works on Paper, September 1965 (circulating); shown in San Francisco only.

Artist’s Studio Number P60-5119

Museo de Arte Moderno, Mexico City, 1975, cat. no. 18, illus. n.p. 130

p ain tin gs on c an v as an d pa n el

Group Exhibitions Sidney Janis Gallery, New York, 1960, cat. no. 5, illus. n.p. (in early state); shown in final state. Nassau County Museum of Fine Art, Roslyn Harbor, N.Y., 1981, cat. no. 57, illus. p. 57. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1988, erroneously as Two Figures with Cerulean Blue. References Ashton 1960a, p. 44; Sandler 1961a, p. 44, illus. p. 44; Ashton 1962, illus. p. 189; Moritz 1962, p. 310; Nordland 1962a, p. 22; Secunda 1962, p. 7, illus. p. 6; Claus 1965, illus. p. 8; Edgar 1965, p. 39, illus. p. 41 (fig. 7); Fabri 1965, illus. p. 10; Hudson 1965, sec. G, p. 7; Kaufman 1965, p. 383; Arnason 1966b, p. 30, illus. p. 35; Melville 1966, p. 478; Simon 1969, p. 35; Alloway 1970–71,

p. 30, illus. p. 31; O’Hara 1975, p. 73, illus. p. 10 (in exhibition), illus. p. 73 (fig. 2); Arnason 1977b, pp. 43, 46–47, illus. p. 45 (pl. 22); Pleynet 1977, p. 198; Gaugh 1978, p. 31; Arnason 1982, pp. 43, 46–47, illus. p. 45 (pl. 36); Ashton 1983, p. 41; Pleynet 1986, p. 85; Pleynet 1989b, p. 44; Flam 1991, color illus. n.p. (pl. 50); Jay 1997, p. 56, color illus. p. 58 (installation view); Cateforis 2000–2001, pp. 8, 9, illus. p. 8 (fig. 6). Comments After this work was photographed for the catalogue of the Nine American Painters exhibition at the Sidney Janis Gallery in 1960 (Juley photo no. 242; J0005027), Motherwell altered the vertical blue form on the far left; but he had finished the picture by the time the show opened, as per installation photographs.

P209

In Ochre with Gestural Black 1956/ca. 1960 Oil on canvas 69 x 85 in. (175.3 x 215.9 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper right: RM 56 Verso not signed, not dated Artist’s Studio Number P56-2977 Present Owner Private collection, Minneapolis Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Knoedler & Company, 1999; private collection, Minneapolis, 1999 Group Exhibitions Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, 2000. Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, 2005, color illus. p. 169 (pl. 62). Comments Although this work is signed and dated 1956, it appears in a 1960 photograph of Motherwell’s studio (Juley

photo no. J0005030), without the distinctive black calligraphic forms, which were most likely added shortly after the photograph was taken. In the photograph, this painting is seen next to Two Figures with Cerulean Blue Stripe (P208), which contains similar black calligraphic forms.

P210

Painting

Muhlenberg College, Allentown, Pa., 1963.

Alternative Title: Painter 1960 Oil on canvas 83¾ x 96 in. (212.7 x 243.8 cm)

Memorial Art Gallery, University of Rochester, N.Y., 1963, as Painter.

Inscriptions Recto, upper right, incised: Motherwell

Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1964, as Painter (?).

Verso not signed, not dated

Birmingham Museum of Art, Ala., 1966 (traveling), as Painter.

Present Owner Blanton Museum of Art, the University of Texas at Austin. Gift of Mari and James A. Michener, 1968 Provenance James A. Michener, 1961; Blanton Museum of Art, the University of Texas at Austin, 1968 Solo Exhibitions Sidney Janis Gallery, New York, April 1961, cat. no. 4, illus. n.p. Group Exhibitions Arkansas Arts Center, Little Rock, May 1962 (traveling), cat. no. 49, as Painter. Allentown Art Museum, Pa., 1963, cat. no. 77, illus. n.p., as Painter.

Isaac Delgado Museum of Art, New Orleans, 1963, as Painter (?).

Tyler Museum of Art, Tex., 1971, as Painter (?). Michener Galleries, Humanities Research Center, University of Texas at Austin, 1972, as Painter. Archer M. Huntington Gallery, University of Texas at Austin, 1976. Humanities Research Center, University of Texas at Austin, 1978. Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, September 1987, cat. no. 45, color illus. p. 211. James A. Michener Art Center, Doylestown, Pa., 1993 (traveling).

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131

P210

References Porter 1961, p. 379; Sandler 1961a, p. 44, illus. p. 43. Comments This work was exhibited as Painter at the Arkansas Arts Center in 1962, and it was known by that title until Motherwell corrected it in a letter of January 29, 1974, to I. Michael Danoff, curator of the Michener Collection at the University of Texas at Austin. In that letter, Motherwell noted, “In short, what is depicted is not a painter but the process of painting” (Dedalus Foundation Archives).

P211

P212

Homage to Brancusi

Totemic Figure

1960 Oil on canvas 72 x 84 in. (182.9 x 213.4 cm), approx.

1958–60 Oil and charcoal on canvas 84 x 109 in. (213.4 x 276.9 cm)

Inscriptions Recto, upper left: Motherwell

Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated

Verso not seen

Verso: R Motherwell \ 1958 \ “totemic figure”

Present Owner Unknown (said to have been destroyed, date unknown) Provenance The artist Comments This work is known only from a blackand-white photograph (Juley photo no. 223; J0005011). On a print of this photograph in the Dedalus Foundation Archives, it is noted that the work was destroyed, but it may have been repainted rather than physically destroyed. Motherwell had a deep attachment to Brancusi’s work, and often had photographs of it in his studio.

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pain tin gs on c a n v a s a n d pan el

Artist’s Studio Number P58-1225; P62-1225 Present Owner Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid, 1997 Solo Exhibitions Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, 1977. Museo Rufino Tamayo, Mexico City, 1991 (traveling), cat. no. 8, illus. frontispiece.

P211

Fundació Antoni Tàpies, Barcelona, 1996 (traveling), cat. no. 23, color illus. p. 117. Group Exhibitions Musée National d’Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, 1988, illus. p. 67. References Smith 1988, illus. sec. 2, p. 33; Pleynet 1989b, color illus. p. 99; Flam 1991, color illus. n.p. (pl. 45); Pleynet 1995, p. 113; Banach 1996, p. 25, illus. p. 24 (in studio); Cateforis 2000–2001, p. 8. Comments Although this painting is signed and dated 1958, it is visible in an early state in a studio photograph taken around February 1960, in which the figurative element has not yet been added (Juley photo no. J0005028); it was revised shortly after the photograph was taken.

P212

P213

Figure before Blackness 1960 Oil on canvas 83⅞ x 109 in. (213 x 276.9 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper right: R. Motherwell 1960 Recto, upper right [painted over]: [illegible] Verso not signed, not dated Artist’s Studio Number P60-2750 Present Owner Spencer Museum of Art, the University of Kansas. Museum purchase: Peter T. Bohan Art Acquisition Fund, the R. Charles and Mary Margaret Clevenger Fund, and gift of the Dedalus Foundation Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Spencer Museum of Art, University of Kansas, Lawrence, 1995

134

p ain tin gs on ca n v a s a n d pan el

Solo Exhibitions Sidney Janis Gallery, New York, April 1961, cat. no. 5, illus. n.p. Group Exhibitions United States Information Agency, Washington, D.C., 1961 (circulating), cat. no. 51; London, illus. n.p. References Arnason 1977b, p. 59; Arnason 1982, p. 59; Cateforis 2000–2001, pp. 3–10, illus. p. 2 (fig. 1). Comments This painting was originally oriented differently, upside down from its current orientation, as per a color slide taken around February 1960. In the slide, the vertical beige form is black. The painting was finished later that same year.

P214

{ Title unknown} 1960–ca. 1962 Paint on canvas 76 x 100 in. (193 x 254 cm), approx. Inscriptions Recto, lower left [painted over]: [RM 60] Verso not seen Present Owner Unknown Provenance The artist Comments A March 1961 color slide of an early version of this work shows the main colors to be orange, black, and white; the overall effect is similar to that of Figuration, with Black and Orange and Figuration, with Black and Orange No. 2 (see W96 and W97). Our reproduction comes from a black-and-white photograph of the painting taken around 1962 (Juley photo no. 391; J0005178), after the work had been modified on at least two separate occasions. The

P214

process of repainting can be seen by comparing this photograph with Juley photo no. 285 (J0005069), which was taken several months earlier. The work may have been repainted again after the last Juley photograph was taken; we do not know whether it still exists in the form illustrated here.

P215

Elegy to the Spanish Republic No. 54 Alternative Title: Elegy to the Spanish Republic LIV 1957–61 Oil, charcoal, and chalk on canvas 70 x 90¼ in. (177.8 x 229.2 cm) Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated Verso: “elegy to the spanish republic, no. 54” \ Robert Motherwell \ oil on belgian linen Artist’s Studio Number P57/61-5071 Present Owner The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Given anonymously Provenance Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1961 Solo Exhibitions Museum of Modern Art, New York, Robert Motherwell, September 1965 (traveling), New York, cat. no. 57, illus. p. 44; shown in New York only.

Group Exhibitions Sidney Janis Gallery, New York, May 1961, cat. no. 8, illus. n.p.

Musée d’Art Moderne Villeneuve d’Ascq, France, 1989, cat. no. 23, color illus. n.p.

Museum of Modern Art, New York, December 1961.

Ueno Royal Museum, Tokyo, 1993.

National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1963, illus. p. 81. Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966, cat. no. 144, illus. n.p. Museum of Modern Art, New York, June 1969, cat. no. 76. Museum of Modern Art, New York, July 1971, cat. no. 42. Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1972. Museum of Modern Art, New York, October 1975 (circulating), illus. p. 42. Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1979 (circulating), cat. no. 33. City Art Centre and Fruitmarket Gallery, Edinburgh, 1981, cat. no. 26, back cover illus. Museum of Modern Art, Shiga, Japan, 1989, cat. no. 28, color illus. p. 69.

State Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg, Russia, 1999. Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, 2003, color illus. p. 249. Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin, 2004, color illus. p. 193, illus. p. 327. References S[andler] 1961b, p. 10; Ashton 1962, illus. p. 81; Museum of Modern Art Bulletin 1962, pp. 5, 61, back cover illus., illus. p. 64; Seitz 1963, illus. p. 230; Ostermann 1964, illus. p. 18, as Spanish Elegy; Arnason 1966b, p. 29, illus. p. 22; Supovitz 1967, pp. 22–23, illus. p. 22, referred to in text and in illus. as Elegy to the Spanish Republic; Cooney 1968, p. 54, illus. n.p. (pl. 27), referred to in text and in illus. as Elegy to the Spanish Republic LIV; Arnason 1969, p. 62, as Elegy, 54; Levine 1971, p. 23; Hobbs 1975b, pp. 182, as Elegy 54, 253, illus. n.p. (pl. 36); Arnason 1977b, pp. 31, 44, illus. n.p. (pl. 82); Carmean

1978, pp. 109, 116; Hughes 1981a, illus. p. 58, as Elegy to the Spanish Republic; Vaizey 1981; Arnason 1982, pp. 31, 44, illus. p. 31 (pl. 22); Patton 1982, illus. p. 76, as Elegy to the Spanish Republic; Brooker 1989, illus. p. 69 (fig. 4); Bernstein 1996, cover illus.; Haskell and Phillips 1999, color illus. p. 21 (fig. 11); Anfam 2002, p. 167. Comments As a result of conservation issues that had arisen with his early painting Granada (P86), Motherwell explored the idea of painting a new version of it in conversations with Alfred H. Barr Jr., director of collections at the Museum of Modern Art, and its owner, Nelson A. Rockefeller. Although that idea was abandoned, Motherwell appears to have intended this painting as a kind of larger-scale pendant to Granada. He gave it to the Museum of Modern Art shortly after it was finished.

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P216

Elegy to the Spanish Republic No. 55 Alternative Title: Wall Painting No. 5 1955–60/1961/1962 Oil on canvas 70 x 76⅛ in. (177.8 x 193.4 cm) Inscriptions Recto not signed, Not dated Verso: Oct./1955 Verso [crossed out]: [“wall painting] Verso [crossed out] [circled]: [no. 5]” Verso: Robert Motherwell \ 1960 Verso: Robert Motherwell \ 1958 Verso: Robert Motherwell \ 1955 Artist’s Studio Number P55/60-5066; P57-5171 Present Owner The Cleveland Museum of Art. Contemporary Collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art 1963.583 Provenance Cleveland Museum of Art, 1963 Solo Exhibitions Sidney Janis Gallery, New York, April 1961, cat. no. 11 (shown in early state). Museu de Arte Moderna, São Paulo, Brazil, 1961, cat. no. 29 (shown in early state). Pasadena Art Museum, Calif., February 1962, cat. no. 42 (shown in early state). Smith College Museum of Art, Northampton, Mass., 1963, cat. no. 15, illus. n.p. (in early state); shown in final state. New Gallery, Charles Hayden Memorial Library, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, 1963. Museum of Modern Art, New York, Robert Motherwell, September 1965 (traveling), New York, cat. no. 46, illus. p. 47; Amsterdam, cat. no. 41, illus. n.p.; Essen, cat. no. 41; Turin, cat. no. 41. Museo de Arte Moderno, Mexico City, 1975, cat. no. 8. Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, 1983 (traveling), cat. no. 35, color illus. p. 81. Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, 1992, cat. no. 5.

Group Exhibitions White House, Washington, D.C., 1965, cat. no. 27. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1978, cat. no. 4, illus. p. 109 (fig. 10). Cleveland Museum of Art, 2006, cat. no. 94, color illus. n.p. References Motherwell in Smith College Museum of Art exh. cat. 1963, n.p.; Henning 1964a, p. 217, illus. p. 218 (figs. 3, 4, in early state); Henning 1964b, p. 147, illus. p. 147; Charmet 1965, p. 168; Hudson 1965, sec. G, p. 7; Arnason 1966b, pp. 29, 37, illus. p. 22; Rykwert 1966, illus. p. 31; Arnason 1969, pp. 61–62; Henning 1969, p. 65, illus. p. 64 (fig. 4); Lucie-Smith 1969, p. 39, illus. p. 39 (ill. 18); Lee 1970, p. 53, illus. p. 54 (pl. 20); Galerie im Erker exh. cat. 1971, illus. p. 11 (in studio, in early state); Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, exh. cat. 1972, illus. p. 67; Britannica Encyclopedia of American Art 1973, color illus. p. 382 (fig. 1); Acha 1975, p. 82; Hobbs 1975b, pp. 238, 242–44, as Wall Painting 5, 247–50, 276, illus. n.p. (pl. 28, as Wall Painting 5), illus. n.p. (pl. 34, in progress), illus. n.p. (pl. 34A); O’Hara 1975, p. 75, as Elegy LV; Arnason 1976, p. 13, illus. p. 9 (in exhibition), illus. p. 13; Carmean 1976, p. 95; Arnason 1977b, pp. 31, 43, 73, illus. n.p. (pls. 83, 181, in exhibition); Tyler 1977, illus. sec. F, p. 7 (in exhibition, in early state); Carmean 1978, pp. 109–10, 111, 115, 116, illus. p. 109 (fig. 10), illus. p. 118 (fig. 21, in exhibition); Arnason 1982, pp. 31, 43–44, 73, illus. p. 121 (pl. 134), illus. p. 150 (pl. 189, in exhibition), illus. p. 159 (pl. 220, in exhibition); Kangas 1984, sec. Arts & Leisure; Kimball 1985, p. 36; Mattison 1985b, illus. n.p. (fig. 221); Mattison 1987, illus. p. 215 (fig. 86); Mattison 1988, illus. p. 184 (fig. 8); Brooker 1989, illus. 68 (fig. 3); Pleynet 1989b, color illus. p. 89; Flam 1991, color illus. n.p. (pl. 38); Silver 1991, illus. p. 57 (upside down); Kaiser 1995, pp. 127, 130, illus. n.p.; Bonet 1996, color illus. p. 10; Caws 1996b, illus. p. 52; Durozoi 1998, p. 124, illus. p. 125; Varco, Janson, and Sinaiko 1998, pp. 218–19, illus. p. 219 (fig. 15); American Art Book 1999, p. 307, color illus. p. 307; Wentrup 2001, pp. 73–74, illus. (fig. 36); Caws 2003, illus. p. 115

(ill. 75); Museum Morsbroich exh. cat. 2004, illus. p. 152 (in exhibition). Comments Two early, never exhibited versions of this work (Juley photo nos. 202 and 207; J0004990 and J0004995) were originally titled Wall Painting V (a number in the series that was also given to Wall Painting No. III, P154, in 1955–56). This canvas was transformed into an Elegy in 1960, and was first shown as such at the Sidney Janis Gallery in 1961. It was further revised in 1961–62. Motherwell’s signature on the verso shows through as a pentimento near the center of the painting.

P217

Elegy to the Spanish Republic No. 57 1957–61 Oil and charcoal on canvas 84 x 108⅞ in. (213.4 x 276.5 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper right: RM Recto, upper right [painted over]: [RM] Verso covered by relining, no longer visible Artist’s Studio Number P57/60-5127 Present Owner Collection San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Purchased through a gift of Phyllis Wattis, and gift of Gardiner Hempel Provenance Gardiner Hempel, 1965; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, 1994 Solo Exhibitions Sidney Janis Gallery, New York, April 1961, cat. no. 10, illus. n.p (in early state). Museu de Arte Moderna, São Paulo, Brazil, 1961, cat. no. 31, illus. n.p. (in early state). Pasadena Art Museum, Calif., February 1962, cat. no. 44, illus. n.p. (in early state); shown in final state. Smith College Museum of Art, Northampton, Mass., 1963, cat. no. 16, illus. n.p. (in early state); shown in final state. New Gallery, Charles Hayden Memorial Library, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, 1963. Museum of Modern Art, New York, Robert Motherwell, September 1965 (traveling), New York, cat. no. 47, color illus. p. 66; Amsterdam, cat. no. 42, illus. n.p.; Essen, cat. no. 42; Turin, cat. no. 42, illus. p. 87 (pl. 27). Locks Gallery, Philadelphia, 1992, color illus. p. 22. San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, 1993. Group Exhibitions Jewish Museum, New York, 1963, illus. n.p. Tate Gallery, London, April 1964, cat. no. 203, illus. p. 169. San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, 2003. p aint ing s on canvas and pane l

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P217

References Vallejo 1954, cover color illus.; Sandler 1961a, p. 44; Schiff 1961, illus. p. 63; Reno 1962, illus. sec. C, p. 2; Daily Hampshire Gazette 1963, p. 8, illus. p. 8; Motherwell in Smith College Museum of Art exh. cat. 1963, n.p.; Sandler 1963a, illus. sec. Magazine, p. 14; Ashton 1964b, illus. p. 104; Hudson 1964, p. 28; Berkman 1965, p. 36, illus. p. 36; Conant 1965, cover illus. (in early state); Edgar 1965, illus. p. 38 (fig. 1, erroneously as Elegy to the Spanish Republic No. 56); Fabri 1965, p. 9; Hudson 1965, sec. G, p. 7; Sheehy 1965, illus. sec. 2, p. 3 (in exhibition); Wasserman 1965, illus. p. 19, as Elegy to the Spanish Republic; Arnason 1966b, p. 30; Hess and Ashbery 1967, illus. n.p.; Cooney 1968, illus. n.p. (pl. 31); Ashton 1969b, color illus. p. 25; Galerie im Erker exh. cat. 1971, illus. p. 13 (in exhibition); Hunter 1972, illus. p. 196 (pl. 359); Hobbs 1975b, pp. 250– 138

p ain tin gs on can v as an d pa n el

51, illus. n.p. (pl. 35); O’Hara 1975, p. 75, as Elegy LVII; Arnason 1976, illus. p. 9 (in exhibition); Arnason 1977b, p. 46, illus. n.p. (pl. 181, in exhibition); Carmean 1978, illus. p. 118 (fig. 21, in exhibition); Arnason 1982, p. 46; Bowness 1989, illus. p. 32 (fig. 20, in exhibition); Pleynet 1989b, color illus. p. 90; At the Modern 1993, p. 6, illus. p. 6 (upside down); Tanner 1993, sec. Habitats, p. 3, illus. sec. Habitats, p. 3, illus. sec. Habitats, p. 3 (detail); Burlington Magazine 1999, illus. p. 71 (fig. 14); Bishop et al. 2005, color illus. p. 19 (fig. 10). Comments An early state of this painting, dated 1957–60 and without the charcoal lines, was reproduced in the 1961 Sidney Janis Gallery exhibition catalogue. That state was mistakenly reproduced as the final version of the painting in subsequent years.

P218

Elegy to the Spanish Republic No. 58 1957–61 Oil on canvas 84 x 108¾ in. (213.4 x 276.2 cm) Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated Verso not seen Artist’s Studio Number P57/61-5116; P57/61-5208 Present Owner The Rose Art Museum of Brandeis University, Waltham, Mass. Gift of Julian J. and Joachim Jean Aberbach, 1964 Provenance Julian J. and Joachim Jean Aberbach, 1961; Rose Art Museum, Brandeis University, Waltham, Mass., 1964

Solo Exhibitions Sidney Janis Gallery, New York, April 1961, cat. no. 2, illus. n.p. (in progress); shown in final state. Museum of Modern Art, New York, Robert Motherwell, September 1965 (traveling), New York, cat. no. 58, illus. p. 46; Amsterdam, cat. no. 51, illus. n.p.; Essen, cat. no. 51; Turin, cat. no. 51, illus. p. 100 (pl. 40). Group Exhibitions Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh, 1961, cat. no. 277, illus. n.p. Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, 1967, cat. no. 36, illus. n.p. Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, 1967 (traveling), cat. no. 20.

P218

Scudder Gallery, Paul Creative Arts Center, University of New Hampshire, Durham, 1969, cat. no. 27, illus. n.p. Federal Reserve Bank, Boston, 1978. Harcus Krakow Gallery, Boston, 1979. Harcus Krakow Gallery, Boston, 1982. Williams College Museum of Art, Williamstown, Mass., 1983, illus. n.p. (pl. 72). Art Museum Association of America, San Francisco, 1987 (circulating), cat. no. 6, color illus. p. 19. Rose Art Museum, Brandeis University, Waltham, Mass., 2001, color illus. p. 31. Rose Art Museum, Brandeis University, Waltham, Mass., 2002. References Freud 1956, cover illus.; Sandler 1961a, p. 44, illus. p. 43; Hudson 1965, sec. G, p. 7; Lippard 1965, p. 34; Hunter et al. 1966b, illus. n.p. (pl. 1); Cooney 1968, illus. n.p. (pl. 32); Price 1972, p. 285, color illus. p. 284; Arnason 1976, illus. p. 9 (in exhibition); Arnason 1977b, illus. n.p. (pls. 84, 181, in exhibition);

Tyler 1977, illus. sec. F, p. 7 (in exhibition); Carmean 1978, p. 116, illus. p. 118 (fig. 21, in exhibition); Arnason 1982, color illus. p. 119 (pl. 132), illus. p. 159 (pl. 220, in exhibition); Drudi 1984, p. 9; Plante et al. 1986, illus. p. 73 (pl. 9); Drudi 1988b, p. 9; Qin 1996, p. 57, illus. p. 112 (fig. 57); At the Rose Art Museum 1999, illus. n.p.; Cateforis 2000–2001, pp. 6–7, illus. p. 4 (fig. 2); Wentrup 2001, p. 71, illus. (fig. 35); Caws 2003, p. 109, illus. p. 110 (ill. 72).

P219

Black on White 1961 Oil on canvas 78 x 163⅛ in. (198.1 x 414.3 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper right: R. Motherwell 61 Verso not signed, not dated Artist’s Studio Number P61-5120 Present Owner The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Museum purchase Provenance Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, 1962 Solo Exhibitions Sidney Janis Gallery, New York, April 1961, cat. no. 1, illus. n.p., as Black and White in illustration caption only. Museu de Arte Moderna, São Paulo, Brazil, 1961, cat. no. 34, illus. n.p. Museum of Modern Art, New York, Robert Motherwell, September 1965 (traveling), New York, cat. no. 56, illus. p. 55; shown in New York only.

Museum of Modern Art, New York, Robert Motherwell:Works on Paper, September 1965 (circulating); shown in Houston only. Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, 1983 (traveling), cat. no. 39, illus. p. 82; not shown in Seattle. Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, 1984, cat. no. 49. Fundació Antoni Tàpies, Barcelona, 1996 (traveling), cat. no. 31, color illus. pp. 134–35. Group Exhibitions Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, 1962, cat. no. 14, illus. n.p. Dallas Museum for Contemporary Arts, 1963, cat. no. 34, illus. frontispiece. References J[udd] 1961, p. 84, illus. p. 84, referred to in text and in illus. as Black and White; K[roll] 1961b, p. 10, illus. p. 10, referred to in text and in illus. as Black and White; Porter 1961, p. 379, as Black and White; Rosenberg 1961, illus. p. 22 (in exhibition); Sandler 1961a, p. 44, illus. p. 44, referred to in text and in

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illus. as Black and White; Moritz 1962, p. 309, as Black and White; Nordland 1962b, p. 50; Bourdon 1965, p. 13; Willard 1965, sec. Magazine, p. 4; Arnason 1966b, pp. 38, 39, illus. p. 24; Holmes 1966, sec. “Zest,” p. 37; Arnason 1969, p. 62, as Black and White; Sandler 1970, p. 209, illus. p. 210 (fig. 16-10); C[armean] 1974a, p. 91, illus. p. 91 (fig. 12); Baker-Carr 1975, color illus. p. 39; O’Hara 1975, p. 72; Arnason 1976, p. 9; Arnason 1977b, pp. 62–64, 66, 67, 91, illus. p. 62 (pl. 36); Arnason 1982, pp. 63, 64, 66, 67, illus. p. 62 (pl. 53); Rose 1982, p. 38, illus. p. 38 (fig. 37); Meewis 1983, p. 200; Fowler 1984, sec. A, p. 15; Gelles 1984, p. 37; Inje 1984, p. 13; Morch 1984b, illus.; Native Guide: San Francisco 1984, illus.; Shere 1984, sec. Calendar, p. 4; Silverman 1984, illus. p. 31; Valley Times 1984, illus. (upside down); West 1984, p. 15; Berman 1985, p. 65; Gaugh 1985, p. 73; Bohigas et al. 1986, p. 37, illus. p. 36 (fig. 12); Flam 1991, p. 9, color illus. n.p. (pl. 55); Polcari 1991, p. 308 (as Black and White), illus. p. 310 (fig. 246); Qin 1996, pp. 24, 38, 44, 53,

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58, illus. p. 80 (fig. 15); Richardson 2001, p. 253, as Black and White. Comments The title of this work is often given erroneously as Black and White, beginning with the illustration caption (but not the catalogue checklist) for Motherwell’s 1961 exhibition at the Sidney Janis Gallery.

P220

Elegy to the Spanish Republic No. 70 Alternative Title: Elegy to the Spanish Republic No. LXX 1961 Oil on canvas 69 x 114 in. (175.3 x 289.6 cm) Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated Verso (on horizontal stretcher): Motherwell 1961 Artist’s Studio Number P61-5115 Present Owner The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Anonymous gift, 1965 (65.247) Provenance Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1965 Solo Exhibitions Sidney Janis Gallery, New York, December 1962, cat. no. 2, illus. n.p. New Gallery, Charles Hayden Memorial Library, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, 1963.

Museum of Modern Art, New York, Robert Motherwell, September 1965 (traveling), New York, cat. no. 59, illus. p. 44; Amsterdam, cat. no. 53, illus. n.p.; Essen, cat. no. 53; Turin, cat. no. 53, illus. p. 101 (pl. 41). Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, 1984, cat. no. 53. Group Exhibitions Sidney Janis Gallery, New York, May 1962, cat. no. 8. Sidney Janis Gallery, New York, 1963, cat. no. 13, illus. n.p. Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, January 1964 (traveling), cat. no. 78, illus. p. 69. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1969, cat. no. 256, illus. p. 233. Columbus Gallery of Fine Arts, Ohio, 1976 (traveling); shown in Columbus only. New York State Museum, Albany, 1977, cat. no. 538, illus. p. 42 (upside down). National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1978, cat. no. 6, illus. p. 112 (fig. 13).

P220

References Newsweek 1962, p. 94, illus. p. 94; S[andler] 1962, p. 16; Fried 1963, p. 69, illus. p. 69; Sandler 1963b, p. 116; Tillim 1963, p. 40; Weller 1963, illus. p. 290 (in studio); Art Gallery 1964, illus. p. 21; Motherwell 1964, color illus. p. 91 (installation view); Sandler 1964, p. 40; World 1964, sec. E, p. 14; Claus 1965, illus. p. 8, erroneously as Elegy to the Spanish Republic No. 10; Davis 1965, p. 20; Greenberg 1965, illus. p. 119 (in studio); Hudson 1965, sec. G, p. 7; O’Hara 1965a, color illus. p. 81; Phelps 1965, illus. p. 209 (fig. 19); Arnason 1966b, p. 30; Lyon 1966, illus. p. 194 (exhibition poster); Roberts 1966, p. 274, illus. p. 276 (fig. 82); Editors of Art in America 1967, illus. p. 203 (in studio); Cooney 1968, illus. n.p. (pl. 28B, as Elegy to the Spanish Republic LXX ); Kramer 1969c, illus. sec. Magazine,

p. 90; Young 1969, p. 432, illus. p. 432 (fig. 11); Ashton 1971, illus. p. 106; Kahmen 1971, p. 162, illus. p. 252 (ill. 328); Volboudt 1973b, illus. p. 85, erroneously as Elegy to the Spanish Republic No. 10; Wilmerding 1973, illus. p. 284; Staber 1974–75, color illus. p. 121; Hobbs 1975b, pp. 161, 260–61, illus. n.p. (pl. 39); Metropolitan Museum of Art 1975, illus. p. 205 (upside down); O’Hara 1975, illus. p. 74 (fig. 3); Pleynet 1975, p. 5, illus. pp. 4–5; Arnason 1976, illus. p. 9 (in exhibition); Carmean 1976, p. 97, illus. p. 96; Hobbs 1976a, p. 34, illus. p. 28; Arnason 1977b, p. 46, color illus. n.p. (pl. 85), illus. n.p. (pl. 181, in exhibition); Kutner 1977, illus. sec. G, p. 87 (upside down); Staats and Matthiessen 1977, p. 72, illus. p. 72; Tyler 1977, illus. sec. F, p. 7 (in exhibition); Carmean 1978, pp. 97, 112, 113, 117, 119, illus. p. 112 (fig. 13), illus.

p. 118 (fig. 21, in exhibition); Morrin 1979, p. 13; Carmean 1980, illus. p. 66; Arnason 1982, p. 46, color illus. p. 123 (pl. 135), illus. p. 150 (pl. 189, in exhibition), illus. p. 159 (pl. 220, in exhibition); O’Hara 1983, p. 151; Gaugh 1985, p. 74; Mattison 1985b, illus. n.p. (fig. 222); Plante et al. 1986, p. 13; Thaw 1986–87, pp. 39, 43, illus. p. 39 (fig. 32); Brunel 1987, color illus. p. 64 (in exhibition); Oppler 1988, p. 115, illus. p. 116 (fig. 122); Enright 1989, illus. p. 14 (installation view); Pleynet 1989b, pp. 42, 56, color illus. p. 93 (foldout); Poesia y Poética 1990, illus. n.p. (foldout); Vinson 1990, p. 969, illus. p. 968; Flam 1991, color illus. n.p. (pl. 53); Jennings 1991, p. 19; Pleynet 1991, p. 13, illus. p. 12; Terenzio 1992b, illus. n.p.; Gooch 1993, p. 394; Taylor 1993, p. 19, color illus. p. 19 (fig. 3); Falgàs 1995, pp. 31–32; Pleynet 1995,

illus. p. 107; Banach 1996, p. 21, illus. p. 20 (in studio); Qin 1996, p. 44, illus. p. 101 (fig. 40); Cernuschi 1997, p. 150, illus. p. 112, as Elegy to the Spanish Republic; Tesch and Hollmann 1997, color illus. p. 145, as Elegy to the Spanish Republic No. LXX; Chalumeau 1998, p. 7, color illus. pp. 24–25 (pl. 21); Duff 1998, illus. p. 21; Pleynet 1998, p. 88; Kuspit 2000, illus. p. 69 (fig. 17, sideways); Landfield 2000, illus. p. 14; Dumas 2001, color illus. p. 101; Engberg and Banach 2003, illus. p. 46 (fig. 22, in studio); Binkiewicz 2004, p. 100, illus. p. 102 (fig. 4.2); Museum Morsbroich exh. cat. 2004, illus. p. 152 (in exhibition); Galleria d’Arte il Gabbiano exh. cat. 2006, illus. p. 27 (in studio); Haunch of Venison, New York, exh. cat. 2008, illus. p. 135 (in studio); Galleria d’Arte il Gabbiano exh. cat. 2008, illus. p. 33 (in studio). p aint ing s on canvas and pane l

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Comments This work was painted in 1961 on a canvas laid out on the floor of Motherwell’s studio at Days Lumberyard in Provincetown. In a 1978 essay about Days Lumberyard, Motherwell described the circumstances in which it was created (though misremembering the date as 1962 instead of 1961): “The Days barn was filled with lovely light, and with clean, open, large, aged space. In 1962 I painted there one of my finest of the series of paintings called Elegy to the Spanish Republic (the one now in the Metropolitan Museum, New York)” (Motherwell 2007, p. 310). Motherwell told E. A. Carmean that this large Elegy was based on a smaller painting on paper, The Figure 4 on an Elegy (W104), which inspired its spontaneity and the expressiveness of the sprays of paint.

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The left side of Elegy to the Spanish Republic No. 70 in turn served as a source for Elegy to the Spanish Republic No. 78 (P230), which was painted a year later, also on the floor. And the right side of Elegy No. 70 eventually inspired The Spanish Death, 1975 (P838). Cognizant of the importance of this painting, Motherwell gave it to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1965. For his detailed account of the creation of this work and its relationship to other Elegy paintings, see Carmean 1978.

P221

Elegy to the Spanish Republic 1958–61 Oil and charcoal on canvas 68 x 99½ in. (172.7 x 252.7 cm)

Solo Exhibitions Knoedler & Company, New York, 1994, cat. no. 1. Fundació Antoni Tàpies, Barcelona, 1996 (traveling), cat. no. 29, color illus. p. 129.

Inscriptions Recto, upper right, incised [painted over]: [RM 59]

Group Exhibitions Philadelphia Museum of Art, 2002, cat. no. 161, color illus. p. 139.

Verso not signed, not dated

References Karmel 1994, sec. C, p. 3.

Artist’s Studio Number P58/60-2951 Present Owner Philadelphia Museum of Art. Gift (by exchange) of Miss Anna Warren Ingersoll and partial gift of the Dedalus Foundation, Inc., 1998 Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1998

Comments The composition of this painting was initially dominated by heavy black forms (see Juley photo nos. 109 and 235; j0004901 and j0005021). Evidence of those early states can also be seen in the pentimenti. The picture was probably given its final form in the winter of 1960–61. Motherwell restored some of the blacks around 1982 in order to reduce uneven degrees of glossiness.

P222

The Voyage: Ten Years After 1960–61/1962 Oil and charcoal on canvas 68¾ x 205¾ in. (174.6 x 522.6 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper right: R. Motherwell 61 Recto, upper right [painted over]: [R. Motherwell 61] Verso: R. Motherwell \ “The Voyage: 10 Years After” Artist’s Studio Number P61-1606 Present Owner Guggenheim Museum Bilbao Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, Spain, 1997 Solo Exhibitions Pasadena Art Museum, Calif., February 1962, cat. no. 47 (shown in early state). New Gallery, Charles Hayden Memorial Library, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, 1963.

Museo de Arte Moderno, Mexico City, 1975, cat. no. 19. Centro Cultural de la Caixa de Pensions, Barcelona, 1980 (traveling), Barcelona, cat. no. 5; Madrid, cat. no. 5, color illus. n.p. Museo Rufino Tamayo, Mexico City, 1991 (traveling), cat. no. 7, color illus. p. 47. Fundació Antoni Tàpies, Barcelona, 1996 (traveling), cat. no. 33, color illus. pp. 140–41. Group Exhibitions Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, 1961, cat. no. 41, illus. pp. 62–63 (shown in early state). Heckscher Museum, Huntington, N.Y., 1993 (traveling), color illus. p. 25 (fig. 5). Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, Spain, 1997, cat. no. 4. Museo de Arte Contemporáneo Esteban Vicente, Segovia, Spain, 2003, color illus. pp. 86–87.

References Alloway 1961, p. 33, illus. p. 27 (in early state); Kroll 1961a, illus. p. 36 (in early state); Picard 1961, illus. n.p. (in early state); Langsner 1962, p. 46; Seldis 1962b, sec. A, p. 24; Weller 1963, p. 290, illus. p. 290; Arnason 1966b, p. 40; Wilmerding 1973, p. 322; Arnason 1976, p. 12; Arnason 1977b, pp. 59, 61, 66, 70, illus. n.p. (pls. 127, in early state, 128); Motherwell in Arnason 1977b, n.p.; Ashton 1980, p. 7, color illus. p. 4; Bonet 1980, illus. p. 15 (in exhibition); Arnason 1982, pp. 11, 60–61, 66, 70, color illus. p. 59 (pl. 51), illus. p. 144 (pl. 163, in early state); Motherwell in Arnason 1982, p. 144; Ashton 1983, p. 38; Duffy 1984, pp. 61, 93; Rosand 1985, p. 93; Pleynet 1986, p. 91; Pleynet 1989b, p. 50, color illus. p. 125; Flam 1991, color illus. n.p. (pl. 87); Polcari 1991, p. 311; Banach 1996, p. 23; Caws 1996b, pp. 111, 142, 159, illus. p. 112; Anfam 1997, p. 504; del Conde 1997, p. 104; Lynton 1997, p. 40; Museum of Contemporary Art exh. cat. 1997, illus. n.p. (fig. 13); Lynton 2001, p. 180; Caws 2003,

pp. 60, 94, 98, 100, 118, color illus. p. 96 (ill. 65); Museum Morsbroich exh. cat. 2004, color illus. p. 44. Comments The title of this work refers to The Voyage, 1948–49 (P87). This painting, Motherwell said, was begun in Alassio, Italy, and manifested “all the modifications of my experience of painting in the last 11 years” (lecture given at New York University, December 1, 1960; see “Writings by the Artist,” in the Bibliography). At the time Motherwell lectured about this painting at New York University, he considered it finished. But he reworked it when it was returned to him from Pasadena in 1962, repainting what had been pale yellow areas with darker yellow ochres.

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P223

The Golden Fleece

Museo de Arte Moderno, Mexico City, 1975, cat. no. 20.

1961–62/ca. 1974 Oil on canvas 69 x 204 in. (175.3 x 518.2 cm)

Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, 1983 (traveling), cat. no. 40, color illus. p. 39.

Inscriptions Recto, upper left: Motherwell/61

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, 1984, cat. no. 46.

Verso: R Motherwell \ 1961

References Ashton 1963b, p. 117; E[dgar] 1963, p. 10; Fried 1963, pp. 68, 69; Sandler 1963b, p. 116; Taylor 1963, sec. 3, p. 16; Tillim 1963, p. 41, illus. p. 41 (in early state); Claus 1965, p. 4; Arnason 1966b, p. 39, illus. p. 24; Arnason 1969, p. 62; Acha 1975, p. 82; Arnason 1976, p. 12; Arnason 1977b, pp. 61–62, 64, 66, 70, illus. p. 60 (pl. 34, in early state); S[tyron] 1978, n.p., illus. n.p.; Ashton 1980, p. 7; Arnason 1982, pp. 11, 61–62, 64, 66, 70, color illus. pp. 144–45 (pl. 164), color illus. p. 145 (pl. 165, in progress); Motherwell in Arnason 1982, p. 144; Ashton 1983, p. 38, color illus. p. 39; O’Hara 1983, p. 151; Alley 1984, p. 57; McClintic 1984, p. 39; Gaugh 1985, p. 73, color illus. p. 74; Rosand 1985, p. 93; Pleynet 1986, p. 91;

Artist’s Studio Number P61-5174; P61-5210 Present Owner Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Va. Bequest of Walter P. Chrysler Jr. Provenance Walter P. Chrysler Jr., 1978; Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Va., 1989 Solo Exhibitions Sidney Janis Gallery, New York, December 1962, cat. no. 9, illus. n.p. (in early state); shown in early state. New Gallery, Charles Hayden Memorial Library, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, 1963 (shown in early state).

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Goldstein 1989, p. 220, illus. p. 221 (fig. 10.45); Pleynet 1989b, p. 50, color illus. p. 125; Flam 1991, color illus. n.p. (pl. 54); Seidel 1991, illus. p. 13; Caws 1996b, pp. 59, 111, illus. p. 60 (in early state); del Conde 1997, p. 104; Caws 2003, pp. 118, 119, illus. p. 119 (ill. 79); Chrysler Museum of Art 2007, color illus. p. 80 (pl. 92). Comments An early version of this work, begun in 1961, can be seen in a studio photograph dated February 1962 (Juley photo no. 336; J0005120). A reproduction of that version was used in the catalogue for Motherwell’s December 1962 exhibition at the Sidney Janis Gallery, as well as in publications throughout the 1960s. But by the time the 1962 Janis exhibition opened, Motherwell had revised the painting, most notably by adding a large, flat black area on the left, and it was shown in that state at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1963. It was subsequently changed to its present form, with the large areas of ochre

painted over and extending beyond the black areas, in the fall of 1974, in anticipation of its being sent to Mexico City the following year. This work was begun around the same time as The Voyage: Ten Years After (P222), which is almost exactly the same size. Its title refers to another kind of voyage, the Greek hero Jason’s quest for the Golden Fleece.

P224

Chi Ama, Crede 1961–62 Oil and charcoal on canvas 82 x 141 in. (208.3 x 358.1 cm) Inscriptions Recto, lower left: R. Motherwell 62

Foundation, Mr. and Mrs. Laughlin Phillips, Mr. and Mrs. Marc E. Leland, and the Honorable Ann Winkelman Brown and Donald A. Brown, 1998 Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C., 1998

Recto, upper left, incised [painted over]: [Motherwell]

Solo Exhibitions Sidney Janis Gallery, New York, December 1962, cat. no. 1, illus. n.p.

Verso covered by relining, no longer visible (inscriptions known from a pretreatment photograph)

Watkins Gallery, American University, Washington, D.C., 1963.

Verso: “chi ama, crede” \ (“who loves, trusts”) Verso [painted over]: [illegible] Verso: R. Motherwell \ 1962 Artist’s Studio Number P62-1527 Present Owner The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C. Purchased by the Phillips Collection through funds donated by the Judith Rothschild Foundation, Mr. and Mrs. Gifford Phillips, the Chisholm Foundation, the Whitehead

Museum of Modern Art, New York, Robert Motherwell, September 1965 (traveling), New York, cat. no. 71, illus. p. 57; Amsterdam, cat. no. 64, illus. n.p.; Essen, cat. no. 64; Turin, cat. no. 64, illus. 110 (pl. 50). Museo de Arte Moderno, Mexico City, 1975, cat. no. 23. Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, 1977. Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1978, cat. no. 13, illus. p. 16.

Centro Cultural de la Caixa de Pensions, Barcelona, 1980 (traveling), Barcelona, cat. no. 6. Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, 1983 (traveling), cat. no. 42, color illus. p. 50. Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, 1984, cat. no. 50. Padiglione d’Arte Contemporanea, Milan, 1989, cat. no. 7, color illus. p. 35. Fundació Antoni Tàpies, Barcelona, 1996 (traveling), cat. no. 35, color illus. pp. 146–47. Group Exhibitions Washington Gallery of Modern Art, Washington, D.C., 1963. Beaverbrook Art Gallery, Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada, 1963 (traveling), cat. no. 64, illus. n.p. Museum Fridericianum, Kassel, Germany, 1964, cat. no. 3. Institute of Contemporary Art, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, 1970. Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, 1992.

Denver Art Museum, 2007 (traveling), color illus. pp. 24–25 (pl. 6). References Motherwell in Newsweek 1962, p. 94; Ashton 1963a, p. 8, illus. p. 8; Ashton 1963b, pp. 116–17, illus. p. 116; E[dgar] 1963, p. 10; Fried 1963, p. 69, illus. p. 68; Sandler 1963b, p. 116; Weller 1963, illus. p. 290 (in progress); Ashton 1964b, p. 104; B[erkson] 1965, p. 42; Kozloff 1965b, p. 257; Motherwell in Museum of Modern Art, New York, Robert Motherwell, exh. cat. September 1965, p. 67; Arnason 1966b, p. 39, illus. p. 43; Kozloff 1968, pp. 169–70; Ashton 1971, p. 115, illus. p. 107; Acha 1975, p. 82; Arnason 1976, p. 12; Arnason 1977b, pp. 62, 64, 70, 132, illus. p. 60 (pl. 35, in progress); Motherwell in Arnason 1977b, n.p.; Bonet 1980, p. 18; Arnason 1982, pp. 62, 64, 70, 144, color illus. p. 60 (pl. 52), color illus. p. 145 (pl. 165, in studio, in progress); Motherwell in Arnason 1982, p. 144; O’Hara 1983, p. 151; Alley 1984, p. 58; Wallach 1984b, pt. 2, pp. 4, 5; West 1984, p. 15, erroneously as Chi Ama, Creole; Ashton 1989, p. 19, color illus.

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p. 35 (cat. no. 7); Pleynet 1989b, pp. 50, 124, color illus. p. 124; Flam 1991, color illus. n.p. (pl. 65); Falgàs 1995, p. 49; Banach 1996, pp. 23, 27; Caws 1996b, pp. 111, 116, illus. p. 113; RàfolsCasamada 1996, p. 20; Lynton 1997, p. 40; Chalumeau 1998, color illus. pp. 38–39 (pl. 35); Lynton 2001, p. 180; Caws 2003, color illus. p. 92 (ill. 63). Comments The title of this painting comes from an Italian proverb, which Motherwell translated as “who loves, trusts.” In a 1962 Newsweek interview, the artist stated that he began this painting in Provincetown during the summer of 1961 (see Motherwell in Newsweek 1962, p. 94). It was painted on the floor at Days Lumberyard, and traces of the floorboards are visible throughout the composition. In a letter of November 29, 1965, to H. H. Arnason, Motherwell related his painting procedure in this work to the famous passage in Leonardo da Vinci’s Trattato della Pittura that was so highly valued by the Surrealists (see “Writings by the Artist,” in the Bibliography). In that passage, Leonardo

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suggests that the artist seek inspiration by looking at “certain walls stained with damp or at stones of uneven colour” as a way of providing motifs and a prod to the imagination, comparing the process to what happens with “the sound of bells, in whose strokes you may find every named word which you can imagine.” In his letter to Arnason, Motherwell quotes the whole passage, citing his source as “Sir Kenneth Clark’s book on Leonardo (Penguin Books, p. 82).” See Kenneth Clark, Leonardo da Vinci: An Account of His Development as an Artist (Baltimore: Penguin Books, 1963), p. 82.

P225

{ Elegy to the Spanish Republic} Alternative Titles: Black and White with Yellow; [Untitled (Elegy)] 1958/ca. 1962/ca. 1982 Oil, Magna, and charcoal on canvas 69 x 98 in. (175.3 x 248.9 cm) Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated Verso: Robert Motherwell \ 1958 Verso: Note– \ Painted in Bocour \ “Magna” Plastic Paint. \ Do not clean with \ turpentine or gas or petrol Artist’s Studio Number P58-2665; P58-2968 Present Owner National Gallery of Australia, Canberra. Purchased with the assistance of American Friends of the National Gallery of Aus tralia, Inc., New York, made possible with the generous support of the Dedalus Foundation and the Foundation of the National Gallery of Australia, 1994 Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, 1994

Group Exhibitions Takashimaya Department Store, Osaka, Japan, 1958 (traveling), illus. p. 80; shown upside down in Osaka; shown in early state, as Black and White with Yellow. National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia, 1998, color illus. p. 111. National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, 2002, color illus. p. 80. References Life 1958, illus. p. 78 (in exhibition, upside down, in early state, as Black and White with Yellow); Motherwell 1958, illus. p. 15 (in early state). Comments An early version of this painting was exhibited in 1958 as Black and White with Yellow at a festival of Gutai, Abstract Expressionist, and Art Informel artists organized by the French critic Michel Tapié at the Takashimaya Department Store in Osaka. It was extensively reworked around 1962, as is evident in studio photographs. Motherwell retouched some of the black forms around 1982. This painting was not exhibited in its final state in Motherwell’s lifetime, and it never received a formal title or a number within the Elegy to the Spanish Republic series.

P227

P226

Elegy to the Spanish Republic

Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, 2004.

P228

P227

P228

Elegy to the Spanish Republic

Elegy to the Spanish Republic No. 74

Ca. 1962/1982 Magna and acrylic on canvas 72 x 96 in. (182.9 x 243.8 cm)

Group Exhibitions Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, 2002, color illus. p. 117, illus. p. 266.

Ca. 1962 Oil on canvas 20 x 26 in. (50.8 x 66 cm)

Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated

References Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth Calendar 1993, p. 2, color illus. n.p.; Tyson 1993b, sec. E, p. 3; Tyson 1993c, sec. A, p. 13, illus. sec. A, p. 1; Tyson 1998, sec. F, p. 7, illus. sec. F, p. 7.

Inscriptions Recto, upper left: R. Motherwell

Comments A Polaroid photograph taken in the artist’s studio around 1982 shows this work in an earlier state; Motherwell probably revised the painting at that time by thickening the black vertical form on the left.

Provenance Klaus Gebhardt, 1965; [Sotheby Parke Bernet, Inc., London, December 2, 1976, lot 319, illus.]; Waddington Galleries, London, 1976; André Emmerich Gallery, 1977; private collection, 1979

Verso not signed, not dated Artist’s Studio Number P60-1316 Present Owner Collection of the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth. Museum purchase, the Friends of Art Endowment Fund Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, 1993

1962 Acrylic on canvas board 9 x 12 in. (22.9 x 30.5 cm) Inscriptions Recto, lower right: RM

Verso: Motherwell Present Owner Private collection

Verso: Robert Motherwell \ “Elegy to the Spanish Republic, No. 74” \ 1962 \ Acrylic paint—do not varnish Present Owner Private collection Provenance Private collection; private collection, 1989

Solo Exhibitions Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, 1993. Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, 1994. The Modern at Sundance Square, Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, 1998.

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P229

Elegy to the Spanish Republic No. 77 Alternative Title: Elegy to the Spanish Republic No. 71 1961–62 Oil on canvas 70 x 132 in. (177.8 x 335.3 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper left: R. Motherwell Verso: Robert Motherwell Verso: «elegy to the spanish republic #71.» \ oil on canvas \ rm \ 1961 Present Owner Private collection Provenance Joann and Gifford Phillips, 1963; Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, Conn., 2000; [Christie’s, New York, November 10, 2004, lot 24, illus.]; F. Sands, California, 2004; private collection, 2007

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Solo Exhibitions Sidney Janis Gallery, New York, December 1962, cat. no. 3, illus. n.p. (in early state); shown in final state. New Gallery, Charles Hayden Memorial Library, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, 1963. Otis Art Institute, Los Angeles, 1974, cat. no. 20, illus. n.p. Group Exhibitions Museum Fridericianum, Kassel, Germany, 1964, cat. no. 1, illus. p. 269. Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1966 (circulating), New Delhi, cat. no. 56; Melbourne and Sydney, cat. no. 57, illus. n.p.; as Elegy to the Spanish Republic No. 71. Pasadena Art Museum, Calif., July 1972. Pasadena Art Museum, Calif., October 1972. References Sandler 1963b, p. 116; Tillim 1963, pp. 40–41; Ashton 1964a, illus. p. 93; Arnason 1966b, p. 30; Seldis 1974b, illus. sec. C, p. 82; Hobbs 1975b,

pp. 261–63, illus. n.p. (pl. 40), illus. n.p. (pl. 40A, in early state); Arnason 1977b, p. 46, illus. n.p. (pls. 89, in early state, 90); Motherwell in Arnason 1977b, n.p.; Carmean 1978, p. 112; Arnason 1982, p. 46, illus. p. 124 (pl. 136, in early state), illus. p. 125 (pl. 137), illus. p. 150 (pl. 189, in exhibition); Motherwell in Arnason 1982, p. 125; Glenn 1983, color illus. p. 111 (installation view); O’Hara 1983, p. 151; Domino and Husson 1991, p. 129, illus. p. 128 (in early state); Gooch 1993, p. 394; Wentrup 2001, pp. 69, 70, illus. (figs. 34a and 34b); Museum Morsbroich exh. cat. 2004, illus. p. 152 (in exhibition); Mattison et al. 2009, p. 129. Comments This painting was begun in 1961 as Elegy to the Spanish Republic No. 71, a composition with an open oval form that was quite similar to Untitled (Elegy) (P233). It was extensively reworked in 1962, when the black shapes were made more dense, and many of the splatter marks were painted over with white (see fig. 272 in volume 1). It was exhibited that year at the Sidney Janis

Gallery as Elegy to the Spanish Republic No. 77, along with Elegy to the Spanish Republic No. 78 (P230), which developed in a similar way. Though this painting was reproduced in an early state in the catalogue for the 1962 Janis Gallery exhibition, it was probably shown there in its final state. In subsequent years, it was usually referred to as Elegy to the Spanish Republic No. 77; occasionally the earlier title, which remains inscribed on the back, was used instead. In 1963 Motherwell traded this work for Elegy to the Spanish Republic No. 79; see the Comments for P231.

P230

Elegy to the Spanish Republic No. 78 1962 Oil and Magna on canvas 71 x 132¼ in. (180.3 x 335.9 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper right: 62 \ R. Motherwell Verso not signed, not dated Present Owner Yale University Art Gallery. Gift of the artist Provenance Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, Conn., 1962 Solo Exhibitions Sidney Janis Gallery, New York, December 1962, cat. no. 6, illus. n.p. (in early state); shown in final state. New Gallery, Charles Hayden Memorial Library, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, 1963. Städtische Kunsthalle Düsseldorf, 1976 (traveling), cat. no. 31, illus. p. 28, illus. p. 105.

Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, 1977. Group Exhibitions Tate Gallery, London, April 1964, cat. no. 202, illus. p. 169. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1978, cat. no. 7, illus. p. 113 (fig. 14), illus. p. 114 (fig. 15, in early state). Whitney Museum of American Art, Fairfield County, Stamford, Conn., 1983, illus. p. 13. References Sandler 1963b, p. 116; Tillim 1963, p. 40; Yale University Art Gallery Bulletin 1963, p. 42, illus. p. 42; Huyghe 1965, illus. p. 419 (fig. 1150); Arnason 1966b, p. 30, illus. p. 24; Canaday 1969, illus. p. 82; Davis 1975, illus. p. 7; Hobbs 1975b, pp. 263, 271, illus. n.p. (pl. 42); Carmean 1976, p. 95; Hobbs 1976a, pp. 32, 34, illus. p. 28; Sydhoff 1976, illus. p. 8; Arnason 1977b, p. 46; Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris exh. cat. 1977, illus. n.p., as Elegy; Carmean 1978, pp. 112, 115, 117, illus. p. 113 (fig. 14), illus. p. 114 (fig. 15, in

early state); Catoir 1980, illus. p. 283 (fig. 5, erroneously as Elegy to the Spanish Republic No. 5); Arnason 1982, p. 46, illus. p. 189 (in exhibition); Jinishian 1983, illus.; Raynor 1983b, sec. 23, p. 24; Sill 1983, p. 16; Bowness 1989, illus. p. 32 (fig. 20, in exhibition); Fineberg 1995, p. 71, illus. p. 71 (fig. 3.34); Fineberg 2000, p. 71, illus. p. 71 (fig. 3.34); Museum Morsbroich exh. cat. 2004, illus. p. 152 (in exhibition). Comments See the Comments for Elegy to the Spanish Republic No. 77 (P229), which developed in a similar way. The splattered areas that were painted out are visible in a photograph of the earlier state (Juley photo no. 387; j0005171).

P231

Elegy to the Spanish Republic No. 79 1962 Oil on canvas 48 x 66 in. (121.9 x 167.6 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper left, incised: RM 62 Recto, upper left, incised [painted over]: [R Motherwell] Verso [circled]: [N.F.S.] Verso: Robert Motherwell \ 1962 Verso (upside down on horizontal crossbar): motherwell Artist’s Studio Number P62-1211 Present Owner Private collection Provenance Joann and Gifford Phillips, ca. 1963; Robert Motherwell, 1963; private collection, 1989 Solo Exhibitions Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, 1977, as Elegy No. 79. paint ing s on canvas and pane l

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P231

Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1978 (“Additions to Catalogue of Motherwell Exhibition,” checklist addenda B). Knoedler & Company, New York, February 1981, cat. no. 27, erroneously as Elegy to the Spanish Republic B. Group Exhibitions Knoedler & Company, New York, 1983, cat. no. 3. References Burr 1978, p. 64, illus. p. 64 (fig. 1); Maloon 1978, illus. p. 19; Glenn 1984, p. 89, color illus. p. 89 (installation view); Flam 1991, color illus. n.p. (pl. 68); Taylor 1991, color illus. p. 140 (installation view); Chalumeau 1998, color illus. p. 29 (pl. 26). Comments Shortly after this work was purchased by Joann and Gifford Phillips they decided to return it in partial payment for the much larger Elegy to the Spanish Republic No. 77 (P229).

P232

Elegy to the Spanish Republic No. 84 Alternative Title: Elegy to the Spanish Republic 1962 Oil on canvas 48 x 72 in. (121.9 x 182.9 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper right, incised: R. Motherwell 62 Verso: R. Motherwell \ “Elegy to the Spanish Republic #84” \ 1962 Verso (on horizontal crossbar): motherwell Artist’s Studio Number P62-1201 Present Owner Collection Martin Z. Margulies, Miami Provenance Martin Z. Margulies, Miami, 1980 Solo Exhibitions Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, 1977, illus. n.p., as Elegy to the Spanish Republic.

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P232

Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1978 (“Additions to Catalogue of Motherwell Exhibition,” checklist addenda A), as Elegy to the Spanish Republic.

[ Untitled (Elegy) ]

William Benton Museum of Art, University of Connecticut, Storrs, 1979, cat. no. 19 (brochure); cat. no. 22 (catalogue), illus. p. 93; as Elegy to the Spanish Republic.

Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated

Group Exhibitions Lowe Art Museum, University of Miami, Coral Gables, Fla., 1985. References Newtown Bee 1979, illus. sec. C, p. 29; Hernandez 1980, illus. p. 28.

P233

Ca. 1962 Oil on canvas board 19½ x 29½ in. (49.5 x 74.9 cm)

Verso not signed, not dated Artist’s Studio Number P60/62-538 Present Owner Collection of Beverly and Mel Rosenthal Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Beverly and Mel Rosenthal, 2000

P235

P233

P234

Elegy with Sprung Rhythm 1962 Oil on canvas 47¾ x 66¼ in. (121.3 x 168.3 cm)

Comments The title refers to the “sprung rhythm” metrics of Gerard Manley Hopkins’s poetry, which are mentioned in a handwritten note by the artist (Dedalus Foundation Archives).

P234

P235

Study for Elegy to the Spanish Republic No. 70

Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated

1962 Acrylic and graphite on canvas mounted on Masonite 9 x 13¾ in. (22.9 x 34.9 cm)

Verso: Robert Motherwell \ 1962 \ oil on canvas

Inscriptions Recto, upper right: RM \ 62

Verso (upside down on horizontal crossbar): motherwell

Verso not signed, not dated

Verso (on horizontal crossbar): “elegy, with sprung rhythm” 1962 Present Owner Private collection Provenance Private collection, 1965 References Hobbs 1975b, p. 262, illus. n.p. (pl. 41), illus. n.p. (pl. 41A, in progress).

in fact be a small-scale recapitulation of the composition of the larger picture.

Present Owner Private collection Provenance Private collection; private collection, 1967 Comments This work was acquired by the present owners in 1967 through the Allan Stone Gallery as a small study for the large Elegy to the Spanish Republic No. 70 (P220), but we do not know whether the word study in its title was given to it by the artist. As it was done several months after the large painting it is supposed to be a study for, it may

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P236

Summertime in Italy No. 8 Alternative Titles: View No. 2; View No. 4; Summertime in Italy No. 4 1958/1960–62 Oil on canvas 100 x 70½ in. (254 x 179.1 cm) Inscriptions Recto, lower right, incised: RM Verso: 1960 Verso (on horizontal crossbar) [partially obscured by gallery labels]: Su[mmertime in Ita]ly No. 4 Robert Motherwell 1960 Artist’s Studio Number P60-5129 Present Owner Staatsgalerie Stuttgart Provenance Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, Germany, 1966 Solo Exhibitions Sidney Janis Gallery, New York, March 1959, cat. no. 6 (shown in early state), as View #2.

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New Gallery, Bennington College, Vt., 1959, cat. no. 23 (shown in early state), as View No. 2. Museum of Modern Art, New York, Robert Motherwell, September 1965 (traveling), New York, cat. no. 52, illus. p. 69; Amsterdam, cat. no. 47, illus. n.p.; Essen, cat. no. 47; Turin, cat. no. 47, illus. p. 96 (pl. 36). Group Exhibitions Musée National d’Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, 1986, cat. no. 238, illus. p. 199. References It Is. 1959, illus. p. 36 (in early state, erroneously as A View No. 1); Sidney Janis Gallery exh. cat. 1962, illus. n.p. (cat. no. 4, in early state); Weller 1963, illus. p. 290 (in studio, in early state); Greenberg 1965, illus. p. 119 (in studio, in early state); Wasserman 1965, illus. p. 17; Arnason 1966b, p. 38; Baro 1966b, illus. p. 38; Editors of Art in America 1967, illus. p. 203 (in studio, in progress); Cooney 1968, illus. n.p. (pl. 36, as Summer in Italy #8); Hunter 1972, illus. p. 188 (pl. 342); Arnason

P237

1977b, pp. 50, as View No. 4, 56, illus. p. 51 (in early state, in exhibition), color illus. n.p. (pls. 26, in exhibition, in early state, 107, in early state, as View No. 4, and 200); Catoir 1980, illus. p. 282 (fig. 2); Arnason 1982, pp. 50, as View No. 4, 56, illus. p. 49 (pl. 41, in exhibition, in early state, as View No. 4), illus. p. 56 (pl. 49); Pleynet 1989b, illus. p. 96 (in early state, as View No. 4); Banach 1996, illus. p. 20 (in studio, in early state); Morgan 1997, p. 115; Engberg and Banach 2003, illus. p. 46 (fig. 22, in studio, in early state); Galleria d’Arte il Gabbiano exh. cat. 2006, illus. p. 27 (in studio, in early state); Galleria d’Arte il Gabbiano exh. cat. 2008, illus. p. 33 (in studio, in early state); Haunch of Venison, New York, exh. cat. 2008, illus. p. 135 (in studio, in early state). Comments Begun in 1958, this painting originally contained a large brown diamondshaped form on a gray ground that was compositionally similar to Untitled (W87). That version of the picture was exhibited at the Sidney Janis Gallery in 1959 as View No. 2. (Regarding the

View series, see the Comments for A View No. 1, P182.) In 1962, Motherwell began to paint over the earlier compo sition on this canvas (see fig. 217 in volume 1), replacing it with the dominant triangular motif that is typical of the Summertime in Italy paintings, which are themselves like abstracted views of a landscape. A partially covered verso inscription appears to contain the title Summertime in Italy No. 4, which refers to an earlier state that was never exhibited. This is the first numbered oil painting in the Summertime in Italy series. The earliest numbered works in that series were collages and paintings on paper done in 1960 at Alassio, on the Ligurian coast, which incorporated forms and colors abstracted from the mountainous coastal landscape (see C121–C123 and W116).

P237

Untitled 1961–62 Oil, acrylic, and graphite on canvas 116 x 73 in. (294.6 x 185.4 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper left: RM \ 62 Verso: R. Motherwell \ 1962 \ oil (and some acrylic) Artist’s Studio Number P62-2979 Present Owner Private collection Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; private collection, 2005 Comments The 1961 version of this work contained an ochre triangular form similar to the Summertime in Italy series. The blacks were added in 1962.

P238

Summertime in Italy No. 28 1962 Oil and charcoal on canvas 96½ x 72 in. (245.1 x 182.9 cm) Inscriptions Recto, lower center: R. Motherwell 62 Verso not seen Artist’s Studio Number P62-1603 Present Owner Mr. and Mrs. Ronald K. Greenberg Provenance Hirshl & Adler Modern, New York, 1987; Mr. and Mrs. Ronald K. Greenberg, 1996

Solo Exhibitions Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, 1983 (traveling), cat. no. 43, color illus. p. 84.

when it was first exhibited; as a result, its high number within the Summertime in Italy series is out of its proper time sequence.

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, 1984, cat. no. 36. Washington University Gallery of Art, Saint Louis, 1995, cat. no. 6. References Arnason 1982, color illus. p. 57 (pl. 50); Bannon 1983a, color illus. sec. E, p. 1; Hughes 1983, p. 69; Alley 1984, color illus. p. 57; Amepnka 1986, color illus. p. 48; Polcari 1991, p. 308, illus. p. 309 (fig. 245); Caws 1996b, illus. p. 155; Thierolf 2002, illus. p. 296 (fig. 1). Comments This work was painted in 1962 but was not given its title until around 1983,

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P239

P240

P241

P239

P240

P241

P242

Untitled

Beside the Sea with Bulkhead

Caprice No. 3

1962/ca. 1982 Oil, acrylic, graphite, and charcoal on canvas 29⅛ x 60⅜ in. (74 x 153.4 cm)

1962 Oil and acrylic on canvas 68¾ x 109⅞ in. (174.6 x 279.1 cm)

Beside the Sea with Black Stripe Alternative Title: Caprice No. 2 1962 Oil on canvas 66 x 54⅛ in. (167.6 x 137.5 cm)

1962 Oil on canvas 66 x 48 in. (167.6 x 121.9 cm)

Inscriptions Recto, center: R Motherwell 1962

Inscriptions Recto, lower left, incised: R. Motherwell 62

Verso not signed, not dated

Recto, lower center: Motherwell

Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated

Verso (on horizontal crossbar): “caprice, #3” Robert Motherwell 1962

Artist’s Studio Number P62-698

Verso not signed, not dated

Verso not seen

Artist’s Studio Number P62-2610

Present Owner Private collection. Courtesy Locks Gallery, Philadelphia

Verso (on vertical crossbar): motherwell

Present Owner Private collection Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; private collection, 2007 Comments This image was cropped from a larger canvas sometime after 1982, when the large black area at the top was painted over what had been a lavender form, as per a Polaroid photograph of the work taken in the artist’s studio.

Present Owner Collection of the Newark Museum. Purchase: The Alberto Burri Memorial Fund, established by Stanley J. Seeger, 1997, 97.72 Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Newark Museum, N.J., 1997 Solo Exhibitions Fundació Antoni Tàpies, Barcelona, 1996 (traveling), cat. no. 34, color illus. p. 143. Comments The Beside the Sea series was begun in 1962 as a suite of paintings on paper; see W127.

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Provenance Unknown owner, ca. 1968; [Sotheby Parke Bernet, Inc., New York, May 2, 1973, lot 167, illus.]; Janet and Robert Kardon, 1973; [Sotheby’s, New York, May 14, 1998, lot 36, illus.]; private collection, 1998 Comments A black-and-white photograph in the Dedalus Foundation Archives (Juley photo no. 381; J0005166), gives the title of this work as Caprice #2, but we have not been able to see whether this title is also inscribed on the work itself.

Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated

Artist’s Studio Number P62-1209 Present Owner Worcester Art Museum, Mass. Eliza S. Paine Fund and gift of the Dedalus Foundation Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Worcester Art Museum, Mass., 1997 Solo Exhibitions Sidney Janis Gallery, New York, December 1962, cat. no. 30 (on checklist; not in catalogue).

P242

Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, 1977. Comments Although this work is given the number 3 in the Caprice series, there is no number 1 or number 2; but an inscription on the back of a photograph of Beside the Sea with Black Stripe (P241) identifies it as “Caprice #2,” which was probably an unpublished early title for that work.

P243

Wave II Alternative Title: Caprice No. 4 1962 Oil on canvas 72 x 36 in. (182.9 x 91.4 cm) Inscriptions Recto, lower right, incised: R Motherwell \ 1962 Verso (on horizontal crossbar) [painted over]: [“caprice, #4”] Verso (on horizontal crossbar): R. Motherwell 1962 Verso (on vertical crossbar): motherwell Artist’s Studio Number P62-1153 Present Owner Sheldon Swope Art Museum. Museum purchase and gift of the Dedalus Foundation Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Sheldon Swope Art Museum, Terre Haute, Ind., 1997

P243

Solo Exhibitions Sidney Janis Gallery, New York, December 1962, cat. no. 7, illus. n.p. (in early state); shown in final state, as Caprice No. 4. Knoedler & Company, New York, February 1981, cat. no. 2. References O’Doherty 1962, illus. p. 52, as Caprice No. 4; Artsindiana 1998, p. 9, illus. p. 9 (detail, as Caprice No. 4); Sheldon Swope Art Museum 1999, color illus. n.p. (flipped, as Caprice No. 4); Shiff et al. 2000, p. 1; Bertens and Natoli 2002, cover color illus., as Caprice No. 4. Comments Although inscribed “caprice, #4” on the verso, this work was shown as Wave II at Knoedler & Company in 1981. (“wave ii” is written in black marker on the vertical stretcher bar of this work, but not in the artist’s hand.)

P244

Caprice No. 5 1962 Oil on canvas 72 x 36 in. (182.9 x 91.4 cm) Inscriptions Recto, lower right, incised: R. Motherwell \ 62 Verso: R. Motherwell \ 1962 Verso (on horizontal crossbar): “caprice, #5” R Motherwell 1962 Verso (on vertical crossbar): motherwell Artist’s Studio Number P62-1144 Present Owner The Columbus Museum, Ga. Museum purchase made possible by Shannon L. Amos, Ethelyn J. Coleman, Willie Mae Heard, JoAnne J. Hecht, Melinda M. Hinter, Aminta Flournoy Jordan, Susan C. Lawhorne, Helen J. Olnick, in honor of Helen Swift Jordan, Claudia Stephenson, Sherry F. Wade, special assistance from the Ella E. Kirven

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P245

Charitable Lead Trust for Acquisitions, and a gift from the Dedalus Foundation, New York, 2000.13.2 Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Columbus Museum, Ga., 2000 Solo Exhibitions Sidney Janis Gallery, New York, December 1962, cat. no. 8, illus. n.p. (in early state); shown in final state. Columbus Museum, Ga., 2000, color illus. n.p.

P246

P245

P246

Caprice No. 6

Two Figures with Stripe

1962 Oil on canvas 66 x 54 in. (167.6 x 137.2 cm)

1962/ca. 1980 Oil on canvas 54 x 72 in. (137.2 x 182.9 cm)

Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated

Verso not seen

Verso: Robert Motherwell \ 1962

Present Owner Unknown

Verso (on horizontal crossbar) [crossed out]: [illegible]

Provenance The artist

Verso (on horizontal crossbar): “two figures, with stripe” motherwell

Comments This work is known only through an early black-and-white photograph (Juley photo no. 386; J0005170). We do not know whether it still exists in the form illustrated here.

Artist’s Studio Number P62-1285; P62-2957 Present Owner Milwaukee Art Museum. Gift of the Friends of Art and the Dedalus Foundation Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Milwaukee Art Museum, 1994

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Solo Exhibitions Sidney Janis Gallery, New York, December 1962, cat. no. 5, illus. n.p. (in early state). Harcus Krakow Gallery, Boston, 1980, cat. no. 12, erroneously as Two Figures with Stripes. References Arnason 1966b, p. 30; Arnason 1977b, p. 43; Carmean 1980, color illus. p. 13 (in studio); Arnason 1982, p. 43. Comments A studio photograph taken in April 1977 shows this work in a slightly different state. Sometime between then and 1980 the work was revised by extending the black form on the right to the lower corner of the canvas.

P247

Untitled 1962 Casein and gesso on plaster 67⅛ x 71¾ in. (170.6 x 182.3 cm) Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated

inaugural exhibition was a memorial retrospective of Franz Kline’s work. When this painting was removed from its original location in 1973, it suffered considerable deterioration; the tapelike elements visible on the surface are not part of the work, but were applied by conservators in an attempt to stabilize it.

P248

Whitely Triangle Ca. 1962 Oil, acrylic, and charcoal on canvas 69 x 114 in. (175.3 x 289.6 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper left: RM

Verso not signed, not dated

Present Owner Smithsonian American Art Museum. Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Philip Stern

Artist’s Studio Number P60-2964

Provenance Philip and Leni Stern, 1962; Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C., 1973 References Conroy 1973, sec. B, p. 3, illus. sec. B, p. 3. Comments This work was painted directly on a wall in the Washington, D.C., home of Mr. and Mrs. Philip Stern in October 1962, while Motherwell was in the capital for the opening of the Washington Gallery of Modern Art, where the

the Marlborough-Gerson Gallery in 1967. The title appears to refer to the triangular postage stamps designed in 1964 by Victor Whitely for the Jamaican postal service.

Present Owner Dedalus Foundation Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991 Group Exhibitions Ameringer Yohe Fine Art, New York, 2008. Comments The composition of this work is similar to the 1962 state of Automatic Image with Blue, P270 (Juley photo no. 388A; J0005173). The painting was given its present title when it was consigned to

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P249

P250

P249

P250

P251

Untitled

Caprice

1962 Oil and acrylic on canvas board 12 x 16 in. (30.5 x 40.6 cm)

1963 Oil and acrylic on canvas board 14 x 18 in. (35.6 x 45.7 cm)

1963 Oil and alkyd on canvas board 12 x 9 in. (30.5 x 22.9 cm)

Inscriptions Recto, lower left, incised: RM \ 62

Inscriptions Recto, lower right, incised: RM 63

Inscriptions Recto, lower left: RM

Verso not signed, not dated

Verso: R. Motherwell \ “caprice” \ 1963

Artist’s Studio Number P62/63-1361

Artist’s Studio Number P63-1359

Artist’s Studio Number P63-375

Present Owner Dedalus Foundation

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991 Solo Exhibitions Museum Morsbroich, Leverkusen, Germany, 2004, color illus. p. 105. Group Exhibitions Galerie Contemporaine du Musée d’Art Moderne et d’Art Contemporain, Nice, France, 2005, color illus. p. 48.

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P251

P252

P253

Untitled

Italian Summer

1963 Oil on canvas 88 x 67 in. (223.5 x 170.2 cm)

Alternative Title: Italian Summer No. 10 1963 Oil on canvas 90 x 70 in. (228.6 x 177.8 cm)

Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated Verso: R. Motherwell \ 1963 Artist’s Studio Number P63-2966 Present Owner Collection of the Contemporary Museum, Honolulu. Purchased with funds given by Persis Corporation and gift of the Dedalus Foundation, 1997 Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Contemporary Museum, Honolulu, 1997

P253

Provenance Private collection, 1965; Harry W. and Mary Margaret Anderson, 1969

Gallery inform the owners that the number 10 was probably mistakenly ascribed to the picture and that it should be dropped from the title (Dedalus Foundation Archives).

Group Exhibitions San Francisco Museum of Art, 1969.

Inscriptions Recto, upper left: RM

Stanford University Art Museum, Palo Alto, Calif., 1971 (traveling), cat. no. 25, illus. p. 15.

Verso: 90" x 70" \ “italian summer, #10” \ Robert Motherwell \ 1963 \ oil on linen

San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, 2000, cat. no. 197, color illus. p. 74 (pl. 15), as Italian Summer.

Verso (on horizontal crossbar) [painted over]: [illegible] 1963

Comments Although this painting is inscribed with the number 10, as if part of a series, this is the only work that retains the title Italian Summer. The image resembles the Summertime in Italy paintings, which Motherwell may originally have intended to call Italian Summer paintings; see the Comments for Summertime in Italy No. 3 (W116), which is inscribed “italian summer, no. 3.” A slightly later painting was given the title Summertime in Italy No. 10 (P278). In 1972, Motherwell had David McKee of the Marlborough-Gerson

Present Owner Collection of Harry W. and Mary Margaret Anderson

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P254

P255

P256

P254

P255

P256

P257

Summertime in Italy No. 14

Summertime in Italy No. 15

Summertime in Italy No. 16

Black No. 17

1963–64 Oil on canvas 48 x 30 in. (121.9 x 76.2 cm)

1963 Oil on canvas 48 x 30 in. (121.9 x 76.2 cm)

Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated

Inscriptions Recto, upper right, incised: RM 63

Verso: R.M.

Verso (on horizontal crossbar): Robert Motherwell 1963–4

Verso not signed, not dated

Verso not seen

Present Owner Private collection

Present Owner Private collection, Lausanne

Provenance Private collection, 1967; private collection, 1983; private collection, 2008

Provenance Private collection, 1965; John M. and Marion A. Shea, before 1981; [Christie’s, New York, November 19, 1997, lot 318, illus.]; private collection, Lausanne, Switzerland, 1997

Verso (on horizontal crossbar): Robert Motherwell 1963–4 Present Owner Private collection, U.S.A. Provenance Natalie and George T. Lee Jr., 1967; Daniel Liberman, Saint Louis; unknown owner; [Drouot Montaigne, Paris, June 11, 1990, lot 118, illus.]; private collection, 1991; [Sotheby’s, New York, May 15, 2008, lot 170, illus. (not sold)] Group Exhibitions Pascal de Sarthe Gallery, Los Angeles, 1990.

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p ain tin gs on ca n v a s a n d pan el

Present Owner Private collection Provenance Private collection, after 1966; [Christie’s, New York, May 17, 2007, lot 159, illus.]; private collection, 2007 Solo Exhibitions Museum of Modern Art, New York, Robert Motherwell:Works on Paper, September 1965 (circulating); shown in Houston only.

Solo Exhibitions Museum of Modern Art, New York, Robert Motherwell:Works on Paper, September 1965 (circulating); shown in Houston only.

Group Exhibitions J. L. Hudson Gallery, Detroit, 1966.

Group Exhibitions Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, December 1965, cat. no. 92, illus. n.p.

Cranbrook Academy of Art, Bloomfield Hills, Mich., 1966, cat. no. 3.

References Holmes 1966, illus. sec. “Zest,” p. 37.

Group Exhibitions Musée Cantonal des Beaux-Arts, Lausanne, Switzerland, 1999, cat. no. 56, color illus. p. 29 (pl. 16). References Ashton 1964b, illus. p. 101, as Untitled Painting; Glenn 1981, color illus. p. 112 (installation view, erroneously as Africa Series).

P257

Comments Since there are no other paintings titled Black, the number 17 in the title of this painting probably refers to the numbering of the Summertime in Italy series, to which its composition is closely related.

P258

P259

P258

P259

P260

Untitled

A Throw of Dice No. 2

1963 Oil and charcoal on canvas 69 x 52½ in. (175.3 x 133.4 cm)

Ca. 1963 Oil on canvas board 24 x 18 in. (61 x 45.7 cm)

1963 Oil and acrylic on canvas 48 x 36 in. (121.9 x 91.4 cm)

Inscriptions Recto, upper right [painted over]: [RM 63]

Inscriptions Recto, upper left: R.M.

Inscriptions Recto, lower right, incised: RM

Recto, upper left, incised: RM

Verso not signed, not dated

Recto, lower right [painted over]: [R Motherwell]

Artist’s Studio Number P63-1598

Artist’s Studio Number P60-81

Verso: Robert Motherwell \ 1963

Present Owner Dedalus Foundation

Present Owner Collection of Jeffrey Quicksilver, Chicago

Verso (on top horizontal stretcher): “a throw of dice, #2” 1963

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Jeffrey Quicksilver, Chicago, 2006 Solo Exhibitions Thomas McCormick Gallery, Chicago, December 2005 (traveling), cat. no. 16.

Verso (upside down): Motherwell

Artist’s Studio Number P63-1150 Present Owner Dedalus Foundation Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991 Comments The title of this painting refers to Stéphane Mallarmé’s poem “Un Coup de dés” (A Throw of the Dice). Aside from this work, the only other work that

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remains in the Throw of Dice series of paintings is the one that was given the number 17 (P261). Any others were presumably painted over and retitled. See, for example, Untitled (P446), which originally was A Throw of Dice No. 3, but was painted over in 1968. Motherwell did seven numbered prints with a slight variant of the title, A Throw of the Dice, in 1963 (see Engberg and Banach 2003, nos. 9–15).

P260

P261

(traveling), New York, cat. no. 76, illus. p. 68; shown in New York only.

A Throw of Dice No. 17 1963 Oil and chalk on canvas 72⅛ x 48⅛ in. (183.2 x 122.2 cm) Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated Verso (upside down): Robert Motherwell \ 1963 Verso (on horizontal crossbar, upside down): “a throw of dice, #17” 1963 Verso (with arrow): top Artist’s Studio Number P63-5128 Present Owner Private collection Provenance Mr. and Mrs. Robert H. Shoenberg, 1963; [Christie’s, New York, November 12, 2008, lot 25, illus.]; private collection, 2008 Solo Exhibitions Museum of Modern Art, New York, Robert Motherwell, September 1965

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p ain tin gs on c a n v a s a n d pan el

P262

Untitled

References Ashton 1964b, illus. p. 103; Barker 1965, sec. B, p. 5; Carver 1965, p. 6, as Throw of the Dice; Arnason 1966b, p. 38; Arnason 1977b, p. 65, illus. p. 64 (pl. 40, as Throw of Dice No. 17); Arnason 1982, p. 65, illus. p. 64 (pl. 57); Flowers and Curtis 2000, illus. p. 79; McFadden 2010, cover color illus. (installation view), color illus. p. 8 (installation view), color illus. p. 60 (installation view).

Ca. 1963 Oil on canvas 60 x 48 in. (152.4 x 121.9 cm)

Comments The word vermillion is written in chalk near the center of the black area near the bottom of this work. Motherwell sometimes drew or wrote temporary notations on paintings with charcoal or chalk, as in this case, concerning the colors that he planned to use. On this work, the inscription has been left untouched, creating a tension between the painted and the verbally stated colors.

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991

Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated Verso not signed, not dated Artist’s Studio Number P**-1593 Present Owner Dedalus Foundation

Comments The 1963 date has been assigned to this work on the basis of similarities with A Throw of Dice No. 17 (P261), and with the colors and general stylistic characteristics of Motherwell’s 1963 works.

P263

{ Untitled (Iberia)} Alternative Titles: [Untitled (Black Monster)]; Iberia No. 20 1963 Oil on canvas 45 x 72 in. (114.3 x 182.9 cm) Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated Verso: 45 x 72" Verso: Robert Motherwell 1963 \ oil on canvas Verso (on right vertical stretcher): RM Artist’s Studio Number P63-1134 Present Owner Dedalus Foundation Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991 Solo Exhibitions Knoedler & Company, New York, February 1981, cat. no. 23, as Iberia No. 20.

Group Exhibitions Rose Art Museum, Brandeis University, Waltham, Mass., 2002. Comments Motherwell revisited the Iberia theme in 1963, after not having worked with it for four years. This is the largest Iberia painting he did in the mid-1960s, and the only one we have seen from this period that is dated on the canvas. (Iberia No. 23, P517, is dated 1964 on its verso, but the date was given to an earlier composition on the canvas, which was not related to the Iberia series.) When this painting was exhibited at Knoedler & Company in 1981, it was given the title Iberia No. 20, but the number was subsequently dropped from the title. Three other works in the Iberia series (P264, P392, and P641) were also given the number 20.

P264

Iberia No. 20 1963 Oil on Masonite 22 x 30 in. (55.9 x 76.2 cm) Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated Verso not signed, not dated Artist’s Studio Number P58-534; P58-5090 Present Owner Pinakothek der Moderne. Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen, inv. nr. 14754 Provenance Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich, 1982 Solo Exhibitions Museum Morsbroich, Leverkusen, Germany, 2004, color illus. p. 38. References Ude 1982, p. 15; Thierolf 2002, pp. 274–77, illus. p. 275 (fig. 2, as Untitled [Iberia]), illus. p. 276; Grimaldi Forum exh. cat. 2006, color illus. p. 101 (pl. 35).

Comments This is one of four 22 x 30–inch paintings (see also P265–P267) that originally comprised a series that was meant to be kept together. A December 15, 1964, Marlborough-Gerson Gallery consignment list gives the title for each as Untitled and notes that each is part of a “series of 4.” This work also has a Marlborough-Gerson label on the verso that contains the instruction, “must be sold as series.” Nonetheless, in 1982 Motherwell himself broke up the set when he gave this work to the Pinakothek der Moderne in Munich and renamed it Iberia No. 20. Although the four paintings in this set are often dated to 1958, they appear to have been painted in 1963. When photographs of them were sent to the Marlborough-Gerson Gallery on December 15, 1964, they were listed without dates or titles; the 1958 date and the Iberia No. 20 title were not assigned until 1981, when these works were erroneously associated with the 1958 beginning of the Iberia series. Stylistically, however, they form a

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P265

coherent group with P263, which was consigned to the Marlborough-Gerson Gallery at the same time and is signed and dated 1963. The Iberia paintings done from 1963 on were frequently given their numbers years after they were done, thus creating a certain amount of inconsistency and repetition in their numbering. For example, three other paintings have at one time or another been given the title Iberia No. 20 (see P263, P392, and P641).

P265

Untitled (Iberia) 1963 Oil on Masonite 22 x 30 in. (55.9 x 76.2 cm) Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated Verso not signed, not dated Artist’s Studio Number P58-532 Present Owner Collection Walker Art Center, Minneapolis. Gift of Margaret and Angus Wurtele and the Dedalus Foundation, 1995 Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, 1995 Solo Exhibitions Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, 1996, cat. no. 24. Museo Dolores Olmedo Patiño, Mexico City, 2008, color illus. p. 45.

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P266

Mary and Leigh Block Museum of Art, Northwestern University, Evanston, Ill., 2009, cat. no. 6. Group Exhibitions Musée Fabre, Montpellier, France, 1999, cat. no. 12, color illus. p. 67. Comments Regarding the date and stylistic context of this painting, see the Comments for P264.

P266

Untitled (Iberia) 1963 Oil on Masonite 22 x 30 in. (55.9 x 76.2 cm) Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated Verso not signed, not dated Present Owner The Collection of Lynn and Allen Turner Provenance Barbara Kulicke, ca. 1966; private collection; private collection, 1978; unknown owner; [Sotheby’s, New York, May 9, 1990, lot 121, illus. (not sold)]; Jeffrey E. Horvitz, 1990; Lynn and Allen Turner Comments Regarding the date and stylistic context of this painting, see the Comments for P264.

P267

Comments Regarding the date and stylistic context of this painting, see the Comments for P264.

P268

P269

{ Untitled (Iberia)}

The Park

1951/ca. 1963 Oil on Homasote 36 x 48 in. (91.4 x 121.9 cm)

Ca. 1964 Acrylic on canvas 22 x 28 in. (55.9 x 71.1 cm)

Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated

Inscriptions Recto, upper right, incised: Motherwell

Verso not signed, not dated

Verso: R Motherwell \ 1951

Verso not signed, not dated

Artist’s Studio Number P58-533

Verso (on original strainer, now reattached): R. Motherwell ’51

Artist’s Studio Number P64-463

Present Owner Collection of the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth. Museum purchase, the Friends of Art Endowment Fund

Artist’s Studio Number P51-1456

Present Owner Dedalus Foundation

Present Owner Private collection

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, 1999

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; private collection, 2003

Solo Exhibitions Galerie im Erker, St. Gall, Switzerland, 1971 (traveling), cat. no. 9, illus. p. 40.

Solo Exhibitions Fundació Antoni Tàpies, Barcelona, 1996 (traveling), cat. no. 28, color illus. p. 127.

Comments The 1951 date inscribed on the verso of this painting refers to an earlier composition on this canvas, which was painted over. Some of the curvilinear forms in that earlier composition are still visible at the lower left and as pentimenti beneath the black area.

Comments Although this work was most likely painted around 1964, it was consigned to the Marlborough-Gerson Gallery in January 1970 as an undated work and was exhibited the following year at Galerie im Erker as a 1970 work. The

Untitled (Iberia) 1963 Oil on Masonite 22 x 30 in. (55.9 x 76.2 cm)

Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, 2004.

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P269

composition is very similar to an early state of The Dordogne (P273), which was photographed in Motherwell’s studio in February 1964.

P270

Automatic Image with Blue 1962–64 Oil, acrylic, charcoal, and graphite on canvas 70 x 153⅞ in. (177.8 x 390.8 cm) Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated Verso (on original horizontal stretcher, now reattached): automatic image with blue 1963 motherwell Verso (on original horizontal stretcher, now reattached): Summer Picture Artist’s Studio Number P63-1570 Present Owner Dedalus Foundation Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991 References Arnason 1977b, illus. n.p. (pls. 129, in early state, 151, in studio, in progress); Banach 1996, p. 21, illus. p. 20 (in studio, in progress).

166

p ain tin gs on can v as an d pa n el

P270

Comments A 1962 state of this work (Juley photo no. 388A; J0005173), similar to p248, consisted of large gestural forms on a bare ground. Although it is dated 1963 on the verso, it was further reworked in 1964 and 1965, as per studio photographs. It was given the title Apropos Painting, but that title was not used publicly. (The words “Summer Picture” inscribed on the original horizontal stretcher may also have been meant to denote an abandoned title.) The word Automatic in the title refers to the Surrealist concept of psychic automatism, so the titular subject of the canvas remained “painting.”

P271

Dublin 1916, with Black and Tan 1963–64 Oil and acrylic on canvas 84⅛ x 204¼ in. (213.7 x 518.8 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper right, incised: R Motherwell 64 Verso covered by relining, no longer visible Artist’s Studio Number P64-1517 Present Owner Nelson A. Rockefeller Empire State Plaza, Albany Provenance Nelson A. Rockefeller Empire State Plaza, Albany, 1966 Solo Exhibitions Museum of Modern Art, New York, Robert Motherwell, September 1965 (traveling), New York, cat. no. 77, color illus. p. 48; Amsterdam, cat. no. 76, illus. n.p.; Essen, cat. no. 76,

P271

P272

P273

color illus. n.p.; Turin, cat. no. 76, color illus. p. 121 (pl. 61). References B[erkson] 1965, p. 42; Bourdon 1965, p. 13, as Dublin 1916; Carver 1965, p. 6, as Dublin; Charmet 1965, p. 168; Edgar 1965, illus. p. 41 (fig. 8); Lippard 1965, p. 35; Time 1965, color illus. p. 85, as Dublin 1916; Arnason 1966b, pp. 37, 40, illus. p. 43; Banham 1966, p. 60, illus. p. 60 (pl. 2); Baro 1966b, p. 41, illus. p. 36; Bowen 1966, p. 132; Bowyer 1966, p. 12, illus. p. 12; Gosling 1966, p. 34; Roberts 1966, p. 274; Robertson 1966a, p. 89, as Dublin 1916, color illus. p. 91; Cooney 1968, p. 66, illus. n.p. (pl. 50); Arnason 1969, p. 62, illus. p. 51; Welish 1972, p. 45; Hobbs 1975b, pp. 104, 266; O’Hara 1975, p. 72; Arnason 1976, pp. 12, 13; Arnason 1977b, pp. 12, 66, 70, 73–74, color illus. p. 65 (pl. 41); Baldwin 1978, sec. B, p. 5, as Dublin 1916; Gaugh 1978, p. 31; Hilton 1978, p. 63; Arnason 1982, pp. 66, 70, 73–74, color illus. p. 65 (pl. 58); Carroll 1985, p. 32; Flam 1991, color illus. n.p. (pl. 70); Lowry 2002, p. 130, color illus. p. 133 (foldout).

168

p ain tin gs on c an v as an d pa n el

Comments Motherwell worked on this painting over an extended period of time, from early in 1963 until April 1964. The title refers to the Irish Republican uprising of 1916, and William Butler Yeats’s poem “Easter 1916,” as well as to the “Black and Tan” British troops that put down the 1916 Easter Rebellion in Dublin. In May 1985, this painting was one of a number of works by various contemporary artists on view at the Empire State Plaza concourse in Albany that were attacked by a vandal, who wrote on the painting and slashed it with a knife, necessitating several years of conservation.

P272

P273

{ Unfinished painting}

The Dordogne

Alternative Title: [Untitled (Tangerine and Ochre on Blue)] Ca. 1964 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 69¾ x 204½ in. (177.2 x 519.4 cm)

1963–64 Oil on canvas 87 x 146½ in. (221 x 372.1 cm)

Inscriptions Recto, upper left, incised [painted over]: [R Motherwell 64]

Verso: 87" x 147"

Verso not signed, not dated

Artist’s Studio Number P63-2202

Artist’s Studio Number P64-1605 Present Owner Dedalus Foundation Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991 Comments Motherwell signed and dated this work “64,” and then painted over the signature and date as he began to rework it. Two vertical charcoal lines in the blue areas on the sides have the word “Black” written next to them, indicating that Motherwell had intended to make subsequent revisions, but the work was left unfinished.

Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated

Verso: the dordogne \ 1963

Present Owner Dedalus Foundation Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991 Comments Begun around June 1963, this work went through a number of different states, with forms that ranged from spontaneous and painterly to fairly hard-edged. (One early state was similar to The Park, P269.) The present composition was set by April 1964, though it may have been retouched in early 1965, as the final studio photograph taken of it dates to

P274

March of that year. The black lines allude to the imagery of prehistoric cave paintings, hence the title: the Dordogne is the area in France where many of the most famous painted prehistoric caves, such as Lascaux, are located—and where Motherwell had visited in 1958.

P274

In Green and Ultramarine 1963–64/ca. 1976 Oil and charcoal on canvas 88 x 248 in. (223.5 x 629.9 cm), original dimensions; 85 x 45½ in. (215.9 x 115.6 cm), current dimensions Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated Verso not signed, not dated (seen only after cut down by the artist) Artist’s Studio Number P63/65-5118; P65-708 Present Owner Dedalus Foundation Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991 Solo Exhibitions Museum of Modern Art, New York, Robert Motherwell, September 1965 (traveling), New York, cat. no. 84, color illus. p. 49; Amsterdam, cat. no. 77, color illus. n.p., illus. n.p.; Essen, cat. no. 77, color illus. n.p.; Turin, cat. no. 77, color illus. p. 119 (pl. 59).

Group Exhibitions Museum of Art, Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh, 1964, cat. no. 348. References Pittsburgh Post-Gazette 1964, illus. sec. Magazine, p. 37; Carver 1965, illus. p. 6; Genauer 1965a; Genauer 1965b, p. 23; Lippard 1965, p. 35; Arnason 1966b, p. 37; Bowen 1966, p. 132; Gosling 1966, p. 34; Robertson 1966a, p. 89, color illus. p. 91; Schneede 1966, p. 32; Cooney 1968, p. 66, illus. n.p. (pl. 51); Arnason 1969, p. 62; Welish 1972, p. 45; O’Hara 1975, p. 76; Arnason 1976, pp. 12, 13; Arnason 1977b, pp. 12, 66, 70, 73–74; Gaugh 1978, p. 29; Arnason 1982, pp. 66, 70, 73. Comments This painting was begun in 1963 and finished before October 1964, when it was exhibited in Pittsburgh. After it was returned from the 1965–66 traveling retrospective exhibition organized by the Museum of Modern Art, it developed severe condition problems as a result of having been rolled for transport, and Motherwell put it aside.

Fragment cropped from P274 under the direction of the artist, but not considered by him to be a finished work

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169

P275

P276

Several years later, on August 20, 1974, Motherwell’s assistant Heidi Colsman-Freyberger wrote to Gayle Ellis of the Cooper Union, stating that the painting was unavailable for exhibition because “major alterations are planned and RM is at this point unable to say when the painting will be finished” (Dedalus Foundation Archives). H. H. Arnason states that the painting was “intentionally destroyed” by Motherwell (see Arnason 1977b, p. 66). A surviving fragment, however, remains (see the illustration on the previous page). This fragment, which measures 85 x 45½ inches, was cropped and framed under the direction of the artist, but it was never exhibited, and was not meant to be considered a finished work. The blue ground of this fragment is darker than that seen in photographs of the whole painting, indicating that Motherwell attempted to rework the canvas before he cut it down.

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P275

P276

P277

{ Unfinished painting}

Untitled

1964 Oil on canvas 68⅝ x 122⅛ in. (174.3 x 310.2 cm)

1964 Oil on canvas 70 x 200½ in. (177.8 x 509.3 cm)

Summertime in Italy No. 7 (In Golden Ochre)

Inscriptions Recto, lower left, incised [painted over]: [Robert Motherwell 1964]

Inscriptions Recto, upper right: R. Motherwell

Verso not signed, not dated

Present Owner Unknown

Artist’s Studio Number P**-3774 Present Owner Dedalus Foundation Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991 Comments This unfinished work was begun in 1964 and signed and dated that year. When Motherwell started to rework it, he covered over the signature and date, but he never finished repainting it. There is now significant flaking and paint loss all over the painting’s surface.

Verso not seen

Provenance The artist Comments This work is known only from a blackand-white photograph taken in 1964 (Nelson photo no. 17770), which has its dimensions written on it. The painting as illustrated here was consigned to the Marlborough-Gerson Gallery on November 23, 1964. We do not know whether it still exists in the form illustrated here.

Alternative Title: In Golden Ochre 1961–64 Oil and charcoal on canvas 85 x 69 in. (215.9 x 175.3 cm) Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated Verso: 1961 Verso: 85" x 69" Artist’s Studio Number P61-969 Present Owner Milwaukee Art Museum. Gift of the Friends of Art and the Dedalus Foundation Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Milwaukee Art Museum, 1994 Solo Exhibitions Museum of Modern Art, New York, Robert Motherwell, September 1965 (traveling), New York, cat. no. 62, illus. p. 69; Amsterdam, cat. no. 55,

P277

illus. n.p.; Essen, cat. no. 55; Turin, cat. no. 55. Museum of Modern Art, New York, Robert Motherwell:Works on Paper, September 1965 (circulating); shown in San Francisco only. Toledo Museum of Art, Ohio, 1969 (traveling); shown in Stanford only. Museo de Arte Moderno, Mexico City, 1975, cat. no. 21. Centro Cultural de la Caixa de Pensions, Barcelona, 1980 (traveling), Barcelona, cat. no. 4; Madrid, cat. no. 4, color illus. n.p. Fundació Antoni Tàpies, Barcelona, 1996 (traveling), cat. no. 32, color illus. p. 137. Group Exhibitions Museum Fridericianum, Kassel, Germany, 1964, cat. no. 2, as In Golden Ochre. Murray and Isabella Rayburn Foundation, New York, 1993, color illus. p. 92.

References Hudson 1965, sec. G, p. 7; Lippard 1965, p. 35, as Summertime in Italy, In Golden Ochre, No. 7; Arnason 1966b, pp. 38, 39, illus. p. 44; Cooney 1968, illus. n.p. (pl. 35, as Summertime in Italy #7); Ashton 1970, color illus. n.p. (pl. 1); Arnason 1977b, p. 58, color illus. p. 57 (pl. 33); Arnason 1982, p. 58; Flam 1991, color illus. n.p. (pl. 58); Franzke 1994, p. 10, color illus. p. 8 (fig. 7); del Conde 1997, p. 104; Lynton 1997, pp. 40–41; Chalumeau 1998, color illus. p. 34 (pl. 31); Lynton 2001, p. 180. Comments Although the basic composition of this painting was set in 1961, Motherwell subsequently reworked the forms and changed the colors to a considerable degree, as is apparent in studio photographs taken in June 1963 and April 1964.

P278

Summertime in Italy No. 10 1963–64 Oil on canvas 96½ x 72¼ in. (245.1 x 183.5 cm) Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated Verso not seen [“signed, titled, and dated 1963,” per Sotheby Parke Bernet, 1981] Present Owner Sheridan Corporation, a company owned by Count Javier Godó Provenance Trevor F. Peck, 1968; [Sotheby Parke Bernet, Inc., New York, May 12, 1981, lot 59, illus.]; private collection, 1981; [Christie’s, New York, November 12, 1986, lot 35, illus. (not sold)]; Sheridan Corporation, 1989; [Sotheby’s, New York, May 18, 1999, lot 53, illus. (not sold)]

Amsterdam, cat. no. 68, illus. n.p.; Essen, cat. no. 68; Turin, cat. no. 68, illus. p. 97 (pl. 37). Group Exhibitions Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1979. References Arnason 1966b, illus. p. 44; Lynton 1966a, illus. p. 7; Arnason 1977b, illus. n.p. (pl. 198, in studio); Reif 1981a, sec. C, p. 8, as Summertime in Italy; Reif 1981b, sec. C, p. 19, as Summertime in Italy; Duthy 1982, p. 51, as Summertime in Italy; Artnewsletter 1983, p. 4, as Summertime #10; Walker and Brooks 1983, p. 9, as Summertime #10. Comments Although this painting is said to be dated 1963 on the verso, an April 1964 photograph taken of it in Motherwell’s studio shows it still in progress.

Solo Exhibitions Museum of Modern Art, New York, Robert Motherwell, September 1965 (traveling), New York, cat. no. 75;

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P279

P280

The Sculptor’s Studio No. 2

Indian Summer No. 1

1963–64 Acrylic on canvas 72 x 45 in. (182.9 x 114.3 cm)

1962–64 Oil and acrylic on canvas 70⅛ x 63 in. (178.1 x 160 cm)

Inscriptions Recto, lower left, incised: R Motherwell 64

Inscriptions Recto, upper right, incised: R. Motherwell

Verso: 72 x 45" \ “the sculptor’s studio, # 2” \ R. Motherwell \ 1963

Verso not seen [“signed, titled, and dated 1962–4,” per Sotheby’s 1996]

Artist’s Studio Number P63-1141

Artist’s Studio Number P62/64-530; P62/64-5126

Present Owner Dedalus Foundation

Present Owner Private collection

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991

Provenance Kenneth Noland, ca. 1964; [Sotheby’s, New York, May 9, 1996, lot 173, illus. (not sold)]; [Sotheby’s, New York, November 20, 1997, lot 156, illus. (not sold)]; private collection, 1999

Comments In 1963 Motherwell did two numbered paintings called The Sculptor’s Studio, but only this one retains that title. It was reworked to its present form in 1964. There is no known number 1 in this series, and a painting that had been given the number 3 was entirely reworked in 1964 and retitled Sea Monster (see P283). 172

pain tin gs on c an v as an d pa n el

Solo Exhibitions Museum of Modern Art, New York, Robert Motherwell, September 1965 (traveling), New York, cat. no. 79, illus. p. 65; Amsterdam, cat. no. 69,

P280

illus. n.p.; Essen, cat. no. 69; Turin, cat. no. 69, illus. p. 112 (pl. 52, erroneously as Estate indiana, n. 2 [Indian Summer No. 2]). Group Exhibitions Krannert Art Museum, Champaign, Ill., 1965, cat. no. 91, illus. p. 44. References Arnason 1966b, p. 38, illus. p. 42; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, exh. cat. 1972, illus. p. 33 (fig. 10); Devade 1977, illus. p. 26, erroneously as Eté indien, n. 2 (Indian Summer No. 2); Caws 1996b, p. 149. Comments Around 1964, Motherwell traded this painting for one of Kenneth Noland’s oil paintings with a circular motif, Seed (1962).

P281

Indian Summer No. 2 1962–64 Oil and acrylic on canvas 66⅛ x 50⅛ in. (168 x 127.3 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper right: RM Verso: Robert Motherwell \ 1962–64 \ oil + acrylic on canvas Verso (on vertical crossbar): motherwell Present Owner University of Alberta Art Collection, Museums and Collections Services. Acquired by the University of Alberta Purchase and Placement Committee, 1977 Provenance David McKee, Inc., New York, before 1976; University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada, 1977 Solo Exhibitions Museum of Modern Art, New York, Robert Motherwell, September 1965 (traveling), New York, cat. no. 80,

P281

illus. p. 65; Amsterdam, cat. no. 70, illus. n.p.; Essen, cat. no. 70; Turin, cat. no. 70, illus. p. 113 (pl. 53, erroneously as Estate indiana, n. 1 [Indian Summer No. 1]). Art Center in Hargate, St. Paul’s School, Concord, N.H., 1970, cat. no. 4. Group Exhibitions Ring House Gallery, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada, 1980. Fine Arts Building Gallery, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada, 2007. References Arnason 1968, p. 507, illus. p. 507 (fig. 873); Jennings 1991, illus. p. 19.

P282

Provincetown Bay 1963–64 Oil and acrylic on canvas 88 x 139 in. (223.5 x 353.1 cm) Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated Verso: “provincetown bay” \ 1963 \ Robert Motherwell Artist’s Studio Number P63-1608 Present Owner High Museum of Art, Atlanta. Purchase with funds from Alfred Austell Thornton in memory of Leila Austell Thornton and Albert Edward Thornton Sr., and Sarah Miller Venable and William Hoyt Venable, and gift of the Dedalus Foundation Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; High Museum of Art, Atlanta, 2000 Comments The brown forms near the center of this work roughly describe the topography

P282

of Cape Cod, on which Provincetown is situated. Studio photographs show that this painting was still being worked on in early 1964.

P283

Sea Monster Alternative Title: The Sculptor’s Studio No. 3 1963–64 Oil, acrylic, and chalk on canvas 88 x 93 in. (223.5 x 236.2 cm) Inscriptions Recto, lower right, incised [painted over]: [R Motherwell \ 63] Verso: “the sculptor’s \ studio, #3” Artist’s Studio Number P64-2965 Present Owner Dedalus Foundation Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991 Comments Motherwell dated this painting 1963 on the recto, but he reworked it in 1964. It was originally titled The Sculptor’s Studio No. 3, but the title was changed to Sea Monster in 1988. (Of the two

p aint ing s on canvas and pane l

173

P284

P283

known works that were originally in the Sculptor’s Studio series, only one has retained the title, The Sculptor’s Studio No. 2, P279.)

P285

P286

[ Untitled (Brown Spot on White) ]

Blue Figuration

1964 Oil on canvas board 12 x 16 in. (30.5 x 40.6 cm)

1964 Oil on canvas board 18 x 14 in. (45.7 x 35.6 cm)

Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated

Verso: Robert Motherwell \ 1964 \ oil on linen canvas

Verso (upside down, with arrow pointing in opposite direction): Robert Motherwell \ 1964 \ oil on canvas

Present Owner Dedalus Foundation Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991

pain tin gs on can v as an d pa n el

P286

P284

Artist’s Studio Number P64-1268

174

P285

Artist’s Studio Number P64-1269 Present Owner Dedalus Foundation Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991

1964 Acrylic on canvas board 24 x 18 in. (61 x 45.7 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper right: R.M. Verso not seen Present Owner Unknown Provenance The artist Comments This work is known only from a blackand-white photograph taken in 1964 (Studly photo no. FA–56). We do not know whether it still exists in the form illustrated here.

P287

P289

P288

P290

P287

P288

P289

P290

Figuration

Creature

Untitled

1964 Oil on canvas board 9 x 12 in. (22.9 x 30.5 cm)

1964 Acrylic on canvas board 9 x 12 in. (22.9 x 30.5 cm)

[ Automatism (Brown, Green, White) ]

Inscriptions Recto, upper right: RM

Verso not seen

Verso: Robert Motherwell \ 1964

Present Owner Unknown

Verso: acrylic polymer emulsion on \ “winsor + newton” linen panel

Provenance Private collection; [Christie’s East, New York, November 18, 1997, lot 1, illus. (not sold)]; unknown owner, ca. 1997

Artist’s Studio Number P64-82

Comments Although this work and a number of related works look very much like drawings, we classify them as paintings because they were done in oil or acrylic on canvas board; see also P288–P306. Our reproduction of this work comes from an early black-and-white photograph (Juley photo no. 437; J0005224).

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991

Present Owner Dedalus Foundation

1963–64 Acrylic on canvas board 9 x 12 in. (22.9 x 30.5 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper left: RM Verso not signed, not dated Artist’s Studio Number P64-68 Present Owner Dedalus Foundation Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991

1964 Acrylic on canvas board 9 x 12 in. (22.9 x 30.5 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper right: RM Verso not signed, not dated Artist’s Studio Number P64-3314 Present Owner Dedalus Foundation Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991

Solo Exhibitions Janie C. Lee Gallery, Houston, 1979, cat. no. 33, illus. n.p. (in exhibition).

paint ing s on canvas and pane l

175

P291

P292

P293

P294

P291

P292

P293

P294

Untitled

1964 Acrylic on canvas board 9 x 12 in. (22.9 x 30.5 cm)

1964 Acrylic on canvas board 12 x 9 in. (30.5 x 22.9 cm)

1964 Acrylic and graphite on canvas board 12 x 9 in. (30.5 x 22.9 cm)

Inscriptions Recto, upper right: R.M.

Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated

Inscriptions Recto, upper right: RM

Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated

Verso: Robert Motherwell \ 1964 \ acrylic polymer emulsion on \ “winsor + newton” linen panel

Verso not signed, not dated

Artist’s Studio Number P64-3310

Artist’s Studio Number P64-3309

Artist’s Studio Number P64-3312

Artist’s Studio Number P64-1167

Present Owner Dedalus Foundation

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991

176

p ain tin gs on c an v as an d pa n el

P296

P295

P297

P298

P295

P296

P297

P298

Untitled

Landscape with Rocks

Untitled

Nude

1964 Acrylic on canvas board 10 x 8 in. (25.4 x 20.3 cm)

1964 Acrylic on canvas board 9 x 12 in. (22.9 x 30.5 cm)

1964 Acrylic on canvas board 12 x 9 in. (30.5 x 22.9 cm)

1964 Acrylic on canvas board 9 x 12 in. (22.9 x 30.5 cm)

Inscriptions Recto, upper left: RM

Inscriptions Recto, upper right: RM

Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated

Inscriptions Recto, upper right: RM

Verso not signed, not dated

Verso: Robert Motherwell \ 1964 \ “landscape with rocks” \ acrylic polymer emulsion on \ “winsor + newton” linen panel

Verso not signed, not dated Artist’s Studio Number P64-3313

Verso: Robert Motherwell \ November 1964 \ acrylic polymer emulsion on \ “winsor + newton” linen panel

Present Owner Dedalus Foundation

Present Owner Collection of Francine du Plessix Gray

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991

Provenance Francine du Plessix Gray

Artist’s Studio Number P64-3308 Present Owner Dedalus Foundation Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991

Artist’s Studio Number P64-3311 Present Owner Dedalus Foundation Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991

Comments The title of this work comes from a label on its frame that is visible in an early black-and-white photograph of it (Juley photo no. 444; J0005231).

p aint ing s on canvas and pane l

177

P299

P301

P300

P302

P299

P300

P301

P302

[ Automatism (Brown) ]

Untitled

[ Automatism (Brown, Green) ]

1964 Acrylic on canvas board 9 x 12 in. (22.9 x 30.5 cm)

[ Automatism (Brown, Green, White) ]

Inscriptions Recto, upper right: RM

Artist’s Studio Number D64-65; P60-65

Verso not signed, not dated

Present Owner Dedalus Foundation Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991

178

pain tin gs on c a n v a s a n d pan el

Artist’s Studio Number P64-66 Present Owner Dedalus Foundation Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991

1964 Acrylic on canvas board 9 x 12 in. (22.9 x 30.5 cm) Inscriptions Recto, lower left: RM Verso not signed, not dated Artist’s Studio Number P64-69 Present Owner Dedalus Foundation Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991

1964 Acrylic on canvas board 9 x 12 in. (22.9 x 30.5 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper right: RM Verso not signed, not dated Artist’s Studio Number D58-64; D64-64 Present Owner Dedalus Foundation Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991

P305

P303

P306

P304

P303

P304

P305

P306

Untitled

[ Automatism (Brown, Green, White) ]

Untitled

1964 Oil on canvas board 12 x 9 in. (30.5 x 22.9 cm)

1964 Acrylic on canvas board 4 x 6 in. (10.2 x 15.2 cm)

Inscriptions Recto, upper left: RM

Inscriptions Recto, upper center: 64 Motherwell

Verso not seen

Verso not signed, not dated

Present Owner Unknown

Artist’s Studio Number P64-83

Provenance Private collection, ca. 1964; [Sotheby’s, New York, October 5, 1989, lot 22, illus. (not sold)]; [Sotheby’s, New York, October 10, 1990, lot 478, illus.]; unknown owner, 1990

Present Owner Dedalus Foundation

Ca. 1964 Acrylic on canvas board 9 x 12 in. (22.9 x 30.5 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper left: RM Verso not signed, not dated Present Owner Unknown Provenance Unknown owner; [Sotheby Parke Bernet, Inc., New York, February 27, 1985, lot 36, illus.]; unknown owner, 1985; [Sotheby’s, New York, October 11, 2006, lot 246, illus.]; unknown owner, 2006

1964 Acrylic on canvas board 12 x 9 in. (30.5 x 22.9 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper left: RM Verso not signed, not dated Artist’s Studio Number P64-67 Present Owner Dedalus Foundation Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991

Comments Our illustration of this work comes from an early black-and-white photograph (Clements photo no. 45-187).

p aint ing s on canvas and pane l

179

P307

P308

P309

P308

P309

Imaginary Letter No. 2

Imaginary Letter

Ca. 1964 Oil on canvas board 14 x 10 in. (35.6 x 25.4 cm)

Ca. 1964 Acrylic on canvas board 10 x 8 in. (25.4 x 20.3 cm)

Inscriptions Recto, lower left: RM

Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated

Verso not seen (glued to backing board)

Verso not signed, not dated

Artist’s Studio Number P68-59

Artist’s Studio Number P68-1168

Present Owner Audrey and James C. Foster

Present Owner Cynthia and Walter Metcalfe

Present Owner Dedalus Foundation

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Audrey and James C. Foster, 2006

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Cynthia and Walter Metcalfe, 2009

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991

Solo Exhibitions William Benton Museum of Art, University of Connecticut, Storrs, 1979, cat. no. 41 (brochure); cat. no. 44 (catalogue), illus. p. 58.

Solo Exhibitions William Benton Museum of Art, University of Connecticut, Storrs, 1979, cat. no. 16 (brochure); cat. no. 45 (catalogue).

References Raynor 1979, illus. sec. 23, p. 14.

William Shearburn Gallery, Santa Fe, N.Mex., 2008, cat. no. 17.

Imaginary Letter No. 1 Ca. 1964 Oil on canvas board 14 x 10 in. (35.6 x 25.4 cm) Inscriptions Recto, lower right: RM Verso not signed, not dated Artist’s Studio Number P68-61

Comments The Imaginary Letter paintings appear to have been done in 1964 (as per p314, which is dated 1964 on the verso). They were not given that title until 1979, when this work and P308 were shown at the William Benton Museum of Art. Over the years, Motherwell did a number of works based on letters of the alphabet (see for example P311, P314, and P921).

References Raynor 1979, illus. sec. 23, p. 14.

180

p ain tin gs on c a n v a s a n d pan el

Solo Exhibitions William Ehrlich Gallery, New York, May 1979.

P310

P311

Imaginary Letter

Ca. 1964 Acrylic on canvas board 14 x 10 in. (35.6 x 25.4 cm)

Ca. 1964 Oil on canvas board 14 x 10 in. (35.6 x 25.4 cm)

Inscriptions Recto, lower right, incised: R. Motherwell

Inscriptions Recto, upper left: RM

Verso not signed, not dated

Verso (on backing board): “A” \ Robert Motherwell \ oil on canvas

Artist’s Studio Number P69-1022

Artist’s Studio Number P68-58; P70-1572

Present Owner Collection Mr. and Mrs. Thomas E. Philips, Naples, Fla.

Present Owner Private collection

Provenance Irving Galleries, Palm Beach, Fla., 1979; private collection, ca. 1979; [Sotheby’s, New York, November 15, 2006, lot 134, illus.]; Mr. and Mrs. Thomas E. Philips, Naples, Fla., 2006 Group Exhibitions Aspen Art Museum, Colo., 2000.

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; private collection, 2009

P311

P312

References Cooney 1968, p. 56, illus. n.p. (pl. 37); Raynor 1979, illus. sec. 23, p. 14; Clarke 1988, p. 205, illus. n.p. (pl. 91), referred to in text and in illus. erroneously as A, No. 2; Qin 1996, p. 57, illus. p. 114 (fig. 60), referred to in text and in illus. erroneously as Letter A No. 1.

P312

Comments The title refers to the resemblance between the gestural forms and the first letter of the alphabet. Around this time, Motherwell did a number of paintings with forms inspired by letters of the alphabet.

Inscriptions Recto, upper left: RM

A No. 2 Alternative Title: [A No. 2 (Automatism Black)] Ca. 1964 Oil on canvas board 14 x 10 in. (35.6 x 25.4 cm)

Verso [set in triangle]: [58] Artist’s Studio Number P68-62 Present Owner Dedalus Foundation Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991

Solo Exhibitions William Benton Museum of Art, University of Connecticut, Storrs, 1979, cat. no. 38 (brochure); cat. no. 41 (catalogue), illus. p. 61.

Solo Exhibitions William Benton Museum of Art, University of Connecticut, Storrs, 1979, cat. no. 42 (brochure); cat. no. 42 (catalogue), illus. p. 69.

William Shearburn Gallery, Santa Fe, N.Mex., 2008, cat. no. 16.

References Raynor 1979, illus. sec. 23, p. 14; Qin 1996, p. 57, illus. p. 114 (fig. 61), referred to in text and in illus. erroneously as Letter A No. 2. paint ing s on canvas and pane l

181

P313

Q Ca. 1964 Oil on canvas board 14 x 10 in. (35.6 x 25.4 cm) Inscriptions Recto, lower right: RM Verso [set in triangle]: [56] Artist’s Studio Number P68-60 Present Owner Dedalus Foundation Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991 Solo Exhibitions William Benton Museum of Art, University of Connecticut, Storrs, 1979, cat. no. 40 (brochure); cat. no. 43 (catalogue), illus. p. 132.

182

p ain tin gs on can v as an d pa n el

References Raynor 1979, illus. sec. 23, p. 14; Fort Worth Art Museum exh. cat. September 1985, illus. p. 26; Clarke 1988, p. 205, illus. n.p. (pl. 93); Qin 1996, pp. 57–58, illus. p. 115 (fig. 62), referred to in text and in illus. erroneously as Letter Q.

P314

P315

P314

P315

The Broken S

[ Automatism (Black) ]

1964 Oil on canvas board 16 x 20 in. (40.6 x 50.8 cm)

Ca. 1964 Oil on canvas board 14 x 10 in. (35.6 x 25.4 cm)

Inscriptions Recto, upper right: RM

Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated

Verso: “the broken s” \ Robert Motherwell \ November, 1964

Verso [set in triangle]: [57]

Verso [set in triangle]: [44] Verso [set in rectangle]: [“Liquitex” Acrylic Polymer Emulsion on American “Windsor [sic] + Newton” linen panel] Artist’s Studio Number P60-340; P64-340 Present Owner Dedalus Foundation Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991

Artist’s Studio Number P68-56 Present Owner Private collection Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; private collection, 2009 Solo Exhibitions Galleria d’Arte il Gabbiano, Rome, 2008, cat. no. 7, color illus. p. 19.

P318

P316

P317

P319

P316

P317

P318

P319

[ Automatism (Black) ]

Black Figuration

[ Untitled (Black, Pink, Blue) ]

Untitled

Ca. 1964 Oil on canvas board 14 x 10 in. (35.6 x 25.4 cm)

1964 Acrylic on Masonite 12 x 16 in. (30.5 x 40.6 cm)

Ca. 1964 Acrylic on canvas board 6 x 12 in. (15.2 x 30.5 cm)

Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated

Verso not seen (glued to backing board)

Verso: R Motherwell

Artist’s Studio Number P68-57

Verso: “black figuration” \ Robert Motherwell \ 1964 \ acrylic on gesso panel

Verso [set in triangle]: [43]

Verso [set in triangle]: [46]

Present Owner Private collection

Artist’s Studio Number P64-2989

Artist’s Studio Number P60-55

Artist’s Studio Number P60-51

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; private collection, 2008

Present Owner Dedalus Foundation

Present Owner The Olesen Collection

Present Owner Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Mark L. Brock, Concord, Mass.

Solo Exhibitions Galleria d’Arte il Gabbiano, Rome, 2008, cat. no. 8, color illus. p. 21.

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991 References Catoir 1980, p. 283.

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Olesen Collection, 2006

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Mr. and Mrs. Mark L. Brock, Concord, Mass., 2007 Solo Exhibitions Janie C. Lee Gallery, Houston, 1979, cat. no. 64, illus. n.p. (in exhibition). Comments This painting was used as the basis for a 1970 silkscreen print, Peace Portfolio I: Untitled (Engberg and Banach 2003, no. 68). p aint ing s on canvas and pane l

183

P320

P321

P320

P321

P322

Untitled

[ Untitled (Black, Orange) ]

Untitled

Ca. 1964 Acrylic on canvas board 12 x 6 in. (30.5 x 15.2 cm)

Ca. 1964 Acrylic on canvas board 12⅛ x 6 in. (30.8 x 15.2 cm)

Ca. 1964 Acrylic on canvas board 12 x 9 in. (30.5 x 22.9 cm)

Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated

Inscriptions Recto, upper left: RM

Verso: For Harvey Arnason \ with great esteem \ + affection \ Robert Motherwell \ 1966

Verso: R Motherwell

Verso not seen (glued to backing board)

Verso [set in triangle]: [46]

Artist’s Studio Number P69-1055

Present Owner Jon Yard Arnason and Eleanor A. Arnason Provenance H. Harvard Arnason, 1966; Jon Yard Arnason and Eleanor A. Arnason, ca. 1986 Comments The “1966” written on the back of this work is the date that Motherwell inscribed it to art historian and curator H. H. Arnason, not the date that it was painted. Arnason published his first two articles about Motherwell in 1966.

184

p ain tin gs on can v as an d pa n el

Artist’s Studio Number P60-54 Present Owner Collection of John Daly, Dublin Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; private collection, 2006; John Daly, Dublin, 2008 Group Exhibitions Hillsboro Fine Art, Dublin, 2009. References Dunne 2009, color illus.

Present Owner Private collection Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; private collection, 2009 Solo Exhibitions Galleria d’Arte il Gabbiano, Rome, 2008, cat. no. 14, cover color illus.

P322

P323

P324

P323

P324

P325

[ Untitled (Black and Blue) ]

{ Title unknown}

Ca. 1964 Acrylic on canvas board 10 x 8 in. (25.4 x 20.3 cm)

Ca. 1964 Acrylic on canvas board 8 x 10 in. (20.3 x 25.4 cm)

Ca. 1964–67 Acrylic on canvas board 20 x 16 in. (50.8 x 40.6 cm), approx.

Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated

Inscriptions Recto, lower left: RM

Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated

Verso: R Motherwell

Verso: Robert Motherwell

Verso not seen

Verso [set in triangle]: [42]

Artist’s Studio Number P64-52

Present Owner Unknown

Present Owner Dedalus Foundation

Provenance The artist

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991

Comments Our reproduction of this painting comes from a black-and-white photograph taken around 1964 (Nelson photo no. 20988). We know that the painting was revised in 1967 as per a color slide of Motherwell’s studio in which it is visible, but we do not know whether it still exists, and if so, in what form.

Artist’s Studio Number P60-53 Present Owner Richard and Louise Jensen Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Richard and Louise Jensen, 2006 Solo Exhibitions William Shearburn Gallery, Saint Louis, 2006, cat. no. 35.

P325

p aint ing s on canvas and pane l

185

P326

P327

P326

P327

P328

[ Automatism (black, brown, blue) ]

Untitled

1964 Acrylic on canvas board 17⅞ x 23⅝ in. (45.4 x 60 cm)

1964 Oil and acrylic on panel 16 x 12 in. (40.6 x 30.5 cm)

Inscriptions Recto, upper left, incised (twice): RM 64

Inscriptions Recto, lower left: RM

Verso: Robert Motherwell \ 1964 \ acrylic polymer emulsion on \ “winsor + newton” linen panel Artist’s Studio Number P64-2517; P64-3631

Verso [set in rectangle]: [“liquitex” acrylic polymer \ emulsion on “winsor + \ newton” oil underpainting \ white on gesso panel]

Present Owner Private collection, New York

Artist’s Studio Number P64-79

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Leslie Sacks Fine Art, Los Angeles, 2002; private collection, New York, 2002

Present Owner Private collection

Alternative Title: {Black, Brown, and Blue Automatism} Ca. 1964 Acrylic on canvas board 16 x 12 in. (40.6 x 30.5 cm) Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated Verso: R. Motherwell Verso [set in triangle]: [#38] Artist’s Studio Number P60-63 Present Owner Dedalus Foundation Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991 Solo Exhibitions Galleria d’Arte il Gabbiano, Rome, 2008, cat. no. 1, color illus. p. 7.

186

p ain tin gs on c an v as an d pa n el

Verso: Robert Motherwell \ 1964

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; private collection, 2008

P328

Solo Exhibitions Manny Silverman Gallery, Los Angeles, 2000, cat. no. 14. Museum Morsbroich, Leverkusen, Germany, 2004.

P329

P330

Untitled

[ Untitled (Black Vertical Stroke on White) ]

1964 Acrylic on canvas board 16 x 12 in. (40.6 x 30.5 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper left: RM Verso: Robert Motherwell \ 1964 \ “Liquitex” Acrylic Polymer Emulsion \ on linen Present Owner Private collection Provenance Dr. and Mrs. B. Rubinstein, ca. 1973; private collection, 1989

Ca. 1964 Acrylic on canvas 45 x 35 in. (114.3 x 88.9 cm)

P330

Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated Verso not signed, not dated Artist’s Studio Number P50-694 Present Owner Dedalus Foundation Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991

paint ing s on canvas and pane l

187

P332

P331

Spanish Frontier Ca. 1964 Acrylic on canvas board 12 x 16 in. (30.5 x 40.6 cm) Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated Verso not signed, not dated

But the finished work was photographed around 1964 (Juley photo no. 407; J0005195).

P333

P332

P333

[ Untitled (Black, Ochre) ]

Elegy to the Spanish Republic No. 99

Alternative Title: {Untitled (Black and Ochre)} Ca. 1964 Oil on canvas board 9 x 12 in. (22.9 x 30.5 cm) Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated

1964 Acrylic and oil on canvas board 5⅛ x 7 in. (13 x 17.8 cm) Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated

Present Owner Dedalus Foundation

Artist’s Studio Number P63-217

Verso: Robert Motherwell \ “Elegy to the Spanish Republic #99” \ 1964 \ acrylic + oil \ on linen canvas \ for Hans Kleinschmidt

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991

Present Owner Dedalus Foundation

Present Owner Collection of Ed Rabin

Solo Exhibitions Galerie Lelong, Paris, 2005.

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991

Group Exhibitions Museum of Modern Art, New York, February 1968 (circulating).

Solo Exhibitions Galerie Lelong, Paris, 2007, color illus. in brochure (fig. 5), as Sans Titre (Black and Ochre) (Untitled [Black and Ochre]).

Provenance Dr. Hans Kleinschmidt, 1964; [Kornfeld und Klipstein, Bern, June 15, 1972, lot 822 (not sold)]; private collection, New York, 1998; James Goodman Gallery, New York, 1999; Ed Rabin, 1999

Artist’s Studio Number P66-1171

Comments In a 1968 Museum of Modern Art traveling exhibition, this painting was shown with a date of ca. 1966; and in a loan agreement for that show, Motherwell listed the date as 1966.

188

p ain tin gs on ca n v a s a n d pan el

Verso not seen (glued to backing board)

Comments The dedication on the verso of this painting is to the psychoanalyst Dr. Hans Kleinschmidt.

P334

Wall Painting No. 10 1964 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 69 x 92 in. (175.3 x 233.7 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper left: RM Verso not signed, not dated Present Owner Collection San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Gift of the Friends of Helen Crocker Russell Provenance San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, 1967 Solo Exhibitions Museum of Modern Art, New York, Robert Motherwell, September 1965

(traveling), Amsterdam, cat. no. 75, illus. n.p.; Essen, cat. no. 75; Turin, cat. no. 75, illus. p. 116 (pl. 56); not shown in New York. Museum of Modern Art, New York, Robert Motherwell:Works on Paper, September 1965 (circulating); shown in San Francisco only. San Francisco Museum of Art, October 1968. Group Exhibitions Art Galleries, University of California, Santa Barbara, 1970, cat. no. 35, illus. n.p. San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, 1977, cat. no. 36. Indianapolis Museum of Art, 1977 (traveling), cat. no. 85.

References O’Hara 1965b, p. 208, color illus. pp. 208–9; Frankenstein 1967a, p. 27; Albright 1968, p. 47; Los Angeles Times 1968, sec. C, p. 54; Nordland 1972, color illus. p. 21; Frankenstein 1977, illus. p. 49.

numbers 6–9; Wall Painting V was transformed into Elegy to the Spanish Republic No. 55 (p216).

Comments Motherwell had worked with the concept of a “wall painting” as early as 1944, in Wall Painting with Stripes (P16), which established the compositional format of curved forms played against vertical stripes. He had returned to the theme again in the mid-1950s. The compositional structures of works such as Wall Painting No. III (P154) and Wall Painting IV (P155) are closely related to this work. No works in the Wall Painting series were given the

paint ing s on canvas and pane l

189

P336

P335

P337

P335

P336

P337

P338

{ Untitled (In Black, White and Orange)}

The Sea at Biarritz

St. Jean-de-Luz

Africa

1964 Acrylic on canvas 30 x 48 in. (76.2 x 121.9 cm)

1965 Acrylic on canvas 30 x 48 in. (76.2 x 121.9 cm)

1964–65 Acrylic on canvas 81 x 222½ in. (205.7 x 565.2 cm)

Inscriptions Recto, lower right, incised: R. Motherwell \ 64

Inscriptions Recto, lower right, incised: R Motherwell

Inscriptions Recto, upper left: RM

Inscriptions Recto, upper left: R Motherwell 1964

Verso: “The Sea at Biarritz” \ 1964 \ Robert Motherwell \ Acrylic on Canvas

Verso: “St. Jean-de-Luz” \ Robert Motherwell \ 1965 \ acrylic on canvas

Verso not signed, not dated

Present Owner Montclair Art Museum. Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Charles S. Gehrie, 1981.34

Verso (on vertical crossbar): motherwell \ 173 E. 94

Verso covered by relining, no longer visible [“Robert Motherwell 1965/ acrylic on belgian linen/stretched by james lebron, n.y.,” per Baltimore Museum of Art]

Artist’s Studio Number P65-704

Artist’s Studio Number P64/65-5121; P65-5177

Present Owner Dedalus Foundation

Present Owner The Baltimore Museum of Art. Gift of the artist, BMA 1965.12

Alternative Title: [Untitled (Black, Orange,White)] 1964 Acrylic on canvas 35 x 45 in. (88.9 x 114.3 cm)

Artist’s Studio Number P64-695 Present Owner Private collection Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; private collection, 2007

Provenance Private collection, 1970; private collection, 1979; Mr. and Mrs. Charles S. Gehrie, ca. 1980; Montclair Art Museum, N.J., 1981 Solo Exhibitions Art Center in Hargate, St. Paul’s School, Concord, N.H., 1970, cat. no. 7, illus. n.p. (in exhibition). Group Exhibitions Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, 1969. Montclair Art Museum, N.J., 1983.

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991

Provenance Baltimore Museum of Art, 1965 Solo Exhibitions Museum of Modern Art, New York, Robert Motherwell, September 1965 (traveling), New York, cat. no. 85, illus. pp. 60–61; Amsterdam, cat. no. 78, illus. n.p.; Essen, cat. no. 78; Turin, cat. no. 78, illus. pp. 122–23. Baltimore Museum of Art, 2006.

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P338

P339

Group Exhibitions Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1969, cat. no. 257, illus. p. 233. References Barker 1965, sec. B, p. 5; B[erkson] 1965, p. 42; Genauer 1965a; Genauer 1965b, p. 23; Newsweek 1965, p. 99, illus. p. 98; Arnason 1966b, p. 40, illus. p. 43; Banham 1966, p. 60, illus. p. 59 (pl. 1, installation view), illus. p. 60 (pl. 3); Bowen 1966, p. 132, as Africa I; Gosling 1966, p. 34; Grinke 1966, p. 7; Robertson 1966a, illus. p. 93; Schneede 1966, p. 32; Arnason 1969, p. 62; Price 1972, illus. p. 285; Wilmerding 1973, p. 285, illus. p. 285; O’Hara 1975, pp. 72, 75; Arnason 1976, p. 9; Hobbs 1976a, p. 29; Arnason 1977a, p. 536; Arnason 1977b, pp. 64, 66, 67, 90, 91, illus. n.p. (pl. 153); Pleynet 1977, p. 198; Arnason 1982, pp. 64, 66, 67, 94, 96, illus. p. 66; Gaugh 1985, p. 75; Pleynet 1986, p. 85; Pleynet 1989b, color illus. p. 63 (foldout); Flam 1991, color illus. n.p. (pl. 80); Caws 1996b, p. 7, illus. p. 8; Caws 2003, p. 172, illus. p. 173 (ill. 123); Landau 2005, pp. 337–38; Ocvirk

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et al. 2005, color illus. p. 29 (pl. 1-29); McNatt 2006, illus. sec. E, p. 4. Comments This painting is seen in progress in a color slide taken in Motherwell’s studio in 1964. It is the first of several series of works with the word Africa in their titles (see p339, P829–P832, and P834– P837). According to Robert Hobbs, Motherwell said that he named this painting “in honor of Arthur Rimbaud, who escaped the cultivated realms of French symbolist poetry for life as an adventurer in Africa” (Landau 2005, pp. 337–38, n. 2). Motherwell owned several African masks and sculptures, which he admired for their spiritual force and formal inventiveness. It should also be noted that during the early 1960s a number of former African colonies achieved or consolidated their independence from European colonial powers, and that during this same time civil rights movements in the United States began to exert an unprecedented influence on national politics.

P339

Africa No. 2 1964–65 Acrylic on canvas 69½ x 148 in. (176.5 x 375.9 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper right: RM Verso not signed, not dated Artist’s Studio Number P64/65-1569 Present Owner Denver Art Museum Collection. Acquired in memory of Rex L. Morgan. For a full list of donors, see the entry for P22. Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Denver Art Museum, 1994 Solo Exhibitions Museum of Modern Art, New York, Robert Motherwell, September 1965 (traveling), Amsterdam, cat. no. 79, illus. n.p.; Essen, cat. no. 79; Turin, cat. no. 79, illus. p. 120 (pl. 60); not shown in New York.

Museum of Modern Art, New York, Robert Motherwell:Works on Paper, September 1965 (circulating); shown in San Francisco only. Denver Art Museum, 1995, illus. n.p. Fundació Antoni Tàpies, Barcelona, 1996 (traveling), cat. no. 36, color illus. pp. 150–51. Group Exhibitions Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, 1968, cat. no. 185. Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig Wien, Vienna, 1997, color illus. p. 307. References Arnason 1966b, pp. 39, 40; Bowen 1966, p. 132; Frankenstein 1967a, illus. p. 27; Galerie im Erker exh. cat. 1971, illus. p. 13 (in exhibition); Arnason 1977b, pp. 64, 66, illus. p. 63 (pl. 38); Arnason 1982, pp. 64, 66, illus. p. 66 (pl. 61); On & Off the Wall 1995, color illus. p. 12; Banach 1996, p. 23; Paglia 1996, p. 56, illus. p. 55; Anfam 1997, p. 504; Paglia 1997, p. 57; Tieken 2000, illus. n.p.; Caws 2003, pp. 112, 172, illus. p. 112 (ill. 73).

P340

Comments This painting is seen in progress in a color slide taken in Motherwell’s studio in 1964. It was completed before Motherwell’s 1965 retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art.

P340

Irish Elegy 1965 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 69⅜ x 83¼ in. (176.2 x 212.7 cm) Inscriptions Recto, lower left, incised: RM Verso not seen Artist’s Studio Number P65-5130 Present Owner Jane M. Davis Provenance Jane M. Davis, 1975 Solo Exhibitions Museum of Modern Art, New York, Robert Motherwell, September 1965 (traveling), New York, cat. no. 87, illus. p. 71. Museum of Modern Art, New York, Robert Motherwell:Works on Paper, September 1965 (circulating); shown in San Francisco only. Toledo Museum of Art, Ohio, 1969 (traveling), cat. no. 15.

Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, 1983 (traveling), cat. no. 44, color illus. p. 85; not shown in Los Angeles. Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, 1984, cat. no. 27. Group Exhibitions Providence Art Club, R.I., 1965, cat. no. 48, illus. p. 35. Henry Art Gallery, University of Washington, Seattle, February 1981. Seattle Art Museum, 1984, cat. no. 33, color illus. p. 47. References Barker 1965, sec. B, p. 5; B[erkson] 1965, p. 42; Genauer 1965b, p. 23; Lippard 1965, p. 34; Tillim 1965, illus. p. 36; Time 1965, color illus. p. 85; Arnason 1966b, p. 40, illus. p. 44; Robertson 1966a, p. 91, illus. p. 92; Schneede 1966, p. 32; Frankenstein 1967a, p. 26, illus. p. 26; Rose 1967, p. 181, color illus. p. 179 (ill. 6-30); Cooney 1968, illus. n.p. (pl. 33); Galerie im Erker exh. cat. 1971, illus. p. 13 (in exhibition); Hobbs 1975b, pp. 265–66, illus. n.p. (pl. 44); Rose 1975, p. 154,

color illus. p. 153 (ill. 6-26); Arnason 1977b, pp. 28, 34, color illus. n.p. (pl. 152); Arnason 1982, pp. 28, 34, color illus. p. 30 (pl. 20), illus. p. 63 (pl. 55); Kangas 1982, p. 1, illus. p. 1; Morgan 1983, sec. D, p. 3; Gelles 1984, illus. p. 11; Kangas 1984, sec. Arts & Leisure; McColm 1984; Gaugh 1985, p. 74; Rosand 1985, p. 93; Brunet-Weinmann 1987, p. 40; BrunetWeinmann 1991, sec. B, p. 2; Polcari 1991, p. 304; Wentrup 2001, pp. 35–36, illus. (fig. 4); Kangas 2002, p. 25, color illus. p. 26. Comments This is one of the rare Elegy paintings in which the thrust of the forms is from right to left rather than from left to right; see also the Comments for Spanish Elegy XVII (Segura) (P149).

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P341

Elegy to the Spanish Republic No. 102 1965 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 82 x 120 in. (208.3 x 304.8 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper left: RM Recto, upper right, incised: RM 65 Verso: acrylic on \ belgian linen Verso: “elegy to the \ spanish republic, \ # 102” \ Robert Motherwell \ 1965 Verso [crossed out]: [80" x 120"] Verso: 120" x 80" [sic] Present Owner The Baltimore Museum of Art. Partial and promised gift of Marilyn S. Meyerhoff, Baltimore, BMA 2004.186 Provenance Mr. and Mrs. Robert B. Mayer, Winnetka, Ill., 1965; [Sotheby Parke Bernet, Inc., New York, October 26, 1972, lot 14, illus.]; Marilyn F. Meyerhoff, Owings Mills, Md., and

194

Palm Beach, Fla., 1972; Baltimore Museum of Art, 2004 Solo Exhibitions Museum of Modern Art, New York, Robert Motherwell, September 1965 (traveling), New York, cat. no. 86; Amsterdam, cat. no. 80, illus. n.p.; Essen, cat. no. 80; Turin, cat. no. 80, illus. p. 117 (pl. 57). Baltimore Museum of Art, 2006. Group Exhibitions Art Institute of Chicago, 1967. Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, 1968, cat. no. 49, illus. n.p. (in early state); shown in final state. References Genauer 1965a, illus. as Elegy to the Spanish Republic; Sheehy 1965, illus. sec. 2, p. 3 (in exhibition); Cooney 1968, illus. n.p. (pl. 34, as Elegy to the Spanish Republic CII); Hartz et al. 1970, color illus. p. 155; Galerie im Erker exh. cat. 1971, illus. p. 13 (in exhibition); Hobbs 1975b, pp. 264, 272, illus. n.p. (pl. 46); Arnason 1982, illus. p. 63 (in exhibition); McNatt 2006, sec. E, p. 4, illus. sec. E, p. 1.

p ain tin gs on ca n v a s a n d pan el

P342

Elegy to the Spanish Republic No. 103 1965 Oil on canvas 72 x 96 in. (182.9 x 243.8 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper left, incised: R Motherwell 1965 Verso not seen Present Owner Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid Provenance Private collection, 1967; Irwin Green, 1971; [Christie’s, New York, November 18, 1997, lot 111, illus.]; private collection, 1997; Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid, 2000 Solo Exhibitions Museum of Modern Art, New York, Robert Motherwell, September 1965 (traveling), Amsterdam, cat. no. 81, illus. n.p.; Essen, cat. no. 81; Turin, cat. no. 81, illus. p. 124 (pl. 63); not shown in New York.

P342

Group Exhibitions Museo de Arte Contemporáneo Esteban Vicente, Segovia, Spain, 2003, color illus. p. 89. References Roberts 1966, p. 274; Sutton 1966, illus. (upside down).

P343

P344

The White Oval

{ Unfinished painting}

1963–65 Oil on canvas 72 x 45¼ in. (182.9 x 114.9 cm)

Alternative Title: [ Je t’aime] 1955–65 Oil and acrylic on canvas 42 x 40 in. (106.7 x 101.6 cm)

Inscriptions Recto, upper right: RM Verso not seen Present Owner Private collection, San Francisco Provenance Mr. and Mrs. Barry R. Peril, 1965; private collection, 1980; private collection, San Francisco, 1983; private collection, San Francisco, 1998 Group Exhibitions Institute of Contemporary Art, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, 1966.

P344

in 1965; but the repainting was not completed, and the canvas was left unfinished. The ochre forms at the lower center have suffered some paint loss.

Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated Verso: R. Motherwell. 1955–65 Artist’s Studio Number P55/65-692 Present Owner Dedalus Foundation Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991 References Mattison et al. 2009, color illus. p. 153, as Je t’aime. Comments The 1955 composition painted on this canvas (Juley photo no. 440; J0005227) may have been the first work in the Je t’aime series (see p157). Executed in oil, it was largely repainted in acrylic

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P346

P345

P347

P348

P345

P346

{ Unfinished painting}

Untitled

Ca. 1955–65 Oil, acrylic, and charcoal on canvas 36 x 48 in. (91.4 x 121.9 cm)

Ca. 1964–65 Oil on canvas board 18 x 24 in. (45.7 x 61 cm)

Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated

Verso (on left vertical stretcher): Motherwell 173 E. 94 N.Y.C.

Verso not signed, not dated

Verso: Robert Motherwell \ 1965 \ acrylic on linen

Artist’s Studio Number P53-1467 Present Owner Dedalus Foundation Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991 Comments The 1955 composition painted on this canvas was executed in oil. It was repainted in acrylic around 1965, much like P344. The painting was very likely worked on again later, but it was then abandoned and left unfinished.

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Artist’s Studio Number P67-374; P68-374 Present Owner Dedalus Foundation Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991 Comments The studio number that was given to this work in the late 1970s, many years after it was done, dated it to 1967. Marlborough-Gerson Gallery records indicate, however, that the painting was consigned to the gallery and

photographed in October 1965. The pentimenti suggest that a gestural work of 1964 was painted over by Motherwell to create the final image.

P347

[ Untitled (Rust, Black, White) ] 1965 Acrylic on canvas board 16 x 12 in. (40.6 x 30.5 cm)

Artist’s Studio Number P65-283 Present Owner Dedalus Foundation Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991

P349

P348

[ Untitled (Black, Ochre and Blue with Triangle) ] Alternative Title: {Madrid No. 6} Ca. 1965 Oil, acrylic, and charcoal on canvas board 15⅞ x 19⅞ in. (40.3 x 50.5 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper left, incised [painted over]: [Motherwell] Recto, lower left, incised [painted over]: [Motherwell] Recto, lower right, incised: Motherwell Verso not signed, not dated Artist’s Studio Number P**-3296 Present Owner Dedalus Foundation

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991 Solo Exhibitions Galerie Lelong, Paris, 2007, as Madrid #6.

P349

In Scarlet and Black Alternative Title: Untitled 1965–66 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 69 x 92 in. (175.3 x 233.7 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper left: R.M Verso not seen Present Owner Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Herman Sarkowsky Provenance Private collection, 1967; unknown owner; Mr. and Mrs. Herman Sarkowsky, 1992

September 1965 (circulating); shown in San Francisco only. Group Exhibitions Seattle Art Museum, 2003. References Monte 1967, illus. p. 67 (in early state); San Francisco Examiner 1967, illus. p. 24 (in exhibition, in early state). Comments The imagery of this work is related to that of The Forge (P350), and to the Madrid Suite lithographs that Motherwell did with the Hollander Workshop, New York, in 1965–66 (Engberg and Banach 2003, nos. 21–30).

Solo Exhibitions Museum of Modern Art, New York, Robert Motherwell:Works on Paper,

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P350

The Forge 1965–66/1967–68 Oil, acrylic, and charcoal on canvas 69 x 92 in. (175.3 x 233.7 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper right, incised: RM Recto, upper right, incised [painted over]: [Motherwell 66] Verso: “The Forge” \ oil + acrylic on canvas \ Robert Motherwell 1966 (January) Artist’s Studio Number P66-2962 Present Owner Dedalus Foundation Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991 Solo Exhibitions Toledo Museum of Art, Ohio, 1969 (traveling), cat. no. 17. Galerie Lelong, Paris, 2007, color illus. in brochure (fig. 4), as Sans Titre (Untitled).

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Group Exhibitions Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1966 (circulating), New Delhi, cat. no. 57, illus. n.p.; Melbourne and Sydney, cat. no. 58, illus. n.p.; shown in early state. High Museum of Art, Atlanta, 1972. References Tono 1966, illus. p. 24 (in early state); Bulletin 1967, illus. p. 11 (in early state); Rose and Sandler 1967, illus. p. 47 (in early state). Comments An early version of this work, painted in 1965–66, was shown in Two Decades of American Painting, an exhibition organized by the Museum of Modern Art that traveled internationally from October 1966 to August 1967. After the painting was returned to Motherwell, he reworked it extensively. In a letter to Tate curator Ronald Alley written in October 1970, Motherwell said that the painting was created in memory of his friend, the sculptor David Smith, who was killed in an automobile accident in 1965. It has stylistic affinities with In Scarlet and Black (P349).

P351

Ochre Still Life, with Blue Stripe 1966 Acrylic on canvas 54 x 69 in. (137.2 x 175.3 cm) Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated Verso: “ochre still life, \ with blue stripe” \ R. Motherwell \ 1966 \ acrylic on canvas Present Owner The RISD Museum. The Albert Pilavin Collection of Twentieth Century American Art Provenance Unknown owner; [Sotheby Parke Bernet, Inc., New York, May 2, 1973, lot 158, illus.]; Rhode Island School of Design Museum, Providence, 1973 Group Exhibitions Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, October 1973, cat. no. 9, color illus. p. 30.

P351

Lyman Allyn Museum, New London, Conn., 1974. Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha, 1975, cat. no. 54, illus. p. 62.

P352

Guillotine Alternative Titles: Mediterranean Window; The Guillotine 1966/1973–81 Oil and acrylic on canvas 66 x 50 in. (167.6 x 127 cm) Inscriptions Recto, lower left: RM/66 Verso [painted over]: “[illegible] Verso: oil and acrylic on canvas \ “the guillotine” \ Robert Motherwell 1966 (January) Artist’s Studio Number P66-2439 Present Owner The Israel Museum, Jerusalem. Gift of the West Coast Acquisition Committee and the Dedalus Foundation, Inc.,

to American Friends of the Israel Committee, B.98.0006 Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Israel Museum, Jerusalem, 1996 Solo Exhibitions Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, 1983 (traveling), cat. no. 45, color illus. p. 86; not shown in Los Angeles. Fundació Antoni Tàpies, Barcelona, 1996 (traveling), cat. no. 37, color illus. p. 153. References Arnason 1982, color illus. p. 166 (pl. 230a); Pleynet 1989b, color illus. p. 112; Flam 1991, color illus. n.p. (pl. 82); Pleynet 1991, p. 19; Chalumeau 1998, color illus. p. 40 (pl. 36); Pleynet 1998, p. 93; Lynton 2001, color illus. p. 175, erroneously as Personnage (Self-Portrait).

Comments The basic compositional structure of this painting was set in 1966, when the ground was painted in blue, green, and pink, and the work was titled Mediterranean Window (see fig. 269 in volume 1). It was consigned to the Marlborough-Gerson Gallery in March 1966 and returned to the artist the following November. Around April 1973, Motherwell painted over the pink areas with black and added the black vertical form that is now on the right side of the canvas. Between December 1979 and February 1980, Motherwell further revised the canvas, turning it upside down, painting over the pinks with blue, and reinforcing the black lines (see fig. 270 in volume 1). He reworked the painting a final time during the winter

of 1980–81, when the reds were added (Sloman photo no. 1201). The painting was titled The Guillotine (which was inscribed on the verso) in early 1981. Soon after, he changed the title to Guillotine. On a studio list of paintings that were being considered for Motherwell’s February 1981 exhibition at Knoedler & Company, it is described as “Guillotine Acrylic on canvas 1966–81.”

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P353

In Black and Pink with the Number Four 1966 Oil and acrylic on canvas 92 x 69 in. (233.7 x 175.3 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper right [painted over]: [RM] Verso [partially crossed out]: “in black + pink, with \ the [figure] number four” Verso: Robert Motherwell \ March 1966 \ acrylic + oil on canvas Artist’s Studio Number P66-1540 Present Owner Dedalus Foundation Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991 Solo Exhibitions Toledo Museum of Art, Ohio, 1969 (traveling), cat. no. 1. Art Museum, Princeton University, N.J., 1973, cat. no. 9.

200

Städtische Kunsthalle Düsseldorf, 1976 (traveling), cat. no. 33, illus. p. 106. Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, 1977. Group Exhibitions Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1966 (circulating), New Delhi, cat. no. 57. Honolulu Academy of Arts, 1968, illus. n.p. References Bruner 1969, p. 1; Kramer 1973b, sec. D, p. 23; Pleynet 1989b, p. 111; McEvilley 1993, p. 49; Denson and McEvilley 1996, p. 79. Comments Motherwell had begun to use the figure 4 in his works around 1960 (see The Figure 4 on an Elegy, W104)—initially perhaps as a reference to the four members of his family. He was acutely aware of the broad symbolic significance of the number four—which was traditionally associated with the four elements, the four seasons, the four humors, the four corners of the earth, etc.—and to

p ain tin gs on c an v as an d pa n el

P354

Carl Gustav Jung’s notion of quaternity, the fourfold nature of the psyche, and its relationship to mandalas and to the notion of “squaring the circle.” Motherwell was not particularly forthcoming about the subject, however, and wrote, “The figure 4, which appears as early as 1942—i.e., during the first several years of my painting—has baffled curious iconographers. There is a long discussion of 4’s significance by Jung, but whether his notions are relevant to me or not, I do not know” (Motherwell in Arnason 1982, p. 142).

P354

Iberia No. 27 Ca. 1966 Acrylic on canvas 9 x 12 in. (22.9 x 30.5 cm) Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated Verso: Robert Motherwell Artist’s Studio Number P66-1120 Present Owner William and Melinda Bentz, California Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; William and Melinda Bentz, California, 2005 Solo Exhibitions William Ehrlich Gallery, New York, May 1979. Delaware Art Museum, Wilmington, 1999. Manny Silverman Gallery, Los Angeles, November 2002, cat. no. 40.

P355

Comments This painting was given its present title and assigned a 1966 date in 1979, prior to its first exhibition at the William Ehrlich Gallery.

P356

P357

P355

P356

P357

Black Four with Blue

Untitled

Terra Cotta Image on Blue

1966 Acrylic on canvas board 23¾ x 17¾ in. (60.3 x 45.1 cm)

Ca. 1966 Oil on canvas board 20 x 16 in. (50.8 x 40.6 cm)

1966 Acrylic on canvas board 20 x 15⅞ in. (50.8 x 40.3 cm)

Inscriptions Recto, upper right: R. Motherwell

Inscriptions Recto, lower left: R.M.

Inscriptions Recto, lower left: RM 66

Verso not seen

Present Owner Unknown

Present Owner Private collection, Nassau, Bahamas

Verso (on backing board): “terra cotta image on blue” \ acrylic on canvas \ R Motherwell 1966

Provenance Marlborough Fine Art, London, 1969; private collection, 1969; unknown owner

Provenance Private collection, Nassau, Bahamas, ca. 1968

Comments Our reproduction of this work comes from an early black-and-white photograph (Nelson photo no. 25599).

Comments The present owner says he acquired this work around the time of Motherwell’s 1966 exhibition in Brussels, which was one of the venues of the 1965 Museum of Modern Art retrospective. The style of the work and the MarlboroughGerson Gallery number, which appears on a label on the verso, are in accord with that date.

Artist’s Studio Number P66-1177 Present Owner Dedalus Foundation Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991

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P358

2003, no. 20), which Motherwell created at the Hollander Workshop, New York, in 1966. Motherwell would develop the imagery in the work in New England Elegy and related paintings (see p365, p368–p372).

P359

P360

P359

P360

In Black and White No. 2

In Black and White No. 3

1966 Acrylic on canvas 66 x 50 in. (167.6 x 127 cm)

1966 Oil on canvas 66 x 50 in. (167.6 x 127 cm)

Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated

Verso: “in black + white, #1” \ acrylic on canvas \ Robert Motherwell 1966

Verso: “in black and white, #2” \ Robert Motherwell 1966 \ acrylic on canvas

Verso not seen

Present Owner Dallas Museum of Art. Gift of the Meadows Foundation, Inc.

Present Owner The Dayton Art Institute. Gift of Ponderosa, Inc., 1987.5

Provenance Rena Bransten, 1967

Provenance Algur H. Meadows, 1971; Dallas Museum of Art, 1981

Provenance Private collection, 1968; Ponderosa, Inc.; Dayton Art Institute, Ohio, 1987

Group Exhibitions Dallas Museum of Art, 1974.

Group Exhibitions J. L. Hudson Gallery, Detroit, 1966, illus. n.p., as In Black and White.

In Black and White No. 1 1966 Acrylic on canvas 66 x 50 in. (167.6 x 127 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper left: RM

Dallas Museum of Art, 1982. Comments This painting and a smaller work on paper, Spontaneity No. 4 (W206), are closely related to a lithograph called Automatism B (Engberg and Banach

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Dayton Art Institute, Ohio, 1967. References Terenzio 1979, p. 3; Caws 1996b, p. 65.

Present Owner Collection of Rena Bransten

Solo Exhibitions Otis Art Institute, Los Angeles, 1974, cat. no. 44, color illus. n.p. Group Exhibitions San Francisco Museum of Art, September 1968. San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, 1977, cat. no. 37. Smith College Museum of Art, Northampton, Mass., 1991, illus. p. 47, as Black and White No. 3.

P361

P362

P361

P362

P363

Untitled (In Black and White with Lavender)

In Black and White No. 5

Untitled

1966 Acrylic on canvas 66 x 50 in. (167.6 x 127 cm)

Alternative Title: Untitled (Lavender Painting) 1966 Oil on canvas 72 x 45 in. (182.9 x 114.3 cm)

1966 Acrylic on canvas 66 x 50 in. (167.6 x 127 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper left: RM Verso not seen Present Owner Unknown Provenance Private collection, 1969; unknown owner Group Exhibitions Krannert Art Museum, Champaign, Ill., 1967, illus. p. 153. Comments This work was possibly meant to be number 4 in the 1966 In Black and White series; it was sent to the Marlborough-Gerson Gallery in 1966 in the same consignment as numbers 2, 3, and 5 in that series.

Inscriptions Recto, upper right [painted over]: [RM 66] Verso: “in black + white, #5” \ Robert Motherwell 1966 \ acrylic on canvas Present Owner Private collection Provenance Unknown owner, ca. 1966; [Christie’s, New York, May 13, 1981, lot 40, illus.]; unknown owner, 1981; private collection, 1998 Group Exhibitions Drexel Institute of Technology, Philadelphia, 1966, cat. no. 28. Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, 1968, cat. no. 186.

P363

illus. p. 51; New Delhi, cat. no. 59; shown in Tokyo, Kyoto, and New Delhi only. Museum of Art, Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh, 1975, cat. no. 128.

Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated Verso not seen [“signed R. Motherwell August,” per Christie’s 1992] Present Owner Simon Capstick-Dale Provenance The Corporate Collection of USX, Pittsburgh, 1971; [Christie’s, New York, May 7, 1990, lot 12, illus.]; private collection, Los Angeles, 1990; [Christie’s, New York, May 5, 1992, lot 41, illus. (not sold)]; Manny Silverman Gallery, Los Angeles; private collection, 1994; Simon Capstick-Dale, 2008 Group Exhibitions Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1966 (circulating), Tokyo and Kyoto,

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P364

Elegy to the Spanish Republic No. 108 (The Barcelona Elegy) 1966 Oil and acrylic on canvas 84 x 147 in. (213.4 x 373.4 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper left: RM Verso: 84" x 148" \ “elegy to the spanish republic #108 \ (the barcelona elegy)” \ Robert Motherwell \ 1966 \ oil + acrylic on sized canvas Present Owner Dallas Museum of Art. The Art Museum League Fund Provenance Dallas Museum of Art, 1967 Group Exhibitions Dallas Museum of Art, 2006, color illus. p. 88.

References DMFA Newsletter 1967, illus. n.p.; Bromberg 1983, p. 170, color illus. p. 169 (pl. 176); Kusin 1991, sec. A, p. 4; Kutner 1991, illus. sec. A, p. 1; Mittler and Ragans 1999, color illus. p. 17 (fig. 2-2); Mittler 2000, illus. p. 554 (fig. 24.14). Comments The small red-and-yellow-striped area next to the vertical blue bar on the left edge of this painting refers to the horizontal stripes on the senyera, the flag of Catalonia, the capital of which is Barcelona. The reference to Barcelona in the title reflects Motherwell’s awareness of the brutal suppression of student uprisings in Barcelona against Franco’s government during the winter and spring of 1965–66. The imagery of this work, which is generally similar to that of the Elegy series as a whole, forms a clear bridge to the more idiosyncratic and chromatically varied New England Elegy paintings

(see the Comments for New England Elegy, P366). Another painting in the Elegy to the Spanish Republic series was also given the number 108 (P373).

P365

New Amsterdam Painting 1966 Oil (?) on canvas 69 x 92 in. (175.3 x 233.7 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper right: RM 66 Verso not seen Present Owner Collection Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam Provenance Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, 1966 Group Exhibitions Stedelijk van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, the Netherlands, 1967 (traveling), Eindhoven, cat. no. 30; Frankfurt, cat. no. 29, illus. p. 39. Nationalgalerie Berlin, 1976, cat. no. 58, color illus. n.p. (pl. 5). Museo di Capodimonte, Naples, Italy, 1996, color illus. p. 29. Cobra Museum, Amstelveen, the Netherlands, 1997.

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P365

Comments This painting was done around the same time as the first two New England Elegy paintings (P366 and P367), both of which Motherwell executed in acrylic with the same colors; so this painting, though usually described as painted in oil, may well have been done in acrylic. It was given the title New Amsterdam Painting in acknowledgment of its acquisition by the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam shortly after it was finished, as explained in a letter of October 24, 1966, from Motherwell to Eduard de Wilde, the director of the museum (Dedalus Foundation Archives). New Amsterdam was, of course, the name of the Dutch colonial town that became New York City, so the title implies that Motherwell is sending a “New York City Painting” from New Amsterdam to old Amsterdam.

P366

New England Elegy 1966 Acrylic on canvas 156 x 180 in. (396.2 x 457.2 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper left: R.M. Verso not seen Present Owner Commissioned by the U.S. General Services Administration Provenance U.S. General Services Administration, 1966 References Boston Globe 1966a, illus. p. 26; Boston Globe 1966b, pp. 1, 19, illus. p. 1 (installation view); Boston Record American 1966, p. 8; Boston Traveler 1966, p. 1; Cohen 1966, pp. 1, 12;

Currier 1966, p. 19; Fenton 1966, p. 22, illus. p. 22 (installation view); Gillooly 1966, p. 2, illus. p. 2 (installation view); Hartford Courant 1966, illus. p. 13 (installation view); Hoffmann 1966, sec. F, p. 8; Kenny 1966, pp. 1, 19, illus. p. 1 (installation view); McKinnon 1966, p. 49; Motherwell in Boston Globe 1966b, p. 19; Motherwell in Boston Record 1966, p. 8; Motherwell in Fenton 1966, p. 22; Motherwell in Hartford Courant 1966, p. 13; Time 1966, p. 60, illus. p. 60 (installation view); Worcester Telegram 1966, p. 1, illus. p. 1 (detail); Supovitz 1967, pp. 21–24, illus. p. 23 (installation view, sideways); Arnason 1969, p. 62; Harriss 1974, illus., erroneously as Assassination of President Kennedy; Hobbs 1975b, pp. 265–70, illus. n.p. (pl. 45); Arnason 1976, p. 10, illus. p. 10 (installation view); Arnason 1977b, pp. 64, 67–68,

illus. p. 63 (pl. 37, installation view); Taylor 1978a, sec. A, p. 8; Carmean 1980, illus. p. 73 (installation view); Motherwell in Carmean 1980, p. 72; Arnason 1982, pp. 64, 67–68, illus. p. 63 (pl. 54, installation view); Leonard 1991, p. 11; Taylor 1993, cover color illus. (installation view), color illus. p. 30 (fig. 7, installation view), color illus. p. 39 (fig. 9, installation view), color illus. p. 57 (fig. 13, installation view). Comments This work was painted for a 1965 commission by the General Services Administration (GSA) for a mural situated in the John F. Kennedy Federal Building, Boston, which was designed by Walter Gropius. Because Motherwell was not able to paint the mural on site, he did two rather different versions of it from which a choice could be made (see also P367). On May 27, 1966,

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P366

P367

Gropius visited Motherwell’s studio, and together they chose the version that would be installed in the building. In a 1969 Museum of Modern Art questionnaire, Motherwell discussed the relationship between these paintings and related works: “That group represents the last ‘expressionist’ works I made, before beginning the more ‘classical’ and restrained current series called ‘Open.’ When I was commissioned for the Gropius building, the building was partially completed; I went to see it, and seeing how impersonal, massive and enormous it is, I wanted to make something spontaneous, even though the mural was quite large, about 13' x 15'. For practice, I got a thousand sheets of Japanese rice paper, 9" x 11", which was roughly the same proportion as the mural, and determined to make

a thousand brush and ink drawings, without correcting or going over any of them. . . . This is the series that is now called Lyric Suite, and which breaks down into eight or nine subdivisions, according to the colors used” (see “Writings by the Artist,” in the Bibliography). When the mural was installed on August 6, 1966, it was understood to be an Elegy for President John F. Kennedy, who had been assassinated only a few years earlier. Within a few days, a furor developed around the painting when it was misinterpreted as a graphic representation of Kennedy’s assassination, “a very direct and specific depiction of the most brutal moment of the tragedy when Kennedy was struck by the bullet” (Boston Globe 1966a). Motherwell denied this literal

interpretation, stating that the painting was “a representation of an emotion of grief,” not of an event, and asserted that it was related to Kennedy’s death in the manner of “a requiem Mass” (Kenny 1966); but the controversy continued. On August 17, Senator Edward M. Kennedy sent a telegram to Stephen E. Weil at the Marlborough-Gerson Gallery, stating that he was “personally satisfied that the painting is not meant to represent any specific event” and that he approved the choice of Motherwell for the GSA mural commission (Dedalus Foundation Archives). Eventually, Motherwell painted five works with New England Elegy titles. The others were given (sometimes contradictory) numbers as part of their titles. See P367–P370.

P367

New England Elegy Mural (Second Variation) Alternative Title: Large Painting No. 2 1966 Acrylic on canvas 152½ x 182¾ in. (387.4 x 464.2 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper left: RM Verso not signed, not dated Artist’s Studio Number P66-1609 Present Owner Collection Elliot K. Wolk Family Foundation Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Elliot K. Wolk Family Foundation, 1998

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P368

Solo Exhibitions Museo Rufino Tamayo, Mexico City, 1991 (traveling), cat. no. 10, illus. p. 50. Group Exhibitions United States Pavilion, Expo ’67, Montreal, 1967, as Large Painting #2. Horticultural Hall, Boston, 1967, color illus. n.p. (in exhibition), as Large Painting #2.

exhibited as such at the United States Pavilion at Expo ’67 in Montreal. It was not called New England Elegy (Second Variation) until Motherwell gave it that title for its exhibition at the Museo Rufino Tamayo in 1991. An early state of the composition was based on a painting on paper done in 1958, Frontier No. 4 (W52), and on a work from the Lyric Suite (see fig. 88 in volume 1).

References Cooney 1968, p. 55, as New England Elegy; Tyler 1977, sec. F, p. 7; Kutner 1992a, sec. C, p. 4. Comments This painting was actually the first work Motherwell painted for the John F. Kennedy Federal Building in Boston. But after another painting was chosen for the site (see P366), this work was given the title Large Painting No. 2 and

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P368

New England Elegy No. 2 Alternative Title: New England Elegy No. 3 1965–66 Acrylic on canvas 82 x 139 in. (208.3 x 353.1 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper left: RM Verso [painted over]: [illegible] Verso: Robert Motherwell \ September 1965–February 1966 \ acrylic on canvas Artist’s Studio Number P65/66-5069 Present Owner The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Gift of S. I. Newhouse Jr.

Provenance Private collection, 1966; Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1968 References Time 1968a, illus. p. 61. Comments Motherwell designated this work as New England Elegy No. 2, and it was sold under that title in 1966. In a 1969 questionnaire for the Museum of Modern Art, Motherwell referred to the painting as “New England Elegy, #3” because it had been the third work completed in the series (see “Writings by the Artist,” in the Bibliography), done after P366 and P367. This work, however, had always been known as No. 2, which we retain here. Another work, painted in 1967, was given the title New England Elegy No. 3 (P369).

P369

New England Elegy No. 3 Alternative Title: New England Elegy No. 4 1967 Acrylic on canvas 69 x 92 in. (175.3 x 233.7 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper left [painted over]: [RM 67] Verso: R. Motherwell \ 1967 \ 69 x 92" Verso [crossed out]: [oil] Verso: acrylic on sized canvas \ “New England Elegy #3” Present Owner The Hamilton Companies Provenance Jacques Kaplan, ca. 1968; Walter P. Chrysler Jr., 1970; Robert and Barbara Schwartz, 1976; [Sotheby’s, New York, November 9, 2005, lot 24, illus.]; Hamilton Companies, 2005

Comments Motherwell painted this work in 1967 and titled it New England Elegy No. 3, even though it was actually the fourth painting completed in the series. (In 1967 the first two New England Elegy paintings, P366 and P367, were unnumbered, and the work that was actually painted third, P368, was already known as New England Elegy No. 2.) In a 1969 Museum of Modern Art questionnaire, Motherwell said that this painting was the fourth in the series and noted that it then belonged to the furrier Jacques Kaplan (see “Writings by the Artist,” in the Bibliography). The title of record, however, which had been inscribed on the verso by the artist in 1967, remains New England Elegy No. 3. As a result of these circumstances, no painting within the series was given the number 4 in its title.

P370

lot 45, illus. (not sold)]; Edward Tyler Nahem Fine Art, LLC, New York, ca. 1987; private collection, before 2003

P370

Untitled Alternative Title: New England Elegy No. 5 1967 Oil on canvas 116¾ x 140 in. (296.6 x 355.6 cm)

Solo Exhibitions Lawrence Rubin/Greenberg Van Doren Fine Art, New York, 2001, cat. no. 9, color illus. n.p. (pl. 4).

Inscriptions Recto, lower right, incised: Motherwell 67

Group Exhibitions Museum of Art, Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh, 1967, cat. no. 281.

Verso not seen [“signed and dated on verso,” per Edward Tyler Nahem Fine Art records]

NorthPark National Bank, Dallas, 1980. André Emmerich Gallery, New York, 1984.

Present Owner Private collection Provenance Private collection, 1969; [Sotheby Parke Bernet, Inc., New York, October 26, 1972, lot 21, illus.]; Andy Williams, 1972; [Sotheby Parke Bernet, Inc., New York, May 15, 1980, lot 536, illus.]; André Emmerich Gallery, 1980; [Sotheby Parke Bernet, Inc., New York, May 9, 1984, lot 32, illus.]; private foundation, 1984; [Sotheby Parke Bernet, Inc., New York, May 4, 1987,

References Pleynet 1989b, color illus. p. 115. Comments In a 1969 Museum of Modern Art questionnaire, Motherwell referred to this painting as “Number 5” in the series of New England Elegy paintings (see “Writings by the Artist,” in the Bibliography), but it was never exhibited with that title.

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P371

P372

Untitled

Red, Cut by Black

1967 Acrylic on canvas 82½ x 141 in. (209.6 x 358.1 cm)

1966–67 Oil and acrylic on canvas 82 x 114 in. (208.3 x 289.6 cm)

Inscriptions Recto, lower left [painted over]: [RM 67]

Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated

Verso not signed, not dated Artist’s Studio Number P**-1602 Present Owner Private collection Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; private collection, 2007

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Verso: R. Motherwell \ “Red, Cut by Black” \ 1966–67 \ oil + acrylic on sized canvas Artist’s Studio Number P66/67-2751 Present Owner Maurice Marciano Collection Provenance Rachofsky Collection, Dallas, 1985; Daniel Liberman, 1999; private collection, 1999; [Sotheby’s, New York, May 10, 2006, lot 58, illus.]; Maurice Marciano, 2006

Group Exhibitions Knoedler & Company, New York, May 1985. Knoedler & Company, New York, summer 1985.

P372

P373

Elegy to the Spanish Republic No. 108 Alternative Title: Elegy to the Spanish Republic No. 104 1965/1967 Oil, acrylic, and charcoal on canvas 82 x 138¼ in. (208.3 x 351.2 cm)

Solo Exhibitions Museum of Modern Art, New York, Robert Motherwell, September 1965 (traveling), Amsterdam, cat. no. 82, illus. n.p.; Essen, cat. no. 82; Turin, cat. no. 82, illus. p. 125 (pl. 64); shown in early state, as Elegy to the Spanish Republic CIV; not shown in New York.

Verso not signed, not dated

Group Exhibitions Central Pavilion, XXXIV Biennale di Venezia, 1968, cat. no. 80, illus. n.p. (pl. 97).

Artist’s Studio Number P65/67-5070

Museum of Modern Art, New York, June 1969, cat. no. 77.

Present Owner The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Charles Mergentime Fund

Brooklyn Museum, May 1980, cat. no. 56.

Inscriptions Recto, upper left [painted over]: [RM]

Provenance Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1970

References Melville 1966, p. 478, as Elegy to the Spanish Republic No. 104; Vogue 1966, illus. (in early state, as Elegy to the

Spanish Republic C.I.V.); Schjeldahl 1969a, p. 74; Museum of Modern Art 1973, pp. 142, 143, color illus. p. 142; Hobbs 1975b, pp. 252, 264, 273, illus. n.p. (pl. 47); Devade 1977, illus. p. 21 (in early state, as Elégie pour la République Espagnole, CIV [Elegy to the Spanish Republic, CIV]); Torroella 1980, p. 17; Hochfield 1990, illus. p. 133 (in exhibition); Danto 1991, color illus. p. 111; Machlis and Forney 2003, color illus. p. 80, erroneously as Elegy to the Spanish Republic No. 18; Museum of Modern Art 2005, p. 244, color illus. pp. 244–45; Burton et al. 2007, illus. p. 118 (fig. 5).

Modern Art under the title Elegy to the Spanish Republic CIV. This painting was extensively reworked in 1967 and renumbered 108. When Motherwell renumbered this work, he apparently forgot that he had already given the number 108 to another Elegy painting (P364).

Comments An early version of this work, painted entirely in black and white, was shown in Motherwell’s 1965–66 traveling retrospective organized by the Museum of

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P374

Elegy to the Spanish Republic (The Basque Elegy) 1967 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 82¼ x 138 in. (208.9 x 350.5 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper left: R. Motherwell 67 Verso: “Elegy to the Spanish Republic (the Basque Elegy)” \ Robert Motherwell \ 1967 Artist’s Studio Number P67-1576 Present Owner Mr. and Mrs. Robert Kotick, as trustees of the 10122CP Trust Provenance Private collection, 1982; [Christie’s, New York, November 12, 2008, lot 39, illus.]; Mr. and Mrs. Robert Kotick, as trustees of the 10122CP Trust, 2008 Solo Exhibitions Art Center in Hargate, St. Paul’s School, Concord, N.H., 1970, cat. no. 23,

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cover illus. (in exhibition), illus. n.p. (in exhibition). Galerie Veith Turske, Cologne, Germany, 1979. Group Exhibitions Josef-Haubrich-Kunsthalle Köln, Cologne, Germany, 2000, cat. no. 63, color illus. p. 197. References Ashton 1980, cover color illus.; Du Journal 1980, illus. p. 82; Winter 1982, color illus. p. 75. Comments The reference to the Basque region of Spain in the title of this painting reflects Motherwell’s awareness of the brutal suppression of protests against Franco’s government by students and liberal priests that took place in that region during 1966 and 1967.

P375

La Belle France 1967 Acrylic on canvas 69 x 54⅛ in. (175.3 x 137.5 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper left, incised and inscribed: RM Verso: “la belle france” \ Robert Motherwell \ 1967 \ acrylic on sized canvas Artist’s Studio Number P67-1601 Present Owner Dedalus Foundation Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991 References Moser 1976, sec. 2, p. 6.

P375

P376

Big Black Picture 1967 Acrylic on canvas 114 x 82 in. (289.6 x 208.3 cm)

studio in June 1967. It was consigned to the Marlborough-Gerson Gallery in its final state on November 13, 1967.

P377

{ Title unknown} Ca. 1967 Acrylic (?) on canvas 69 x 92 in. (175.3 x 233.7 cm), approx.

Inscriptions Recto, upper left: RM

Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated

Verso not signed, not dated

Verso not seen

Artist’s Studio Number P69-1599

Present Owner Unknown

Present Owner Dedalus Foundation

Provenance The artist

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991

Comments Our reproduction of this work comes from a color transparency taken in Motherwell’s studio in 1967. We do not know whether it still exists in the form illustrated here.

Group Exhibitions Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, 1968, cat. no. 187. Comments This painting was begun as a horizontal work with a strong connection to the New England Elegy series (see the Comments for P366). Early states of it are visible in a series of in-progress photographs taken in Motherwell’s

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P378

Summertime in Italy 1967 Acrylic on canvas 82 x 48 in. (208.3 x 121.9 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper left, incised: RM 67 Verso not signed, not dated Artist’s Studio Number P67-1210 Present Owner Private collection, New Jersey Provenance Private collection, 1985; Irving C. Deal, 1988; [Sotheby’s, New York, May 9, 1990, lot 198A, illus.]; private collection, New Jersey, 1990 Solo Exhibitions Toledo Museum of Art, Ohio, 1969 (traveling), cat. no. 4; not shown in Stanford. Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, 1977, illus. n.p. Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, 1983 (traveling), cat. no. 47, color illus.

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p. 83; not shown in Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, 1984, cat. no. 58. Group Exhibitions Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, December 1967, cat. no. 95. Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, 1969. References Flam 1991, color illus. n.p. (pl. 84). Comments This work played a part in the genesis of Motherwell’s Open series; see the Comments for Open No. 1: In Yellow Ochre (P397).

P379

P380

P379

P380

Summertime in Italy in Red

Gaza

1967 Oil and acrylic on canvas 69 x 54 in. (175.3 x 137.2 cm)

1967 Acrylic on canvas 69 x 54⅛ in. (175.3 x 137.5 cm)

Inscriptions Recto, upper left: RM 67

Inscriptions Recto, lower right, incised: RM \ 67

Verso not seen [“initialed again and dated 1967 on the reverse, and inscribed with title and dated again on the stretcher,” per Christie’s 1982]

Verso: “gaza” \ Robert Motherwell \ June, 67 \ acrylic on sized canvas

Present Owner Private collection

Present Owner Dedalus Foundation

Provenance Private collection, 1968; [Christie’s, New York, November 11, 1982, lot 149, illus.]; unknown owner, 1982; private collection

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991

Comments The composition of this painting is closely related to the black-and-white image created by Motherwell for the 1965 lithograph and poster Roots of Abstract Art in America (Engberg and Banach 2003, no. 18).

Artist’s Studio Number P67-1143; P67-1208

Comments This work was painted at the time of the Six-Day War between Israel and Egypt, Jordan, and Syria, which lasted from June 5 to June 10, 1967. Studio photographs reveal that the work originally contained gestural forms, which were painted out to distill the composition to its present austere simplicity.

P382

P381

P382

Big Black Oval

[ Untitled (Black Oval) ]

1967 Oil and acrylic on canvas 69 x 54 in. (175.3 x 137.2 cm)

1964–67 Acrylic on canvas board 17⅞ x 24 in. (45.4 x 61 cm)

Inscriptions Recto, upper right: RM 67

Inscriptions Recto, upper left: RM

Verso not seen Present Owner Unknown

Verso: Robert Motherwell \ 1964 \ acrylic polymer emulsion on \ “winsor + newton” linen panel

Provenance The artist

Artist’s Studio Number P64-1895; P67-1895

Comments This work was consigned to the Marlborough-Gerson Gallery in 1967 and returned to the artist the following May. We do not know whether it still exists in the form illustrated here.

Present Owner Dedalus Foundation Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991 Comments This work was begun in 1964 as a largely black-and-white gestural composition (Juley photo no. 450; J0005237). It was painted over in 1967, except for the upper left corner. The date inscribed on the verso refers to that earlier version.

P383

A number of other works in the 1967 Oval series (see P383–P388) were painted over black-and-white gestural images done in 1964. (See p389, p390, and p392–p395, which were also painted over 1964 gestural images.)

P383

[ Untitled (Black Oval) ] 1964–67 Acrylic on canvas board 17⅞ x 24 in. (45.4 x 61 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper left [painted over]: [R. Motherwell] Recto, upper right, incised [painted over]: [RM 64] Verso not signed, not dated Artist’s Studio Number P67-1894 Present Owner Dedalus Foundation Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991 Comments As with Untitled (Black Oval) (P382), this work was begun in 1964 as a gestural composition in black and white (Juley photo no. 443; J0005230) and was painted over in 1967. The date inscribed on the recto refers to the earlier version.

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P384

P385

P384

P385

P386

[ Untitled (Black Oval) ]

1964–67 Acrylic on canvas board 17⅞ x 24 in. (45.4 x 61 cm)

1964–67 Acrylic on canvas board 24 x 20 in. (61 x 50.8 cm)

Inscriptions Recto, upper left, oriented vertically [painted over]: [R. Motherwell]

Inscriptions Recto, upper left: RM 67

Inscriptions Recto, upper left, incised: RM

Verso not signed, not dated

Artist’s Studio Number P67-1889

Artist’s Studio Number P67-1887

Present Owner Dedalus Foundation

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991

Artist’s Studio Number P67-1886 Present Owner Dedalus Foundation Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991

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P386

P387

P388

P387

P388

P389

[ Untitled (Black Oval) ]

Untitled

1964–67 Acrylic on canvas board 24 x 20 in. (61 x 50.8 cm)

1964–67 Acrylic on canvas board 24 x 17¾ in. (61 x 45.1 cm)

Inscriptions Recto, lower left, incised: RM 67

Inscriptions Recto, upper left: RM 67

Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated

Verso not signed, not dated

Artist’s Studio Number P67-1888

Artist’s Studio Number P67-1891

Verso: Robert Motherwell \ 1964 \ acrylic polymer emulsion on \ “winsor + newton” linen panel

Present Owner Dedalus Foundation

Artist’s Studio Number P64-1893; P67-1893

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991

Present Owner Dedalus Foundation

P389

1967. The earlier composition on this canvas, still visible in the pentimenti, is known from a black-and-white photograph (Juley photo no. 448; J0005235).

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991 Comments The signature and date on the verso of this painting refer to an earlier composition with a triangular gestural form, which Motherwell had painted over in

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P390

P391

P390

P391

P392

Untitled

[ Untitled (Iberia) ]

{ Iberia No. 20}

1964–67 Acrylic on canvas board 20 x 16 in. (50.8 x 40.6 cm)

1967 Acrylic and graphite on canvas 60 x 40 in. (152.4 x 101.6 cm)

Ca. 1964–67 Acrylic on canvas board 24 x 18 in. (61 x 45.7 cm)

Inscriptions Recto, lower right [painted over]: [RM]

Inscriptions Recto, upper right, incised: RM

Verso: Robert Motherwell \ 1964–67 \ “liquitex” acrylic polymer emulsion \ on “winsor + newton” linen panel \ for Henry Geldzahler \ Memorial Day, \ 1967

Verso: 1967 \ R. Motherwell

Verso [set in triangle]: [41]

Artist’s Studio Number P67-2833

Verso: R Motherwell

Present Owner Private collection Provenance Henry Geldzahler, 1967; private collection, 1981; private collection, 2008 Comments This work was painted over an earlier composition begun in 1964 (Juley photo no. 442; J0005229), which is still visible in the pentimenti. It was given as a gift to Henry Geldzahler, then curator for twentieth-century art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

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Present Owner Denver Art Museum Collection. For a full list of donors, see the entry for P22. Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Denver Art Museum, 1994 Solo Exhibitions Denver Art Museum, 1995, illus. n.p. References Tieken 2000, illus. n.p.

Artist’s Studio Number P58-535 Present Owner Art Gallery of Ontario. Purchased with funds from an anonymous donor, with support from the Dedalus Foundation, 1998 Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, 1998 Solo Exhibitions Fundació Antoni Tàpies, Barcelona, 1996 (traveling), cat. no. 27, color illus. p. 125.

P392

Comments An earlier composition containing the figure 4 is visible in the pentimenti of this painting. Although this work has previously been dated to 1958, its size, its canvas-board support, its vertical format, and the traces of an earlier image with the figure 4 are all consistent with the series of 1964 paintings reworked in 1967 as Iberia-type images (see also P393–P395). The number 20 was first given to this painting posthumously, in 1996, at the time of the Fundació Antoni Tàpies exhibition. Three other paintings had at one time or another been given the title Iberia No. 20 (P263, P264, and P641).

P393

Orange 4 Alternative Title: {Untitled (In Black with Orange Four)} 1964–67 Acrylic on canvas 45 x 35 in. (114.3 x 88.9 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper right, incised: RM Recto, upper right [painted over]: [RM]

Comments This work began as a gestural composition in black and white, which was photographed in 1964 (Juley photo no. 446; J0005233), and which is still partially visible in the pentimenti. It was painted over in 1967. The “c. 1961” date given by Motherwell on the verso was a guessedat date added considerably later.

P394

P395

Untitled

1964–67 Acrylic on canvas board 24 x 18 in. (61 x 45.7 cm)

Inscriptions Recto, upper left [painted over]: [RM]

Inscriptions Recto, lower left: R.M. \ 64

Recto, upper right, incised: RM 67

Verso not signed, not dated

Artist’s Studio Number P67-1890

Recto, upper left [painted over]: [RM]

Artist’s Studio Number P67-1892

Verso: R. Motherwell \ “Orange 4” \ (c.) 1961

Present Owner Dedalus Foundation

Artist’s Studio Number P68-705

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991

Present Owner Collection of Sanford and Barbara Wernick

Comments Begun in 1964, this painting was reworked in 1967, when Motherwell also repainted Orange 4 (P393) and Untitled (P395).

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Sanford and Barbara Wernick, 2005

P395

Present Owner Private collection Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Hollis Taggart Galleries, 2005; private collection, ca. 2007 Comments Begun in 1964, this painting was reworked in 1967, when Motherwell also repainted Orange 4 (P393) and Untitled (P394).

Group Exhibitions Manny Silverman Gallery, Los Angeles, January 2006, cat. no. 14, as Untitled (In Black with Orange 4).

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P396

Untitled Ca. 1961–ca. 1967 Acrylic on canvas 82 x 138 in. (208.3 x 350.5 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper right: RM Verso: Robert Motherwell/1965 \ Acrylic on \ belgian linen Artist’s Studio Number P65-1567

no. 409; J0005197 and Pollitzer photo no. 8167). It was photographed a third time by Ugo Mulas in November 1967, by which time the compositional structure of the work had been set, but the three pale blue areas seen in the final version were then solid black. Motherwell may have repainted these areas soon after the Mulas photographs were taken, but it is uncertain exactly when the final revisions were done.

Present Owner Dedalus Foundation Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991 Comments This painting was begun around 1961, on the floor of Days Lumberyard, and traces of the floorboards are visible throughout the more transparent areas. At the same time, Motherwell was working on Chi Ama, Crede (P224), which has a similar kind of paint handling. There are two early photographs of this painting in progress (Juley photo

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P397

Open No. 1: In Yellow Ochre Alternative Titles: Ochre Door; In Yellow Ochre with Three Lines; Open No. 1 1967 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 114 x 84 in. (289.6 x 213.4 cm) Inscriptions Recto, lower right: RM 67 Verso not signed, not dated Artist’s Studio Number P67-5179 Present Owner Private collection Provenance Helen Frankenthaler, ca. 1971; private collection, after 1993 Solo Exhibitions Art Museum, Princeton University, N.J., 1973, cat. no. 4. Knoedler & Company, New York, February 1993, cat. no. 3, as Open No. 1. Group Exhibitions Art Gallery, American Academy of Arts and Letters and National Institute

of Arts and Letters, New York, 1970, erroneously as Open No. 105 in Ochre. References Arnason 1969, p. 62; House & Garden 1969, illus. p. 49 (installation view); D[avis] 1972, p. 69; Arnason 1976, p. 13; Arnason 1977b, pp. 71–72, 74, illus. p. 71 (pl. 44, installation view); Motherwell in Arnason 1977b, n.p.; Arnason 1982, pp. 72, 74, illus. p. 71 (pl. 63, installation view); Pleynet 1989b, p. 50; Flam 1991, color illus. n.p. (pl. 89); Pleynet 1991, p. 13; Caws 1996b, illus. p. 91, color illus. n.p.; Qin 1996, p. 40, illus. p. 97 (fig. 34); Chalumeau 1998, illus. p. 9 (fig. m, as Open no. 1); Pleynet 1998, p. 88; Caws 2003, illus. p. 24 (ill. 15); Museum Morsbroich exh. cat. 2004, illus. p. 54 (installation view); Mattison et al. 2009, pp. 33, 34, 35, as Open No. 1. Comments In a 1969 Museum of Modern Art questionnaire, Motherwell described the genesis of this first painting in the Open series as follows: “The ‘Open’ series began in March 1967, when I

P397

leaned a vertical canvas against a larger vertical canvas (about 6½' x 9½'), which had its ground painted all over, in yellow ochre. It occurred to me that the proportion of the smaller vertical canvas, leaning on the larger vertical canvas, was rather beautiful, and so I outlined the smaller canvas in charcoal (onto the yellow ochre ground of the larger canvas), so that the lines looked like a door—a very abstract one. I had meant to elaborate the painting, but over a period of weeks did not; and now realize that it did not need elaboration, simple as it was. I brought it home from the studio to look at it, and one day decided to turn it upside down, so that the ‘door’ became a ‘window’ ” (see “Writings by the Artist,” in the Bibliography). A color slide dated June 1967 shows the relationship of the two canvases (see fig. 109 in volume 1), and reveals that the smaller painting Motherwell describes as leaning against this ochre-grounded canvas was Summertime in Italy (P378). The eventual reorientation of Open No. 1: In Yellow Ochre is evident in the signature, which reads in both directions; in fact, the painting was at first called Ochre Door, and Motherwell still referred to it as such when he noted that it should be picked up from the Santini Brothers warehouse on October 23, 1967, and delivered to his home at 173 East Ninety-fourth Street. When it was photographed by Rudy Burckhardt on November 13, 1967, it was still oriented as a “door” (see fig. 111 in volume 1). But when it was photographed by Ugo Mulas shortly afterward, the orientation had changed from a “door” to a “window,” as is evident in Mulas’s photos (taken on either November 14 or November 22, 1967). The notion of the paintings in this series being called “Open” was not formulated until early in 1969, just prior to their first exhibition at the Marlborough-Gerson Gallery that May (an exhibition that had been repeatedly postponed at the request of the artist: from October–November 1968 to January 1969, to March 1969, and finally to May 1969). An undated draft of a press release for the MarlboroughGerson Gallery exhibition (written by Motherwell himself in early 1969) states that the paintings will be shown as “a single coherent group under the general title Windows,” and refers to

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this painting as “Window, number 1” (see “Writings by the Artist,” in the Bibliography). When the works were photographed for the exhibition catalogue in November 1968, thirtyseven paintings in the series had been completed, none of them as yet called Open. When Motherwell first became engaged with the paintings that would comprise the Open series, he gave them very literal titles. An undated oversize sheet of paper (probably from around December 1967 or January 1968) contains diagrams and measurements, written in Motherwell’s hand, of the first five Open paintings (see fig. 116 in volume 1). Open No. 1 is listed on this sheet as “In Yellow Ochre, with Three Lines,” and dated June 1967. A typed studio list with handwritten additions, titled “ ‘open’ series, 1967–1970” and dated May 26, 1970, lists 153 numbered Opens done within that three-year period. (This list will hereafter be referred to as Motherwell’s May 26, 1970, “open Series, 1967–1970” list. Both of these lists are in the Dedalus Foundation Archives.) The first painting in the series is listed there as “Open No. 1: In Yellow Ochre,” and the titles of the subsequent works are given in a similar way: “Open” with an Arabic number, followed by a colon and a descriptive subtitle. (The May 26, 1970, studio list provided the model for the manner in which we present the titles of the Opens in this catalogue raisonné; a copy of this list made on June 25, 1970, contains some additions and revisions, and assigns different numbers to some of the works. A few months later, Motherwell also made a list of the pictures he had painted that summer, which he called the “23 Summer 1970 Pictures” list.) It should be noted that not all of the Open paintings were given descriptive subtitles, and that the descriptive subtitles given to some of the paintings were eventually dropped. The period when Motherwell began the Opens was one of the most prolific times in his career, a fact made all the more remarkable by the large size of so many of the works. Among Motherwell’s many numbered series, the Opens are remarkable for the concentrated time within which so many were done, and for their sheer quantity, as well as their consistently high quality; moreover, although some Opens

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were later reworked and/or renumbered, the numbering of the series on this list is more consistent than that of any of Motherwell’s other extended series, such as the Elegies to the Spanish Republic. Motherwell apparently numbered the first thirty-seven or so Opens all at once, sometimes putting works done in a later year before works done the year before; in this catalogue raisonné, we have followed his lead and presented the numbered Opens in numerical order, even though this results in some of the numbered works being out of strict chronological order. As will be seen in the subsequent catalogue entries, moreover, the consecutive sequence is not uninterrupted, as some of the earliest Open paintings were left unnumbered.

P398

In Blue 1967 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 113¾ x 82 in. (288.9 x 208.3 cm); to stretching folds Inscriptions Recto, lower right: RM 67 Verso not signed, not dated Artist’s Studio Number P67-2972 Present Owner Dedalus Foundation Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991 group exhibitions United States Embassy, Mexico City, 1968. Comments This work was given the number 2 on Motherwell’s sheet of diagrams of the first five Opens (see the Comments for P397 and fig. 116 in volume 1), where it is titled “In Cerulean, with 3 Lines” and dated November 1967. The painting is visible, tacked to the wall horizontally, but finished and already signed, in a photograph of Motherwell’s studio taken by Ugo Mulas in November 1967 (see fig. 112 in volume 1). This was the first painting in the Open series to be more or less publicly exhibited; it was sent to the American Embassy in Mexico City in February 1968, under the title In Blue. (On Motherwell’s May 26, 1970, “open Series, 1967–1970” list, number 2 is left blank, apparently because the painting was no longer in New York.) A layer of acrylic medium applied over the surface by Motherwell has since become discolored, disfiguring the surface of this painting. This layer of acrylic medium cannot be removed, so we have illustrated this painting unstretched, in order to expose the painted edges of the canvas on which the original color is still visible.

P398

P399

Untitled 1966–67 Acrylic, charcoal, and graphite on canvas 85¼ x 69¼ in. (216.5 x 175.9 cm) Inscriptions Recto, lower right, incised and inscribed: RM Verso: R. Motherwell \ 1966 \ R. Motherwell \ 1966 Artist’s Studio Number P66-1597 Present Owner Private collection Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; private collection, 2005 Solo Exhibitions Art Center in Hargate, St. Paul’s School, Concord, N.H., 1970, cat. no. 21. Comments The date on the back of this painting apparently refers to an earlier composi-

tion that was painted over. A Sidney Janis Gallery label on the stretcher suggests either that the earliest image on this canvas goes back to around 1958 or that Motherwell reused an old stretcher for his 1966 canvas. (Some of the transitional early Opens were painted over earlier compositions that contained very different kinds of imagery; see p400 and p402.) On Motherwell’s sheet diagramming the first five Opens (see fig. 116 in volume 1), this painting is given the number 4 (as can be determined by matching the dimensions and proportions of this painting with the work diagrammed on the list). This suggests that the painting was completed after November 1967, the date given on the sheet to numbers 2 and 3 in the Open series. On Motherwell’s May 26, 1970, “open Series, 1967–1970” list, another painting is assigned the number 4, even though this one was actually the fourth one done chronologically in the series. See the comments for Open No. 1: In Yellow Ochre (P397).

P399

P400

Open Transition 1963–67/ca. 1977/ca. 1983 Oil, acrylic, and charcoal on canvas 72 x 45 in. (182.9 x 114.3 cm) Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated Verso: R. Motherwell \ 1967 \ “open transition” Artist’s Studio Number P67-2424

P400

photo no. 15240), are still visible in the pentimenti. In 1967 Motherwell reoriented the canvas 180 degrees and repainted it as an Open; it was then composed in ochre and gray, with the black vertical area at the left and the charcoal line in their current positions. A vertical white bar to the right of the ochre rectangle was added around 1977 (as per Sloman photo no. 560). The reds on top of that white bar were added later, probably around 1983 (as per a studio photograph).

Present Owner Dedalus Foundation Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991 Solo Exhibitions Bernard Jacobson Gallery, London, June 2009. References Mattison et al. 2009, color illus. p. 17. Comments This work was begun in 1963 as a gestural painting similar to Sea Monster (P283); traces of this early state, which was photographed in 1963 (Nelson

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P401

P402

Untitled

Open No. 2: In Ochre and Grey

Ca. 1967–68 Oil, acrylic, and charcoal on canvas 69 x 51 in. (175.3 x 129.5 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper right, incised: RM Verso: Robert Motherwell \ 1968 Artist’s Studio Number P68-1154

Alternative Title: Untitled 1967/ca. 1971 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 75 x 69 in. (190.5 x 175.3 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper right: R.M. Verso [painted over]: [illegible]

Present Owner Dedalus Foundation

Artist’s Studio Number P71-1135

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991

Present Owner Dedalus Foundation

Solo Exhibitions Art Center in Hargate, St. Paul’s School, Concord, N.H., 1970, cat. no. 26.

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991

Comments This work originally had a yellow ground similar in color to Singing Yellow (p403).

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Comments This painting is visible in a very different state in color slides taken of Motherwell’s studio in June 1967 (traces of that state are still visible in the pentimenti). By late 1967 or early 1968 the composition was close to its present form, and the painting was consigned to the Marlborough-Gerson

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P402

Gallery in 1968 as Untitled. It was given its present title after the first draft of the May 26, 1970, “open Series, 1967– 1970” list was typed; a handwritten addition to that list notes: “#2: In Ochre and Black.” The word Black is subsequently crossed out and Grey is added to the entry. The small area of white at the lower center was added around 1971.

P403

Singing Yellow Alternative Title: Open No. 5: In Yellow Ochre 1968 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 65 x 50 in. (165.1 x 127 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper right: RM Verso: “singing yellow” \ 1968 \ Robert Motherwell \ acrylic on sized canvas \ 69" x 58" Present Owner Private collection Provenance Mr. and Mrs. Robert H. Shoenberg, 1968; [Christie’s, New York, November 13, 2008, lot 151, illus.]; private collection, 2008 Group Exhibitions Saint Louis Art Museum, 1981. Comments This was the first Open painting to be sold (in April 1968, more than a year before the first exhibition of the Opens);

P403

it was sold under its original title, Singing Yellow. Although it appears on Motherwell’s May 26, 1970, “open Series, 1967–1970” list as Open No. 5: In Yellow Ochre, it was not on the diagram of the first five Open paintings. The Open title was assigned retroactively, and the work remained known publicly as Singing Yellow; at the time it was sold, Motherwell had not yet developed either the concept of the “Window” or of the “Open” for the series of paintings he was working on, and the owners probably never knew that it had been given an Open number.

P404

Open No. 6: In Gray, Pink, and Green Alternative Title: Open No. 109: In Gray with Green and Pink 1967 Acrylic on canvas 114 x 69 in. (289.6 x 175.3 cm)

P404

In gray with green and pink, with a note typed next to it: “Also # 6.” Although it was later given a higher number and the descriptive subtitle was slightly modified, the painting itself does not appear to have been revised after 1967.

P405

Open No. 8 Alternative Titles: Open No. 8: In Green and Grey; In Green and Grey 1968/ca. 1972 Acrylic, charcoal, and graphite on canvas 69 x 54 in. (175.3 x 137.2 cm)

Inscriptions Recto, upper right: RM

Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated

Verso not signed, not dated

Artist’s Studio Number P68-2978

Artist’s Studio Number P68-2953

Present Owner Dedalus Foundation

Present Owner Collection Bernard Jacobson Gallery, London

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991 Comments This painting appears twice on Motherwell’s May 26, 1970, “open Series, 1967–1970” list. It appears first as Open No. 6, with the subtitle In gray, pink and green, and has a note typed in next to it: “Also called #109.” It is later listed as Open No. 109 with the subtitle

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Bernard Jacobson Gallery, London, 2006 References Mattison et al. 2009, p. 130, color illus. p. 72, referred to in text and in illus. as Open No. 8 (in Green and Grey).

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P406

Comments This painting appears on Motherwell’s May 26, 1970, “open Series, 1967– 1970” list as Open No. 8: In Green and Grey. When it was consigned to the Marlborough-Gerson Gallery in 1969 it was called simply In Green and Grey; it then contained a green rectangle (still visible under the white rectangle) on a gray ground; it was repainted after the gallery returned it to Motherwell in 1972.

P406

Open No. 9: In Green on Gray with Black Stripe 1967 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 84 x 168 in. (213.4 x 426.7 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper left: R.M. Verso not signed, not dated Artist’s Studio Number P67-1584 Present Owner Dedalus Foundation Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991 References Arnason 1969, p. 64; MarlboroughGerson Gallery exh. cat. 1969, color illus. n.p.; Arnason 1976, p. 15; Arnason 1977b, p. 74, illus. p. 74 (pl. 45); Arnason 1982, p. 74, illus. p. 74 (pl. 65).

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Comments This painting was listed as “#3” and dated November 1967 on Motherwell’s sheet diagramming the first five Opens (see fig. 116 in volume 1 and the Comments for P397). A photograph taken by Ugo Mulas on November 22, 1967, shows it still in progress.

P407

Open No. 10: In Green on Blue Ca. 1967 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 69 x 54 in. (175.3 x 137.2 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper left: RM

P407

Verso not seen Present Owner Private collection Provenance Private collection, New York, 1968; [Sotheby Parke Bernet, Inc., New York, November 18, 1970, lot 44, illus.]; private collection, 1970

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P408

Open No. 11: In Raw Sienna with Gray 1968 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 87 x 211⅜ in. (221 x 536.9 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper left: R.M. 68 Verso: yellow \ + green Artist’s Studio Number P68-5213 Present Owner Collection San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Anonymous gift in honor of Margaret H. Rosener Provenance San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, 1969 Solo Exhibitions Otis Art Institute, Los Angeles, 1974, cat. no. 46, illus. n.p., as Open No. 11.

Group Exhibitions Fine Arts Gallery of San Diego, 1974, color illus. n.p. San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, 1977, cat. no. 38. References Arnason 1969, pp. 64, 66, illus. p. 51; Marlborough-Gerson Gallery exh. cat. 1969, color illus. n.p.; Seldis 1974b, sec. C, p. 82; Arnason 1976, p. 15; Arnason 1977b, p. 74, color illus. n.p. (pl. 190); Motherwell in Arnason 1977b, n.p.; Arnason 1982, p. 74, color illus. p. 167 (pl. 231); Motherwell in Arnason 1982, p. 167; Morgan 1983, sec. D, p. 3; Tarzan 1984, sec. E, p. 1; Berman 1985, color illus. pp. 62–63; Pleynet 1989b, color illus. p. 128; Pleynet 1991, p. 12, as Open No. 11; Fundació Antoni Tàpies exh. cat. 1996, illus. p. 53; Pleynet 1998, p. 87; Caws 2003, illus. p. 51 (ill. 38); Mattison et al. 2009, color illus. pp. 24–25.

Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, 1983 (traveling), cat. no. 48, color illus. p. 89; not shown in Washington, D.C.

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Comments Motherwell gave this painting to the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art in honor of his mother, Margaret H. Rosener (1893–1972).

P409

Open No. 12: In Raw Sienna with Gray 1968 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 85 x 200 in. (215.9 x 508 cm) Inscriptions Recto, lower right: RM Verso not seen Artist’s Studio Number P68-1528 Present Owner Delaware Art Museum. F. V. du Pont Acquisition Fund and partial gift of the Dedalus Foundation, 1998

Delaware Art Museum, Wilmington, 1999. References Arnason 1969, pp. 64, 66, color illus. p. 49; Sozanski 1999, sec. F, p. 11. Comments This work was listed as “#5” on Motherwell’s sheet of diagrams of the first five Opens, where it appears after works dated November 1967 (see fig. 116 in volume 1 and the Comments for P397). The compositional information given for it is the least detailed on that sheet; it apparently was still being worked on when the diagram was made.

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Delaware Art Museum, Wilmington, 1998 Solo Exhibitions Marlborough-Gerson Gallery, New York, 1969, color illus. n.p. Art Center in Hargate, St. Paul’s School, Concord, N.H., 1970, cat. no. 32.

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P410

P411

Open No. 13: In Washed Ochre Open No. 14: In Ochre with Charcoal Line 1967 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 86 x 140 in. (218.4 x 355.6 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper right: RM 67 Verso not signed, not dated Artist’s Studio Number P69/70-1574; P70/71-1574 Present Owner Denver Art Museum Collection. Acquired in memory of Vance Kirkland. For a full list of donors, see the entry for P22. Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Denver Art Museum, 1994 Solo Exhibitions Denver Art Museum, 1995, illus. n.p. References Arnason 1969, p. 66; MarlboroughGerson Gallery exh. cat. 1969, color illus. n.p.; Paglia 1996, p. 56; Tieken 2000, illus. n.p.; Caws 2003, color illus. p. 118 (ill. 78). 230

1967 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 114 x 69 in. (289.6 x 175.3 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper right: R.M. Verso not signed, not dated Artist’s Studio Number P67-1596 Present Owner The Columbus Museum, Ga. Museum purchase made possible by Sally and Philip Adams in honor of their children and grandchildren; Gloria G. Cohen in honor of her grandchildren; Robbie Keith Holt; Marilyn Laufer in honor of her mother Lisa Lief; Betsy T. Leebern; Elizabeth C. Ogie; Suzanne Henry Saunders; Barbara Broda Star in honor of Inez Rothschild Broda; special assistance from the Ella E. Kirven Charitable Lead Trust for Acquisitions; and a gift of the Dedalus Foundation, New York

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Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Columbus Museum, Ga., 2000 Solo Exhibitions Marlborough-Gerson Gallery, New York, 1969, cover color illus. Columbus Museum, Ga., 2000, color illus. n.p. Group Exhibitions Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1969, cat. no. 259, illus. p. 235. Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo, 1997 (traveling), cat. no. 60, color illus. p. 123. Pfalzgalerie Kaiserslautern, Germany, 1997, color illus. p. 69. References Apollo 1969a, illus. p. 262 (fig. 7); Arnason 1969, p. 66.

P411

P412

Open No. 15: In Cerulean Blue with White Line 1968 Acrylic on canvas 85½ x 143¾ in. (217.2 x 365.1 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper left: RM Recto, upper left, incised: RM 68 Verso not signed, not dated Artist’s Studio Number P68-1580; P68-3643 Present Owner Dedalus Foundation Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991 Solo Exhibitions Bernard Jacobson Gallery, London, October 2008. Bernard Jacobson Gallery, London, June 2009. References Mattison et al. 2009, color illus. pp. 38–39.

P412

P413

P414

P413

P414

Open No. 16: In Ultramarine with Charcoal Line

Open No. 17: In Ultramarine with Charcoal Line

1968 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 99½ x 186½ in. (252.7 x 473.7 cm)

1968 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 99 x 201 in. (251.5 x 510.5 cm)

Inscriptions Recto, lower left: R.M.

Inscriptions Recto, upper right: R.M 68

Verso not signed, not dated

Artist’s Studio Number P68-1604

Artist’s Studio Number P69-

Present Owner Private collection

Present Owner The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Gift of the artist

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; private collection, 2005 Solo Exhibitions Marlborough-Gerson Gallery, New York, 1969 (not in catalogue). Toledo Museum of Art, Ohio, 1969 (traveling), cat. no. 20. References Bruner 1969, color illus. p. 1.

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Provenance Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1969 Group Exhibitions Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1969, cat. no. 260, illus. p. 236. Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1970, as Open No. 17 in Ultramarine.

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Museum of Modern Art, New York, February 1971, as Open, Number 17 (Blue). References Arnason 1969, p. 66, color illus. p. 49; Marlborough-Gerson Gallery exh. cat. 1969, color illus. n.p.; Arnason 1976, p. 15; Arnason 1977b, p. 74, color illus. n.p. (pl. 192); Arnason 1982, p. 74, color illus. p. 73 (pl. 64); Mattison et al. 2009, p. 35, color illus. pp. 46–47.

P415

Open No. 18: In Ultramarine with White Line 1968 Acrylic on canvas 114 x 69 in. (289.6 x 175.3 cm) Inscriptions Recto, lower left: R.M. 68 Verso not signed, not dated Artist’s Studio Number P68-1600 Present Owner Dedalus Foundation Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991 Solo Exhibitions Marlborough-Gerson Gallery, New York, 1969, color illus. n.p. References Glueck 1969, color illus. p. 117; Kramer 1969b, illus. sec. D, p. 41.

P416

Open No. 19: In Cerulean Blue with Charcoal Line 1968 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 115½ x 84 in. (293.4 x 213.4 cm) Inscriptions Recto, lower left: RM Verso not signed, not dated Present Owner The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Anonymous gift, 1969 (69.277.1) Provenance Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1969

Columbus Gallery of Fine Arts, Ohio, 1976 (traveling), as Open No. 19 in Blue; shown in Columbus only. References Metropolitan Museum of Art 1975, illus. p. 211; Thaw 1986–87, p. 49. comments Motherwell gave this painting to the Metropolitan Museum of Art late in 1969.

P417

P418

Open No. 20: In Orange with Charcoal Line

Open No. 22: In Charcoal with White

1968 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 114 x 82 in. (289.6 x 208.3 cm)

1968 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 89½ x 129 in. (227.3 x 327.7 cm)

Inscriptions Recto, upper left: R.M.

Inscriptions Recto, upper right: RM 68

Verso not signed, not dated

Artist’s Studio Number P69-2749; P71-2749

Present Owner Collection Bernard Jacobson Gallery, London

Present Owner Dedalus Foundation Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991

Solo Exhibitions Toledo Museum of Art, Ohio, 1969 (traveling), cat. no. 3.

Solo Exhibitions Art Museum, Princeton University, N.J., 1973, cat. no. 5.

Group Exhibitions Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, 1970 (traveling), cat. no. 68, illus. p. 61.

Group Exhibitions Rogaland Kunstmuseum, Stavanger, Norway, 2008 (traveling).

Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, 1974, cat. no. 27, illus. p. 55, as Open No. 19 in Blue.

P418

Provenance Private collection, 1969; [Sotheby Parke Bernet, Inc., New York, October 26, 1972, lot 23, illus.]; unknown owner, 1972; [Sotheby Parke Bernet, Inc., New York, October 24, 1974, lot 538, illus.]; unknown owner, 1974; [Christie’s, New York, May 18, 1979, lot 101, illus.]; unknown owner, 1979; [Christie’s, New York, November 9, 1988, lot 68, illus.]; private collection, 1988; Bernard Jacobson Gallery, London, 2007

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P419

Solo Exhibitions Marlborough-Gerson Gallery, New York, 1969, color illus. n.p. Marian Locks Gallery, Philadelphia, 1989, color illus. n.p.

Comments This is the first Open painting on canvas in which the lines of the “Open” form do not touch the top of the composition, and are therefore literally “open.”

Locks Gallery, Philadelphia, 1992, color illus. p. 10, as Open 22. Bernard Jacobson Gallery, London, October 2008. References Andreae 1969, p. 8, illus. p. 8; Arnason 1969, p. 66; Kramer 1969b, sec. D, p. 41; Galerie im Erker exh. cat. 1971, illus. p. 14 (in exhibition); Kramer 1973a, p. 346; Arnason 1976, p. 15; Arnason 1977b, pp. 74–77, illus. p. 74 (pl. 46); Arnason 1982, pp. 74–77, illus. p. 74 (pl. 66); Mattison et al. 2009, color illus. pp. 70–71, as Open No. 22.

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P419

Open No. 23: In Blue with Variations of Ultramarine 1968 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 78½ x 114 in. (199.4 x 289.6 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper right: RM 68 Verso not seen Present Owner Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Graham Gund Provenance Mr. and Mrs. Graham Gund, 1969 Solo Exhibitions Marlborough-Gerson Gallery, New York, 1969, color illus. n.p. Knoedler & Company, New York, February 1993, cat. no. 1, as Open No. 23.

Group Exhibitions Boston City Hall, 1971. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1982, color illus. p. 61. Lamont Gallery, Frederick R. Mayer Art Center, Phillips Exeter Academy, Exeter, N.H., 1986. References Arnason 1969, p. 66, illus. p. 51; Krauss 1969, illus. p. 28; Simon 1969, color illus. p. 35; Volboudt 1973a, color illus. p. 79.

P420

Open No. 24: In Variations of Orange 1968 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 81 x 108¼ in. (205.7 x 275 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper right: RM 68 Verso not signed, not dated Present Owner The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Gift of the artist Provenance Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1969 Solo Exhibitions Marlborough-Gerson Gallery, New York, 1969, color illus. n.p.

Group Exhibitions Museum of Modern Art, New York, June 1969, cat. no. 80. Gruenebaum Gallery, New York, 1976, cat. no. 2. Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1979 (circulating), cat. no. 34, illus. p. 95. Brooklyn Museum, May 1980, cat. no. 57.

Open No. 23: In Blue with Variations of Ultramarine (P419); however, he misremembered the numbers as No. 24 and No. 25, instead of No. 23 and No. 24: “It is literally an after-image; in staring at the blue version, sometimes when I would close my eyes, I would see the blue version as orange. This is the only time I have painted an after-image” (see “Writings by the Artist,” in the Bibliography).

References Arnason 1969, pp. 66, 68; Welish 1972, illus. p. 44. Comments This is the first orange Open. In a 1969 questionnaire for the Museum of Modern Art, Motherwell discussed the orange in this painting as being a chromatic afterimage of the blue in

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P421

P422

Open No. 25: In Blue with Variations

Open No. 26: In Grey with White and Umber

1968 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 68 x 81 in. (172.7 x 205.7 cm)

1968 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 91½ x 130½ in. (232.4 x 331.5 cm)

Inscriptions Recto, lower right: RM 68

Inscriptions Recto, upper right: R.M. 68

Verso not seen

Verso not signed, not dated

Present Owner Collection of Stephen and Pilar Robert

Present Owner Whitney Museum of American Art, New York. Gift of a friend of the artist, 69.108

Provenance Mr. and Mrs. Gardiner Hempel, 1969; Stephen and Pilar Robert, 1991 Solo Exhibitions Marlborough-Gerson Gallery, New York, 1969 (not in catalogue). References Motherwell 1969, color illus. n.p.

Provenance Whitney Museum of American Art, 1969 Solo Exhibitions Marlborough-Gerson Gallery, New York, 1969 (not in catalogue). Städtische Kunsthalle Düsseldorf, 1976 (traveling), cat. no. 35, color illus. p. 81, illus. p. 107. Group Exhibitions Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, 1970.

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References Arnason 1976, pp. 16–17, illus. p. 14; Arnason 1977b, p. 76, color illus. p. 75 (pl. 47); Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris exh. cat. 1977, illus. n.p.; Gaugh 1978, p. 31; Pomarède and Delaroière 1978, illus. n.p.; Arnason 1982, p. 76, color illus. p. 75 (pl. 67); Kramer 1991b, illus. sec. 2, p. 20 (detail); Caws 2003, color illus. p. 122 (ill. 80); Mattison et al. 2009, color illus. p. 45, as Open No. 26. comments Motherwell gave this painting to the Whitney Museum of American Art late in 1969.

P422

P423

P424

P423

P424

P425

Open No. 27: In Orange with Charcoal Line

Open No. 28: In Orange with Charcoal Line

Open No. 29: In Crimson with Charcoal Line

1968 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 82 x 77 in. (208.3 x 195.6 cm)

1968 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 69 x 75⅛ in. (175.3 x 190.8 cm)

1969 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 82 x 114 in. (208.3 x 289.6 cm)

Inscriptions Recto, lower right: RM 68

Inscriptions Recto, upper left: RM \ 68

Inscriptions Recto, upper right: RM

Verso not signed, not dated

Artist’s Studio Number P68-2959

Present Owner Private collection

Provenance Private collection, New York, 1969; [Christie’s, New York, May 23, 1978, lot 50, illus.]; private collection, 1978

Provenance Private collection, 1974; [Sotheby Parke Bernet, Inc., New York, May 18, 1978, lot 209, illus.]; unknown owner, 1978; Marisa del Re Gallery, Inc., 1982; [Sotheby Parke Bernet, Inc., New York, November 9, 1983, lot 76, illus.]; unknown owner, 1983; [Sotheby’s, New York, May 15, 2008, lot 162, illus.]; private collection, 2008

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; private collection, 2005

References Krauss 1969, cover color illus., erroneously as Open #29, In Orange with Charcoal Line.

Solo Exhibitions Marlborough-Gerson Gallery, New York, 1969 (not in catalogue).

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Marlborough Galleria d’Arte, Rome, 1969 (traveling). Harcus Krakow Gallery, Boston, 1980, cat. no. 3. Group Exhibitions Marisa del Re Gallery, New York, 1981, color illus. n.p. B. R. Kornblatt Gallery, Washington, D.C., 1981, cat. no. 7. Stamford Museum & Nature Center, Conn., 1982, color illus. p. 20. Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, 1988, color illus. p. 24. References Galerie im Erker exh. cat. 1971, illus. p. 14 (in exhibition); Flash Art 1977, illus. p. 49; Beals 1982, sec. Weekend, p. 1; Jinishian 1982, sec. C, p. 9; Kurtzman 1982, sec. C, p. 5.

P425

P427

P426

Open No. 30: In Crimson with Charcoal Line 1968 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 114 x 69 in. (289.6 x 175.3 cm)

References Arnason 1969, p. 66, color illus. p. 52; Marlborough-Gerson Gallery exh. cat. 1969, color illus. n.p.; Art Présent 1975, illus. n.p.; Carlsen 1982, color illus. p. 115 (installation view), color illus. p. 116 (installation view).

P426

P427

Open No. 32: In Charcoal and Turbulent Umber 1968 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 48 x 84¼ in. (121.9 x 214 cm)

Inscriptions Recto, lower right: RM 68

Inscriptions Recto, upper right: RM 68

Verso not signed, not dated

Present Owner Private collection

Provenance Private collection, 1979 Solo Exhibitions Art Museum, Princeton University, N.J., 1973, cat. no. 6, illus. p. 47.

Provenance Clement and Janice Greenberg, ca. 1969; [Christie’s, New York, May 23, 1978, lot 35, illus.]; private collection, 1978

Group Exhibitions National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, 1969, illus. p. 57.

Solo Exhibitions Marlborough-Gerson Gallery, New York, 1969 (not in catalogue). References Arnason 1976, p. 17; Arnason 1977b, pp. 76–77; Arnason 1982, pp. 76–77.

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239

P428

P429

Open No. 33: In Charcoal on Raw Sienna

Open No. 35: In Raw Umber on Sized Canvas

1968 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 90¾ x 130¾ in. (230.5 x 332.1 cm)

1968–69 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 76 x 114 in. (193 x 289.6 cm)

Inscriptions Recto, upper left: RM 68

Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated

Verso not signed, not dated

Present Owner Collection of the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art

Present Owner The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Anonymous gift, 1969 (69.277.2)

Provenance Private collection, 1970; private col lection, before 1972; [Sotheby Parke Bernet, Inc., London, April 5, 1978, lot 219, illus.]; Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art, Iran, 1978

Provenance Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1969

References Ashton 1969a, p. 28, illus. p. 29; Krauss 1969, p. 28, illus. p. 28; MarlboroughGerson Gallery exh. cat. 1969, color illus. n.p.; Vogue 1972, color illus. p. 118 (installation view).

240

Solo Exhibitions Marlborough-Gerson Gallery, New York, 1969, color illus. n.p. (in early state), as Open No. 35 raw umber on sized canvas. Städtische Kunsthalle Düsseldorf, 1976 (traveling), cat. no. 36, illus. p. 107, as Open No. 35 Raw Umber. Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, 1977, color illus. n.p., as Open Number 35 Raw Umber.

p ain tin gs on c a n v a s a n d pan el

P429

Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1978, cat. no. 15, as Open No. 35, Raw Umber. References Arnason 1969, p. 66, as Open No. 35 raw umber on sized canvas; Metropolitan Museum of Art 1975, illus. p. 211; Arnason 1977b, color illus. n.p. (pl. 193, as Open No. 35 [Raw Umber]); Arnason 1982, color illus. p. 164 (pl. 229, as Open No. 35 [Raw Umber]); Clarke 1983, p. 13, as Open #35; Mattison 1985b, p. 170, illus. n.p. (fig. 147); Thaw 1986–87, p. 49; Pleynet 1989b, color illus. p. 127, as Open No. 35 (Raw Umber); Pleynet 1991, illus. p. 22, as Open No. 35 (Raw Umber); McEvilley 1993, p. 49; Denson and McEvilley 1996, p. 79; Thierolf 2002, p. 290, illus. p. 290 (fig. 1, as Open No. 35 [Raw Umber]); Mattison et al. 2009, p. 84, color illus. p. 50, as Open No. 35 (Raw Umber). Comments After this painting was returned from the Marlborough-Gerson Gallery in 1969, Motherwell added the white accents along the bottom left corner of the umber rectangle. He gave this painting to the Metropolitan Museum of Art late in 1969.

P430

Open No. 37: In Orange with Charcoal Line 1968 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 76 x 114 in. (193 x 289.6 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper left: RM 68 Verso not signed, not dated Present Owner The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Anonymous gift, 1969 (69.277.3) Provenance Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1969 Solo Exhibitions Marlborough-Gerson Gallery, New York, 1969, color illus. n.p. Toledo Museum of Art, Ohio, 1969 (traveling), cat. no. 10. Group Exhibitions Bronx County Courthouse Museum, N.Y., 1971, cat. no. 28.

P430

P431

References Arnason 1969, pp. 66, 68, illus. p. 51; Krauss 1969, pp. 27, 28, illus. p. 26; Schjeldahl 1969b, illus. p. 73; Simon 1969, color illus. p. 34; Kramer 1970, color illus. p. 61; Lebeer 1971, illus. p. 11; Hunter 1972, color illus. p. 220 (pl. 404, as Open No. 37 in Orange); Motherwell in Allen 1972, sec. D, p. 3; Metropolitan Museum of Art 1975, illus. p. 211; Arnason 1977b, p. 77, color illus. n.p. (pl. 194); Arnason 1982, p. 77, color illus. p. 76 (pl. 68); Thaw 1986–87, p. 49, color illus. p. 52 (fig. 44); Pleynet 1989b, color illus. p. 51; Cernuschi 1997, illus. p. 113. Comments Motherwell later numbered another painting Open No. 37A: In Orange (P619) because of its similarity to this work. He gave this painting to the Metropolitan Museum of Art late in 1969.

P431

Open No. 38: In Raw Sienna and Green with Charcoal Line 1968–69 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 108½ x 70 in. (275.6 x 177.8 cm) Inscriptions Recto, lower right: RM 68 Verso not seen Present Owner The Menil Collection, Houston Provenance Menil Collection, Houston, 1969 Solo Exhibitions Marlborough-Gerson Gallery, New York, 1969 (not in catalogue). Städtische Kunsthalle Düsseldorf, 1976 (traveling), cat. no. 37, illus. p. 107, as Open No. 38 (in Raw Sienna and Green). Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, 1977, illus. n.p., as Open No. 38 (in Raw Sienna and Green). Group Exhibitions Institute for the Arts, Rice University, Houston, 1971.

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P432

Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, March 1972. Art Galleries, University of California, Santa Barbara, 1974, cat. no. 12, illus. p. 21. Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais, Paris, 1984, cat. no. 576, illus. p. 410. References Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, exh. cat. 1972, illus. p. 36 (fig. 11); Arnason 1977b, color illus. n.p. (pl. 191); Arnason 1982, color illus. p. 165 (pl. 230); Pleynet 1989b, color illus. p. 131; McEvilley 1993, p. 49; Denson and McEvilley 1996, p. 79; Mattison et al. 2009, p. 84, color illus. p. 73, as Open No. 38.

P432

Open No. 39 Alternative Title: Open No. 39: In Raw Umber with White 1968/ca. 1983 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 54½ x 69 in. (138.4 x 175.3 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper left: RM 68 Recto, upper left, incised: RM 68 Verso not signed, not dated Artist’s Studio Number P68-2958 Present Owner Private collection Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Leonard Hutton Galleries, New York, 2006; private collection, 2007 Solo Exhibitions Art Museum, Princeton University, N.J., 1973, cat. no. 3 (shown in early state). Manny Silverman Gallery, Los Angeles, 2005, cat. no. 29.

P433

Comments The horizontal red band in this work was painted over a horizontal white line sometime around 1983; some of the white line is still visible at the lower edge of the red area. The alternative title is from Motherwell’s May 26, 1970, “open Series, 1967–1970” list and refers to the early version of the work.

P433

P434

Open No. 40: In Gray on Sienna

Open No. 41: Gray with Sienna Band

1968 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 24 x 36 in. (61 x 91.4 cm)

Alternative Title: Ionesco’s Blackboard 1968–70 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 30 x 24 in. (76.2 x 61 cm)

Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated Verso (on top horizontal stretcher): “open #40 (in gray on sienna) 1968 R. Motherwell Artist’s Studio Number P68-646 Present Owner Dedalus Foundation Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991 Solo Exhibitions Galerie im Erker, St. Gall, Switzerland, 1971 (traveling), cat. no. 2, color illus. p. 47 (in exhibition).

P434

Comments This work was first done in 1968 as a horizontal painting titled Ionesco’s Blackboard (a reference to Eugene Ionesco’s play The Chairs), but it was never shown with that title. In 1970 the painting was reoriented, extensively repainted, and retitled.

Inscriptions Recto, upper left, incised: Motherwell Verso (on left vertical stretcher) [painted over]: [“ionesco’s blackboard”] Verso (on left vertical stretcher): Robert Motherwell Verso (on top horizontal stretcher): “open #41, gray with sienna band” Artist’s Studio Number P69-606 Present Owner Dedalus Foundation Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991

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P435

P436

P435

P436

P437

Open No. 46: In Ochre and Black

Open No. 47: In Orange

Untitled (Ochre and Black Open)

1968 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 20 x 30 in. (50.8 x 76.2 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper right, incised: [Motherwell] Verso not signed, not dated Present Owner Audrey and David Mirvish, Toronto Provenance Audrey and David Mirvish, Toronto, 1974

244

1968 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 25 x 30 in. (63.5 x 76.2 cm) Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated Verso: R. Motherwell \ 1968 \ “open #47” Artist’s Studio Number P68-5198 Present Owner Westchester collection Provenance Kay Hillman, New York, ca. 1970; [Christie’s, New York, November 11, 1982, lot 146, illus. (not sold)]; [Christie’s, New York, November 13, 1986, lot 283, illus.]; unknown owner, 1986; [Christie’s, New York, February 21, 1987, lot 54, illus.]; Martin and Janet Blinder, 1987; [Sotheby’s, New York, May 3, 1989, lot 179, illus.]; unknown owner, 1989; [Sotheby’s, New York, November 20, 1996, lot 121, illus.]; Westchester collection, 1996

pain tin gs on c a n v a s a n d pan el

Alternative Titles: Window in Green and Sienna; {Window in Sienna} 1968/ca. 1972/1988 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 54 x 69 in. (137.2 x 175.3 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper left [painted over]: [RM \ 68] Verso not signed, not dated Artist’s Studio Number P68-2955 Present Owner Collection Walker Art Center, Minneapolis. Gift of Margaret and Angus Wurtele and the Dedalus Foundation, 1995 Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, 1995

Solo Exhibitions Padiglione d’Arte Contemporanea, Milan, 1989, cat. no. 8, color illus. p. 36. Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, 1996, cat. no. 26, color illus. n.p., as Window in Sienna. Fundació Antoni Tàpies, Barcelona, 1996 (traveling), cat. no. 39, color illus. p. 157, as Window in Sienna. Museo Dolores Olmedo Patiño, Mexico City, 2008, color illus. p. 49, as Ventana en siena (Window in Sienna). Mary and Leigh Block Museum of Art, Northwestern University, Evanston, Ill., 2009, cat. no. 27, as Window in Sienna. Group Exhibitions Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid, 2001, color illus. p. 33, as Window in Sienna. Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, 2005, as Window in Sienna. References Zanetti 1990, color illus. p. 90 (fig. 2, erroneously as Untitled [One on Black open]).

P437

Comments This painting was originally consigned to the Marlborough-Gerson Gallery as Window in Green and Sienna, but that early version of the work was never photographed. It was returned to Motherwell in February 1972, and sometime after that he repainted the window form in burnt sienna. In 1988, he removed the work from storage, repainted the window form black, and retitled the work Untitled (Ochre and Black Open).

P438

Open Study No. 1 1967 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas board 18 x 24 in. (45.7 x 61 cm)

P438

designated as Open Study paintings, many of which were done on paper (see, for example, Open Study No. 5, W289). Around the same time, he also did a number of Open drawings.

Inscriptions Recto, lower right: RM Verso not signed, not dated Artist’s Studio Number P68-1174 Present Owner Dedalus Foundation Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991 Solo Exhibitions Bernard Jacobson Gallery, London, June 2009. References Mattison et al. 2009, color illus. p. 16. Comments This painting is the first of a group of inconsistently numbered smaller Open paintings that Motherwell

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P439

P440

P441

P440

P441

Open Study No. 6

Open Study No. 7

1968 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 20 x 30 in. (50.8 x 76.2 cm)

1968 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 28 x 22 in. (71.1 x 55.9 cm)

Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated

Inscriptions Recto, lower right [painted over]: [RM]

Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated

Verso not signed, not dated

Verso not seen

Artist’s Studio Number P68-644

Artist’s Studio Number P68-1486

Artist’s Studio Number P68-659

Present Owner Collection Bernard Jacobson Gallery, London

Present Owner Dedalus Foundation

Present Owner Unknown (said to have been destroyed in 1984)

P439

Open Study No. 4 1968 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 36 x 24 in. (91.4 x 61 cm)

References Caws 2003, pp. 154, 164; Caws 2004, p. 1293, illus. p. 1294 (fig. 1); Turner 2006, p. 156; Mattison et al. 2009, color illus. p. 8.

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; private collection, 2006; Bernard Jacobson Gallery, London, 2007 Solo Exhibitions Gertrude Kasle Gallery, Detroit, 1972, cat. no. 6. Galleria d’Arte il Gabbiano, Rome, 2006, cat. no. 12, color illus. p. 25. Bernard Jacobson Gallery, London, June 2009.

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Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991 Solo Exhibitions University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, 1970 (traveling), cat. no. 23. References Mattison et al. 2009, color illus. p. 37.

Provenance The artist Comments A note on the studio card for this work says that it was destroyed in January 1984. Our reproduction comes from a Polaroid photograph.

P442

Open Study No. 9

Douglas Drake Gallery, Kansas City, Mo., 1978.

P443

P444

P443

P444

Open Study No. 10

Open Study No. 17

1968 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas board 30 x 20 in. (76.2 x 50.8 cm)

Group Exhibitions Douglas Drake Gallery, Kansas City, Mo., 1974.

1969 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 30 x 20 in. (76.2 x 50.8 cm)

1968 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 25 x 30 in. (63.5 x 76.2 cm)

Inscriptions Recto, upper right [painted over]: [RM]

Art Galleries, University of California, Santa Barbara, 1974, cat. no. 13, illus. p. 22.

Inscriptions Recto, upper left: RM

Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated

Verso not seen

Verso not signed, not dated

Artist’s Studio Number P69-1487

Artist’s Studio Number P68-1503

Present Owner Unknown (said to have been destroyed in 1984)

Present Owner Collection Bernard Jacobson Gallery, London

Provenance The artist

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Bernard Jacobson Gallery, London, 2006

Verso not signed, not dated Present Owner Collection of Charles M. Yassky, New York Provenance Douglas Drake Gallery, 1974; Sharon W. Reddin, 1976; [Sotheby’s, New York, November 20, 1996, lot 130, illus. (not sold)]; [Christie’s, New York, September 13, 2006, lot 275, illus.]; Charles M. Yassky, New York, 2006 Solo Exhibitions Art Museum, Princeton University, N.J., 1973, cat. no. 57. John Berggruen Gallery, San Francisco, 1973, cat. no. 7.

Comments A note on the studio card for this work says that it was destroyed in January 1984. Our reproduction of it comes from a color slide taken around 1970.

Solo Exhibitions Manny Silverman Gallery, Los Angeles, 2005, cat. no. 28. Group Exhibitions Armand Bartos Fine Art, New York, 2009.

Laguna Gloria Art Museum, Austin, Tex., 1975.

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P445

P446

Open Study No. 22

Untitled

Alternative Title: Open No. 22 1968 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 30 x 40 in. (76.2 x 101.6 cm)

Alternative Title: A Throw of Dice No. 3 1963/1968 Acrylic and chalk on canvas 42 x 40 in. (106.7 x 101.6 cm)

Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated

Inscriptions Recto, lower right, incised [painted over]: [RM]

Verso: R. Motherwell \ 1968 \ open, #22

P446

on the back of the canvas. Motherwell had done a Throw of Dice series in 1963, but most of the works in it were painted over and/or retitled (see P260 and P261).

P447

Open No. 45: In Blue with Brown 1969 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 22 x 28 in. (55.9 x 71.1 cm) Inscriptions Recto, lower right, incised: Motherwell

Verso: Robert Motherwell \ 1968

Verso (on top horizontal stretcher): “open, #45” Robert Motherwell

Present Owner Marianne E. Steiner

Verso (on top horizontal stretcher): “a throw of dice, #3” 1963

Artist’s Studio Number P71-1086

Provenance Marianne E. Steiner, 1970

Artist’s Studio Number P63/68-693

Present Owner Private collection

References Britannica Encyclopedia of American Art 1973, color illus. p. 381 (fig. 4).

Present Owner Dedalus Foundation

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; private collection, 2008

Comments Despite the title inscribed on the verso, this painting was titled Open Study No. 22 when it was consigned to the Marlborough-Gerson Gallery in 1969. Another painting (p418) had already been given the number 22 in the series.

248

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991 Comments The title inscribed on the top horizontal stretcher of this work, A Throw of Dice, #3, refers to a previous composition that is visible in a 1963 studio photograph. That work was painted over in 1968, when Motherwell dated the work

pain tin gs on c a n v a s a n d pan el

Group Exhibitions Art Gallery, American Academy of Arts and Letters and National Institute of Arts and Letters, New York, 1970, cat. no. 55. References Mattison et al. 2009, color illus. p. 120.

P448

P447

Comments Both this work and P448 were assigned the Open series number 45.

P449

P448

P449

Open No. 45

Open No. 45A

1969 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 24 x 36 in. (61 x 91.4 cm)

Inscriptions Recto, upper left: RM

Inscriptions Recto, lower right: RM

Verso (on backing board): “open #45” \ Robert Motherwell \ 1969

Verso not seen

Artist’s Studio Number P69-645 Present Owner Collection of Michael and Dalia Engler, Texas Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Michael and Dalia Engler, Texas, 2006 Solo Exhibitions Marlborough Galleria d’Arte, Rome, 1969 (traveling). Comments Both this work and P447 were assigned the Open series number 45.

Comments When the Open number 45A was given to this work, two other works had already been given the number 45; see P447 and P448.

Present Owner Herta and Paul Amir Provenance Private collection, 1973; [Sotheby Parke Bernet, Inc., New York, October 23, 1975, lot 404, illus.]; unknown owner, 1975; [Christie’s, New York, November 18, 1981, lot 64, illus.]; unknown owner, 1981; [Christie’s, New York, November 11, 2004, lot 155, illus.]; Herta and Paul Amir, 2004 Group Exhibitions Republic Plaza, Denver, 1998.

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249

P450

P451

P450

P451

Open No. 48: In Scarlet, Black, and Light Blue

Open No. 49

1969 Acrylic on canvas 25 x 30 in. (63.5 x 76.2 cm) Inscriptions Recto, lower left, incised: Motherwell Verso not seen [“titled on the reverse,” per Sotheby’s 1991]

1969 Acrylic on canvas 30 x 40 in. (76.2 x 101.6 cm) Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated Verso (on top horizontal stretcher): “open #49” Verso: Robert Motherwell \ 1969

Present Owner Unknown

Artist’s Studio Number P69-656

Provenance Private corporation, 1970; [Sotheby’s, New York, October 3, 1991, lot 41, illus.]; unknown owner, 1991

Present Owner Denver Art Museum Collection. For a full list of donors, see the entry for P22.

Comments Our reproduction of this work comes from the 1991 Sotheby’s auction catalogue.

250

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Denver Art Museum, 1994 Solo Exhibitions Galerie im Erker, St. Gall, Switzerland, 1971 (traveling), cat. no. 1, color illus. p. 47 (in exhibition).

p ain tin gs on can v as an d pa n el

P452

John Berggruen Gallery, San Francisco, 1973, cat. no. 4.

P452

Denver Art Museum, 1995, illus. n.p.

Open No. 50: In Orange with Black

References Lebeer 1971, illus. p. 11; Paglia 1996, p. 56; Tieken 2000, illus. n.p.

1969 Acrylic on canvas 30 x 40 in. (76.2 x 101.6 cm) Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated Verso (on top horizontal stretcher): open #50 (in orange with black) R. Motherwell 1969 Artist’s Studio Number P69-642 Present Owner Dedalus Foundation Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991 Solo Exhibitions Art Museum, Princeton University, N.J., 1973, cat. no. 1. References Arnason 1977b, pp. 77–78, color illus. p. 77 (pl. 48); Chapman 1980, p. 54, illus. p. 54 (fig. 5); Arnason 1982, pp. 77–78, color illus. p. 77 (pl. 69).

P453

Comments Motherwell assigned the Open series number 50 to both this work and P453.

P454

P455

P453

P454

P455

Open No. 50

Open No. 51: In Black on Orange

Open No. 52: Ochre on Black

1969 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 30 x 40 in. (76.2 x 101.6 cm) Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated Verso (on top horizontal stretcher): “open #50” R. Motherwell 1969

1969 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 25 x 30 in. (63.5 x 76.2 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper right [painted over]: [RM] Verso not seen

Artist’s Studio Number P69-623

Present Owner Unknown

Present Owner Collection of John Walter and Joy Thornton-Walter

Provenance Private collection, 1973; unknown owner

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; John Walter and Joy Thornton-Walter, 2006 Solo Exhibitions Marlborough Galleria d’Arte, Rome, 1969 (traveling). Thomas McCormick Gallery, Chicago, December 2005 (traveling), cat. no. 17. Comments Motherwell assigned the Open series number 50 to both this work and P452.

Ca. 1969 Acrylic on canvas 30 x 20 in. (76.2 x 50.8 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper right, incised: Motherwell Verso not seen Present Owner Ellen Iseman Provenance Joseph S. Iseman; Ellen Iseman, 2006 Solo Exhibitions Museo de Arte Moderno, Mexico City, 1975, cat. no. 29. Comments This painting is dated 1969 on a list of works consigned to the MarlboroughGerson Gallery on January 28, 1970 (which is the earliest reference to it). On Motherwell’s May 26, 1970, “open Series, 1967–1970” list and in the catalogue for his 1975 exhibition in Mexico City, however, it is dated 1970.

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251

P456

P457

Open No. 53: In Crimson with Charcoal Line

Open No. 54: The Gray Window

1969 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 24 x 30 in. (61 x 76.2 cm)

Alternative Title: Open No. 54: In Sienna, Blue and Ochre 1969 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 36 x 24 in. (91.4 x 61 cm)

Inscriptions Recto, upper right: RM Verso not seen Present Owner Private collection Provenance Private collection, ca. 1972; private collection, 1972; private collection, 1986 Solo Exhibitions Gertrude Kasle Gallery, Detroit, 1972, cat. no. 7.

Inscriptions Recto, lower left: Motherwell Verso not seen [“signed and dated on reverse top on stretcher,” per André Emmerich Gallery papers] Artist’s Studio Number P67-5178 Present Owner Private collection, Minneapolis Provenance Private collection, Basel, Switzerland, 1977; unknown owner, ca. 2002; private collection, Minneapolis, 2007 Solo Exhibitions Art Museum, Princeton University, N.J., 1973, cat. no. 65.

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p ain tin gs on c an v as an d pa n el

P457

John Berggruen Gallery, San Francisco, 1973, cat. no. 9. Galerie André Emmerich, Zurich, 1977, color illus. n.p. References Morrin 1973, illus. p. 6; Flam 1991, color illus. n.p. (pl. 85); Chalumeau 1998, color illus. p. 48 (pl. 49); Mattison et al. 2009, pp. 34, 35. Comments The alternative title for this work comes from Motherwell’s May 26, 1970, “open Series, 1967–1970” list.

P458

Open No. 55: In Orange 1968–69 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 24 x 36 in. (61 x 91.4 cm) Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated Verso: R. Motherwell \ open #55 \ 1968–69 Artist’s Studio Number P69-3118 Present Owner Dedalus Foundation Provenance Private collection, 1973; [Christie’s, New York, November 9, 1983, lot 175, illus.]; Knoedler & Company, 1983; Robert Motherwell, 1984; Dedalus Foundation, 1991 Solo Exhibitions Art Museum, Princeton University, N.J., 1973, cat. no. 58. Bernard Jacobson Gallery, London, June 2009.

P459

P460

P458

Group Exhibitions Art Gallery, American Academy of Arts and Letters and National Institute of Arts and Letters, New York, 1970, cat. no. 56. References Mattison et al. 2009, color illus. p. 74, as Open No. 55. Comments Motherwell reacquired this painting from Knoedler & Company in 1984, several months after the gallery had purchased it at auction.

P459

Open No. 56: In Crimson Alternative Title: Open No. 56: In Blue on Scarlet 1969 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 30 x 40¼ in. (76.2 x 102.2 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper left, incised: R Motherwell Verso (on top horizontal stretcher): “open #56” Present Owner Martin and Enid Packard Provenance Martin and Enid Packard, 1973 Solo Exhibitions Gertrude Kasle Gallery, Detroit, 1972, cat. no. 5.

Comments The alternative title for this work comes from Motherwell’s May 26, 1970, “open Series, 1967–1970” list.

P460

Open No. 57: Green and Black 1969–70 Acrylic on canvas 24 x 36 in. (61 x 91.4 cm) Inscriptions Recto, lower left, incised: Motherwell Verso: R. Motherwell \ 1970 Verso (on top horizontal stretcher): “open #57” Artist’s Studio Number P70-658 Present Owner Dedalus Foundation Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991

Group Exhibitions Art Gallery, American Academy of Arts and Letters and National Institute of Arts and Letters, New York, 1970, cat. no. 51.

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P461

Open No. 58: Blue on Beige Alternative Title: Open No. 58 (Blue and Black on Beige) 1969–70 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 8 x 10 in. (20.3 x 25.4 cm) Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated Verso not seen Artist’s Studio Number P-288 Present Owner Unknown Provenance The artist Group Exhibitions Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, 1970 (traveling), cat. no. 5, color illus. p. 25. References Price 1972, p. 285.

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Comments This work was titled Open No. 58: Blue on beige on Motherwell’s May 26, 1970, “open Series, 1967–1970” list. On the shipping list for the 1970 AlbrightKnox Art Gallery exhibition, however, Motherwell wrote in the title as “Open #58 (blue & black on beige).” When the painting was exhibited, only the number was retained, without the descriptive subtitle. We have chosen to retain the original title. Our reproduction of it comes from the Albright-Knox Art Gallery exhibition catalogue. We do not know whether it still exists in the form illustrated here.

P462

Open No. 59: In Orange and Blue Panel Alternative Title: Open No. 7: In Cadmium Yellow with Charcoal Line 1967/1969 Acrylic on canvas 70 x 122 in. (177.8 x 309.9 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper right: RM 68 Verso not signed, not dated Artist’s Studio Number P68-3719 Present Owner Dedalus Foundation Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991 References House & Garden 1969, color illus. p. 53 (in studio, in progress). Comments Motherwell began this work as a vertical painting in 1967, Open No. 7: In Cadmium Yellow with Charcoal Line. It was revised during the summer

of 1969 and retitled Open No. 59: In Orange and Blue Panel. This painting was cropped sub stantially on the sides and slightly on the bottom under the supervision of the Dedalus Foundation when the canvas was stretched in 2007.

P463

Open No. 60: In Mottled Brown and Green Alternative Titles: Open No. 4: In Two Greens; Open No. 60: In Raw Sienna and White 1968–70 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 118 x 69 in. (299.7 x 175.3 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper left: R.M Verso (on top horizontal stretcher): “open, #60” 1968 R. Motherwell Present Owner Audrey and David Mirvish, Toronto Provenance Audrey and David Mirvish, Toronto, 1970 Solo Exhibitions David Mirvish Gallery, Toronto, December 1970. Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, March 1974.

p. 88; shown in Buffalo and San Francisco only. Museum Morsbroich, Leverkusen, Germany, 2004, color illus. p. 59. Group Exhibitions Edmonton Art Gallery, Alberta, Canada, 1972 (traveling). Musée d’Art Contemporain, Montreal, 1973, color illus. p. 9. References Gallery Notes 1974, illus. p. 17 (in exhibition); Stiftel 2004, p. 298. Comments This work was originally titled Open No. 4: In Two Greens, as per Motherwell’s May 26, 1970, “open Series, 1967– 1970” list. It was repainted in June 1970, and then retitled Open No. 60: In Raw Sienna and White. The title was changed again before its sale in autumn 1970.

P464

Open No. 61: In Deep Ultramarine with Black Alternative Title: Open No. 21: In Deep Ultramarine with Black 1968–70 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 114 x 82½ in. (289.6 x 209.6 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper left: RM 68 Verso (on horizontal crossbar): “open, #61” 1968 R. Motherwell Present Owner Audrey and David Mirvish, Toronto

Group Exhibitions Edmonton Art Gallery, Alberta, Canada, 1972 (traveling), color illus. n.p. Fort Worth Art Museum, March 1985, cat. no. 16, color illus. p. 53. References Marshall 1972, p. 10; Fort Worth Art Museum exh. cat. September 1985, illus. p. 28. Comments This painting was renumbered (from 21 to 61) after Motherwell retouched a small area of the left-hand vertical line in 1970.

Provenance Audrey and David Mirvish, Toronto, 1971 Solo Exhibitions David Mirvish Gallery, Toronto, December 1970. Lawrence Rubin/Greenberg Van Doren Fine Art, New York, 2001, cat. no. 11, color illus. n.p. (pl. 1).

Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, 1983 (traveling), cat. no. 49, color illus.

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P465

Open No. 62: In Scarlet and White Alternative Titles: Open No. 62, In Scarlet with Charcoal; Open No. 62: In Scarlet with Charcoal Line 1969/ca. 1972 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 24 x 36 in. (61 x 91.4 cm) Inscriptions Recto, lower right: RM Verso (on top horizontal stretcher): “open #62, in scarlet with charcoal” 1969 R. Motherwell Present Owner Private collection, New York Provenance Private collection, Maine, ca. 1976; private collection, New York, 2006 Group Exhibitions Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1972 (not in catalogue); shown in early state, as Open #62, In Scarlet with Charcoal. Brockton Art Museum-Fuller Memorial, Mass., 1980, illus. p. 4.

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Comments The lines in this work were originally rendered in white paint, but they were subsequently painted over in red, with the “Open form” redrawn in charcoal. This version of the work was shown at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, in 1972 under the title Open #62, In Scarlet with Charcoal. Sometime after this, Motherwell added white paint directly over the charcoal lines, and the work was shown in its final form at the Brockton Art Museum in May 1980 as Open No. 62: In Scarlet and White. Traces of the original Open form painted in white are still partially visible beneath the red ground. The alternative title, Open No. 62: In Scarlet with Charcoal Line, comes from Motherwell’s May 26, 1970, “open Series, 1967–1970” list.

P466

P467

P466

P467

Open No. 75

Open No. 76

1969/ca. 1972 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 60 x 40 in. (152.4 x 101.6 cm)

1969 Acrylic on canvas 60 x 40 in. (152.4 x 101.6 cm)

Inscriptions Recto, upper left: RM

Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated

Verso: R. Motherwell \ Summer, 1969 \ “open, #75”

Verso not seen

Present Owner Private collection, Dallas Provenance Private collection, Dallas, 1973 Comments The black and dark blue forms in the lower part of this painting were added around 1972.

Artist’s Studio Number P69-1142 Present Owner Unknown Provenance Unknown owner, ca. 1980 Comments Our reproduction of this work comes from a color slide.

P469

P468

P470

P468

P469

P470

Open No. 77

Open No. 78: In Green with Charcoal Line

Open No. 79: In Gray with Charcoal

1969 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 40 x 60 in. (101.6 x 152.4 cm)

Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated

Verso not seen

Verso not seen [“For Renate Ponsold \ Easter Day 1972 \ RM,” per present owner]

1969 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 40 x 60 in. (101.6 x 152.4 cm) Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated Verso not seen Present Owner Stan and Judi Jacobs Provenance Stan and Judi Jacobs, 1980 Solo Exhibitions Dart Gallery, Chicago, 1976, cat. no. 2. Group Exhibitions Knoedler & Company, New York, January 1980, cat. no. 2. Knoedler & Company, New York, summer 1980, cat. no. 1.

Present Owner Unknown Provenance The artist Comments This work is known only from a transparency made around 1970. We do not know whether it still exists in the form illustrated here.

Comments The title and date of this 1969 painting are erroneously given by Arnason as Easter Day, 1972 (Arnason 1982, p. 163). But the “Easter Day 1972” inscribed on the verso is actually part of a dedication Motherwell wrote on the verso of the work when he gave it to Renate Ponsold in 1972, only a few months before the two were married.

Verso not seen [“Open #79 \ R. Motherwell \ Summer 1969,” per present owner] Artist’s Studio Number P72-1962 Present Owner Renate Ponsold Motherwell Provenance Renate Ponsold Motherwell, 1972 References Arnason 1982, color illus. p. 163 (pl. 228, erroneously as Easter Day).

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P471

Open No. 80: In Medium Ultramarine with Charcoal Line 1969 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 60 x 40 in. (152.4 x 101.6 cm) Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated Verso: R. Motherwell \ Summer, 1969 \ “open #80” Present Owner Susan and John B. Hess. Courtesy of Kim Heirston Art Advisory Provenance Private collection, 1972; William J. Hokin, Chicago, 1972; private collection, 1991; unknown owner; John Berggruen Gallery, 2005; private collection, 2006; Susan and John B. Hess, 2006 Group Exhibitions Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, April 1985, color illus. p. 81, as Open Series #80.

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John Berggruen Gallery, San Francisco, 2005. References Arnason 1976, p. 17, color illus. p. 18; Arnason 1977b, p. 78, color illus. n.p. (pl. 201, flipped); Motherwell in Arnason 1977b, n.p.; Arnason 1982, p. 78, color illus. p. 168 (pl. 232); Taylor 1993, color illus. p. 52 (fig. 11); Museum Morsbroich exh. cat. 2004, color illus. p. 55 (flipped).

P472

Open No. 81: In Blue with Charcoal Line 1969/ca. 1972 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 72 x 42 in. (182.9 x 106.7 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper right: RM 69 Verso: R. Motherwell \ Summer, 1969 \ “open #81” Present Owner Private collection Provenance A. J. Pyrch, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, 1972; [Christie’s, New York, February 20, 1988, lot 41, illus.]; private collection, 1988

Comments Motherwell modified the composition of this work slightly when he added the green marks on the right side around 1972. Similar revisions were made to Open No. 86: In Blue with Charcoal Line (P476).

P473

Open No. 82: The Blue Easel Alternative Titles: Open No. 82: In Gray on Light Blue; Open No. 82: The Blue Studio 1969/ca. 1982 Acrylic, crayon, and charcoal on canvas 54 x 60 in. (137.2 x 152.4 cm) Inscriptions Recto, lower right: RM Verso: R. Motherwell \ Summer, 1969 \ “open #82” Artist’s Studio Number P69-960; P69-1450 Present Owner Denver Art Museum Collection. For a full list of donors, see the entry for P22.

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Denver Art Museum, 1995 Solo Exhibitions Janie C. Lee Gallery, Houston, 1978, as Open No. 82 (The Blue Studio). Denver Art Museum, 1995, illus. n.p. References Paglia 1996, p. 56; Tieken 2000, illus. n.p. Comments This work was originally painted in gray on blue. It was given its current title when it was revised around 1982. The alternative title, Open No. 82: In Gray on Light Blue, comes from Motherwell’s May 26, 1970, “open Series, 1967–1970” list.

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P474

Open No. 83 1969 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 72 x 42 in. (182.9 x 106.7 cm)

Group Exhibitions Samuel P. Harn Museum of Art, University of Florida, Gainesville, 2008, cat. no. 74, color illus. p. 179.

Inscriptions Recto, upper left: RM 69 Verso: R. Motherwell \ Summer, 1969 \ “open #83” Artist’s Studio Number P69-1194 Present Owner Collection of Carol and Stephen Shey, Gainesville, Fla. Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Carol and Stephen Shey, Gainesville, Fla., 2003 Solo Exhibitions Marlborough Galleria d’Arte, Rome, 1969 (traveling). Galerie im Erker, St. Gall, Switzerland, 1971 (traveling), cat. no. 4, cover color illus. Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, 1977.

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P475

Open No. 84: In Orange with Charcoal Line 1969 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 60 x 54 in. (152.4 x 137.2 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper left: RM Verso: “open #84” Verso: R. Motherwell \ Summer, 1969 Artist’s Studio Number P69-1933 Present Owner Dedalus Foundation Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991 Solo Exhibitions Marlborough Galleria d’Arte, Rome, 1969 (traveling). David Mirvish Gallery, Toronto, December 1970. Manny Silverman Gallery, Los Angeles, 2000, cat. no. 31. Galerie Lelong, Paris, 2007.

References Chapman 1980, p. 50, illus. p. 50 (fig. 1). Comments Motherwell gave the number 84A to a later work that is similar to this one in scale, composition, and color (P652).

P476

P477

Open No. 86: In Blue with Charcoal Line

Open No. 87: In Deep Ultramarine

1969/ca. 1972 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 72 x 42 in. (182.9 x 106.7 cm)

1969/ca. 1972 Acrylic on canvas 72 x 42¼ in. (182.9 x 107.3 cm)

Inscriptions Recto, upper left: RM

Inscriptions Recto, upper right: RM

Verso: “open #86” \ R. Motherwell \ Summer, 1969

Verso: “open #87” (in deep \ ultramarine) \ R. Motherwell \ Summer, 1969

Present Owner Private collection, Germany Provenance Private collection, Germany References Franzke 1994, color illus. p. 12 (fig. 11, in progress). Comments The composition of this painting was revised around 1972, when Motherwell reworked the edges of the Open form and added the small area of green paint on the left. Similar revisions were made to Open No. 81: In Blue with Charcoal Line (P472).

P477

November 1969. Motherwell then revised the work by adding the white lines, the yellow horizontal form, and the areas of darker blue paint sometime before it was consigned to the Marlborough-Gerson Gallery in March 1972.

P478

Open No. 88: In Blue 1969 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 54 x 60 in. (137.2 x 152.4 cm) Inscriptions Recto, lower left [painted over]: [RM] Verso: “open #88” \ R. Motherwell \ Summer 1969 \ N.F.S. Artist’s Studio Number P69-1146

Present Owner Collection of G. Fischmann

Present Owner Hess Art Collection

Provenance John C. and Gayle Stetson, 1973; Greenberg Gallery, Saint Louis, 1987; G. Fischmann

Provenance Hess Art Collection, ca. 1983

Solo Exhibitions Washington University Gallery of Art, Saint Louis, 1995, cat. no. 11.

Solo Exhibitions Art Center in Hargate, St. Paul’s School, Concord, N.H., 1970, cat. no. 29.

Comments An early version of this painting with a simpler linear structure was photographed by the Marlborough-Gerson Gallery and returned to the artist in

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P478

P479

P480

Open No. 89

Open No. 90

1969 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 54 x 60 in. (137.2 x 152.4 cm)

1969 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 48 x 72 in. (121.9 x 182.9 cm)

Inscriptions Recto, upper left: RM

Inscriptions Recto, upper right, incised: RM 69

Verso: R. Motherwell \ 1 July 69 \ “open #89”

Verso: R. Motherwell \ Summer, 1969 \ “open #90”

Artist’s Studio Number P69-1136

Artist’s Studio Number P69-1193; P69-1195

Present Owner Dedalus Foundation

Present Owner Collection Everson Museum of Art. Museum Purchase, in part, with funds from the Frances Edwards “Dooie” Hancock Memorial Fund and the John Hancock Family in memory of Dooie Hancock

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991 Solo Exhibitions Bernard Jacobson Gallery, London, October 2008. References Mattison et al. 2009, color illus. p. 76.

P480

Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, 1977. Comments The composition of this painting is similar to that of a contemporaneous untitled painting on paper (W306).

P481

Open No. 92: The Blue Wall 1969 Acrylic on canvas 72 x 42 in. (182.9 x 106.7 cm) Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated Verso not signed, not dated Present Owner Collection of Luther W. Brady Provenance Luther W. Brady, 1975 Solo Exhibitions Galerie André Emmerich, Zurich, 1974, color illus. n.p. Locks Gallery, Philadelphia, 1992, color illus. p. 11.

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse, N.Y., 2003

Group Exhibitions Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1986, illus. p. 52.

Solo Exhibitions Marlborough Galleria d’Arte, Rome, 1969 (traveling).

References Staber 1974–75, color illus. p. 114.

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263

P482

P483

Open No. 93: In Medium Ultramarine Blue with Charcoal Line

Open No. 94

1969 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 60¼ x 40 in. (153 x 101.6 cm)

1969 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 72 x 42 in. (182.9 x 106.7 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper left: RM

Inscriptions Recto, upper right, incised: RM 69

Verso: open #94 \ R. Motherwell \ Summer, 1969

Verso: “open #93” \ R. Motherwell \ Summer, 1969

Verso (on vertical stretcher): for \ mirvish \ gallery \ toronto

Artist’s Studio Number P69-2159

Present Owner Private collection

Present Owner Collection of Eve and Michael Steinberg

Provenance David Mirvish Gallery, Toronto, 1971; private collection, 1972; [Christie’s, New York, November 19, 1997, lot 217, illus. (not sold)]; [Christie’s East, New York, March 11, 1998, lot 117, illus. (not sold)]; [Sotheby’s, New York, February 17, 1999, lot 178, illus.]; Ingrid and Jep Thornton, 1999; [Sotheby’s, New York, March 9, 2010, lot 32, illus.]; private collection, 2010

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Eve and Michael Steinberg, 2002

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P483

Solo Exhibitions David Mirvish Gallery, Toronto, December 1970.

P484

Open No. 96 Alternative Title: Open No. 91: In Orange with Black 1969–70 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 72 x 42 in. (182.9 x 106.7 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper right, incised: R Motherwell Verso: “open #96” (in orange with black) \ R. Motherwell \ Summer, 1969 \ N.F.S. Artist’s Studio Number P69-1943 Present Owner Dedalus Foundation Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991 Solo Exhibitions John Berggruen Gallery, San Francisco, 1973, cat. no. 1.

P484

Comments The title inscribed on the back of this painting, “ ‘open #96’ (in orange with black),” refers to an early state that was photographed by the MarlboroughGerson Gallery and returned to the artist in November 1969. Motherwell then revised the work by painting a cream color over the black section sometime before it was consigned again to Marlborough-Gerson in February 1971. Motherwell gave the number 96 to two Open paintings, this work and P485. Handwritten notes on his May 26, 1970, “open Series, 1967–1970” list indicate that he intended to call this work Open No. 91: In Orange with Black; but he never changed the title on the verso to correspond with the handwritten notation on the list, and in 1973 he showed this work as Open #96 at the John Berggruen Gallery.

P485

Open No. 96: In Vermillion and Black with Sienna Window 1969 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 54 x 40 in. (137.2 x 101.6 cm) Inscriptions Recto, lower right, incised: Motherwell Verso: “open #96” \ R. Motherwell \ Summer, 1969 Present Owner Collection of the Hara Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo Provenance Henry Weiss, New York, 1970; [Sotheby Parke Bernet, Inc., New York, May 16, 1979, lot 344, illus.]; unknown owner, 1979; Hara Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo, 1979 Group Exhibitions Museum of Modern Art, Shiga, Japan, 1989, cat. no. 29, color illus. p. 70. National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, 1995, cat. no. 9, color illus. p. 25.

P485

Comments The number 96 was given to two works in the Open series, this one and P484.

P486

Open No. 97: The Spanish House Alternative Title: Open No. 97: In Orange (Cadaqués House) 1969 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 92½ x 114½ in. (235 x 290.8 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper left: RM 69 Verso (on horizontal crossbar): “open #97, in orange (cadeques [sic] house)” 1969 Artist’s Studio Number P69-2211 Present Owner Dedalus Foundation Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991 Solo Exhibitions David Mirvish Gallery, Toronto, December 1970. Museo de Arte Contemporaneo de Caracas, Venezuela, 1979, cat. no. 2, color illus. n.p.

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P486

P487

Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, 1983 (traveling), cat. no. 51, color illus. p. 91. Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, 1984, cat. no. 44. Padiglione d’Arte Contemporanea, Milan, 1989, cat. no. 9, color illus. p. 37. Fundació Antoni Tàpies, Barcelona, 1996 (traveling), cat. no. 41, color illus. p. 161. References Arnason 1976, p. 17, illus. p. 16; Arnason 1977b, pp. 78–79, color illus. n.p. (pls. 203, in studio, 205, in exhibition, as The Spanish House); Motherwell in Arnason 1977b, n.p.; Chapman 1980, p. 53, illus. p. 53 (fig. 4); Arnason 1982, pp. 78–79, color illus. p. 169 (pl. 234); Motherwell in Arnason 1982, p. 168; Albright-Knox Art Gallery Calendar 1983, illus. p. 4; Ashton 1983, p. 47, as The Spanish House, color illus. p. 90; Gelles 1984, p. 37, illus. p. 37; Kangas 1984, sec. Arts & Leisure, illus. sec. Arts & Leisure; Larson 1985, p. 72; Ashton 1989, p. 15, color illus. p. 37 (cat. no. 9); Pleynet 1989b, color illus. p. 135; Flam

1991, color illus. n.p. (pl. 92); Polcari 1991, p. 321, illus. p. 319 (fig. 258, as Open #97 [Spanish House]); RàfolsCasamada 1996, p. 20; Chalumeau 1998, color illus. p. 51 (pl. 52); Mattison et al. 2009, p. 35, color illus. p. 75. Comments Motherwell originally intended to title this painting Open No. 97 in Orange (Cadaqués House), as per the verso inscription and a June 12, 1973, list of works in the Open series. But he always showed it under its current title, which refers to a house in a photograph of Cadaqués that he had in his studio. (The photograph is reproduced in Arnason 1982, p. 168, pl. 233.) The diagonally sloping vertical line at the left side of the Open form in this work relates it to a contemporaneous painting on paper, Open Study (In Blue with Pencil Lines) (W310), in which this motif also makes an early appearance.

P487

Open No. 98: In Red and Black 1969 Acrylic, charcoal, and graphite on canvas 60 x 72 in. (152.4 x 182.9 cm)

Group Exhibitions Art Galleries, University of California, Santa Barbara, 1974, cat. no. 14, illus. p. 23.

Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated Verso: “Open #98” \ R. Motherwell \ Summer, 1969 Present Owner Collection of Dr. and Mrs. C. Law Provenance Private collection, 1974; private col lection, 1978; unknown owner, 1986; Dr. and Mrs. C. Law, 1999 Solo Exhibitions Art Center in Hargate, St. Paul’s School, Concord, N.H., 1970, cat. no. 28, illus. n.p. (in exhibition). John Berggruen Gallery, San Francisco, 1973, cat. no. 11.

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P488

Open No. 99

were incised into the blue ground, shortly after it was returned to the artist early in 1972; but the red area and the overall composition remain the same.

P489

Open No. 101: Big Orange

Inscriptions Recto, upper right, incised: Motherwell

Alternative Title: Open No. 101: In Orange 1968–69 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 70½ x 94½ in. (179.1 x 240 cm)

Verso: R. Motherwell \ Summer, 1969 \ “open #99”

Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated

Present Owner Private collection

Verso not signed, not dated

1969/1972 Acrylic on canvas 60 x 40 in. (152.4 x 101.6 cm)

Provenance Private collection, 1972; private collection, 1973 Solo Exhibitions Marlborough Galleria d’Arte, Rome, 1969 (traveling); shown in early state. Comments A 1969 studio photograph shows this painting with a bright green ground, which makes the red seem correspondingly brighter. The work was consigned in this early state to the MarlboroughGerson Gallery in 1969. The green ground was painted dark blue, and lines

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Present Owner Whitney Museum of American Art, New York. Gift of an anonymous donor Provenance Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, 1969 Solo Exhibitions Knoedler & Company, New York, February 1993, cat. no. 7. Group Exhibitions Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, December 1969, cat. no. 82. Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, 1970.

Gruenebaum Gallery, New York, 1976, cat. no. 1, color illus. p. 28. Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts, Ala., 1980 (traveling), illus. p. 45. References Hankins 2002, illus. n.p. (in exhibition); Steinhauer 2002, sec. B, p. 6, color illus. sec. B, p. 6 (installation view). Comments The alternative title for this painting comes from Motherwell’s May 26, 1970, “open Series, 1967–1970” list. The 1968–69 date comes from a list Motherwell prepared of his gifts of paintings to museums for the year 1969.

P490

P491

Open No. 102

Open No. 103: Big Square Blue

1969/1979 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 40 x 60 in. (101.6 x 152.4 cm) Inscriptions Recto, lower left: RM Verso: “open #102” \ R. Motherwell \ Summer, 1969 Artist’s Studio Number P69-1137 Present Owner Collection of Lois and Bruce Zenkel Provenance Lois and Bruce Zenkel, 1980

1969 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 81½ x 75¾ in. (207 x 192.4 cm)

P491

Group Exhibitions Art Gallery, American Academy of Arts and Letters and National Institute of Arts and Letters, New York, 1970, cat. no. 50.

Inscriptions Recto, upper left: RM 69 Recto, upper right: RM 69 Verso not signed, not dated Artist’s Studio Number P69-1575 Present Owner Collection of Dr. and Mrs. C. Schwartz

Solo Exhibitions Toledo Museum of Art, Ohio, 1969 (traveling), cat. no. 18 (shown in early state).

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; private collection, New York, 2003; Bernard Jacobson Gallery, London, 2006; Dr. and Mrs. C. Schwartz, 2006

Comments The vertical white band on the left side of this canvas was added in 1979 (Sloman photo no. 971).

Solo Exhibitions Art Center in Hargate, St. Paul’s School, Concord, N.H., 1970, cat. no. 31, cover illus. (in exhibition).

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269

P492

Open No. 104: The Brown Easel 1969 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 54⅛ x 60¼ in. (137.5 x 153 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper right [painted over]: [RM] Verso: “open #104 (the brown easel)” \ R. Motherwell \ Summer, 1969 Artist’s Studio Number P69-1227 Present Owner Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Purchased with funds provided by Daisy and Daniel Belin, Alice and Nahum Lainer, Leona Palmer, Marvel and Robert Kirby, Barbara and Buzz McCoy, Sandra and Jacob Terner, 270

Anita and Julius L. Zelman, Patricia and Michael Forman, and Mr. and Mrs. William A. Mingst through the 1995 Collectors Committee and gift of the Dedalus Foundation Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1995 Solo Exhibitions Toledo Museum of Art, Ohio, 1969 (traveling), cat. no. 9. Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, 1977. Knoedler & Company, New York, 1978, cat. no. 33, illus. p. 9 (in exhibition), illus. p. 22. Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, 1983 (traveling), cat. no. 52, color illus. p. 90; not shown in Los Angeles and Seattle.

p ain tin gs on can v as an d pa n el

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, 1984, cat. no. 78. References Frackman 1978, p. 24; Arnason 1982, color illus. p. 170 (pl. 235); Gaugh 1985, p. 75; Pleynet 1989b, color illus. p. 130; Flam 1991, color illus. n.p. (pl. 88); At the Museum 1995–96a, color illus. p. 6; Caws 1996b, p. 101, illus. p. 102; Caws 2003, p. 163, color illus. p. 163 (ill. 109); Denver Art Museum exh. cat. 2007, color illus. p. 23; Mattison et al. 2009, p. 88, color illus. p. 78.

P493

Open No. 105: Big Blue with Green Window 1969 Acrylic on canvas 93 x 131¼ in. (236.2 x 333.4 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper left: RM 69 Verso not signed, not dated Artist’s Studio Number P69-1585 Present Owner Dedalus Foundation Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991

P494

P493

Solo Exhibitions Art Center in Hargate, St. Paul’s School, Concord, N.H., 1970, cat. no. 30, erroneously as Open No. 105 (Big Blue with Great Window). References Mattison et al. 2009, color illus. p. 77.

P494

Open No. 107: In Brown and Black Line Alternative Title: Open No. 107: In Raw Sienna with Charcoal Line 1969–70 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 88 x 122 in. (223.5 x 309.9 cm)

P495

Group Exhibitions Musée d’Art Contemporain, Montreal, 1973. Comments The alternative title for this painting comes from Motherwell’s May 26, 1970, “open Series, 1967–1970” list.

P495

Open No. 108 1969 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 40 x 60 in. (101.6 x 152.4 cm) Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated

Inscriptions Recto, upper left: RM

Verso (oriented vertically): R. Motherwell \ Summer, 1969 \ “open #108”

Verso (on left vertical crossbar): open \ #107

Artist’s Studio Number P69-1148

Present Owner Audrey and David Mirvish, Toronto

Present Owner Dedalus Foundation

Provenance Audrey and David Mirvish, Toronto, 1970

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991

Solo Exhibitions David Mirvish Gallery, Toronto, December 1970. Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, 1983 (traveling), cat. no. 54, color illus. p. 93; not shown in Seattle. Museum Morsbroich, Leverkusen, Germany, 2004, color illus. pp. 66–67.

Solo Exhibitions Marlborough Galleria d’Arte, Rome, 1969 (traveling). John Berggruen Gallery, San Francisco, 1973, cat. no. 2. William Shearburn Gallery, Santa Fe, N.Mex., 2008, cat. no. 3, erroneously as Open #109.

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P496

Comments An earlier composition on this canvas was probably oriented vertically, as indicated by the position of the verso inscription.

P496

The Garden Window Alternative Titles: Open No. 110: In Red and Beige (The Red Window); Open No. 110: In Black and Cream with Blue Window; Open No. 110 (In Cream and Black with Blue Window) 1969/1990 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 60 x 49 in. (152.4 x 124.5 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper left, incised: Motherwell Verso: “the garden window” \ “open #110” \ (in cream + black with blue window) \ R. Motherwell \ Summer, 1969 \ nfs Artist’s Studio Number P69-1239

Present Owner Collection of the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth. Museum purchase, the Friends of Art Endowment Fund

Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, 1983 (traveling), cat. no. 50, color illus. p. 48; shown in early state; not shown in Los Angeles.

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, 1993

Artcurial Centre d’Art Plastique Contemporain, Paris, 1990 (traveling), Paris, color illus. p. 17.

Solo Exhibitions Art Museum, Princeton University, N.J., 1973, cat. no. 53 (shown in early state), as Open No. 110 (In Cream and Black with Blue Window).

Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, 1993, as The Garden Window (Open No. 110).

John Berggruen Gallery, San Francisco, 1973, cat. no. 6 (shown in early state), as Open #110. Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, 1977 (shown in early state), erroneously as The Garden (Open No. 10 in Cream and Black with Blue Window). Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1978, cat. no. 16, illus. p. 17; shown in early state.

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Fundació Antoni Tàpies, Barcelona, 1996 (traveling), cat. no. 40, color illus. p. 159, as The Garden Window (Formerly Open No. 110). Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, 2004, as The Garden Window (Open No. 110). Group Exhibitions Janie C. Lee Gallery, Houston, 1986 (shown in early state).

P497

Neuberger Museum, State University of New York at Purchase, 1986 (traveling), color illus. p. 40; shown in early state. References Arnason 1976, pp. 20, 21, color illus. p. 19 (in early state), referred to in text and in illus. as The Garden: Open No. 110; Arnason 1977b, pp. 79–80, color illus. n.p. (pl. 212, in early state); Motherwell in Arnason 1977b, n.p.; Tyler 1977, sec. F, p. 7, illus. sec. F, p. 7 (in early state); Gaugh 1978, p. 29; Arnason 1982, pp. 79–80, color illus. p. 175 (pl. 241, in early state); Motherwell in Arnason 1982, p. 174; Ashton 1983, p. 47, color illus. p. 48 (in early state); Clarke 1983, p. 13; Glowen 1984, illus.; Gaugh 1985, p. 75; Amepnka 1986, color illus. p. 47 (in early state); Warnod 1990, p. 27; Flam 1991, p. 26, color illus. n.p. (pl. 86);

Pély-Audan 1991, p. 102; Polcari 1991, p. 321; Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth Calendar 1993, p. 3, color illus. n.p., referred to in text and in illus. as The Garden Window (Open No. 110); Tyson 1993a, color illus. p. 1, as The Garden Window (Open No. 110); Caws 1996a, color illus. sec. 2, p. 1; Caws 1996b, pp. 92, 101, illus. p. 93, color illus. n.p.; Chalumeau 1998, color illus. p. 49 (pl. 50, as Open no 110 [La fenêtre de jardin]); Bocola 2001, color illus. p. 99 (cat. no. 519, in early state); Caws 2003, color illus. p. 156 (ill. 104); Mattison et al. 2009, p. 34, color illus. p. 79 (as The Garden Window [Open No. 110]). Comments The basic composition of this painting was set in 1969. It was originally titled Open No. 110: In Red and Beige (The Red Window). The picture was subsequently revised and accordingly retitled

in handwriting as Open No. 110: In Black and Cream with Blue Window. This is the version that appears in Emile de Antonio’s documentary Painters Painting, which was filmed in April 1970. Despite the painting having already been revised, the original title of the work was listed on the typed May 26, 1970, “open Series, 1967–1970” list, and the title of the revised work was written in by hand. The title of the picture was changed again, to The Garden, in 1975 (as per a note on a photo in the Dedalus Foundation Archives). It was given its present title, The Garden Window, by the time of Motherwell’s 1978 London retrospective. In 1990, shortly before the painting was sent to the Artcurial exhibition in Paris, Motherwell painted a bright cadmium red over much of the sienna rectangle at the lower right center.

P497

Open No. 111: Big White and Ochre Alternative Title: Open No. 111: In White and Ochre 1969 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 93 x 129 in. (236 x 327.7 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper left, incised: RM \ 69 Verso not signed, not dated Artist’s Studio Number P69-1571 Present Owner Dedalus Foundation Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991 Solo Exhibitions Tibor de Nagy Gallery, Houston, 1974.

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P498

Museo de Arte Moderno, Mexico City, 1975, cat. no. 28. Museum Morsbroich, Leverkusen, Germany, 2004, color illus. pp. 62–63. Bernard Jacobson Gallery, London, October 2008. References Flash Art 1977, illus. p. 49; Flam 1991, color illus. n.p. (pl. 90); Chalumeau 1998, color illus. p. 50 (pl. 51); Mattison et al. 2009, color illus. p. 82. Comments Motherwell used one of the earliest Opens (Mural Sketch, W250) as a model for the composition of this large work. The word Big in the title may have been meant to distinguish this work from Open No. 90 (P480), a work with a similar composition, roughly half the size, also painted in white and ochre. The alternative title comes from Motherwell’s May 26, 1970, “open Series, 1967–1970” list.

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P499

P500

P498

P499

P500

Open No. 112

Open No. 114: In Red, Tan, and Black

Open No. 115: Indian Red

1969 Acrylic on canvas 60¼ x 54¼ in. (153 x 137.8 cm) Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated Verso: [“signed on verso,” per studio card] Artist’s Studio Number P69-1130 Present Owner Private collection, San Francisco Provenance Private collection, 1986; Knoedler & Company, 1999; private collection, San Francisco, 1999 Solo Exhibitions Marlborough Galleria d’Arte, Rome, 1969 (traveling).

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1969 Acrylic on canvas 72 x 59 in. (182.9 x 149.9 cm) Inscriptions Recto, lower right, incised: RM \ 69 Recto, lower left, incised [partially painted over]: R[M] Verso: “open #114” \ R. Motherwell \ Summer, 1969 Artist’s Studio Number P69-2954 Present Owner Dedalus Foundation Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991 Solo Exhibitions Art Center in Hargate, St. Paul’s School, Concord, N.H., 1970, cat. no. 27.

Alternative Title: Open No. 115: Indian Red with Charcoal Line 1969 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 72 x 42 in. (182.9 x 106.7 cm) Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated Verso: “open #115” (indian red) \ R. Motherwell \ Summer, 1969 Artist’s Studio Number P69-1133 Present Owner Alan M. Webber/Frances Diemoz Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Alan M. Webber/Frances Diemoz, 2005 Solo Exhibitions Harcus Krakow Gallery, Boston, 1980, cat. no. 1. Comments The alternative title for this painting comes from Motherwell’s May 26, 1970, “open Series, 1967–1970” list.

P501

Open No. 117 1969/ca. 1983 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 60 x 40 in. (152.4 x 101.6 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper left: RM

P502

a short time before the painting was consigned to Knoedler & Company that June.

P503

P502

P503

Open No. 119: In Blue with Charcoal Line

Open No. 120 1969 Acrylic on canvas 72 x 42 in. (182.9 x 106.7 cm)

1969/1972 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 60 x 72 in. (152.4 x 182.9 cm)

Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated

Verso not seen

Inscriptions Recto, upper right: R. Motherwell 70

Artist’s Studio Number P69-2209

Verso: “open # 119” \ R. Motherwell \ Summer, 1969

Present Owner Private collection

Present Owner Private collection, Minneapolis

Provenance Princeton Gallery of Fine Art, 1987; private collection, 1987

Provenance Private collection, 1973; private collection, Minneapolis, 1973

Solo Exhibitions Marlborough Galleria d’Arte, Rome, 1969 (traveling); shown in early state.

Comments The lower half of this work was originally painted white. Motherwell painted the lower part dark blue after it was returned to him from consignment at the Marlborough-Gerson Gallery in August 1972.

Comments This painting was shown in an early state, which had less prominent linear elements, at Marlborough Galleria d’Arte, Rome, in 1969. Motherwell probably added the heavier black lines and the pale blues on the sides in 1983,

Verso: “open #120” \ R. Motherwell \ Summer, 1969 Present Owner Collection of Karen and Robert Duncan, Lincoln, Neb. Provenance David Mirvish Gallery, Toronto, 1972; private collection, 1974; [Sotheby’s, New York, November 18, 1998, lot 246, illus. (not sold)]; Karen and Robert Duncan, Lincoln, Neb., 1998 Solo Exhibitions Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, March 1974. Group Exhibitions Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, 1970.

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P504

Agnes Etherington Art Centre, Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada, 1993, color illus. n.p. References Gallery Notes 1974, illus. p. 17 (in exhibition); Art in Embassies 1977, color illus. p. 5.

P504

Open No. 121: Bolton Landing Elegy 1969 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 96 x 174 in. (243.8 x 442 cm) Inscriptions Recto, lower right, incised: RM Verso not seen [“«open, #121 \ (bolton landing elegy)» \ Robert Motherwell \ 1969,” per Tate] Artist’s Studio Number P68-5204 Present Owner Tate. Presented by the artist through the American Federation of Arts, 1970 Provenance Tate, London, 1970 Group Exhibitions School of Fine & Applied Arts Gallery, Boston University, 1970, illus. p. 38. Fondation Maeght, Saint-Paul-deVence, France, 1970, illus. p. 73 (upside down), as Open 121 (Bolton Landing).

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Comments Motherwell did a study in collage for this work, Open, Bolton Landing (C264). The title refers to Bolton Landing, New York, near Lake George, where Motherwell’s close friend David Smith had his studio. This painting is in effect an Elegy for David Smith, who had died in 1965. On October 2, 1970, Motherwell wrote to the English curator Ronald Alley that after Smith’s death he had painted The Forge (P350) in his memory, but had not been satisfied with it. Motherwell went on to say that “Open 121 (Bolton Landing) struck me as what I had really meant but titled after. Commissions, even self-commissions, work less well than working directly and then discovering what one associates the work with” (see “Writings by the Artist,” in the Bibliography).

P505

Open No. 122: In Scarlet and Blue 1969 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 84 x 100 in. (213.4 x 254 cm) Inscriptions Recto, lower right: RM Verso not seen [“ ‘open #122, in scarlet + blue | 84 x 100" 1969 R. Motherwell’ on stretcher,” per Tate] Artist’s Studio Number P69-5205 Present Owner Tate. Presented by the artist through the American Federation of Arts 1970 Provenance Tate, London, 1970 References Charmet 1965, p. 168; Leonard 1991, color illus. p. 11.

P506

P505

P506

Open No. 124 1969 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 88¼ x 122 in. (224.2 x 309.9 cm)

1969; Dedalus Foundation Archives). But in fact, the painting sent to San Francisco was this one, Open No. 124, as confirmed by a letter of February 28, 1971, from Gerald Nordland to Motherwell.

P507

Open White and Black 1969 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 88 x 122 in. (223.5 x 309.9 cm)

Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated

Inscriptions Recto, upper right: Motherwell 69

Verso: Robert Motherwell \ 1969 \ open #124

Verso not signed, not dated

Present Owner Collection San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Anonymous gift

Artist’s Studio Number P69-2214 Present Owner Herbert Liaunig Privatstiftung

Provenance San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, 1970

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Herbert Liaunig, 2001

Group Exhibitions Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, 1974, cat. no. 28, illus. p. 56.

Solo Exhibitions Museo de Arte Contemporaneo de Caracas, Venezuela, 1979, cat. no. 3, color illus. n.p.

Comments This painting was given by the artist to the San Francisco Museum of Art in 1969, as “open number one twenty three” (telegram from Robert Motherwell to Gerald Nordland, the director of the museum, December 31,

and compositional format are similar to Open No. 124 (P506), with which it was confused in studio documents, and both paintings were probably conceived and worked on around the same time. The present title of this work dates from 1979, when it was exhibited in Caracas.

References Pleynet 1975, illus. p. 8; Ashton 1980, illus. p. 7. Comments This painting may originally have been numbered Open No. 123. Its dimensions

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P509

P508

Open No. 184 Alternative Title: Open No. 184: In White with Black Line 1969 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 88 x 122 in. (223.5 x 309.9 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper left: Motherwell 69 Verso not seen [“signed, titled, and dated 1969,” per Sotheby Parke Bernet 1976] Present Owner Collection Onnasch Provenance David Mirvish Gallery, Toronto, 1970; private collection, 1972; [Sotheby Parke Bernet, Inc., New York, October 21, 1976, lot 212, illus.]; unknown owner, 1976; private collection, 1986; [Sotheby Parke Bernet, Inc., New York, May 5, 1986, lot 12, illus.]; private collection, 1986; [Sotheby’s, New York, May 8, 1990, lot 18, illus.]; Collection Onnasch, 1990

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Solo Exhibitions David Mirvish Gallery, Toronto, December 1970. Group Exhibitions Galerie Ronny van de Velde, Antwerp, Belgium, 1991. Institut Mathildenhöhe, Darmstadt, Germany, 2000, cat. no. 25, color illus. p. 32, as Open #184 (with charcoal lines). Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona, 2001 (traveling), color illus. p. 59, as Open #184 (With Charcoal Lines). Museo de Arte Contemporáneo Esteban Vicente, Segovia, Spain, 2003, color illus. p. 97, as Open no. 184 (With Charcoal Lines). References Kritzwiser 1970, p. 24; Kerber 1992, p. 31, color illus. p. 31. Comments This work was painted in 1969 (around the same time as P506 and P507) and is signed with that date. Although its high number within the Open series may seem to suggest a later date, it results

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from the painting not having been assigned a series number until the latter part of 1970. It was erroneously listed as a 1970 work on the MarlboroughGerson Gallery 1970 sales list, and exhibited with that date at the David Mirvish Gallery that December.

P510

P509

Untitled 1969 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 30 x 40 in. (76.2 x 101.6 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper left: RM Verso (on top horizontal stretcher): Robert Motherwell 1969 Present Owner Private collection Provenance Unknown owner, ca. 1969; [Christie’s, New York, November 1, 1984, lot 67A, illus.]; Margo Leavin Gallery, Los Angeles, 1984; [Christie’s, New York, November 4, 1987, lot 195, illus.]; CarlErik Björkegren, Stockholm, ca. 1987; [Sotheby’s, New York, May 1, 1991, lot 194, illus.]; private collection, 1991 Group Exhibitions Margo Leavin Gallery, Los Angeles, 1985.

P511

P512

P513

P510

P511

P512

P513

The House at Sevilla

[ Untitled (Ochre, Gray, Scarlet Open) ]

{ Untitled (Open in Red with Blue Lines)}

Untitled

Ca. 1969 Acrylic on Masonite 36 x 23⅞ in. (91.4 x 60.6 cm)

Alternative Title: [Untitled (Red with Blue Lines)] 1969 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 74 x 55⅜ in. (187 x 140.7 cm)

1969 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 56¼ x 69 in. (142.9 x 175.3 cm) Inscriptions Recto, lower right: RM. Verso: “The House at Sevilla” \ 1969 \ Robert Motherwell \ 56" x 69"

Inscriptions Recto, upper left, incised: R Motherwell Verso not signed, not dated

Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated

1969 Acrylic on canvas 40 x 30 in. (101.6 x 76.2 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper right, incised: RM 69 Verso not signed, not dated Artist’s Studio Number P69-611

Artist’s Studio Number P69-1934

Artist’s Studio Number P69-607

Present Owner Dedalus Foundation

Artist’s Studio Number P69-1577

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991

Present Owner Collection of Mr. B. W. Ryan

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Marsha and Carl Hewitt, 2004

Solo Exhibitions Museo de Arte Contemporaneo de Caracas, Venezuela, 1979, cat. no. 1.

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; B. W. Ryan, 2007

References Zell and Burstein 1988, color illus. p. 54.

Galerie Lelong, Paris, 2007.

Group Exhibitions Gerald Peters Gallery, Dallas, 2006, color illus. p. 95.

Verso: Robert Motherwell

Present Owner Collection of Marsha and Carl Hewitt

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P514

Elegy to the Spanish Republic No. 114

Comments Motherwell made a gift of this work to the current owner, who is our source of information for the number within the Elegy series; there is, however, no written record of this number.

P515

P516

Elegy to the Spanish Republic No. 116

Mural Sketch

1969 Acrylic on canvas board 7 x 9 in. (17.8 x 22.9 cm)

Alternative Title: España 1964/1969 Acrylic on canvas board 6 x 12 in. (15.2 x 30.5 cm)

Inscriptions Recto, lower right: R. Motherwell

Inscriptions Recto, upper left: RM 69

Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated

Verso not signed, not dated

Verso not seen (glued to backing board)

Present Owner Private collection

Present Owner Collection of Clifford Ross

Verso: “mural sketch” \ (canvas) \ R. Motherwell \ (revised 1968)

Provenance Private collection, ca. 1969

Provenance Gloria Ross, ca. 1969; Clifford Ross, 1998

1969 Acrylic and graphite on canvas 20 x 24 in. (50.8 x 61 cm)

Solo Exhibitions Lawrence Rubin/Greenberg Van Doren Fine Art, New York, 2001, cat. no. 6, color illus. n.p. (pl. 3), erroneously as Spanish Elegy No. 18. References De Antonio and Tuchman 1984, cover illus. (in studio), illus. p. 13 (in studio), illus. p. 61 (in studio); Jones 1996, illus. p. 102 (fig. 2.6, in studio).

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Comments A tapestry based on this work was done by Gloria F. Ross Tapestries in 1970. Gloria Ross was Helen Frankenthaler’s sister.

Verso [painted over]: [illegible] Verso (on painted over area): 68 \ Motherwell Artist’s Studio Number P68-1118 Present Owner Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Mark L. Brock, Concord, Mass. Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Mr. and Mrs. Mark L. Brock, Concord, Mass., 2007 Group Exhibitions Museum of Modern Art, New York, February 1968 (circulating); shown in early state, as Espana.

P516

P517

References Ashton 1972, p. 103, illus. p. 103 (fig. 17, in early state, as España). Comments First painted in 1964 and called España, this painting was included in Social Comment in American Art, an exhibition organized by the Museum of Modern Art that traveled to several venues in 1968–69. After that exhibition closed, the canvas was returned to Motherwell. He then turned it upside down, revised it, and retitled it. (The “revised 1968” inscription on the verso was an estimated date added several years later.) The “mural” painting referred to in the title, for which this work may have been a study, is Africa (P338), which Motherwell began in 1964 with the idea of creating a large-scale gestural painting for the Baltimore Museum of Art.

P517

Iberia No. 23 1964/1967–69 Acrylic on canvas board 9 x 12 in. (22.9 x 30.5 cm) Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated Verso: Robert Motherwell \ 1964 \ acrylic polymer on \ “winsor + newton” linen panel Artist’s Studio Number P64-1037 Present Owner Private collection, southern California Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; private collection, southern California, 2001 Solo Exhibitions William Ehrlich Gallery, New York, May 1979.

P518

Comments This work was begun in 1964 (as per the verso inscription) and was apparently reworked in 1967 as one of the compositions with an oval form typical of that year (see for example P382); the oval form is still visible under the paint film. It appears to have been reworked as an Iberia image in 1969, around the same time that Iberia No. 30 (P518) was painted. The number 23 within the Iberia series was assigned to this work in 1979, prior to its exhibition at the William Ehrlich Gallery (where it was shown as a 1964 work).

P518

Iberia No. 30 Alternative Title: {Iberia} 1969 Acrylic on canvas board 8 x 10 in. (20.3 x 25.4 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper left, incised: Motherwell Verso: R. Motherwell \ 1969 \ N.Y.C. Artist’s Studio Number P69-1940 Present Owner Dedalus Foundation Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991 Solo Exhibitions William Ehrlich Gallery, New York, May 1979. Delaware Art Museum, Wilmington, 1999, as Iberia.

Delaware Art Museum, Wilmington, 1999.

Manny Silverman Gallery, Los Angeles, November 2002, cat. no. 39, as Iberia.

Group Exhibitions San Diego Museum of Art, 2003.

Galerie Lelong, Paris, 2007, as Iberia.

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P519

Comments This work was assigned its number in the Iberia series prior to its first exhibition at the William Ehrlich Gallery in 1979. After Motherwell’s death, it was shown simply as Iberia, without a number. Other small Iberia paintings done around the same time were later revised (see P519–P521), but this work appears to have retained its original form.

P519

Iberia No. 31 1969–ca. 1975 Acrylic on canvas 10 x 11 in. (25.4 x 27.9 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper left: RM Verso: R. Motherwell \ 1969 \ N.Y.C. Artist’s Studio Number P69-1122 Present Owner Private collection, Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Knoedler & Company, 2005; private collection, Fort Lauderdale, Fla., 2005 Solo Exhibitions William Ehrlich Gallery, New York, June 1979. Fundació Antoni Tàpies, Barcelona, 1996 (traveling), cat. no. 42, color illus. p. 163. Delaware Art Museum, Wilmington, 1999.

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P520

Comments The lower right corner of this work was first painted as an unbroken white area in 1969. The painting was revised around 1974, when the artist added the black brushstrokes to the area at the lower right; at that time, he also painted the ground they were set against in yellow ochre, as is evident in a 1975 photograph of the work in Motherwell’s studio. Sometime after the 1975 photograph was taken, Motherwell once again repainted the lower right corner white. The number 31 within the Iberia series was assigned to this work in 1979, prior to its inclusion in an exhibition at the William Ehrlich Gallery.

P520

Untitled (Iberia Series) 1969–74 Acrylic on canvas 69 x 54 in. (175.3 x 137.2 cm) Inscriptions Recto, lower right: RM \ 69 Verso: R. Motherwell \ 1969 Verso [painted over]: [illegible] Artist’s Studio Number P69-1129 Present Owner Delaware Art Museum, F. V. du Pont Acquisition Fund and partial gift of the Dedalus Foundation, 1998 Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Delaware Art Museum, Wilmington, 1998 Solo Exhibitions Galería Joan Prats, Barcelona, 1986 (traveling), Barcelona, cat. no. 38, color illus. n.p.; Palma de Mallorca, cat. no. 38, color illus. n.p.; Bilbao, color illus. p. 6; Madrid, cat. no. 38, color illus. n.p.

P521

Delaware Art Museum, Wilmington, 1999.

P521

References Soler 1987, color illus. p. 37.

1969–ca. 1974 Acrylic on canvas 20 x 24 in. (50.8 x 61 cm)

Comments This work was first painted in 1969, when the area at the lower right corner was a simple small white plane, as is evident in a photograph taken around June 1974 (studio inventory photo no. ph 57-8). Later in 1974 Motherwell changed that area from white to ochre and added some black brushstrokes within it. The signature and the 1969 date inscribed at the lower right were added at the time Motherwell revised the painting in 1974, as if to assert that despite its repainting he still considered it to be essentially a 1969 work.

Untitled (Iberia Series)

Inscriptions Recto, upper right, incised: RM Verso not signed, not dated Artist’s Studio Number P69-1087; P69-2239 Present Owner Helga de Alvear Collection Provenance Helga de Alvear, 1987 Solo Exhibitions Galería Joan Prats, Barcelona, 1986 (traveling), Barcelona, cat. no. 40, color illus. n.p.; Palma de Mallorca, cat. no. 40, color illus. n.p.; Bilbao, color illus. p. 7; Madrid, cat. no. 40, color illus. n.p. Group Exhibitions Salón de Baile del Círculo de Bellas Artes, Madrid, 1989, color illus. n.p.

P522

Comments This work is similar to other Iberia-like compositions that Motherwell painted in 1969 and revised around 1974 (see P519 and P520). Here, as in P520, Motherwell repainted what had been a white area at the lower right with ochre and added black brushstrokes within that section. Although this painting was sold in 1987 as an undated work, it has strong stylistic affinities to P520, and appears to have been worked on around the same time. See also The Calligraphy of the Night, 1974 (P809), which has the same kind of paint handling as these two revised Iberia paintings.

P522

Alberti Suite No. 1 1969 Acrylic on canvas 36½ x 30½ in. (92.7 x 77.5 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper left, incised: Motherwell Verso not seen Present Owner Collection of Feibes & Schmitt—Architects Provenance Private collection, New York, 1973; [Christie’s, New York, November 13, 1986, lot 140, illus.]; unknown owner, 1986; [Sotheby’s, New York, November 11, 1993, lot 307, illus.]; Feibes & Schmitt—Architects, 1993 Solo Exhibitions Galerie im Erker, St. Gall, Switzerland, 1971 (traveling), cat. no. 5, illus. p. 55. Art Museum, Princeton University, N.J., 1973, cat. no. 55.

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P523

Group Exhibitions Hyde Collection, Glens Falls, N.Y., 2003, color illus. p. 91, erroneously as Alberta Suite #1. Comments Motherwell had a long-standing familiarity with the work of the Spanish poet Rafael Alberti (1902–1999), who was a member of an avant-garde group of Spanish poets known as the “Generacíon de ’27” (Generation of ’27). From 1968 to 1972, Motherwell was immersed in Alberti’s writings while working on A la Pintura, which was published by Universal Limited Art Editions in September 1972 (Engberg and Banach 2003, nos. 111–31). The Alberti Suite of paintings was an outgrowth of that project. (In 1983, Motherwell collaborated with Alberti on another livre d’artiste of his poetry, El Negro (Engberg and Banach 2003, nos. 308.1–308.21), published by Tyler Graphics Ltd.) There are gaps in the numbering within the Alberti Suite of paintings, and certain works that originally belonged to this series were subse-

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quently painted over and given different titles (see P754–P756 and P989). Since Motherwell worked on the Alberti Suite paintings in both 1969 and 1970, we have presented them following the numbering sequence rather than adhering strictly to the dates.

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P524

P525

P523

P524

Alberti Suite No. 2 (Beige on Black)

Alberti Suite No. 3

1970 Acrylic on canvas 14 x 10 in. (35.6 x 25.4 cm) Inscriptions Recto, lower right: Motherwell

Ca. 1969 Acrylic on canvas board 10 x 14 in. (25.4 x 35.6 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper left, incised: Motherwell

Verso not seen

Verso (on top horizontal stretcher): alberti suite #3

Present Owner Unknown

Artist’s Studio Number P68-269

Provenance The artist

Present Owner Private collection

Comments Our reproduction of this work comes from a black-and-white photograph taken by the MarlboroughGerson Gallery around 1970. We do not know whether this work still exists in the form illustrated here.

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; private collection, 2005 Solo Exhibitions William Benton Museum of Art, University of Connecticut, Storrs, 1979, cat. no. 45 (brochure); cat. no. 46 (catalogue). Galerie Lelong, Paris, 2005. Comments Motherwell also titled another work Alberti Suite No. 3 (see P1022).

P526

P527

P528

P525

P526

P527

P528

Alberti Suite No. 5

Alberti Suite No. 8

Alberti Suite No. 9

Alberti Suite No. 12

1969 Acrylic on canvas 18 x 14 in. (45.7 x 35.6 cm)

1970 Acrylic on canvas 40 x 29¾ in. (101.6 x 75.6 cm)

1970 Acrylic on canvas 40 x 30 in. (101.6 x 76.2 cm)

Ca. 1970 Acrylic on canvas board 12 x 16 in. (30.5 x 40.6 cm)

Inscriptions Recto, upper left, incised: Motherwell

Inscriptions Recto, lower right, incised: Motherwell

Inscriptions Recto, lower right: Motherwell 70

Inscriptions Recto, upper left, incised: Motherwell

Verso (on top horizontal stretcher): “alberti suite #5” R. Motherwell \ 1969

Verso not signed, not dated

Artist’s Studio Number P70-622

Artist’s Studio Number P**-2836

Artist’s Studio Number P69-480

Present Owner Collection Bernard Jacobson Gallery, London

Present Owner Huntington Museum of Art, Huntington, W.Va. Museum purchase with funds provided by Mr. Alex E. Booth Jr.

Present Owner Private collection Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; private collection, 2008 Solo Exhibitions Galerie Lelong, Paris, 2007.

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Bernard Jacobson Gallery, London, 2008 Group Exhibitions Bernard Jacobson Gallery, London, April 2009, cat. no. 6, as Alberti Suite No. 8 (Black). References Mattison et al. 2009, color illus. p. 90, as Alberti Suite No. 8 (Black).

Present Owner Dedalus Foundation

Provenance Huntington Museum of Art, W.Va., 1970

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991

Group Exhibitions Huntington Galleries, W.Va., 1977, illus. p. 25. Huntington Museum of Art, W.Va., 2002, color illus. p. 139. Huntington Museum of Art, W.Va., 2003 (traveling), cat. no. 36, color illus. p. 97. Huntington Museum of Art, W.Va., 2007.

paint ing s on canvas and pane l

285

P529

P530

P531

P529

P530

P531

P532

Black Window

Greek Island

Greek Island II

Open No. 125: Jeannie

1970/1990 Acrylic on canvas board 30 x 15 in. (76.2 x 38.1 cm)

1969 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 8 x 10 in. (20.3 x 25.4 cm)

1970 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 8 x 10 in. (20.3 x 25.4 cm)

Inscriptions Recto, lower left, incised: Motherwell

Inscriptions Recto, lower right, incised: RM \ 69

Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated

Alternative Title: Open No. 125: In Blue with Blue and Green Stripes 1969 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas board 30 x 20 in. (76.2 x 50.8 cm)

Verso: “Black Window” 1970 \ Robert Motherwell

Verso not signed, not dated

Verso: Robert Motherwell \ 1970

Artist’s Studio Number P69-291

Artist’s Studio Number P70-2262

Present Owner Private collection, New York

Present Owner Private collection, Minneapolis

Artist’s Studio Number P71-479

Provenance Private collection, New York, 1979

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; private collection, Minneapolis, 2005

Present Owner Collection Bernard Jacobson Gallery, London

Solo Exhibitions William Ehrlich Gallery, New York, June 1979.

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Bernard Jacobson Gallery, London, 2006

Comments This work has been placed after P530, slightly out of the overall chronological sequence, in order to make clear the relationship between the imagery and titles of these two works.

Solo Exhibitions Galerie im Erker, St. Gall, Switzerland, 1971 (traveling), cat. no. 10, illus. p. 29.

Artist’s Studio Number P70-649 Present Owner Dianne and Tom Tuft Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Dianne and Tom Tuft, 2006 Solo Exhibitions Galerie im Erker, St. Gall, Switzerland, 1971 (traveling), cat. no. 12, illus. p. 30 (shown in early state). Group Exhibitions Boston Center for the Arts, 1971, cat. no. 44 (shown in early state).

Solo Exhibitions William Ehrlich Gallery, New York, May 1979. Comments See the Comments for Greek Island II (P531).

Comments In 1990 Motherwell modified the horizontal line at the center of this painting. 286

pain tin gs on c a n v a s a n d pan el

Inscriptions Recto, upper right, incised: Motherwell Verso not signed, not dated

Art Museum, Princeton University, N.J., 1973, cat. no. 61. Bernard Jacobson Gallery, London, June 2009.

P532

Group Exhibitions Provincetown Art Association, Mass., 1970, cat. no. 108. References Mattison et al. 2009, color illus. p. 118. Comments The title of this painting refers to Motherwell’s elder daughter, Jeannie. The alternative title comes from Motherwell’s May 26, 1970, “open Series, 1967–1970” list.

P533

Open No. 126: In Beige with Blue 1970 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 23⅞ x 29½ in. (60.6 x 74.9 cm) Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated Verso (on top horizontal stretcher): R. Motherwell “open #126, in beige with blue) 1970 Verso (on bottom horizontal stretcher): Merry Xmas to Tatiana + Alex Liberman from their friend Bob Motherwell 1970 Present Owner High Museum of Art, Atlanta. Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Alexander Liberman Provenance Mr. and Mrs. Alexander Liberman, 1970; High Museum of Art, Atlanta, 1991

P533

Comments The dedication on the verso of this painting is to the artist and editor Alexander Liberman (1912–1999) and his wife Tatiana (1906–1991).

P534

Open No. 127: Lise Alternative Title: Open No. 127: Black and Cream with Blue and Green Stripes 1970 Acrylic, charcoal, and graphite on canvas 30 x 20 in. (76.2 x 50.8 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper right, incised: Motherwell Recto, lower right, incised [painted over]: [Motherwell] Verso (on top horizontal stretcher): “open #127” Artist’s Studio Number P70-474 Present Owner The Private Collection of Todd and Jill Cohen Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Todd and Jill Cohen, 2009 Solo Exhibitions Art Museum, Princeton University, N.J., 1973, cat. no. 62.

paint ing s on canvas and pane l

287

P536

P535

References Kramer 1973b, sec. D, p. 23. Comments The title of this painting refers to Motherwell’s younger daughter, Lise. The alternative title is from Motherwell’s May 26, 1970, “open Series, 1967–1970” list.

P537

P535

P536

P537

Open No. 128: Charcoal with Blue on Raw Canvas

Open No. 129: Blue on Gray

Open No. 130: Charcoal on Light Blue

1969 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 24 x 36 in. (61 x 91.4 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper left: R Motherwell 69

1970 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 24 x 36 in. (61 x 91.4 cm) Inscriptions Recto, lower left, incised: Motherwell Verso (on stretcher): “Open #129”

Verso (on top horizontal stretcher): “open # 128”

Artist’s Studio Number P70-1263

Present Owner Marianne E. Steiner

Present Owner Collection Bernard Jacobson Gallery, London

Provenance Marianne E. Steiner, 1970

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Bernard Jacobson Gallery, London, 2006 Solo Exhibitions Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, 1977. References Arnason 1976, p. 21; Arnason 1977b, p. 80, color illus. n.p. (pl. 206); Chapman 1980, p. 52, illus. p. 53 (fig. 3); Arnason 1982, p. 80; Mattison et al. 2009, color illus. p. 92.

288

pain tin gs on can v as an d pa n el

1969 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 24 x 30 in. (61 x 76.2 cm) Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated Verso (on top horizontal stretcher): R. Motherwell “open 130” (charcoal on light blue) 1969 Artist’s Studio Number P80-654 Present Owner Galerie Lelong Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Galerie Lelong, 2007 Solo Exhibitions Galerie im Erker, St. Gall, Switzerland, 1971 (traveling), cat. no. 6, color illus. p. 47 (in exhibition).

P539

P538

P540

P538

P539

P540

Open No. 133: Charcoal on Beige

Open No. 134: Blue on Beige

Open No. 135

1970 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 24 x 30 in. (61 x 76.2 cm) Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated

Alternative Title: Open No. 135: Blue on Beige Ca. 1970 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 8 x 10 in. (20.3 x 25.4 cm)

Verso not seen

Verso (on bottom horizontal stretcher): R. Motherwell 1970

Inscriptions Recto, lower left, incised: Motherwell

Present Owner Private collection, Germany

Artist’s Studio Number P70/81-647

Verso (on stretcher): “Open 135”

Provenance Private collection, Germany, after 1972

Present Owner Dedalus Foundation

Solo Exhibitions Galerie im Erker, St. Gall, Switzerland, 1971 (traveling), cat. no. 7, illus. p. 31.

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991

1969 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 20 x 24 in. (50.8 x 61 cm) Inscriptions Recto, lower left: Motherwell

Comments On Motherwell’s May 26, 1970, “open Series, 1967–1970” list, this painting is titled Open No. 135: Blue on Beige. We do not know whether it had already been completed by that time, or if the blackpainted area was a later addition.

Artist’s Studio Number P64-287; P72-287 Present Owner Private collection Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; private collection, 2007

paint ing s on canvas and pane l

289

P541

Open No. 136: Blue on Beige 1969 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 12 x 16 in. (30.5 x 40.6 cm) Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated

Comments This painting was exhibited as a 1969 work in February 1970 at the Art Center in Hargate, St. Paul’s School. The “c. 1971” inscribed on the verso was an approximate date given by Motherwell at a later time.

P542

Open No. 137: In Ultramarine on Beige 1969 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 20 x 24 in. (50.8 x 61 cm)

Verso: Robert Motherwell \ c. 1971

Inscriptions Recto, upper left, incised: Motherwell

Artist’s Studio Number P71-2429

Verso (on top horizontal stretcher): “open 137”

Present Owner Dedalus Foundation

Artist’s Studio Number P73-478

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991

Present Owner Dedalus Foundation

Solo Exhibitions Art Center in Hargate, St. Paul’s School, Concord, N.H., 1970, cat. no. 35.

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991

Art Museum, Princeton University, N.J., 1973, cat. no. 72.

Solo Exhibitions Art Center in Hargate, St. Paul’s School, Concord, N.H., 1970, cat. no. 34.

Dart Gallery, Chicago, 1976, cat. no. 11.

Art Museum, Princeton University, N.J., 1973, cat. no. 63.

290

p ain tin gs on c a n v a s a n d pan el

Comments The date “ca. 1973” is written on the verso in a hand not the artist’s. It was added at a much later date and is erroneous, as this work was consigned to the Marlborough-Gerson Gallery in January 1970 and was first exhibited the following month, as a 1969 work, at the Art Center in Hargate, St. Paul’s School.

P544

P543

P544

Open No. 138: Charcoal on Blue

Open No. 139: Black on Blue with Charcoal

1970 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 8 x 10 in. (20.3 x 25.4 cm)

1970/1971–72 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 24 x 30⅛ in. (61 x 76.5 cm)

Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated

Inscriptions Recto, lower left, incised: Motherwell

Verso (on top horizontal stretcher): open #138

Verso: For Tatiana + Alex Liberman \ for their 30th anniversary \ love, love, love \ Robert Motherwell

Artist’s Studio Number P71-293 Present Owner Collection Bernard Jacobson Gallery, London Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Bernard Jacobson Gallery, London, 2006 Solo Exhibitions William Ehrlich Gallery, New York, May 1979. Bernard Jacobson Gallery, London, June 2009. References Mattison et al. 2009, color illus. p. 115.

Verso: 1971–72 acrylic on primed canvas Present Owner Brooklyn Museum. Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Alexander Liberman. 1991.277 Provenance Mr. and Mrs. Alexander Liberman, 1972; Brooklyn Museum, 1991

P545

at which time he signed the verso with the date of “1971–72.” The verso dedication is to Motherwell’s close friends, the artist and editor Alexander Liberman and his wife Tatiana.

P545

Open No. 140: Charcoal on Cream Alternative Title: [Untitled (Open, Tan)] 1969 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 12 x 16 in. (30.5 x 40.6 cm) Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated Verso: R. Motherwell \ 1969 Artist’s Studio Number P69-284 Present Owner Collection of Corrie and Jonathan Sandelman Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Corrie and Jonathan Sandelman, 2001

Comments An early state of this work was consigned to the Marlborough-Gerson Gallery in 1970. The charcoal lines were painted over in black paint after the work was returned to Motherwell,

paint ing s on canvas and pane l

291

P547

P546

P547

Open No. 141: In Charcoal and Blue on Scarlet

Open No. 142

1970 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 24 x 36 in. (61 x 91.4 cm) Inscriptions Recto, lower left [painted over]: [Motherwell] Verso not seen

Alternative Title: Open No. 142: Blue on Black 1970 Acrylic on canvas 24 x 30 in. (61 x 76.2 cm) Inscriptions Recto, lower left, incised: Motherwell Verso (on top horizontal stretcher): open #142

state. Yet the painting was already in its final state when it was consigned to the Marlborough-Gerson Gallery on January 28, 1970, and photographed by O. E. Nelson (Nelson photo no. 41293).

P548

Open No. 143: Blue on Scarlet

Artist’s Studio Number P71-482

1970/ca. 1974 Acrylic, charcoal, and graphite on canvas board 6⅞ x 8⅞ in. (17.5 x 22.5 cm)

Present Owner Dedalus Foundation

Inscriptions Recto, lower left: RM

Provenance The artist

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991

Verso: open #143

Comments A note on the studio card for this work says that it was destroyed in January 1984.

References Mattison et al. 2009, color illus. p. 119.

Artist’s Studio Number P70-1502 Present Owner Unknown (said to have been destroyed in 1984)

292

Comments This painting was titled Open No. 142: Blue on black on Motherwell’s May 26, 1970, “open Series, 1967–1970” list. Given the color description, that title may have referred to an earlier

pain tin gs on can v as an d pa n el

Artist’s Studio Number P74-292 Present Owner Sarah Contemporary Art, Inc. Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Jonathan Novak Contemporary Art, 2004; private collection, 2005; Sarah Contemporary Art, Inc., 2006

Solo Exhibitions William Ehrlich Gallery, New York, June 1979. Comments This work was dated 1970 on a Marlborough-Gerson Gallery list of Open paintings and was consigned to the gallery on January 28, 1970. A photograph taken of it around 1974 (studio inventory photo no. PH 50-6) shows it without the black lines. We do not know when those lines were added, but the painting is dated 1974 on lists for the 1979 William Ehrlich Gallery exhibition and on the Motherwell studio shipping lists for that show (Dedalus Foundation Archives), suggesting that the canvas may have been revised in 1974.

P551 P548

P549

P550

P552

P549

P550

P551

P552

Open No. 144: Blue on Scarlet

Open No. 146: Umber on Black

Open No. 147: Blue on Beige

Open No. 148: White on Black

1970 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 12 x 16 in. (30.5 x 40.6 cm)

1970 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 14⅛ x 18 in. (35.9 x 45.7 cm)

Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated

Inscriptions Recto, upper left, incised: Motherwell

Verso (on top horizontal stretcher): open #147

Verso not seen

1970 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas board 8 x 10 in. (20.3 x 25.4 cm) Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated Verso: “open #144” \ Robert Motherwell Present Owner Private collection Provenance Lee V. Eastman, ca. 1970; [Christie’s, New York, November 9, 2005, lot 221, illus.]; private collection, 2005

1970 Acrylic on canvas 36 x 24 in. (91.4 x 61 cm) Inscriptions Recto, lower right, incised: Motherwell Verso (on top horizontal stretcher): open #146 Artist’s Studio Number P70-652 Present Owner Dedalus Foundation Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991

Artist’s Studio Number P70-285; P71-285 Present Owner Dedalus Foundation Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991

Present Owner Unknown Provenance Private collection, 1971; private collection; Flanders Gallery; [Christie’s, New York, November 10, 1988, lot 125, illus.]; unknown owner, 1988; [Christie’s, New York, May 15, 2003, lot 181, illus.]; unknown owner, 2003

Solo Exhibitions Bernard Jacobson Gallery, London, June 2009. References Mattison et al. 2009, color illus. p. 94.

paint ing s on canvas and pane l

293

P553

Open No. 149: In Ultramarine with Charcoal Line 1970 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 93 x 222 in. (236.2 x 563.9 cm) Inscriptions Recto, lower right: RM Verso (on top horizontal stretcher): “open #149” 1970

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1972, cat. no. 33. Musée d’Art Contemporain, Montreal, 1973. Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, 2005, cat. no. 5, color illus. p. 45. References Fenton 1970–71, illus. p. 58; Chandler 1971, illus. p. 27 (pl. 4); Elderfield 1972, p. 92; Lléo 1984, color illus. pp. 38–39.

Present Owner Audrey and David Mirvish, Toronto Provenance David Mirvish Gallery, Toronto, 1970; Audrey and David Mirvish, Toronto Group Exhibitions David Mirvish Gallery, Toronto, September 1970, color illus. n.p.

294

pain tin gs on can v as an d pa n el

P554

Open No. 150: In Black and Cream (Rothko Elegy) 1970 Acrylic on canvas 69 x 204¼ in. (175.3 x 518.8 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper right, incised: Motherwell 70 Verso (on top horizontal stretcher): “open #150, in black + cream (rothko elegy)” March 1970 Artist’s Studio Number P70-1607

Present Owner Collection of the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth. Museum purchase, the Friends of Art Endowment Fund Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, 1999 Solo Exhibitions Fundació Antoni Tàpies, Barcelona, 1996 (traveling), cat. no. 43, color illus. pp. 166–67. Group Exhibitions Knoedler & Company, New York, 1998, cat. no. 3 (replaced mid-show). Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, 2002, color illus. p. 116, illus. p. 266.

P554

P556

P555

References Mason 1998, p. 63, as Rothko Elegy; Vincent 1998, p. 74; Mattison et al. 2009, p. 88, color illus. pp. 96–97. Comments Mark Rothko, who was one of Motherwell’s dearest friends, died on February 25, 1970. Motherwell painted this work a few weeks later.

P555

Open No. 151: In Ultramarine with Charcoal Line 1970 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 47 x 88 in. (119.4 x 223.5 cm) Inscriptions Recto, lower right: RM

Group Exhibitions Fondation Cartier, Jouy-en-Josas, France, 1993, color illus. pp. 248–49. References Mattison et al. 2009, cover color illus. (detail), color illus. p. 98.

P556

Open No. 153: In Scarlet with White Line 1970 Acrylic on canvas 86½ x 140¼ in. (219.7 x 356.2 cm) Inscriptions Recto, lower right, incised: R.M

Verso not signed, not dated

Present Owner Collection Bernard Jacobson Gallery, London

Artist’s Studio Number P70-1572

Provenance David Mirvish Gallery, Toronto, 1972; private collection, 1973; private collection, Scottsdale, Ariz.; [Sotheby Parke Bernet, Inc., New York, May 9, 1984, lot 57, illus.]; Mr. and Mrs. Edward S. Pantzer, 1984; [Christie’s, New York, May 8, 1990, lot 358, illus. (not sold)]; [Sotheby’s, New York, November 6, 1990, lot 15, illus. (not sold)]; Knoedler & Company, 1991; [Christie’s, New York, November 14, 2001, lot 160, illus. (not sold)]; Bernard Jacobson Gallery, London, 2006

296

Solo Exhibitions Bernard Jacobson Gallery, London, June 2009.

pain tin gs on c an v as an d pa n el

Present Owner Dedalus Foundation Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991 Solo Exhibitions Bernard Jacobson Gallery, London, October 2008. References Mattison et al. 2009, color illus. pp. 100–101.

P558

P557

P559

P557

P558

P559

Open No. 154: In Scarlet with Blue

Open No. 155: In Scarlet with Blue

Open No. 156: In Orange with White Stripes

1970 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 72 x 84 in. (182.9 x 213.4 cm)

1970 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 59 x 72 in. (149.9 x 182.9 cm)

Inscriptions Recto, lower right: RM

Inscriptions Recto, upper left: RM

Alternative Title: Open No. 156: In Orange with Blue 1970 Acrylic on canvas 72 x 84 in. (182.9 x 213.4 cm)

Verso not seen

Verso: “open #155” \ 1970

Artist’s Studio Number P70-1582

Present Owner Collection of Joan Borinstein

Present Owner Private collection

Provenance Private collection, 1971; [Sotheby Parke Bernet, Inc., New York, October 31, 1984, lot 23, illus.]; unknown owner, 1984; [Sotheby Parke Bernet, Inc., New York, November 10, 1986, lot 78, illus.]; unknown owner, 1986; private collection; Joan Borinstein, 1993

Provenance Private collection, 1988; private collection, 1996; private collection, before 2003 Solo Exhibitions Knoedler & Company, New York, February 1993, cat. no. 6.

Inscriptions Recto, upper right: RM Verso not signed, not dated Artist’s Studio Number P69/70Present Owner Collection Mr. and Mrs. Reuben Jeffery III

Solo Exhibitions David Mirvish Gallery, Toronto, December 1970. John Berggruen Gallery, San Francisco, 1973, cat. no. 10. Knoedler & Company, New York, February 1993, cat. no. 14. Group Exhibitions Martha Jackson Gallery, New York, 1975. Heritage Plantation of Sandwich, Mass., 1977, illus. p. 56. Comments The alternative title for this painting comes from Motherwell’s “23 Summer 1970 Pictures” list.

Provenance Martha Jackson Gallery, ca. 1973; Solomon & Company, New York, ca. 1983; private collection, before 1992; private collection, Florida, 1993; [Christie’s, New York, November 16, 2006, lot 195, illus.]; Peter Findlay Gallery, 2006; Hackett-Freedman Gallery, 2007; Mr. and Mrs. Reuben Jeffery III, 2008 paint ing s on canvas and pane l

297

P560

Open No. 160 Alternative Title: Open No. 160: In Black with Blue 1970 Acrylic on canvas 92¼ x 103½ in. (234.3 x 262.9 cm), irreg. Inscriptions Recto, upper left [painted over]: [RM]

that the small Open form in the upper right part of the work was originally painted blue, then painted over in black, confirming that this was the painting listed as “Open No. 160, in black with blue” on Motherwell’s “23 Summer 1970 Pictures” list. The size and original composition of this work were very similar to those of Open No. 161: In Beige with Black (P561).

Verso not signed, not dated Artist’s Studio Number P**-3797 Present Owner Dedalus Foundation Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991 Comments This canvas was cut unevenly out of its stretchers by Motherwell or by an assistant at an unknown date and for unknown reasons. The original canvas size was 101 x 120 inches, according to an inscription on the verso not in Motherwell’s hand. Pentimenti reveal

298

pain tin gs on c a n v a s a n d pan el

P561

P562

Open No. 161: In Beige with Black

Open No. 162: In Blue with Red

1970 Acrylic on canvas 96 x 106¼ in. (243.8 x 269.9 cm)

1970 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 60 x 72 in. (152.4 x 182.9 cm)

Inscriptions Recto, upper right: Motherwell \ 70

Inscriptions Recto, lower left [painted over]: [RM]

Verso not signed, not dated

Artist’s Studio Number P70-2201

Present Owner Private collection, Switzerland

Present Owner Dedalus Foundation

Provenance Private collection, 1976; private collection, Switzerland, 1980

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991 Solo Exhibitions David Mirvish Gallery, Toronto, December 1970. Tibor de Nagy Gallery, Houston, 1974. Bernard Jacobson Gallery, London, October 2008. References Mattison et al. 2009, color illus. p. 99.

Solo Exhibitions Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, 1977.

P563

P562

P563

Open No. 164 Alternative Title: Open No. 164: In Blues with Green and Red 1970/ca. 1977 Acrylic on canvas 59¾ x 71 in. (151.8 x 180.3 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper left, incised: R Motherwell Recto, upper left [painted over]: [RM] Verso: Robert Motherwell \ 9 August 1970 Artist’s Studio Number P70-1581 Present Owner Collection of Kerianne and James Flynn, New York Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Kerianne and James Flynn, New York, 2007 Comments This painting appears on Motherwell’s “23 Summer 1970 Pictures” list as Open No. 164: In Blues with Green and Red. The arcing red form was added

sometime later. It recalls a similar form in Summertime in Italy in Red, 1967 (P379), and the analogous arcs in the 1977 Cathedral collages (see the Comments for C612).

P564

Open No. 165: In Blue and Black Alternative Title: Open No. 165: In Blues with Green 1970 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 54 x 108 in. (137.2 x 274.3 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper right, incised: RM Verso not signed, not dated Present Owner Audrey and David Mirvish, Toronto Provenance David Mirvish Gallery, Toronto, 1970; Audrey and David Mirvish, Toronto, ca. 1972

Group Exhibitions Denver Art Museum, 2007 (traveling), color illus. pp. 26–27 (pl. 7). References Fort Worth Art Museum exh. cat. March 1985, illus. p. 104 (in exhibition). Comments The black areas along the left and lower edges of this work were painted between summer 1970, when the painting was listed on Motherwell’s “23 Summer 1970 Pictures” list as Open 165: In Blues with Green, and October 1970, when the work was sold through the Marlborough-Gerson Gallery as Open 165: In Blue and Black.

Solo Exhibitions David Mirvish Gallery, Toronto, December 1970, color illus. n.p. (in exhibition). Museum Morsbroich, Leverkusen, Germany, 2004, color illus. p. 68.

paint ing s on canvas and pane l

299

P565

Open No. 166: In Yellow with White Stripes 1970 Acrylic and graphite on canvas 96 x 47½ in. (243.8 x 120.7 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper right: RM Verso not seen Present Owner Audrey and David Mirvish, Toronto

References Russell 1970, illus. p. 59. Comments The title of this painting comes from Motherwell’s “23 Summer 1970 Pictures” list. The painting recalls The Little Spanish Prison (P3). It was painted only a few months after the black rectangle on that early painting had been removed and while it was on view in a traveling exhibition.

Provenance David Mirvish Gallery, Toronto, 1970; Audrey and David Mirvish, Toronto, ca. 1977 Solo Exhibitions David Mirvish Gallery, Toronto, December 1970, color illus. n.p. (in exhibition).

P566

P567

P566

P567

Open No. 168: In Blues with Green

Open No. 169: In Brown with White Line

1970 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 50 x 60 in. (127 x 152.4 cm)

1970/before 1974 Acrylic and charcoal on plywood 45 x 29½ in. (114.3 x 74.9 cm)

Inscriptions Recto, lower right: Motherwell

Inscriptions Recto, upper left, incised: Motherwell \ 70

Verso not signed, not dated Present Owner Private collection, Illinois

Verso: open #169

Provenance Private collection, 1970; private collection, Illinois, 2005

Verso [circled]: [N.F.S.]

Verso: Robert Motherwell \ 1970

Artist’s Studio Number P70-706 Present Owner Dedalus Foundation Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991

Group Exhibitions Art Institute of Chicago, 1972, cat. no. 33, illus. p. 29.

Solo Exhibitions Bernard Jacobson Gallery, London, June 2009.

Fort Worth Art Museum, March 1985, cat. no. 17, color illus. p. 55, illus. p. 104 (in exhibition).

References Mattison et al. 2009, color illus. p. 91.

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p ain tin gs on c an v as an d pa n el

P568

Comments Studio records indicate that this painting was originally a horizontal work in brown and white (per the subtitle, which describes the colors of the earlier work). The painting was finished before 1974 when it was photographed in Motherwell’s studio.

P569

P570

P568

P569

P570

Open No. 170: In Blue with Green Square and Tan Line

Open No. 171: In Blue with Green

Open No. 173: In Green with Black

Alternative Title: Open No. 170: In Blues with Green 1970 Acrylic on canvas 54 x 60 in. (137.2 x 152.4 cm)

1970 Acrylic on canvas 59¾ x 49⅞ in. (151.8 x 126.7 cm)

1970 Acrylic and graphite on canvas 72 x 39⅞ in. (182.9 x 101.3 cm)

Inscriptions Recto, lower right, incised [painted over]: [Motherwell 70]

Inscriptions Recto, lower right, incised: Motherwell 70

Verso not signed, not dated

Present Owner Private collection, California

Artist’s Studio Number P70-1573

Present Owner Private collection

Provenance Private collection; private collection, California, 1984

Present Owner Private collection

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; private collection, 2009

Group Exhibitions André Emmerich Gallery, New York, 1984.

Inscriptions Recto, lower left, incised: Motherwell Verso not signed, not dated Artist’s Studio Number P70-1586

Comments In the fall of 1970, Motherwell consigned this painting to the MarlboroughGerson Gallery with the title Open No. 170: In Blue with Green Square and Tan Line, even though it had been titled Open No. 170: In Blues and Green on his “23 Summer 1970 Pictures” list.

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; private collection, 2010 Solo Exhibitions David Mirvish Gallery, Toronto, December 1970.

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301

P571

Open No. 174: In Red with Blue Stripes 1970/ca. 1972–76 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 96 x 47½ in. (243.8 x 120.7 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper left: RM Verso not signed, not dated Present Owner Collection of Charlotte and Paul Corddry Provenance John A. Schweitzer, Montreal, ca. 1976; [Sotheby Parke Bernet, Inc., New York, November 8, 1979, lot 861, illus. (not sold)]; [Sotheby Parke Bernet, Inc., New York, November 19, 1981, lot 81, illus.]; Jeffrey H. Loria, New York, 1981; [Sotheby’s, New York, May 7, 1992, lot 265, illus. (not sold)]; Charlotte and Paul Corddry, ca. 1992 Solo Exhibitions David Mirvish Gallery, Toronto, December 1970, color illus. n.p. (in exhibition); shown in early state. 302

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Group Exhibitions David Mirvish Gallery, Toronto, 1971 (shown in early state). Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1972, cat. no. 34 (shown in early state). Art Institute of Chicago, 1972, cat. no. 34 (shown in early state). Samuel J. Zacks Gallery, York University, Toronto, 1978. References Elderfield 1972, p. 92; Fort Worth Art Museum exh. cat. March 1985, illus. p. 104 (in exhibition, in early state). Comments An early version of this work, which had a small orange rectangle at the upper center, was shown in 1971 and 1972. It was returned to Motherwell after August 1972. Sometime between then and 1976 the small orange rectangle was painted over in red.

P572

Open No. 175 Alternative Titles: Open No. 175: In Yellow and White Stripes; Open No. 175: In Yellow with Blue Lines 1970/1972 Acrylic on canvas 72 x 36 in. (182.9 x 91.4 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper left: RM Verso not signed, not dated Present Owner Williams College Museum of Art. Gift of Sylvia and Joseph Slifka Provenance Sylvia and Joseph Slifka, 1973; [Christie’s, New York, November 17, 1977, lot 42, illus. (not sold)]; Williams College Museum of Art, Williamstown, Mass., 2004 References Patterson 2006, p. 148, color illus. p. 149.

Comments The composition of this painting was set in 1970. The painting appears on a studio list titled “23 Summer 1970 Pictures,” as number “175: in yellow and white stripes,” which is partially crossed out and changed to “in yellow with blue lines.” It was consigned to the Marlborough-Gerson Gallery in 1970 and returned to the artist in February 1972. Later that year, Motherwell reworked the linear forms with black paint, and probably added the two black horizontal forms in the lower half of the painting, before consigning it to the Lawrence Rubin Gallery in November.

P573

Tacoma Art Museum, Wash., 1994.

P574

Open No. 176: In Crimson with Orange and Black Line

Bellevue Art Museum, Wash., 1998.

White on Tan

Comments The alternative title of this painting, Open No. 176: In Orange with Blue, which appears on Motherwell’s “23 Summer 1970 Pictures” list, probably refers to an earlier state with blue; but there is no photographic record of such a state.

Alternative Title: Open (Sketch) 1970 Acrylic and charcoal on panel 13 x 17¾ in. (33 x 45.1 cm), irreg.

Alternative Titles: Open No. 176: In Orange with Blue; Open No. 176 in Crimson and Orange 1970 Acrylic on canvas 60 x 72 in. (152.4 x 182.9 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper right: R.M. Verso not signed, not dated Present Owner Tacoma Art Museum. Museum purchase with aid of funds from the National Endowment for the Arts Provenance Tacoma Art Museum, Wash., 1971 Group Exhibitions Tacoma Art Museum, Wash., 1971, cat. no. 20, as Open No. 176 in Crimson and Orange. Art Galleries, University of California, Santa Barbara, 1974, cat. no. 15, illus. p. 24.

P574

1982, p. 171; Clarke 1988, p. 169, illus. n.p. (pl. 95); Pleynet 1989b, color illus. p. 126; Pleynet 1991, p. 13; Pleynet 1998, p. 88; Mattison et al. 2009, p. 35.

Inscriptions Recto, upper right: RM 70 Verso not signed, not dated Artist’s Studio Number P70-1250 Present Owner Dedalus Foundation Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991 Solo Exhibitions Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, 1977, as Open (esquisse) (Open [Sketch]). References Arnason 1977b, color illus. n.p. (pl. 207); Motherwell in Arnason 1977b, n.p.; Arnason 1982, color illus. p. 171 (pl. 236); Motherwell in Arnason

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P575 P577

P576

P575

P576

{ Untitled (Red Open)}

The Red Wall

Ca. 1970 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas board 7 x 9 in. (17.8 x 22.9 cm)

Ca. 1970 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas board 6¾ x 8¾ in. (17.2 x 22.2 cm)

Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated

Verso: Robert Motherwell

Artist’s Studio Number P71-286

Artist’s Studio Number P72-1951; P74-1951

Present Owner Collection Bernard Jacobson Gallery, London

Present Owner Gregory Bays Brown, Louisville, Ky.

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Bernard Jacobson Gallery, London, 2007 References Mattison et al. 2009, color illus. p. 114.

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Gregory Bays Brown, Louisville, Ky., 2001 Solo Exhibitions William Ehrlich Gallery, New York, June 1979. Delaware Art Museum, Wilmington, 1999. Comments This painting was used as the basis for a 1975 aquatint, Untitled (Engberg and Banach 2003, no. 181). The 1972 and 1974 studio numbers assigned to

304

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P578

the painting reflect later attempts to date it in relation to the aquatint; but the style and the unusual dimensions of the canvas board used for it suggest a date around 1970 (see P548 and P575).

P577

[ Untitled (Red Open) ] Alternative Title: [Untitled (Open; Blue, Beige on Red)] 1970 Acrylic, charcoal, and graphite on Upson board 30 x 53 in. (76.2 x 134.6 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper right: RM 70 Verso not signed, not dated Artist’s Studio Number P70-707; P70-3725 Present Owner Collection of Christopher V. Walker Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Jonathan Novak Contemporary Art, 2005; Christopher V. Walker, 2005

P579

P580

P581

P578

P579

P580

P581

Untitled (Open in Black, Brown, and White)

Untitled (Open)

Untitled

Ca. 1970 Acrylic and graphite on canvas 16 x 20 in. (40.6 x 50.8 cm)

Ca. 1970 Acrylic on canvas board 23¾ x 30 in. (60.3 x 76.2 cm)

[ Untitled (Green, Ochre, Blue) ]

Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated

Verso not signed, not dated

Artist’s Studio Number P70-1095

Artist’s Studio Number P72-2608

Present Owner Private collection

Present Owner Dedalus Foundation

Artist’s Studio Number P70-2607

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; private collection, 2005; private collection, 2006

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991

Present Owner Dedalus Foundation

Ca. 1970 Acrylic on canvas 24 x 36 in. (61 x 91.4 cm) Inscriptions Recto, lower left, incised: Motherwell Verso not seen Artist’s Studio Number P-653 Present Owner Unknown (said to have been destroyed in 1984) Provenance The artist

1970 Acrylic and graphite on canvas board 24 x 30 in. (61 x 76.2 cm) Inscriptions Recto, lower right, incised: Motherwell 70 Verso not signed, not dated

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991

Comments A note on the studio card for this work says that it was destroyed in January 1984. Our reproduction comes from a Polaroid photograph.

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305

P582

P583

P582

P583

P584

Orange Door

Blue Window

Alternative Title: Orange Window 1970 Acrylic on canvas 30 x 15 in. (76.2 x 38.1 cm)

1970 Acrylic on canvas board 30 x 15 in. (76.2 x 38.1 cm)

[ Untitled (Scarlet Open with Flesh) ]

Inscriptions Recto, lower right: Motherwell

Inscriptions Recto, lower left, incised: Motherwell

Alternative Title: Untitled A (red with green) Ca. 1970 Acrylic and graphite on canvas board 30 x 15 in. (76.2 x 38.1 cm)

Recto, lower right, incised: Motherwell

Verso: “blue window” 1970 \ Robert Motherwell

Verso not seen [“R. Motherwell/1970,” per studio card]

Artist’s Studio Number P70-651

Artist’s Studio Number P70-1907

Present Owner Private collection

Artist’s Studio Number P71-650

Present Owner Private collection

Provenance Private collection, 1991; private collection

Present Owner Collection of Mr. B. W. Ryan

Provenance Private collection, 1981 Solo Exhibitions Galerie im Erker, St. Gall, Switzerland, 1971 (traveling), cat. no. 14, illus. p. 54, as Orange Window. Comments The title of this work was changed from Orange Window to Orange Door in 1979, when it was consigned to Knoedler & Company. 306

Solo Exhibitions Galerie im Erker, St. Gall, Switzerland, 1971 (traveling), cat. no. 13, back cover illus. References Das Kunstwerk 1971, illus. p. 58; Lebeer 1971, illus. p. 10 (upside down); Catoir 1980, illus. p. 282 (fig. 4, as Open Series, Blue Window).

p ain tin gs on c a n v a s a n d pan el

Inscriptions Recto, lower left, incised: Motherwell Verso not signed, not dated

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; B. W. Ryan, 2006 Solo Exhibitions Thomas McCormick Gallery, Chicago, December 2005 (traveling), cat. no. 21. Comments This work was consigned to the Marlborough-Gerson Gallery in October 1970 as Untitled A (red with

P584

green), suggesting that an early version of it was painted in red and green. But there is no photographic documentation of that version, and we do not know when it may have been revised.

P585

P586

P587

P585

P586

P587

[ Untitled (Scarlet Open with Green and Ochre Diagonal) ]

In Blue and White on Umber

The Summer Sea

Alternative Title: Open (In Blue and White on Umber) 1970 Acrylic on canvas board 30 x 15 in. (76.2 x 38.1 cm)

1970 Acrylic on canvas mounted on board 15 x 30 in. (38.1 x 76.2 cm)

Inscriptions Recto, lower left, incised: Motherwell Verso not signed, not dated

Verso not seen [“signed again, inscribed with title, and dated 1970,” per Christie’s 1988]

Artist’s Studio Number P71-481

Present Owner Private collection, U.S.A.

Douglas Drake Gallery, Kansas City, Mo., 1980.

Present Owner Dedalus Foundation

Provenance Private collection, 1973; Greenberg Gallery, Saint Louis, 1975; private collection, Saint Louis, 1975; John C. Stoller & Co., Minneapolis, 1981; Darwin and Geri Reedy, Dellwood, Minn., 1981; [Christie’s, New York, November 9, 1988, lot 54, illus.]; private collection, 1988; private collection, U.S.A., 1989

References Hernandez 1971, illus. p. 712.

Alternative Title: {Scarlet Open (with Green and Ochre Diagonal)} 1970–72 Acrylic on canvas board 30 x 15 in. (76.2 x 38.1 cm) Inscriptions Recto, lower right, incised: Motherwell Verso not signed, not dated Artist’s Studio Number P72-648 Present Owner Private collection, California Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; private collection, California, 2007 Comments The composition of this work was set in 1970, but it was slightly revised in 1972.

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991 Solo Exhibitions Art Museum, Princeton University, N.J., 1973, cat. no. 64, as Open (in blue and white on umber). Comments This painting was consigned to the Marlborough-Gerson Gallery in October 1970.

Art Museum, Princeton University, N.J., 1973, cat. no. 60, illus. p. 55. John Berggruen Gallery, San Francisco, 1973, cat. no. 8.

Inscriptions Recto, lower left, incised: Motherwell

Group Exhibitions Art Galleries, University of California, Santa Barbara, 1974, cat. no. 16, illus. p. 25. Margo Leavin Gallery, Los Angeles, 1974.

Solo Exhibitions Galerie im Erker, St. Gall, Switzerland, 1971 (traveling), cat. no. 15, illus. p. 48.

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307

P588

P589

P588

{ Untitled (Open in Yellow, Black and Blue)}

Comments This painting was consigned to the Marlborough-Gerson Gallery in October 1970.

P590

P589

P590

In Beige with Cobalt Figuration

Open in Brown and Black Ca. 1970 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 69 x 54 in. (175.3 x 137.2 cm)

1970 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas board 10 x 24 in. (25.4 x 61 cm)

1970 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 13 x 31 in. (33 x 78.7 cm)

Inscriptions Recto, lower right, incised: Motherwell

Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated

Verso not signed, not dated

Verso not seen [“unsigned,” per Art Gallery of Alberta]

Present Owner Unknown

Present Owner Art Gallery of Alberta Collection. Gift of Mr. A. J. Pyrch, 1990

Provenance Unknown owner, 1978

Artist’s Studio Number P71-290 Present Owner Collection Bernard Jacobson Gallery, London Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Bernard Jacobson Gallery, London, 2006 Solo Exhibitions Thomas McCormick Gallery, Chicago, December 2005 (traveling), cat. no. 20; not shown in Salt Lake City. References Mattison et al. 2009, color illus. p. 113.

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p ain tin gs on can v as an d pa n el

Provenance A. J. Pyrch, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, 1972; Art Gallery of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada, 1990

Inscriptions Recto, upper left, incised: RM Verso not seen

Solo Exhibitions Städtische Kunsthalle Düsseldorf, 1976 (traveling), cat. no. 38, illus. p. 108. Comments Our reproduction of this work comes from an early color slide.

P591

Untitled (In Orange with Charcoal Lines) Alternative Title: {Untitled (Orange Open)} Ca. 1970 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 59⅞ x 71⅜ in. (152.1 x 181.3 cm) Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated Verso not signed, not dated Artist’s Studio Number P70-1579

References Mattison et al. 2009, color illus. p. 93 as Untitled (Orange Open).

P592

Open in Ochre 1967–70 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 92 x 69 in. (233.7 x 175.3 cm) Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated Verso: R. Motherwell \ 67–70 Verso (on stretcher): R. Motherwell 67–70 Artist’s Studio Number P67-5223

Present Owner Collection Bernard Jacobson Gallery, London

Present Owner Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. The Hayden Collection—Charles Henry Hayden Fund, 1972.211

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Bernard Jacobson Gallery, London, 2006

Provenance Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1972

Solo Exhibitions John Berggruen Gallery, San Francisco, 1973, cat. no. 5.

References Elderfield 1972, illus. p. 93.

Group Exhibitions Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1972, cat. no. 32, illus. n.p. Federal Reserve Bank, Boston, 1978.

Bernard Jacobson Gallery, London, June 2009, as Untitled (Orange Open).

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309

P593

P594

P593

P594

P595

Ochre Open with Charcoal Dust

{ Unfinished painting}

The Summer Sea

Alternative Titles: [(Red Open) In Progress]; [Untitled (Red Open)] Ca. 1970 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 69 x 28 in. (175.3 x 71.1 cm)

1970 Acrylic on canvas (?) 20 x 24 in. (50.8 x 61 cm)

Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated

Verso not seen [“titled and dated 1970,” per Sotheby’s 1973]

Verso not signed, not dated

Present Owner Unknown

1970 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 84 x 48 in. (213.4 x 121.9 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper left: R Motherwell \ 70 Verso not seen [“r. motherwell oct 1970,” per studio card] Artist’s Studio Number P70-2422

Artist’s Studio Number P**-1159

Present Owner Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond. Gift of the Dedalus Foundation, Inc., and museum purchase, the John Barton Payne Fund

Present Owner Dedalus Foundation

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, 1994 Group Exhibitions Brockton Art Museum-Fuller Memorial, Mass., 1980.

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p ain tin gs on c an v as an d pa n el

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991 Comments This unfinished work is difficult to date accurately. The studio card for it, which was not created until September 1991, refers to it as being “not finished or dated (circa 1970).”

Inscriptions Recto, lower left, incised: Motherwell

Provenance Margaret K. Helmuth, ca. 1972; [Sotheby Parke Bernet, Inc., New York, May 5, 1973, lot 111, illus.]; unknown owner, 1973 Comments Our reproduction of this work comes from the 1973 Sotheby Parke Bernet auction catalogue.

P595

P596

Window with Black Cloud 1970/ca. 1977 Acrylic and graphite on canvas board 30 x 24 in. (76.2 x 61 cm) Inscriptions Recto, lower left: Motherwell 70 Verso not signed, not dated Artist’s Studio Number P70-1259 Present Owner U.S. Department of State, Art in Embassies. Donated by the Dedalus Foundation, Inc., to the Friends of Art and Preservation in Embassies millennium gift to the nation Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; U.S. Department of State, Art in Embassies, Washington, D.C., 2000 Solo Exhibitions Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, 1977.

References Friends of Art and Preservation in Embassies 2001, color illus. p. 199. Comments In a 1975 photograph of this work, the lines of ochre paint are not yet present; they were probably added around 1977, shortly before Motherwell’s retrospective exhibition in Paris.

P597

All Is Still (Whitman) 1970 Acrylic on canvas 30 x 25 in. (76.2 x 63.5 cm) Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated

Comments The title refers to a line in Walt Whitman’s “Song of Myself”: “By the cot in the hospital reaching lemonade to a feverish patient, / Nigh the coffin’d corpse when all is still, examining with a candle; / Voyaging to every port to dicker and adventure.”

Verso (on top horizontal stretcher): Robert Motherwell 1970 Present Owner Private collection of Mr. and Mrs. M. L. Berman Provenance Private collection, 1973; unknown owner; [Sotheby’s, New York, May 19, 1999, lot 210, illus.]; Linda Hyman, 1999; Mr. and Mrs. M. L. Berman, 1999 Solo Exhibitions Galerie im Erker, St. Gall, Switzerland, 1971 (traveling), cat. no. 8, color illus. p. 33 (in exhibition). John Berggruen Gallery, San Francisco, 1973, cat. no. 12.

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311

P598

P599

P600

P599

P600

Summertime in Italy Sketch No. 12

Summertime in Italy Sketch No. 13

1970 Acrylic on canvas board 7 x 5 in. (17.8 x 12.7 cm)

1970 Acrylic on canvas board 6 x 4 in. (15.2 x 10.2 cm)

Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated

Verso: R. Motherwell \ Summer 1970

Artist’s Studio Number P70-1028

Artist’s Studio Number P70-1030

Artist’s Studio Number P70-1025

Present Owner Private collection, California

Present Owner Dedalus Foundation

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; private collection, California, 2008

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991

Present Owner Collection Bernard Jacobson Gallery, London

P598

Summertime in Italy Sketch No. 11 1970 Acrylic on canvas board 7⅛ x 5 in. (18.1 x 12.7 cm) Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated

Solo Exhibitions Manny Silverman Gallery, Los Angeles, November 2002, cat. no. 18, as Summertime in Italy #11. Thomas McCormick Gallery, Chicago, December 2005 (traveling), cat. no. 18, as Summertime in Italy #11; not shown in Salt Lake City.

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Comments Although the word Sketch has been added to the title of this Summertime in Italy work, the number continues the numbering sequence of the previous paintings in the series as a whole; see the Comments for Summertime in Italy No. 1 (C121) and Summertime in Italy No. 8 (P236).

Solo Exhibitions William Ehrlich Gallery, New York, May 1979.

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Bernard Jacobson Gallery, London, 2004 Solo Exhibitions William Ehrlich Gallery, New York, June 1979. Manny Silverman Gallery, Los Angeles, November 2002, cat. no. 19.

P601

P602

P601

P602

P603

Summertime in Italy Sketch No. 14

Summertime in Italy

Ca. 1970 Acrylic on canvas board 7 x 5 in. (17.8 x 12.7 cm)

Inscriptions Recto, lower right, incised: RM

Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated

Verso not seen (glued to backing board)

Verso: circa 1964 \ R. Motherwell \ Signed 1986

1970 Acrylic on canvas board 7 x 5 in. (17.8 x 12.7 cm) Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated Verso: R. Motherwell \ Summer 1970 Artist’s Studio Number P70-1029 Present Owner Private collection, Los Angeles Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; private collection, Los Angeles, 2007 Solo Exhibitions William Ehrlich Gallery, New York, June 1979.

Present Owner Private collection Provenance Private collection, before 1981; private collection, 1983; private collection, 1988; private collection, ca. 2004

P603

approximately 7 x 5 inches), similarly colored Summertime in Italy paintings done in 1970 (see P598–P602); hence we have dated it to ca. 1970.

Present Owner Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Mark L. Brock, Concord, Mass. Provenance Private collection; private collection, 1983; Merryman Collection, before 1985; private collection, before 2004; private collection; David Dufour, LLC, 2007; Mr. and Mrs. Mark L. Brock, Concord, Mass., 2007 Comments This work was originally unsigned and undated. In 1986, at the request of its owner at the time, Motherwell signed it and dated it to ca. 1964. But it is closely related to a series of small (all

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313

P604

P605

P604

P605

Anchor

[ Untitled (Elegy) ]

Alternative Title: {Anchor (Ochre, Blue, Pink)} 1970 Acrylic on canvas board 6 x 4 in. (15.2 x 10.2 cm)

Ca. 1970–ca. 1975 Acrylic on canvas board 11½ x 29½ in. (29.2 x 74.9 cm)

Inscriptions Recto, lower right: RM

Verso not signed, not dated

Inscriptions Recto, upper right: RM

Comments This work was slightly revised sometime after 1975, as per studio photographs taken that year in which it is seen next to Elegy to the Spanish Republic No. 100 (P850). It was used as one of the models for the right half of that large work, and also as a study for another, contemporaneous large Elegy painting (P606).

P606

Elegy to the Spanish Republic 1970 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 82½ x 188½ in. (209.6 x 478.8 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper left: RM 70 Verso not signed, not dated

Verso: R. Motherwell

Artist’s Studio Number P71-1337

Present Owner Audrey and David Mirvish, Toronto

Artist’s Studio Number P70-1947

Present Owner Private collection

Present Owner Dedalus Foundation

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; private collection, 2000

Provenance David Mirvish Gallery, Toronto, 1971; Audrey and David Mirvish, Toronto, before 1983

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991 Solo Exhibitions William Ehrlich Gallery, New York, May 1979.

References Pleynet 1989b, illus. p. 93 (in studio).

Solo Exhibitions David Mirvish Gallery, Toronto, 1973. Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, 1983 (traveling), cat. no. 53, color illus. p. 92; not shown in Washington, D.C.

Manny Silverman Gallery, Los Angeles, November 2002, cat. no. 15.

Group Exhibitions David Mirvish Gallery, Toronto, 1977.

Thomas McCormick Gallery, Chicago, December 2005 (traveling), cat. no. 19, as Anchor (Ochre, Blue, Pink); not shown in Salt Lake City.

Fort Worth Art Museum, March 1985, cat. no. 13, color illus. p. 47.

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P606

Knoedler & Company, New York, 2004, cat. no. 1. Grimaldi Forum, Monaco, 2006. Haunch of Venison, New York, 2008, cat. no. 29, color illus. pp. 74–76. References Hobbs 1975b, p. 276, illus. n.p. (pl. 55); Brenson 1983b, illus. sec. 2, p. 29; Gelles 1984, p. 38; Fort Worth Art Museum Calendar 1985a, back cover illus.; Fort Worth Art Museum exh. cat. September 1985, illus. p. 12. Comments A small study in acrylic on canvas board was done for this work (see P605).

P607

Elegy to the Spanish Republic No. 110 Alternative Titles: Elegy to the Spanish Republic; Elegy to the Spanish Republic (Easter Day); Elegy to the Spanish Republic, Easter Day; Elegy to the Spanish Republic No. 110, Easter Day 1971 Acrylic, charcoal, and graphite on canvas 82 x 114 in. (208.3 x 289.6 cm) Inscriptions Recto, lower right: RM Verso: Easter Day 1971 Present Owner Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York. Gift, Agnes Gund, 84.3223 Provenance Knoedler & Company, 1973; Agnes Gund, 1976; Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, 1984 Solo Exhibitions Knoedler & Company, New York, 1976, cat. no. 9, as Elegy to the Spanish Republic.

Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, 1983 (traveling), cat. no. 57, color illus. p. 96, as Elegy to the Spanish Republic; shown in Washington, D.C., only.

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, December 1988.

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, 1984, cat. no. 62, as Elegy to the Spanish Republic.

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, 2003, color illus. p. 159, as Elegy to the Spanish Republic No. 110, Easter Day.

Group Exhibitions Haus der Kunst, Munich, 1972, cat. no. 1638, illus. p. 400, as Elegie für die spanische Republik (Elegy for the Spanish Republic). Columbus Gallery of Fine Arts, Ohio, 1976 (traveling), as Elegy to the Spanish Republic; added mid-show in New York only. Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, November 1977, as Elegy to the Spanish Republic, Easter Day. Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, July 1982, cat. no. 51, as Elegy to the Spanish Republic. Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, November 1987, cat. no. 42, color illus. p. 139, as Elegy to the Spanish Republic.

Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, Spain, 1997, cat. no. 5.

Guggenheim Hermitage Museum, Las Vegas, 2003, color illus. p. 117, as Elegy to the Spanish Republic No. 110, Easter Day. Foro Boario, Modena, Italy, 2004, cat. no. 35, color illus. pp. 124–25. Kunst- und Ausstellungshalle der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, Bonn, Germany, 2006, cat. no. 108, color illus. p. 211. National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia, 2007, color illus. pp. 98–99 (detail), color illus. p. 122. Arca, Chiesa di San Marco, Vercelli, Italy, 2008, cat. no. 29, color illus. p. 145.

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315

P607

References Arnason 1977b, illus. p. 90 (pl. 54, as Elegy to the Spanish Republic [Easter Day]); Fairburn 1984, p. 4, illus. p. 1; Sozanski 1984, sec. H, p. 16, illus. sec. H, p. 16; Gaugh 1985, p. 74, illus. p. 3, erroneously as The Morning After, color illus. p. 74; Guggenheim Calendar of Events 1985, illus. n.p., as Elegy to the Spanish Republic; Flam 1991, color illus. n.p. (pl. 119); Scully 1991, color illus. p. 19, as Elegy to the Spanish Republic; Krens et al. 1993, color illus. pp. 240– 41; Bonet 1996, color illus. p. 9; Krens et al. 1997, p. 99, color illus. pp. 200– 201 (fig. 176); Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum exh. cat. 2001, color illus. p. 247; Waldman 2006, color illus. p. 211 (pl. 108). Comments This large work was shown in the early and mid-1970s as Elegy to the Spanish Republic, without a number. When it was shown at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in 1977, it was given the subtitle Easter Day, which came from the inscription on the verso; that inscription, however, was not part

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of the title but was meant to denote the date the painting was finished (in Motherwell’s datebook for Easter Day, April 11, 1971, he notes: “Finish Spanish Elegy”). Just prior to the exhibition of the painting at the Guggenheim Museum in 1988, Motherwell added the number 110 to the title. Until that time, the number 110 in the Elegy series had been assigned to a small 1968 drawing in gouache (Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth), which Motherwell had used as the basis for the composition of this much larger work. (That gouache drawing, though done before this work was conceived, was then retrospectively assigned the title Study for Elegy to the Spanish Republic No. 110.) Around 1972, Motherwell wrote out a list of Elegy paintings that gives the title of this large work as Elegy to the Spanish Republic No. 117—a title that more accurately reflects the position of this work within the chronology and overall numbering sequence of the Elegy series; that title, however, appears never to have been used publicly.

In 1968, Motherwell did five paintings on paper, variously titled as Elegy to the Spanish Republic or Study for Elegy to the Spanish Republic, and numbered 110 A–E (W273–W277); but those small works were not in fact studies for this large painting.

P610

P608

P609

P611

P608

P609

P610

P611

Blue Open

In Blue with Green

Open Study in Tobacco Brown

Open: Scarlet with Blue Lines

Alternative Title: Open (In Kobalt Blue and White) 1971 Acrylic on canvas 72 x 36 in. (182.9 x 91.4 cm)

1971 Acrylic on canvas 14 x 10 in. (35.6 x 25.4 cm)

1971 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 20 x 30 in. (50.8 x 76.2 cm)

1971 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 53½ x 107½ in. (135.9 x 273.1 cm)

Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated

Inscriptions Recto, upper left: RM

Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated

Verso not seen

Verso not signed, not dated

Verso not seen

Present Owner Private collection

Artist’s Studio Number P71-1175

Present Owner Private collection

Artist’s Studio Number P71-2426

Provenance Private collection, 1974; private collection, ca. 1974

Present Owner Dedalus Foundation

Present Owner Collection of Skip Paul and Van Fletcher, Beverly Hills, Calif.

Solo Exhibitions Images Gallery, Toledo, Ohio, 1974.

Provenance Private collection, 1973; [Christie’s, New York, May 18, 1979, lot 120, illus.]; private collection, 1979

Verso: R. Motherwell \ “Blue Open” \ 1971

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Skip Paul and Van Fletcher, Beverly Hills, Calif., 2000 Solo Exhibitions Art Museum, Princeton University, N.J., 1973, cat. no. 59, as Open (in kobalt [sic] blue and white).

Comments Our reproduction of this work comes from a color slide taken in April 1974.

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991

Solo Exhibitions Lawrence Rubin Gallery, New York, 1972, cat. no. 4. Group Exhibitions Minneapolis Institute of Arts, February 1976. References Masheck 1973, p. 91.

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P612

P613

Open in Grey with White Edge

The Edelstone View No. 1

1971 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 88 x 122 in. (223.5 x 309.9 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper left: R. Motherwell \ 71

1971 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 74¼ x 55¼ in. (188.6 x 140.3 cm) Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated Verso [within diagram]: [Red Blue]

Verso: R. Motherwell \ “Open in Grey with White Edge” \ 1971

Verso: Robert Motherwell \ Spring, 1971 \ “the edelstone view #1”

Artist’s Studio Number P71-1568

Present Owner Marilyn and Charles Baillie

Present Owner Dedalus Foundation

Provenance Sigmund E. Edelstone, 1971; [Christie’s, New York, November 1, 1984, lot 52, illus.]; Douglas S. Cramer, 1984; [Christie’s, New York, November 15, 2006, lot 50, illus.]; Marilyn and Charles Baillie, 2006

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991 Solo Exhibitions John Berggruen Gallery, San Francisco, 1973, cat. no. 13. References Mattison et al. 2009, color illus. p. 121.

References Raiser et al. 1972, color illus. p. 16 (installation view). Comments This and a companion work (P614) were painted as an unusual kind of diptych,

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commissioned by the Chicago collector Sigmund Edelstone. The two parts of the diptych were placed at the opposite ends of a large window in Edelstone’s dining room that overlooked Lake Michigan. A mechanical sliding rail allowed for the two panels to be moved and be seen adjacent to each other, thereby covering the window view. The two parts of the diptych would thus at certain times be separated by a distance of a few feet, but at others they would be seen side by side. Given the unique circumstances of this commission, Motherwell agreed that the two works could be shown or even sold separately. On the versos of both works in the diptych, Motherwell has drawn diagrams of two adjacent rectangles, the one on the left marked “Red” and the one on the right marked “Blue”; these represent the two canvases that compose the diptych, represented as seen side by side.

P613

P614

The Edelstone View No. 2 1971 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 74¼ x 55¼ in. (188.6 x 140.3 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper right, incised: RM \ 71 Verso [within diagram]: [red blue] Verso: Robert Motherwell \ Spring, 1971 \ “the edelstone view, #2” Present Owner Marilyn and Charles Baillie Provenance Sigmund E. Edelstone, 1971; [Christie’s, New York, November 1, 1984, lot 53, illus.]; Eugene Stevens, 1984; [Sotheby Parke Bernet, Inc., New York, October 7, 1987, lot 44, illus.]; Douglas S. Cramer, 1987; [Christie’s, New York, November 15, 2006, lot 50, illus.]; Marilyn and Charles Baillie, 2006

P614

References Raiser et al. 1972, color illus. p. 16 (installation view). Comments This painting is the right side of a diptych; see the Comments for P613.

P615

The Great Wall of China No. 2 1971/ca. 1979–83 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 84 x 42 in. (213.4 x 106.7 cm) Inscriptions Recto, lower left: RM 71 Recto, lower left, incised: RM 71 Verso: “The Great Wall of China #2” \ R. Motherwell \ Aug 1971 Artist’s Studio Number P71-1128 Present Owner Private collection Provenance Private collection, 1988; Mark Borghi Fine Art, Inc., 2007; private collection, 2007 Solo Exhibitions Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, 1972, cat. no. 6 (shown in early state). Knoedler & Company, New York, April 1988, cat. no. 1.

P615

Comments The lower right area of this painting went through a number of color changes—from ochre to red to yellow to dark ochre—between 1979 and 1983; but in the end the color of the final version looks very much as it did in 1971. There is no longer a number 1 in the Great Wall of China series, since the work designated as The Great Wall of China No. 1 was later painted over and retitled (see P1071). The title refers to Kafka’s story “The Great Wall of China,” and perhaps also to contemporaneous events involving China, such as Henry Kissinger’s visits there in 1971, which prepared the way for Richard Nixon’s historic visit the following February.

P616

The Great Wall of China No. 3 1971/ca. 1983 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 72 x 35¾ in. (182.9 x 90.8 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper left, incised [painted over]: Motherwell Recto, upper left: RM 71 \ Aug Verso: “The Great \ Wall of China \ #3” \ R. Motherwell \ Aug 1971 Artist’s Studio Number P71-1149 Present Owner Private collection, Sarasota, Fla. Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; private collection, Sarasota, Fla., 2006; [Christie’s, New York, November 13, 2008, lot 226, illus. (not sold)] Solo Exhibitions Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, 1972, cat. no. 7 (shown in early state).

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P616

References Art in Embassies 2002a, color illus. p. 15. Comments The composition of this painting was set in 1971, but the black lines in the lower part of it were darkened around 1983.

P617

P618

The Great Wall of China No. 4

The Great Wall of China No. 5

1971 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 60 x 40 in. (152.4 x 101.6 cm)

1971/before 1984 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 108 x 144 in. (274.3 x 365.8 cm)

Inscriptions Recto, upper right: RM \ 71

Inscriptions Recto, upper right: Motherwell \ Sept. 71

Verso: “The Great Wall \ of China #4” \ R. Motherwell \ Aug 1971 Present Owner Collection Bernard Jacobson Gallery, London Provenance Mr. and Mrs. Hanford Smith, 1973; private collection, 1989; [Christie’s, London, June 21, 2007, lot 451, illus.]; Bernard Jacobson Gallery, London, 2007 Solo Exhibitions Bernard Jacobson Gallery, London, June 2009. References Rose 1975, p. 230, color illus. p. 229 (ill. 10-7); Mattison et al. 2009, color illus. p. 126.

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P617

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Verso: “The Great Wall \ of China, #5” \ Robert Motherwell \ Summer, 1971 Artist’s Studio Number P71-2969 Present Owner Dedalus Foundation Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991 Solo Exhibitions Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, 1972, cat. no. 8 (shown in early state). Art Museum, Princeton University, N.J., 1973, cat. no. 10, illus. p. 70 (shown in early state). Museum Morsbroich, Leverkusen, Germany, 2004, color illus. pp. 72–73.

References Hughes 1972, p. 54, color illus. p. 55 (in early state, as Great Wall of China); Welish 1972, p. 45, illus. p. 44 (in early state); Volboudt 1973b, p. 86; Arnason 1977b, illus. n.p. (pl. 217, in exhibition, in early state); Drudi 1984, color illus. p. 113 (in studio); Drudi 1988b, color illus. p. 119 (in studio); Shipley 1991, illus. p. 113; Lorscheider 2004, illus. (in exhibition); Müller 2004, sec. A, p. 8. Comments An early version of this painting was exhibited in Minneapolis in 1972 and Princeton in 1973. It was revised sometime between 1973 and 1984, when Motherwell painted over with ochre what had been a dark central rectangle and added the Open-like forms within it, as well as the curving forms along the left edge. The Open-like form within the central rectangle is related to the Shem the Penman paintings; see Shem the Penman, 1972 (P679), and Shem the Penman No. 16, 1983 (p1066).

P618

P619

Open No. 37A: In Orange Alternative Title: Open—in Orange 1971 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 84 x 108 in. (213.4 x 274.3 cm) Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated Verso: “Open # , in Orange” \ Robert Motherwell \ Summer, 1971 Artist’s Studio Number P71-5206 Present Owner Art Gallery of Ontario. Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Roger Davidson, Mr. Harris Davidson, and Mr. Matthew Davidson in honor of Mrs. Harry Davidson, 1983 Provenance David Mirvish Gallery, Toronto, 1972; Virginia and Bagley Wright, 1973; [Sotheby Parke Bernet, Inc., New York, October 23, 1975, lot 432, illus. (not sold)]; [Sotheby Parke Bernet, Inc., New York, October 20, 1977, lot 231, illus.]; Waddington Galleries, 1977; private collection, 1978; [Christie’s, New York,

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November 12, 1980, lot 42, illus.]; private collection, 1980; Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, 1983 Solo Exhibitions Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, 1972, cat. no. 2, as Open—in Orange. Group Exhibitions Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1972, cat. no. 35, as Open, Summer 1971. Denver Art Museum, 1975, as Open— in Orange. References Close 1972a, sec. B, p. 2, as Open— in Orange. Comments When Motherwell signed this work on the verso in 1971, he purposely left blank the space after the #, so that it could eventually be assigned a series number. The Open number “37A” was assigned to this work in 1984, in relation to Open No. 37: In Orange with Charcoal Line (P430), to which it is similar in composition and size.

p ain tin gs on can v as an d pa n el

P620

Hoppla, wir leben! 1971/ca. 1974–77 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 107½ x 119⅞ in. (273.1 x 304.5 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper left [painted over]: [R. Motherwell \ Aug 71] Verso: R. Motherwell \ 1971 Artist’s Studio Number P71-2973 Present Owner Dedalus Foundation Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991 Solo Exhibitions Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, 1972, cat. no. 15 (shown in early state). References D[avis] 1972, p. 69; Mattison et al. 2009, color illus. p. 122. Comments An early, more expressionistic version of this work, which contained a biomorphic orange gestural form, was exhibited at

the Walker Art Center in 1972. That version of the work appears to have been based on a small untitled work on paper (W371). Motherwell revised this painting between 1974, the time that it was photographed in its earlier state, and 1977, when it was photographed in its final form. The title refers to a 1925 play by the expressionist playwright Ernst Toller (1893–1939), Hoppla, wir leben! (Hoppla, We’re Alive!), in which a revolutionary kills himself after he leaves a mental hospital and finds that his once radical friends have become complacent bourgeoisie who now accept the same values that they once so vehemently opposed. Motherwell may have had Mark Rothko in mind when he painted this picture.

P621

P622

Little Spanish House with Blue

In Ochre and Ultramarine

1970–71 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 69 x 67 in. (175.3 x 170.2 cm)

1971 Acrylic on canvas 60 x 95 in. (152.4 x 241.3 cm)

Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated

Inscriptions Recto, lower center, incised: Motherwell 71

Verso: R. Motherwell \ 1970

Verso not signed, not dated

Artist’s Studio Number P70-1138

Present Owner Collection of Frances and Kenneth Eisenberg

Present Owner Dedalus Foundation Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991 Comments The basic compositional structure of this painting appears to have been set in 1970, but the blues were added sometime after a slide was taken of the work in progress in April 1971. The title apparently refers to Open No. 97: The Spanish House (p486).

Provenance Prudential Life Insurance Company, Newark, N.J., 1972; Margo Leavin Gallery, Los Angeles, 1977; private collection, 1977; [Christie’s, New York, November 18, 1981, lot 49, illus. (not sold)]; private collection, ca. 1981; Frances and Kenneth Eisenberg, 1989

P622

Group Exhibitions Cleveland Museum of Art, 1980, cat. no. 17, illus. n.p. André Emmerich Gallery, New York, 1988. References Duthy 1982, illus. p. 51; Florida Design 2008, cover color illus. (installation view), color illus. p. 291. Comments An early state of this work, in which the ochre sections were painted green, is visible in Motherwell’s studio during the summer 1971 filming of Michael and Christian Blackwood’s documentary Robert Motherwell (released in 1973; see Filmography).

Solo Exhibitions Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, 1972, cat. no. 11.

p aint ing s on canvas and pane l

323

P623

P624

P625

P626

P623

P624

P625

P626

Untitled (Open)

Untitled

Pink Nude

1971 Acrylic and graphite on canvas board 20 x 16 in. (50.8 x 40.6 cm)

1971 Acrylic on canvas board 19½ x 15⅜ in. (49.5 x 39.1 cm)

1971 Acrylic on Upson board 20 x 16 in. (50.8 x 40.6 cm)

1971 Acrylic on canvas mounted to board 12¼ x 12¼ in. (31.1 x 31.1 cm)

Inscriptions Recto, lower center, incised: Motherwell 71

Inscriptions Recto, lower center, incised: Motherwell \ 71

Inscriptions Recto, upper left: RM 71

Verso not seen

Verso not signed, not dated

Present Owner Lorrie Daube

Present Owner Unknown

Artist’s Studio Number P71-461

Artist’s Studio Number P71-227

Provenance Thomas Segal Gallery, Boston; private collection, Boston; [Sotheby Parke Bernet, Inc., New York, October 31, 1984, lot 154, illus.]; Stanley Oberlin, 1984; Lorrie Daube, 1997

Provenance Unknown owner, ca. 1972

Present Owner Private collection, New York

Solo Exhibitions Fendrick Gallery, Washington, D.C., 1972.

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Bernard Jacobson Gallery, London, 2007; private collection, New York, 2008

Solo Exhibitions Fendrick Gallery, Washington, D.C., 1972.

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References McCormick Gallery 2007, color illus. n.p.

Verso not signed, not dated

Present Owner Dedalus Foundation Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991 Comments This painting appears to be a reprise of Pink Nude with Bowed Head, 1958 (W45), which went to Helen Frankenthaler as part of the couple’s divorce settlement in June 1971.

P627

P629

P628

P629

Untitled

1971 Acrylic on canvas 15¾ x 11½ in. (40 x 29.2 cm)

Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated

Inscriptions Recto, lower right: RM 71

Inscriptions Recto, upper left: RM 71

Verso: R. Motherwell \ 1971 \ “Blue Figure”

Verso not signed, not dated

Artist’s Studio Number P71-3002

Artist’s Studio Number P71-2947

Present Owner Dedalus Foundation

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991

Blue Figure 1971 Acrylic on canvas 61 x 45 in. (154.9 x 114.3 cm)

Artist’s Studio Number P71-5183 Present Owner Collection Walker Art Center, Minneapolis. Gift of Penny and Mike Winton, 1996 Provenance Penny and Mike Winton, 1973; [Sotheby’s, New York, November 7, 1990, lot 185, illus. (not sold)]; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, 1996

Museo Dolores Olmedo Patiño, Mexico City, 2008, color illus. p. 51.

P628

Mary and Leigh Block Museum of Art, Northwestern University, Evanston, Ill., 2009, cat. no. 30.

comments This work and p629–p631 were painted on unstretched canvas and are related to a slightly earlier painting on paper (w362).

Solo Exhibitions Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, 1972, cat. no. 3. Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, 1996, cat. no. 55.

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325

P630

P631

P632

P630

P631

P632

Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, 2005.

Untitled

1971 Acrylic on canvas 15¾ x 11¾ in. (40 x 29.9 cm)

1971 Acrylic on canvas 15¾ x 11½ in. (40 x 29.2 cm)

1971 Acrylic on canvas 108 x 144 in. (274.3 x 365.8 cm)

References Close 1972b, illus. (in exhibition).

Inscriptions Recto, upper left: RM 71

Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated

Verso not signed, not dated

Verso: R. Motherwell \ 1971

Artist’s Studio Number D71-2464

Artist’s Studio Number P71-2946; P71-2948

Artist’s Studio Number P71-5184

Present Owner Dedalus Foundation

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991

Present Owner Collection Walker Art Center, Minneapolis. Gift of the T. B. Walker Foundation, 1972 Provenance Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, 1972 Solo Exhibitions Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, 1972, cat. no. 14. Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, 1996, cat. no. 56. Group Exhibitions Center for the Fine Arts, Miami, 1984, cat. no. 200, illus. p. 127.

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P633

The August Sea 1971 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 84 x 42 in. (213.4 x 106.7 cm) Inscriptions Recto, lower right, incised: Motherwell Sept \ 71 Verso: Robert Motherwell \ “The August Sea” \ Provincetown, August, 1971 Present Owner Collection of Kenneth and Judy Dayton Provenance Kenneth and Judy Dayton, 1972 Solo Exhibitions Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, 1972, cat. no. 13. Group Exhibitions Marlborough Galleria d’Arte, Rome, 1972, cat. no. 24, color illus. n.p.

References Hughes 1972, p. 54, color illus. p. 56; Volboudt 1973b, p. 86; Maloon 1978, illus. p. 16 (in studio). Comments In 1972, Motherwell did five additional works in the August Sea series (see P668–P672).

P634

P635

P634

P635

Green Stripe with Ochre

Pilgrim

1967/1971 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 60 x 40 in. (152.4 x 101.6 cm)

1971 Acrylic on canvas 95½ x 60 in. (242.6 x 152.4 cm)

Inscriptions Recto, upper right: RM 71 \ Sept

Inscriptions Recto, upper right: RM 71 \ Aug 24

Verso not signed, not dated

Present Owner Private collection

Present Owner Private collection, San Francisco

Provenance Private collection, ca. 1972; [Christie’s, New York, November 8, 1983, lot 48, illus.]; private collection, 1983

Provenance McCrory Corporation, 1971; private collection, 1979; private collection, San Francisco, 2003

Solo Exhibitions Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, 1972, cat. no. 10.

Solo Exhibitions Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, 1972, cat. no. 12.

References Arnason 1977b, illus. n.p. (pl. 217, in exhibition).

References Welish 1972, illus. p. 45.

Comments An early state of this work was consigned to the Marlborough-Gerson Gallery in 1967. In 1971 Motherwell revised it, and signed and dated it.

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327

P636

P637

P636

Untitled 1971 Acrylic on canvas 84 x 108 in. (213.4 x 274.3 cm)

photograph. We do not know whether this work still exists in the form illustrated here.

P638

P637

P638

Black Open with Ochre

Cape Cod

1971 Acrylic on canvas 84 x 108 in. (213.4 x 274.3 cm)

1971 Acrylic, charcoal, and graphite on canvas 40¼ x 60 in. (102.2 x 152.4 cm)

Inscriptions Recto, lower left: Motherwell 71

Inscriptions Recto, upper right: R. Motherwell

Verso not seen

Present Owner Unknown

Provenance The artist

Provenance Private collection, 1981; unknown owner, ca. 1982

Solo Exhibitions Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, 1972, cat. no. 16. References Welish 1972, illus. p. 46. Comments After this work was exhibited at the Walker Arts Center in 1972 it was returned to the artist, but there is no further record of it. Our reproduction is from an early black-and-white

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Solo Exhibitions Knoedler & Company, New York, February 1993, cat. no. 5, erroneously as Black Open with Collage.

Inscriptions Recto, upper right, incised: RM 71 \ Sept Verso: R. Motherwell \ 1971 \ “Cape Cod” Present Owner Glen and Lynn Tobias Provenance Private collection, 1972; [Sotheby’s, New York, November 10, 2005, lot 225, illus.]; private collection, 2005; Bernard Jacobson Gallery, London, 2007; Jacobson Howard Gallery, 2007; Glen and Lynn Tobias, 2007 Solo Exhibitions Gertrude Kasle Gallery, Detroit, 1972, cat. no. 4.

P639

P640

P639

P640

P641

Sea Grey with Orange

Untitled

Iberia No. 20

1971 Acrylic on canvas 72 x 36 in. (182.9 x 91.4 cm)

1971 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 72 x 60 in. (182.9 x 152.4 cm)

Inscriptions Recto, upper right: R Motherwell \ 4 Dec 71

Inscriptions Recto, upper right: RM \ 71

Alternative Title: Iberia No. 40 1971 Acrylic on canvas 5 x 6 in. (12.7 x 15.2 cm)

Verso not seen Present Owner Unknown

Present Owner Private collection of Pauline and Murray Menkes

Provenance The artist

Provenance Pauline and Murray Menkes, ca. 1973

Comments Our reproduction of this work comes from a color slide taken in October 1972. We do not know whether this work still exists in the form illustrated here.

Verso not signed, not dated

P641

Comments This painting was misnumbered by Motherwell when he signed it on the verso, since three other paintings in the Iberia series (P263, P264, and P392) had also been given the number 20 at one time or another. When this work was exhibited at the William Ehrlich Gallery in 1979, Motherwell attempted to correct the repetition by retitling it as Iberia No. 40. Of the four Iberia paintings given the number 20, however, this is the only one that is numbered that way on the verso of the work itself, so we have retained the inscribed number as part of the official title.

Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated Verso: R. Motherwell \ 1971 \ iberia #20 Artist’s Studio Number P71-1036 Present Owner Collection of the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth. Museum purchase, the Friends of Art Endowment Fund Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, 1999 Solo Exhibitions William Ehrlich Gallery, New York, June 1979, as Iberia #40. References Thierolf 2002, p. 274.

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329

P643

P642

P644

P642

P643

P644

Spanish Elegy

Elegy to the Spanish Republic (Study 2—1971)

Spanish Elegy with Orange No. 3 Spanish Elegy with Orange No. 4

1971 Acrylic on canvas board 8 x 10 in. (20.3 x 25.4 cm) Inscriptions Recto, lower right: RM

1971 Acrylic and graphite on canvas board 8 x 10 in. (20.3 x 25.4 cm)

Inscriptions Recto, upper right: RM 71

Verso: Robert Motherwell

Verso: Robert Motherwell Artist’s Studio Number P71-1280

Verso not seen

Inscriptions Recto, upper right: RM

Present Owner Private collection

Verso not seen [“signed on the backing,” per Sotheby’s 2000]

Artist’s Studio Number P71-1279

Provenance Private collection, ca. 1977

Artist’s Studio Number ??-5214

Present Owner David and Beverly Hosokawa

Comments This painting may have been part of the Spanish Elegy with Orange series of 1971, in which no works were assigned the numbers 1 and 2, and in which only three of the five paintings are numbered (P644–P646). Both this painting and Elegy to the Spanish Republic (Study 2—1971) (P643) are quite similar in composition and scale to the numbered works in the series, and they may well have been intended as the missing numbers 1 and 2. This small painting later served as the basis for the large Elegy to the Spanish Republic No. 134 (P822).

Present Owner Collection of Andrew and Christine Hall

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; David and Beverly Hosokawa, 2000

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Provenance Private collection, 1975; Frances Lear; [Sotheby’s, New York, May 18, 2000, lot 380, illus.]; Andrew and Christine Hall, 2000 Comments This work may well have been meant as the second painting in the Spanish Elegy with Orange series (see the Comments for P642). It later served as the basis for Elegy to the Spanish Republic No. 129 (P816).

P645

Solo Exhibitions William Ehrlich Gallery, New York, May 1979. Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, 1984, cat. no. 99. Comments This work served as the basis for a number of large-scale Elegies: Elegy to the Spanish Republic No. 128, No. 132, and No. 133 (P815, P819, and P820). It also later served as the basis for a lithograph, Burning Elegy, 1991 (Engberg and Banach 2003, no. 520).

Present Owner Honolulu Academy of Arts. Partial purchase and partial gift of the Dedalus Foundation, 1999 (8989.1) Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Honolulu Academy of Arts, 1999 Solo Exhibitions William Ehrlich Gallery, New York, May 1979. Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, 1984, cat. no. 100. Knoedler & Company, New York, 1994, cat. no. 11.

P645

Comments This work later served as the basis for Elegy to the Spanish Republic No. 131 (P818).

P646

Spanish Elegy with Orange No. 5 1971–ca. 1979 Acrylic and graphite on canvas board 8 x 10 in. (20.3 x 25.4 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper right: RM 71 Verso: Robert Motherwell Artist’s Studio Number P71-1299 Present Owner David and Beverly Hosokawa Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; David and Beverly Hosokawa, 2000 Solo Exhibitions William Ehrlich Gallery, New York, May 1979. Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, 1984, cat. no. 103.

P646

Comments The basic composition of this painting was set in 1971. Sometime after it was photographed in its first state in 1975 (Sloman photo no. 216), Motherwell reworked the areas around the black Elegy forms. It appears in its final state in a March 1980 studio photograph. This painting served as the basis for two large-scale Elegies: Elegy to the Spanish Republic No. 130 and No. 134 (P817 and P821).

P647

At Five in the Afternoon Alternative Title: [At Five in the Afternoon (Large Version)] 1971 Acrylic on canvas 90 x 120 in. (228.6 x 304.8 cm) Inscriptions Recto, lower right, incised: Motherwell 49/71 Verso not seen Present Owner Private collection Provenance Private collection, 1981 Solo Exhibitions Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, 1972, cat. no. 1. Museo de Arte Moderno, Mexico City, 1975, cat. no. 6, illus. n.p., as Gran varación sobre A las cinco de la tarde (At Five in the Afternoon [Large Version]). Knoedler & Company, New York, February 1981, cat. no. 11. Knoedler & Company, New York, 1994, cat. no. 4. p aint ing s on canvas and pane l

331

P648

P647

References Welish 1972, illus. p. 44; Acha 1975, p. 82; Fineberg 1978, pp. 53, 55–56, illus. p. 57 (in progress); Weinstein 1985, color illus. p. 32; Mackie 1989, p. 187; Braun-Munk 1991, color illus. pp. 70, 76 (installation view); Karmel 1994, sec. C, p. 3; Gilbert 1998, p. 262, illus. p. 548 (fig. 33); Galleria d’Arte il Gabbiano exh. cat. 2008, illus. frontispiece (in studio, in progress). Comments Motherwell’s decision to sign this painting “Motherwell 49/71” has led some to assume that 1971 was the date of completion for a canvas begun in 1949. In fact, this work was painted entirely during the summer of 1971 in Provincetown, following Motherwell’s divorce from Helen Frankenthaler. As part of the divorce settlement, Frankenthaler retained the seminal small painting on paperboard, At Five in the Afternoon of 1948–49 (W10). The loss of the earlier work led him to re-create it on a larger scale.

332

p ain tin gs on can v as an d pa n el

P649

P648

P649

Elegy to the Spanish Republic (with Lemon-Yellow Panel)

Elegy to the Spanish Republic No. 122

Alternative Title: Elegy to the Spanish Republic 1971 Acrylic on canvas 60 x 150 in. (152.4 x 381 cm)

1972 Acrylic, charcoal, and graphite on canvas 49½ x 69 in. (125.7 x 175.3 cm)

Inscriptions Recto, upper right: R Motherwell \ Aug 1971

Inscriptions Recto, upper right, incised: RM \ 72

Verso not seen

Verso: “Elegy to the Spanish Republic \ #122” \ Robert Motherwell \ 1972 \ for Monique + Lee Eastman

Present Owner Arthur and Toni Rock

Present Owner Private collection

Provenance Arthur and Toni Rock, 1974

Provenance Lee V. Eastman, 1972; [Christie’s, New York, November 8, 2005, lot 22, illus.]; private collection, 2005

Solo Exhibitions Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, 1972, cat. no. 4, as Elegy to the Spanish Republic. References Pleynet 1975, illus. p. 7, as Elegie à la République espagnole (Elegy to the Spanish Republic); Arnason 1977b, color illus. n.p. (pl. 216), illus. n.p. (pl. 217, in exhibition).

Solo Exhibitions William Benton Museum of Art, University of Connecticut, Storrs, 1979, cat. no. 54 (brochure); cat. no. 58 (catalogue), illus. p. 92 (in exhibition). References Newtown Bee 1979, illus. sec. C, p. 1.

Comments The inscription on the verso of this painting is to Lee Eastman, Motherwell’s lawyer, and his wife Monique.

P650

Elegy to the Spanish Republic No. 124 1971–72 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 102⅓ x 175 in. (260.4 x 444.5 cm) Inscriptions Recto, lower right, incised: R Motherwell \ 72 Verso not signed, not dated Artist’s Studio Number P71-72 Present Owner Andrea Selig Provenance Mr. and Mrs. Martin Selig, 1983; Andrea Selig, 1995 Solo Exhibitions Art Museum, Princeton University, N.J., 1973, cat. no. 17, illus. p. 16 (in studio, in progress), illus. p. 39. Knoedler & Company, New York, 1974, cat. no. 16.

Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, 1983 (traveling); shown in Seattle only. Group Exhibitions National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1978, cat. no. 8, color illus. p. 32 (pl. 15), illus. p. 93 (fig. 1, in studio, in progress), illus. p. 115 (fig. 16), illus. p. 116 (fig. 17, in studio, in progress). References Hughes 1972, p. 54, color illus. p. 55, erroneously as Early to the Spanish Republic; Kramer 1973b, illus. sec. D, p. 23; Herrera 1974, p. 112; Kramer 1974a, p. 21; Hobbs 1975b, pp. 279–80, illus. n.p. (pl. 56); Pleynet 1975, illus. p. 4 (in studio, in progress); Carmean 1976, pp. 94, 96, as Elegy No. 124; Arnason 1977b, illus. p. 54 (pl. 30, in exhibition), illus. n.p. (pl. 214, in studio, in progress), color illus. n.p. (pl. 215); Forgey 1977, illus. sec. D, p. 2 (upside down); Wallach 1977b, pt. II, p. 17, illus. pt. II, p. 17 (in studio, in progress); Carmean 1978, pp. 97, 114, 115, 119, illus. p. 92 (fig. 1, in studio, in progress), illus. p. 115 (fig. 16), illus. p. 116 (fig. 17, in studio, in progress);

Hasiotis 1983, illus. n.p. (in studio, in progress); Morgan 1983, sec. D, p. 3, illus. sec. D, p. 3 (in studio, in progress); Bannon 1984a, color illus. pp. 36–37 (in studio, in progress); Drudi 1984, illus. p. 110, illus. p. 111 (in studio, in progress); Kangas 1984, sec. Arts & Leisure; Tarzan 1984, sec. E, p. 1; Wolff 1984a, illus. p. 17 (in studio, in progress); Drudi 1988b, illus. p. 116, illus. p. 117 (in studio, in progress); D’Amico 1989, illus. p. 31 (in studio, in progress); Caws 1996b, illus. p. 180 (in studio, in progress). Comments This work was painted mostly in 1971. Motherwell is shown working on the canvas at the beginning of Michael and Christian Blackwood’s documentary Robert Motherwell, which was filmed entirely during the summer of 1971 (see Filmography). In 1972 Motherwell extended the areas of black paint to the lower corners of the canvas.

P651

Elegy to the Spanish Republic No. 125 1972 Acrylic on canvas 88 x 122 in. (223.5 x 309.9 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper left, incised: R Motherwell \ 72 Verso not seen [“signed and dated 7 May 1972,” per present owner] Present Owner Collection of Simona and Jerome Chazen Provenance Private collection, ca. 1974; [Sotheby’s, New York, November 8, 1989, lot 30, illus.]; unknown owner, 1989; [Sotheby’s, New York, April 30, 1991, lot 6, illus.]; Simona and Jerome Chazen, 1991 Group Exhibitions Museum of Arts and Design, New York, 2005 (traveling), color illus. pp. 126–27.

p aint ing s on canvas and pane l

333

P652

References Art Museum, Princeton University, exh. cat. 1973, illus. p. 16 (in studio, in progress); Hobbs 1975b, p. 275, illus. n.p. (pl. 52); Borger 1988, color illus. p. 126 (installation view, as Elegy); Herald Wire Services 1991, p. 65.

P652

Open No. 84A 1972 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 60 x 50 in. (152.4 x 127 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper left: RM \ 72 Verso: 17 June 1972 \ Robert Motherwell \ “84A” Present Owner Collection Bernard Jacobson Gallery, London Provenance Mr. and Mrs. Milton Fischmann, 1973; Greenberg Gallery, Saint Louis, 1973; private collection; Greenberg Van Doren Gallery, after 1995; Bernard Jacobson Gallery, London, 2006 Solo Exhibitions Washington University Gallery of Art, Saint Louis, 1995, cat. no. 13, as Open 84A. Lawrence Rubin/Greenberg Van Doren Fine Art, New York, 2001, cat. no. 12, color illus. n.p. (pl. 2).

334

pain tin gs on can v as an d pa n el

P653

Group Exhibitions Steinberg Hall, Washington University Gallery of Art, Saint Louis, 1975, cat. no. 58, as 84-A. Brooks Memorial Art Gallery, Memphis, 1978, illus. p. 33, as Untitled (84A). Greenberg Van Doren Gallery, New York, 2002, as 84A. References Architectural Digest 2006b, color illus. p. 194 (installation view); Mattison et al. 2009, color illus. p. 134, as 84A. Comments The title of this painting refers to an earlier work, Open No. 84: In Orange with Charcoal Line (P475), to which it is similar in size, color, and composition (though the configurations of the Open forms are reversed).

P653

Orange Open 1972 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 71½ x 60 in. (181.6 x 152.4 cm) Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated Verso: R. Motherwell \ 1972 \ “orange open” Present Owner Private collection Provenance Private collection, 1972; private collection, 1973; private collection, 2008 Solo Exhibitions Gertrude Kasle Gallery, Detroit, 1972, cat. no. 2.

P654

P655

P656

P657

P654

P655

P656

P657

Untitled

Mr. Chad

Dark Four

1972 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 20 x 16 in. (50.8 x 40.6 cm)

1972 Acrylic and charcoal on Upson board 12 x 9 in. (30.5 x 22.9 cm)

[ Untitled (Black and Grey Horizontal Bands) ]

Inscriptions Recto, upper right: 72 \ Motherwell

Inscriptions Recto, lower right: RM

Verso: RM 1972

Verso not signed, not dated

Verso (on top horizontal stretcher): R Motherwell

Artist’s Studio Number D72-1270

Artist’s Studio Number P72-265

Present Owner Dedalus Foundation

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991

Comments The title of this work refers to the British version of the World War II–era graffiti character known in America as Kilroy.

1972 Acrylic on canvas board 15⅞ x 11⅞ in. (40.3 x 30.2 cm) Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated

1972 Acrylic on canvas board 20 x 16 in. (50.8 x 40.6 cm) Inscriptions Recto, lower right: R. Motherwell \ 72

Verso not signed, not dated

Verso: “dark four” \ Robert Motherwell

Artist’s Studio Number P72-504

Artist’s Studio Number P72-1169

Present Owner Dedalus Foundation

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991

paint ing s on canvas and pane l

335

P658

P659

{ Untitled (Grey Open)}

Riverrun

1972 Acrylic on canvas 60 x 47¾ in. (152.4 x 121.3 cm)

1972/1973/1982–83 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 60 x 150 in. (152.4 x 381 cm)

Inscriptions Recto, upper left: RM 72

Inscriptions Recto, upper left, incised: R Motherwell \ 10 July 1972

Verso: Robert Motherwell \ 30 June 1972

Recto, lower right: RM

Artist’s Studio Number P72-2967

Verso: “Riverrun” \ R. Motherwell \ 10 July 1972

Present Owner Bared Family Collection, Coral Gables, Fla.

Artist’s Studio Number P72-2677

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; private collection, 2004; Bared Family Collection, Coral Gables, Fla., 2008

336

pain tin gs on c an v as an d pa n el

Present Owner Private collection Provenance United Airlines, 1986; [Sotheby’s, New York, May 9, 1996, lot 165, illus.]; private collection, 1996

Solo Exhibitions Art Museum, Princeton University, N.J., 1973, cat. no. 52 (shown in early state).

97, 99–100; Hayes 2004, color illus. p. 199 (pl. 110).

Comments The title of this painting comes from the first word of James Joyce’s Finnegans Wake. In an early state (referred to by the Provincetown Art Association and “10 July 1972” date on the verso), the Museum, Mass., 1983 (traveling). linear forms at the top of the picture that Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, 1983 are now rendered in charcoal were left as (traveling), cat. no. 59, color illus. p. 97. three vertical areas of bare canvas. It was References this version that was shown at Princeton Friend 1973, p. 19, as River Run; Holmes in January 1973. Motherwell then painted 1974, sec. 3, p. 18; Forman 1983, p. 13; into these areas while retaining an outHughes 1983, p. 69, color illus. p. 68; line of exposed canvas around the vertiDuffy 1984, pp. 60, 92; Los Angeles cal forms, and this modified version of County Museum of Art Members’ the painting was shown at the Tibor de Calendar 1984, n.p.; Los Angeles Herald Nagy Gallery in January 1974. The three Examiner 1984; News Chronicle/Thousand vertical forms were later given emphasis Oaks 1984, sec. A, p. 11; Pasadena Starwith charcoal, and a horizontal charcoal News 1984; West Art 1984, p. 1; Pleynet line was added before the painting was 1989b, p. 56, color illus. p. 141 (foldout); shown at the Provincetown Art Associa Pleynet 1991, pp. 11–13, 22, 24, 26, color tion and Museum in May 1983. illus. p. ix; Pleynet 1998, pp. 85, 87–88, Tibor de Nagy Gallery, Houston, 1974 (shown in early state).

P659

P660

P661

P662

The Red Wall

Untitled

Summer Night

1972 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 72 x 72 in. (182.9 x 182.9 cm)

1972 Acrylic on canvas 60 x 48 in. (152.4 x 121.9 cm)

Inscriptions Recto, upper right: RM \ 72

Alternative Title: [23rd June 1972– 10th August 1972] 1972 Acrylic on canvas 50 x 36 in. (127 x 91.4 cm)

Verso: Robert Motherwell \ 30 July 1972

Inscriptions Recto, upper right: RM \ 72

Verso not seen

Present Owner Private collection

Verso: R. Motherwell \ 23 June 1972– \ 10 August 72

Provenance Private collection, 1976

Present Owner Collection of Hanford Yang

Solo Exhibitions Galerie André Emmerich, Zurich, 1974, color illus. n.p.

Provenance Hanford Yang, 1973

References Staber 1974–75, color illus. p. 115.

338

pain tin gs on ca n v a s a n d pan el

Group Exhibitions Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art, Ridgefield, Conn., 1977, illus. n.p., as Open.

Inscriptions Recto, upper left, incised: RM 72

Present Owner Private collection Provenance Private collection, 1973; [Sotheby Parke Bernet, Inc., New York, November 8, 1979, lot 867A, illus.]; private collection, 1979 Solo Exhibitions Lawrence Rubin Gallery, New York, 1972, cat. no. 9. References Masheck 1973, p. 91.

P661

P662

P663

P664

P663

P664

Untitled (Green)

The August Sun and Shadow

1972 Acrylic on canvas board 20 x 15¼ in. (50.8 x 38.7 cm)

1972 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 71¾ x 47¾ in. (182.3 x 121.3 cm)

Inscriptions Recto, lower right: RM \ 72

Inscriptions Recto, lower left: R. Motherwell 72

Alternative Titles: The Sicilian Mystery; Sicilian Woman 1972 Acrylic on canvas board 23¾ x 9½ in. (60.3 x 24.1 cm)

Verso not signed, not dated

Verso: Robert Motherwell \ 10 Aug 1972– \ 28 Aug \ “The August Sun \ and Shadow”

Inscriptions Recto, lower right, incised: RM \ 12 Aug 72

Present Owner Yale University Art Gallery. Gift of Sylvia Slifka

Verso: R. Motherwell 12 Aug 72

Provenance Sylvia and Joseph Slifka, 1973; Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, Conn., 1995

Present Owner Jacobson Howard Gallery

Present Owner Private collection Provenance Louis D. Kacalieff; [Sotheby’s, Chicago, March 19, 2001, lot 804, illus.]; private collection, 2001

Solo Exhibitions Lawrence Rubin Gallery, New York, 1972, cat. no. 1. Knoedler & Company, New York, February 1993, cat. no. 13.

References Masheck 1973, p. 91, illus. p. 91; Caws 1996b, p. 3, illus. p. 6.

P665

The Sicilian Window

Artist’s Studio Number P72-1975

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Conor and Jean Daly, Dublin, 2004; Bernard Jacobson Gallery, London, 2006; Jacobson Howard Gallery, 2007 Solo Exhibitions William Benton Museum of Art, University of Connecticut, Storrs, 1979, cat. no. 56 (catalogue), illus. p. 48 (in exhibition), as The Sicilian Mystery.

p aint ing s on canvas and pane l

339

P665

Ulrich Museum of Art, Wichita State University, Kans., 1979, as The Sicilian Woman. Knoedler & Company, New York, April 1991, cat. no. 9. Museo Rufino Tamayo, Mexico City, 1991 (traveling), cat. no. 11, color illus. p. 51. Group Exhibitions Hillsboro Fine Art, Dublin, August 2005. References Morgan 1997, p. 113. Comments This work was called Sicilian Window on documents dating from the early 1970s, but that title was not used publicly at the time. It was exhibited under two different titles in 1979, The Sicilian Mystery and Sicilian Woman, but Motherwell restored the earlier title by the time it was exhibited again in 1991. See also P674, which is titled Sicilian Window.

340

P666

P667

P666

P667

[ Untitled (Open) ]

Le Printemps

Alternative Title: {Untitled (Ochre Open)} 1972 Acrylic on Upson board 23⅞ x 9⅝ in. (60.6 x 24.5 cm)

Alternative Titles: The Joy of Living; The French Door 1964/1967/ca. 1972 Oil, acrylic, and charcoal on canvas 72 x 45 in. (182.9 x 114.3 cm)

Inscriptions Recto, upper right: RM \ 72

Inscriptions Recto, upper right, incised: RM

Verso not signed, not dated

Verso (on top horizontal stretcher): RM

Artist’s Studio Number P72-1110

Verso [crossed out]: [“the french door”]

Present Owner Collection Bernard Jacobson Gallery, London

Verso: “le printemps” \ 1964–67 \ Robert Motherwell

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Bernard Jacobson Gallery, London, 2007 Solo Exhibitions William Shearburn Gallery, Saint Louis, 2006, cat. no. 27, as Untitled (Ochre Open).

p ain tin gs on ca n v a s a n d pan el

Verso, oriented horizontally: 45 x 72" 1964 Verso, oriented horizontally: Robert Motherwell \ oil on canvas \ 1964 Artist’s Studio Number P64-2848 Present Owner Collection of Carol and Stephen Shey, Gainesville, Fla.

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Carol and Stephen Shey, Gainesville, Fla., 2003 Group Exhibitions Marlborough-Gerson Gallery, New York, 1964 (shown in early state), as The Joy of Living. Samuel P. Harn Museum of Art, University of Florida, Gainesville, 2008, cat. no. 73, color illus. p. 177. References Willard 1964b, p. 44, as Joy of Living; Franzke 1994, p. 10, color illus. p. 9 (fig. 9, in early state, as Joy of Living). Comments This work was originally a horizontal picture painted in oil, with a very different composition that consisted of an amorphous red form and a blue anchorlike form on a white ground. It was exhibited in that state in 1964 under the title The Joy of Living. In 1967, the canvas was entirely repainted in acrylic and reoriented as a vertical picture. It was also retitled twice: first as

P668

The French Door, then as Le Printemps. It was revised again around 1972, shortly after it was returned to Motherwell by the Marlborough-Gerson Gallery.

P669

P670

P668

P669

P670

August Sea No. 2

August Sea No. 3

August Sea No. 4

1972 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 72 x 36 in. (182.9 x 91.4 cm)

1972 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 71¾ x 36 in. (182.3 x 91.4 cm)

1972 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 72 x 36 in. (182.9 x 91.4 cm)

Inscriptions Recto, upper right: RM 72

Verso: R. Motherwell \ 12 + 22 August \ 1972 \ “The August Sea, #2”

Verso: “The August Sea \ #3” \ Robert Motherwell \ 1972

Verso not seen

Present Owner Private collection

Present Owner Kasle Family Collection

Provenance Private collection, 1974; [Sotheby Parke Bernet, Inc., New York, May 18, 1978, lot 258, illus.]; private collection, 1978; private collection

Provenance Private collection, 1972; Gertrude Kasle, 1973; [Christie’s, New York, November 19, 1992, lot 296, illus. (not sold)]; Kasle Family Collection

Comments This is the second painting in the August Sea series; the first work in the series was painted in 1971 (see P633).

Solo Exhibitions Gertrude Kasle Gallery, Detroit, 1972, cat. no. 3. Group Exhibitions Meadow Brook Art Gallery, Oakland University, Rochester, Mich., 1976, cat. no. 29.

Present Owner Unknown Provenance Private collection, 1973; unknown owner Solo Exhibitions Lawrence Rubin Gallery, New York, 1972, cat. no. 5. References Masheck 1973, p. 91. Comments Our reproduction of this work comes from an early color slide.

References Hakanson 1972, illus. sec. E, p. 4, erroneously as Cape Cod. paint ing s on canvas and pane l

341

P671

P672

P671

P672

August Sea No. 5

August Sea No. 6

1972 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 72 x 48 in. (182.9 x 121.9 cm)

1972 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 71¾ x 54 in. (182.3 x 137.2 cm)

Inscriptions Recto, upper right: RM 72

Inscriptions Recto, upper right: RM \ 72

Verso not seen

Verso: “The August Sea #6” \ R. Motherwell \ 1972

Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated

Artist’s Studio Number P72-5021

Verso: Robert Motherwell \ 19 August 1972 \ not for sale

Present Owner Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo. Gift of Seymour H. Knox Jr., 1972

Artist’s Studio Number P72-1243

Present Owner Unknown Provenance Private collection, 1972; private collection, 1974; unknown owner Solo Exhibitions Lawrence Rubin Gallery, New York, 1972, cat. no. 2. Comments Our reproduction of this work comes from a color slide taken around 1972.

342

Norman MacKenzie Art Gallery, University of Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada, 1979 (traveling), illus. p. 47. Arnot Art Museum, Elmira, N.Y., 1998. References Seldis 1974a, sec. 4, p. 2; Krane, Evren, and Raye 1987, p. 251, illus. p. 251.

P673

In Plato’s Cave No. 1 Alternative Titles: Dark Open; In Plato’s Cave I 1972 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 72 x 96 in. (182.9 x 243.8 cm)

Provenance Seymour H. Knox Jr., 1972; AlbrightKnox Art Gallery, Buffalo, 1972

Present Owner National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. The Nancy Lee and Perry Bass Fund

Solo Exhibitions Lawrence Rubin Gallery, New York, 1972, cat. no. 3.

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1998

Group Exhibitions Art Galleries, University of California, Santa Barbara, 1974, cat. no. 17, illus. p. 26.

Solo Exhibitions Art Museum, Princeton University, N.J., 1973, cat. no. 2, front and back cover illus. (detail), illus. p. 56, as Dark Open.

pain tin gs on can v as an d pa n el

P673

P674

Knoedler & Company, New York, 1974, cat. no. 15.

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, 1984, cat. no. 66.

Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, 1977, color illus. n.p. (upside down), as In Plato’s Cave.

Padiglione d’Arte Contemporanea, Milan, 1989, cat. no. 11, color illus. p. 38.

Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh, 1977, as In Plato’s Cave.

Artcurial Centre d’Art Plastique Contemporain, Paris, 1990 (traveling), Paris, illus. p. 24.

Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1978, cat. no. 20, illus. p. 18, as In Plato’s Cave. William Benton Museum of Art, University of Connecticut, Storrs, 1979, cat. no. 54 (brochure); cat. no. 57 (catalogue), illus. p. 6, illus. p. 67 (in exhibition); as In Plato’s Cave. Centro Cultural de la Caixa de Pensions, Barcelona, 1980 (traveling), Barcelona, cat. no. 8, as A la gruta de Plató (In Plato’s Cave); Madrid, cat. no. 8, color illus. n.p., as En la gruta de Platón (In Plato’s Cave). Knoedler & Company, New York, February 1981, cat. no. 6, as In Plato’s Cave. Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, 1983 (traveling), cat. no. 58, color illus. p. 49; not shown in Los Angeles and Seattle. 344

Fundació Antoni Tàpies, Barcelona, 1996 (traveling), cat. no. 45, color illus. p. 171. Group Exhibitions Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, 1974, illus. p. 57. Städtische Kunsthalle Düsseldorf, 1974 (traveling), cat. no. 252, illus. p. 117, as In Platos Höhle (In Plato’s Cave). United States Pavilion, Venice, 1976, cat. no. 1, illus. p. 49. References Kramer 1973b, sec. D, p. 23, as Dark Open; Herrera 1974, p. 112; Pleynet 1975, illus. p. 7 (installation view); Arnason 1976, pp. 21, 22, 25, 55; Arnason 1977b, pp. 62, 82–83, 87, color illus. n.p. (pl. 236); Kenedy 1977, p. 61;

pain tin gs on ca n v a s a n d pan el

Motherwell in Arnason 1977b, n.p.; Shipway 1977, sec. Arts, p. 12, illus. sec. Arts, p. 12, as In Plato’s Cave 1; Gaugh 1978, p. 29; Lucie-Smith 1978b, p. 23; Highwater 1979; Chapman 1980, p. 57, illus. p. 56 (fig. 9); Arnason 1982, pp. 14, 82–83, 91, illus. p. 180 (pl. 252, detail), color illus. p. 181 (pl. 253, in studio); Motherwell in Arnason 1982, p. 180; Albright-Knox Art Gallery Calendar 1983, p. 3; Maier and Steingräber 1983, pp. 386–87; Alley 1984, color illus. p. 58; Baitz 1984, sec. Reader’s Guide, p. 15; Fowler 1984, sec. A, p. 15, as In Plato’s Cave; Hüllenkremer 1984, color illus. p. 107; Inje 1984, p. 13; Los Angeles Herald Examiner 1984; News Chronicle/ Thousand Oaks 1984, sec. A, p. 11; West Art 1984, p. 1; Danto 1985, p. 60; Kimball 1985, pp. 35, 40; Highwater 1986, p. 217; Danto 1987, p. 51; Enright 1989, p. 12; Pleynet 1989b, p. 124, color illus. p. 134; Ferlinghetti 1990, color illus. p. 47; La Depeche 1990; M. 1990, p. 45; Zanetti 1990, p. 91; Flam 1991, p. 27, color illus. n.p. (pl. 96); PélyAudan 1991, p. 102; Polcari 1991,

p. 321, illus. p. 320 (fig. 259); Fineberg 1995, p. 72, color illus. p. 73 (fig. 3.36); Banach 1996, pp. 25, 27, illus. p. 24 (in studio); Caws 1996b, pp. 111, 115, illus. p. 114; Chalumeau 1998, p. 38, color illus. p. 53 (pl. 56); Fineberg 2000, p. 72, illus. p. 73 (fig. 3.37); Thierolf 2002, pp. 292–93, illus. p. 293 (fig. 4); Caws 2003, pp. 106, 134, color illus. p. 105 (ill. 69); Russo 2005, cover color illus.; Mattison et al. 2009, pp. 84, 88, 130, color illus. p. 132. Comments This painting was first exhibited as Dark Open, at Princeton in January 1973; it was retitled that autumn when it inspired a series of related works that Motherwell named In Plato’s Cave. It was exhibited with its new title, In Plato’s Cave I, at Motherwell’s April 1974 exhibition at Knoedler & Company. The title of this work refers to two literary sources: most obviously, to Plato’s Allegory of the Cave, in Book 7 of The Republic; and also to Delmore Schwartz’s poem “In the Naked Bed, in Plato’s Cave” (see Motherwell in Arnason 1982, p. 180). Between 1972

P675

and 1974, Motherwell painted seven works with this title (see p739–p742, p770, and p771). He originally included the dates of the paintings in their titles, but after he numbered the works in the mid-1970s, the dates were generally no longer considered part of the titles. The title and date of this painting are inscribed on the verso in the hand of Claus Colsman-Freyberger, Motherwell’s studio assistant at the time: “ ‘In Plato’s Cave I’ (19. Aug. 72).” Of the seven works in this series, five were given numbers and two were not (P739 and P740). It is likely that the two unnumbered works were meant to be numbers 2 and 3, which are missing from the numbered series. The dates inscribed on the two unnumbered works would chronologically place them second and third.

P674

Sicilian Window 1972 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 72 x 96 in. (182.9 x 243.8 cm)

Knoedler & Company, New York, February 1993, cat. no. 4.

P675

Comments The title of this work is related to The Sicilian Window (P665).

1972 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 72 x 72 in. (182.9 x 182.9 cm)

The Sicilian Door

Inscriptions Recto, upper right: RM 72

Inscriptions Recto, upper left: R. Motherwell \ 72

Verso not seen [“signed, inscribed with title, dated 19 August 1972–27 August,” per Sotheby’s 1985]

Verso not seen [“signed again, inscribed with title, and dated 22nd August 1972,” per Sotheby’s 1992]

Present Owner Unknown

Provenance Lee V. Eastman, 1973; [Christie’s, New York, May 1, 1985, lot 36, illus. (not sold)]; [Christie’s, New York, November 6, 1985, lot 39, illus.]; private collection, San Francisco, 1985; Dr. Robert and Mrs. Rosalie Levy; [Sotheby’s, New York, November 11, 1993, lot 299, illus.]; unknown owner, 1993

Provenance Diane and Steven Jacobson, 1973; [Sotheby Parke Bernet, Inc., New York, May 27, 1976, lot 345, illus.]; Eli and Edythe L. Broad Collection, Los Angeles, 1976; [Christie’s, New York, November 8, 1983, lot 60, illus.]; private collection, 1983; [Sotheby’s, New York, May 7, 1992, lot 256, illus.]; unknown owner, 1992

Solo Exhibitions Gertrude Kasle Gallery, Detroit, 1972, cat. no. 1.

References Reif 1983, sec. C, p. 24.

paint ing s on canvas and pane l

345

P676

P677

August Sky

Before the Day

1972 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 80½ x 108½ in. (204.5 x 275.6 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper right: RM 72

1972 Acrylic, charcoal, and graphite on canvas 72 x 96 in. (182.9 x 243.8 cm)

P677

Henry Art Gallery, University of Washington, Seattle, December 1981. Seattle Art Museum, 1984, cat. no. 34, illus. p. 48. References Franzke 1977, p. 65; Terenzio 1979, p. 3; Gaugh 1985, p. 75.

P678

Opening 1972 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 71½ x 59½ in. (181.6 x 151.1 cm) Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated

Verso: R. Motherwell \ 28 Aug 1972

Inscriptions Recto, upper left: RM 72 \ 30 August

Artist’s Studio Number P72-1595

Verso: 30 August 1972 \ Robert Motherwell

Verso not seen [“signed and dated on reverse: R. Motherwell, Sept 1972,” per Gruenebaum Gallery exh. cat. 1976]

Present Owner Private collection

Present Owner Jane M. Davis

Artist’s Studio Number P72-1896

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Ameringer/ Howard Fine Art, 2001; private collection, 2002

Provenance Jane M. Davis, 1972

Present Owner Unknown

Solo Exhibitions Lawrence Rubin Gallery, New York, 1972, cat. no. 7.

Provenance Private collection, 1979; private col lection, 1989; unknown owner, 1995

Städtische Kunsthalle Düsseldorf, 1976 (traveling), cat. no. 40, illus. p. 109.

Solo Exhibitions Gertrude Kasle Gallery, Detroit, 1975, cat. no. 13.

Solo Exhibitions Lawrence Rubin Gallery, New York, 1972, cat. no. 8.

Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, 1977, illus. n.p. Group Exhibitions Seattle Art Museum Pavilion, 1973, cat. no. 43, illus. p. 19.

346

pain tin gs on c an v as an d pa n el

Knoedler & Company, New York, 1978, cat. no. 36, illus. p. 8 (in exhibition), illus. p. 22.

P678

Group Exhibitions Gruenebaum Gallery, New York, 1976, cat. no. 3, cover color illus. (detail), color illus. p. 36. References Miro 1975, sec. D, p. 4; Brown 1976, p. 18, illus. p. 18; Perrone 1976b, p. 74; Drudi 1984, illus. p. 104 (in studio); Drudi 1988b, illus. p. 110 (in studio).

P679

Shem the Penman 1972 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 80½ x 108½ in. (204.5 x 275.6 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper left: RM 72 Verso not seen Present Owner Unknown Provenance Private collection, 1972; Knoedler & Company, 1981; Greenberg Gallery, Saint Louis, 1981; unknown owner Solo Exhibitions Lawrence Rubin Gallery, New York, 1972, cat. no. 6.

P679

Comments The title of this series refers to Shem the Penman, the archetypal artist character from James Joyce’s Finnegans Wake. This unnumbered first painting in the series was followed by a group of numbered smaller “studies” in 1972 and 1973 (see P680–P691 and related works; also P729 and W407). Two paintings were given the number 11 in this series, and no works are given the numbers 12, 13, 14, or 15. After 1973, no other works with the title Shem the Penman appear until 1983 (P1066– P1069). The 1983 works are given the numbers 16 to 19 in the series. Our reproduction of this work comes from a color slide taken in November 1972.

P680

Study for Shem the Penman No. 1 1972 Acrylic and charcoal on Upson board 11¾ x 11¾ in. (29.9 x 29.9 cm) Inscriptions Recto, lower left: Motherwell \ 72 Verso not signed, not dated Artist’s Studio Number D72-475 Present Owner The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Gift of the artist Provenance Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1987

Group Exhibitions Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, January 1973, illus. p. 53.

Solo Exhibitions Fendrick Gallery, Washington, D.C., 1972.

References Siegel 1972, illus. p. 11; Ratcliff 1973, illus. p. 63; Ashton 1980, p. 8.

Provincetown Art Association and Museum, Mass., 1983 (traveling).

p aint ing s on canvas and pane l

347

P680

Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1987. References Advocate Summer Guide 1983b, p. 3.

pain tin gs on ca n v a s a n d pan el

P682

P681

P682

P683

Study for Shem the Penman No. 2

Study for Shem the Penman No. 3

Study for Shem the Penman No. 4

1972 Acrylic and charcoal on Upson board 11½ x 11½ in. (29.2 x 29.2 cm)

1972 Acrylic and charcoal on Upson board 11⅞ x 12 in. (30.2 x 30.5 cm)

1972 Acrylic and charcoal on Upson board 15½ x 19½ in. (39.4 x 49.5 cm)

Inscriptions Recto, upper right: RM 72

Inscriptions Recto, lower right: RM \ 72

Inscriptions Recto, lower left: RM \ 14 Sept 72

Verso not signed, not dated

Present Owner Unknown

Artist’s Studio Number D72-1164

Artist’s Studio Number D72-484

Provenance Lee V. Eastman, ca. 1972; [Christie’s, New York, November 9, 2005, lot 219, illus.]; unknown owner, 2005

Present Owner The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Gift of the artist

Provenance Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1987

Solo Exhibitions Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, 1984, cat. no. 59.

Solo Exhibitions Art Museum, Princeton University, N.J., 1973, cat. no. 67.

Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1987.

Provincetown Art Association and Museum, Mass., 1983 (traveling).

Solo Exhibitions Fendrick Gallery, Washington, D.C., 1972.

348

P681

P684

P683

Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1987. References Arnason 1977b, color illus. n.p. (pl. 218, as Study for “Shem the Penman” No. 4); Advocate Summer Guide 1983b, p. 3.

P685

P684

P685

Study for Shem the Penman No. 5

Study for Shem the Penman No. 6

1972 Acrylic and charcoal on Upson board 15½ x 19½ in. (39.4 x 49.5 cm)

1972 Acrylic and charcoal on Upson board 15⅞ x 20 in. (40.3 x 50.8 cm)

Inscriptions Recto, upper right: RM 72

Inscriptions Recto, lower right: RM \ 14 Sept 1972

Verso not seen

Verso not signed, not dated

Present Owner Private collection, Victoria, B.C.

Artist’s Studio Number P72-1549

Provenance Private collection, 1974; private collection, Victoria, B.C.

Present Owner Collection of Bonnie Serkin and Will Emery

Solo Exhibitions Art Museum, Princeton University, N.J., 1973, cat. no. 69, illus. p. 48.

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Bonnie Serkin and Will Emery, 2003

References Arnason 1977b, color illus. n.p. (pl. 219); Flam 1991, color illus. n.p. (pl. 94); Chalumeau 1998, color illus. p. 52 (pl. 53).

Solo Exhibitions Art Museum, Princeton University, N.J., 1973, cat. no. 66. Städtische Kunsthalle Düsseldorf, 1976 (traveling), cat. no. 41, illus. p. 109. Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, 1977.

paint ing s on canvas and pane l

349

P686

P688

P687

P689

P686

P687

P688

P689

Study for Shem the Penman No. 7

Study for Shem the Penman No. 8

Study for Shem the Penman No. 9

Study for Shem the Penman No. 10

1972 Acrylic and charcoal on Upson board 16 x 20 in. (40.6 x 50.8 cm)

1972 Acrylic and charcoal on Upson board 11½ x 11½ in. (29.2 x 29.2 cm)

1972 Acrylic and charcoal on Upson board 8½ x 11½ in. (21.6 x 29.2 cm)

1972 Acrylic and charcoal on Upson board 11⅞ x 11½ in. (30.2 x 29.2 cm)

Inscriptions Recto, upper left: RM \ 14 Sept 72

Inscriptions Recto, lower right: RM

Inscriptions Recto, upper left: RM 72

Inscriptions Recto, lower left: RM \ 72

Verso not signed, not dated

Verso not seen

Verso not signed, not dated

Artist’s Studio Number D72-1165

Artist’s Studio Number D72-477

Artist’s Studio Number D72-278

Artist’s Studio Number D72-476

Present Owner Art Gallery of Ontario. Purchased with funds from an anonymous donor, with support from the Dedalus Foundation, 1998

Present Owner Private collection Provenance Private collection, ca. 1990

Present Owner Collection of the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth. Museum purchase, the Friends of Art Endowment Fund

Present Owner The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Gift of the artist

Solo Exhibitions Provincetown Art Association and Museum, Mass., 1983 (traveling).

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, 1999

Arthur A. Houghton Jr. Gallery, Cooper Union, New York, 1988, cat. no. 32.

Solo Exhibitions Miriam & Ira D. Wallach Art Gallery, Columbia University, New York, 1997 (traveling), cat. no. VI.5, color illus. p. 138 (pl. 67).

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, 1998 Solo Exhibitions Art Museum, Princeton University, N.J., 1973, cat. no. 68.

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References Advocate Summer Guide 1983b, p. 3.

Provenance Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1987 Solo Exhibitions Janie C. Lee Gallery, Houston, 1979, cat. no. 68, illus. n.p., illus. n.p. (in exhibition).

P691

P690

Miriam & Ira D. Wallach Art Gallery, Columbia University, New York, 1997 (traveling), cat. no. VI.6, color illus. p. 139 (pl. 68).

P692

P691

P692

Study for Shem the Penman No. 11

[ Open Study (Charcoal with White No. 1) ]

1972 Acrylic and charcoal on Upson board 9 x 12 in. (22.9 x 30.5 cm)

1972 Acrylic and charcoal on Upson board 17¼ x 23¼ in. (43.8 x 59.1 cm)

Inscriptions Recto, lower left: RM 72

Inscriptions Recto, upper right: RM \ 72

Verso not signed, not dated

Artist’s Studio Number D72-279

Artist’s Studio Number D72-486

Present Owner Private collection, England

Present Owner Dedalus Foundation

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; private collection, England, 2007

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991

Solo Exhibitions Marlborough Gallery, New York, 1999, cat. no. 13, color illus. p. 19.

Solo Exhibitions Manny Silverman Gallery, Los Angeles, 1997, cat. no. 35.

Study for Shem the Penman No. 11 1972 Acrylic and charcoal on Upson board 15½ x 19½ in. (39.4 x 49.5 cm) Inscriptions Recto, lower right: RM 72 Verso not signed, not dated Artist’s Studio Number P72-1550

Solo Exhibitions Städtische Kunsthalle Düsseldorf, 1976 (traveling), cat. no. 42, illus. p. 109. Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, 1977. Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1978, cat. no. 21.

Galerie Lelong, Paris, 2005. References Flam 1991, color illus. n.p. (pl. 95); Chalumeau 1998, color illus. p. 52 (pl. 54). Comments There also is another work titled Study for Shem the Penman No. 11 (P691).

Manny Silverman Gallery, Los Angeles, 2000, cat. no. 23. Comments There is also another work titled Study for Shem the Penman No. 11 (P690).

paint ing s on canvas and pane l

351

P695

P693

P694

P696

P693

P694

P695

P696

[ Open Study (Charcoal with White No. 2) ]

Untitled

Open Study with Blue and White No. 1

Open Study with Blue and White No. 2

1972 Acrylic and charcoal on Upson board 18 x 23½ in. (45.7 x 59.7 cm)

1972 Acrylic and charcoal on Upson board 17½ x 23½ in. (44.5 x 59.7 cm)

Inscriptions Recto, upper right: RM \ 72

Inscriptions Recto, upper right: RM 72

Verso not signed, not dated

Present Owner Kasle Family Collection

Artist’s Studio Number D72-487

Provenance Gertrude Kasle, 1976; [Christie’s, New York, May 5, 1993, lot 268, illus. (not sold)]; Kasle Family Collection

Present Owner Collection Bernard Jacobson Gallery, London

1972 Acrylic and charcoal on Upson board 17¼ x 23¼ in. (43.8 x 59.1 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper right: RM \ 72 Verso not signed, not dated Artist’s Studio Number D72-485 Present Owner Dedalus Foundation Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991

1972 Acrylic and charcoal on Upson board 12 x 8 in. (30.5 x 20.3 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper right: RM 72 Verso not signed, not dated Artist’s Studio Number P72-280 Present Owner Dedalus Foundation Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991

Solo Exhibitions Gertrude Kasle Gallery, Detroit, 1975, cat. no. 1. Group Exhibitions Meadow Brook Art Gallery, Oakland University, Rochester, Mich., 1976, cat. no. 30.

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Bernard Jacobson Gallery, London, 2008 Solo Exhibitions Janie C. Lee Gallery, Houston, 1979, cat. no. 69, illus. n.p. (in exhibition). Bernard Jacobson Gallery, London, June 2009. References Mattison et al. 2009, color illus. p. 133.

352

p ain tin gs on c an v as an d pa n el

P697

P698

P699

P698

P699

Zen II

Zen III

1972 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 32 x 32 in. (81.3 x 81.3 cm)

Inscriptions Recto, lower right: RM 72

Inscriptions Recto, lower right: R Motherwell \ 72

Verso not seen

Verso not signed, not dated

Present Owner Audrey and David Mirvish, Toronto

Artist’s Studio Number P72-657

Provenance Private collection, 1973; Farrell Kahn, 1976; unknown owner

Provenance David Mirvish Gallery, 1972; Audrey and David Mirvish, Toronto, after 1974

Present Owner Mr. David Eichholtz

Comments Motherwell had a long-standing interest in the culture, philosophy, and aesthetics of Zen Buddhism, but the Zen series is the first time that he referred directly to it in the title of a group of works. A decade later, he discussed the affinity between some of his own work and Japanese Zen painting in terms of the concept of the metaphysical void: “This is perhaps strongest in the Opens, built on a conception analogous to the Oriental conception of the absolute

Group Exhibitions Agnes Etherington Art Centre, Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada, 1993, as Zen.

Zen I 1972 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 32 x 32 in. (81.3 x 81.3 cm) Inscriptions Recto, lower right, incised: RM 72 Verso not seen Present Owner Unknown

void: that you start with empty space, and that the subject is that which animates the great space, the void. The amazing discovery is that it takes relatively little to animate the absolute void” (Motherwell in Albright-Knox Art Gallery exh. cat. 1983, p. 23). Our reproduction of this work comes from a color slide taken in February 1976.

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; David Eichholtz, 2008 Group Exhibitions Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, 1974, illus. p. 56.

paint ing s on canvas and pane l

353

P700

P701

P700

P701

P702

Zen IV

Zen V

Zen VI

1972 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 32 x 32 in. (81.3 x 81.3 cm)

Inscriptions Recto, lower right, incised: RM 72

Inscriptions Recto, upper left: RM 72

Inscriptions Recto, lower right: RM \ 72

Verso not seen

Verso not signed, not dated

Present Owner Unknown

Present Owner Knoedler & Company

Artist’s Studio Number P72-643

Provenance Private collection, 1972; unknown owner

Provenance Private collection, 1974; Knoedler & Company, ca. 2007

Present Owner Dedalus Foundation

Comments Our reproduction of this work comes from a color slide taken in November 1972.

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991 Solo Exhibitions Manny Silverman Gallery, Los Angeles, November 2002, cat. no. 38. Museum Morsbroich, Leverkusen, Germany, 2004, color illus. p. 69.

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p ain tin gs on c an v as an d pa n el

P702

Group Exhibitions Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, 1974. Long Point Gallery, Provincetown, Mass., 1993.

P703

P704

The Open Red Window

Untitled (Red)

P704

P705

Meadows Museum, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, 2001.

P705

Jacksonville Museum of Modern Art, Fla., 2004, color illus. p. 72 (pl. 19).

1972 Acrylic on canvas 72 x 54 in. (182.9 x 137.2 cm)

Royal Dirge

1972 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 71¾ x 47¾ in. (182.3 x 121.3 cm)

1972 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 71¾ x 54 in. (182.3 x 137.2 cm)

Inscriptions Recto, upper right: RM 72

Inscriptions Recto, upper left, incised: RM Oct 25 \ 72

Inscriptions Recto, upper left, incised: R. Motherwell \ 72

Verso not seen

Verso: R. Motherwell \ 27 October, 1972 \ “Royal Dirge”

Verso not seen [“R. Motherwell October 1972 ‘The Open Red Window,’ ” per Christie’s 2001] Present Owner Unknown Provenance Private collection, 1973; [Christie’s, New York, May 17, 2001, lot 165, illus.]; unknown owner, 2001 Group Exhibitions University of Iowa Museum of Art, Iowa City, 1991.

Present Owner Collection of Preston H. Haskell Provenance Private collection; [Christie’s, New York, November 9, 1979, lot 41, illus.]; unknown owner, 1979; [Christie’s, New York, May 6, 1986, lot 48, illus.]; Preston H. Haskell, 1986 Group Exhibitions Cummer Museum of Art, Jacksonville, Fla., 1992, color illus. p. 33. North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, 1999 (traveling), cat. no. 15, cover color illus., color illus. p. 32.

Artist’s Studio Number P72-5207 Present Owner The Art Institute of Chicago. Gift of Solomon B. Smith, 1980.287 Provenance Solomon Byron Smith, 1973; Art Institute of Chicago, 1980 Group Exhibitions Lawrence Rubin Gallery, New York, 1973. References Pleynet 1975, illus. p. 8.

p aint ing s on canvas and pane l

355

P706

P707

Scarlet Open

Red Open No. 1

1972–73 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 84 x 42 in. (213.4 x 106.7 cm)

Alternative Title: Open No. 163: In Blue with Orange 1970–73 Acrylic on canvas 59½ x 71¾ in. (151.1 x 182.3 cm)

Inscriptions Recto, upper right, incised: RM 73 Recto, upper right [painted over]: [RM 72] Verso: R. Motherwell \ 13 November 72 \ “Scarlet Open” Artist’s Studio Number P72-3123 Present Owner Lillian Heidenberg Fine Art Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; private collection, 2006; Lillian Heidenberg Fine Art, 2006

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p ain tin gs on ca n v a s a n d pan el

Inscriptions Recto, upper left, incised: Robert Motherwell \ 70 Verso not seen [“ ‘R. Motherwell, Red Open’ 1970 (#1),” per studio card] Artist’s Studio Number P70-1139 Present Owner Private collection Provenance Private collection, 1983 Solo Exhibitions Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, 1983 (traveling), cat. no. 55, cover color illus., color illus. p. 94; not shown in Seattle and Washington, D.C.

P707

References Albright-Knox Art Gallery Calendar 1983, p. 3; Hasiotis 1983, color illus. n.p. (fig. 5); Bannon 1984b, color illus. p. 31; Richard 1984, sec. D, p. 13; Gaugh 1985, pp. 71–72; National Museum of Contemporary Art exh. cat. 1988, color illus. p. 645 (fig. 3). Comments This painting was begun in 1970 as a composition consisting of a black linear Open form on a predominantly blue ground with a horizontal orange field in the lower half of the canvas. That early state, which had no public life, was titled Open No. 163: In Blue with Orange. Motherwell repainted that composition and retitled it Red Open No. 1 sometime around January 1973, when he also painted Red Open No. 2, No. 3, and No. 4 (P708–P710). Although this work is signed and dated “70” at the upper left, the signature and the present composition date to 1973.

P708

Red Open No. 2 1973–ca. 1980 Acrylic on canvas 72 x 36 in. (182.9 x 91.4 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper right, incised: Motherwell \ 7 Jan 73 Verso: R. Motherwell \ 7 Jan 1973 \ “Red Open #2” \ 72" x 36" Verso: N.F.S. Artist’s Studio Number P73-2425 Present Owner Private collection Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; private collection, 2003 Solo Exhibitions Manny Silverman Gallery, Los Angeles, November 2002, cat. no. 51. Group Exhibitions Manny Silverman Gallery, Los Angeles, 1995.

P708

Manny Silverman Gallery, Los Angeles, September 2002, cat. no. 7.

P709

Comments Motherwell began this work in early 1973, and he continued to make small adjustments to both the red paint and the incised white verticals as late as February 1980, when it was photographed in a near final state (Sloman photo no. 973). The final revisions were probably done later in 1980.

1973 Acrylic on canvas 84 x 42 in. (213.4 x 106.7 cm)

Red Open No. 3

Inscriptions Recto, upper right, incised: RM \ 11 Jan \ 73

P709

References Fineberg 1978, pp. 53, 54–55, 56–57, illus. p. 54; Caws 2003, color illus. p. 182 (ill. 128). Comments The words “Je t’aime” are faintly visible near the center of this painting.

P710

Red Open No. 4 1973 Acrylic on canvas 61 x 44 in. (154.9 x 111.8 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper left, incised: R. Motherwell \ 28 Jan 73

Verso: R. Motherwell \ “Red Open #3” \ 1973

Verso: R. Motherwell. \ “Red Open # 4” \ 1973

Present Owner Collection of Cranbrook Art Museum, Bloomfield Hills, Mich. Gift of Rose M. Shuey, from the Collection of Dr. John and Rose M. Shuey

Artist’s Studio Number P73-1140

Provenance Private collection, 1976; Dr. and Mrs. Henry H. Fineberg, before 1978; [Sotheby Parke Bernet, Inc., New York, May 16, 1979, lot 348, illus.]; John and Rose M. Shuey, 1979; Cranbrook Art Museum, Bloomfield Hills, Mich., 2002

Present Owner Private collection Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; private collection, 2003

Group Exhibitions Cranbrook Art Museum, Bloomfield Hills, Mich., 2001, color illus. p. 63.

paint ing s on canvas and pane l

357

P711

[ Untitled (Ultramarine Blue and Ochre Open) ]

Group Exhibitions Bernard Jacobson Gallery, London, summer 2008, as Untitled (Ultramarine and Ochre Open).

Alternative Title: {Untitled (Ultramarine and Ochre Open)} 1973 Acrylic on canvas 61 x 44 in. (154.9 x 111.8 cm)

References Mattison et al. 2009, p. 130, as Untitled (Ultramarine and Ochre Open), color illus. p. 138.

Inscriptions Recto, upper right, incised: R. Motherwell \ 22 Jan 73 Verso not signed, not dated Artist’s Studio Number P73-2952 Present Owner Collection Bernard Jacobson Gallery, London Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Bernard Jacobson Gallery, London, 2008 Solo Exhibitions Bernard Jacobson Gallery, London, June 2009, as Untitled (Ultramarine and Ochre Open).

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p ain tin gs on ca n v a s a n d pan el

P712

Uccello’s Space: A la pintura 1973 Acrylic on canvas 72 x 60 in. (182.9 x 152.4 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper left, incised: R Motherwell \ Feb 73 Verso: “Uccello’s Space: \ a la Pintura” \ R. Motherwell \ February 73 \ 72" x 60" Present Owner Private collection Provenance Private collection, 1977; [Sotheby Parke Bernet, Inc., New York, May 12, 1981, lot 46, illus.]; unknown owner, 1981; private collection, ca. 1990 Solo Exhibitions Janie C. Lee Gallery, Houston, 1976. References Moser 1976, sec. 2, p. 6, as Ucello’s Space. Comments The central linear configuration in this painting, which consists of a triangle with a vertical line rising from each of

its angles, had previously been used by Motherwell in the print A la pintura: White 10-13 (Engberg and Banach 2003, no. 128). This form was adapted from a perspectival grid that had been discovered in the sinopia of The Adoration of the Shepherds, a fresco attributed to Paolo Uccello. An image of this sinopia was reproduced in The Great Age of Fresco, Giotto to Pontormo: An Exhibition of Paintings and Monumental Drawings (New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1968), p. 149. Motherwell had seen the exhibition and owned the catalogue.

P713

February 1, 1973 1973 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 84 x 72 in. (213.4 x 182.9 cm)

References Herrera 1974, p. 112; Kramer 1974a, p. 21; Pleynet 1975, illus. p. 7 (installation view).

P714

In Beige with Charcoal No. 1 1973 Acrylic and charcoal on Upson board 36 x 48 in. (91.4 x 121.9 cm)

Inscriptions Recto, upper left: R. Motherwell \ 1. Feb. 73

Inscriptions Recto, upper left: R. Motherwell \ 3 Feb 73

Verso not seen

Artist’s Studio Number P73-5200

Present Owner Collection of Dr. Vallo Benjamin

Present Owner Unknown

Provenance Private collection, 1973; Meredith Long & Company, Houston; [Sotheby’s, New York, November 11, 1988, lot 172, illus.]; private collection, 1988; [Sotheby’s, New York, February 27, 1990, lot 92, illus.]; Vallo Benjamin, 1990

Provenance Private collection, New York, 1973; [Christie’s, New York, May 10, 1983, lot 55, illus.]; private collection, 1983; private collection, 1998; unknown owner Solo Exhibitions Knoedler & Company, New York, 1974, cat. no. 6. Museo de Arte Moderno, Mexico City, 1975, cat. no. 33, color illus. n.p.

Comments This is the first work in a series of freely drawn paintings in the Open series in which Motherwell used clear or lightly tinted acrylic medium to modulate and bind the charcoal drawing. The ochre ground is the color of the Upson board.

Solo Exhibitions Tibor de Nagy Gallery, Houston, 1974. Laguna Gloria Art Museum, Austin, Tex., 1975.

paint ing s on canvas and pane l

359

P716

P715

P717

P715

P716

P717

In Beige with Charcoal No. 2

{ Title unknown}

In Beige with Charcoal No. 4

1973 Acrylic and charcoal on Upson board 35 x 47 in. (88.9 x 119.4 cm)

1973 Acrylic and charcoal on Upson board (?) 36 x 48 in. (91.4 x 121.9 cm), approx.

1973 Acrylic and charcoal on Upson board 35¼ x 47¼ in. (89.5 x 120 cm)

Inscriptions Recto, upper left: R. Motherwell \ 4 Feb 73

Verso not seen

Verso not signed, not dated

Present Owner Private collection

Present Owner Unknown

Artist’s Studio Number P73-1315

Provenance Private collection, 1973; Mr. and Mrs. Meredith J. Long, Houston; private collection, 2009

Provenance The artist

Present Owner Collection of Alison N. and John Ferring

Comments This work is known only through an early black-and-white studio inventory photograph (PH 37-3). It is stylistically similar to contemporary works in the In Beige with Charcoal series; the date inscribed on the upper left of the recto suggests that it may have been intended as the missing In Beige with Charcoal No. 3. We do not know whether it still exists in the form illustrated here.

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1999; Alison N. and John Ferring, 2002

Solo Exhibitions Tibor de Nagy Gallery, Houston, 1974. Laguna Gloria Art Museum, Austin, Tex., 1975.

Solo Exhibitions Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, 1983 (traveling), cat. no. 65, color illus. p. 100, as In Beige with Charcoal. Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, 1984, cat. no. 79, as In Beige with Charcoal. Padiglione d’Arte Contemporanea, Milan, 1989, cat. no. 14.

360

p ain tin gs on c a n v a s a n d pan el

Artcurial Centre d’Art Plastique Contemporain, Paris, 1990 (traveling), Stockholm and Göteborg, color illus. n.p.; shown in Sweden only. Fundació Antoni Tàpies, Barcelona, 1996 (traveling), cat. no. 48, color illus. p. 177. References Arnason 1982, color illus. p. 182 (pl. 254, as In Beige with Charcoal); Motherwell in Arnason 1982, p. 182; Motherwell in Albright-Knox Art Gallery exh. cat. 1983, p. 13, color illus. p. 100, in text and in illus. as In Beige with Charcoal; Richard 1984, sec. D, p. 13; Flam 1991, pp. 10, 27, color illus. n.p. (pl. 97), referred to in text and in illus. as In Beige with Charcoal; Qin 1996, pp. 38, 40, illus. p. 94 (fig. 30), referred to in text and in illus. as In Beige with Charcoal; Chalumeau 1998, color illus. p. 54 (pl. 57).

P718

P719

P718

P719

In Beige with Charcoal No. 5

In Beige with Charcoal No. 6

P720

Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1978, cat. no. 23.

P720

1973 Acrylic and charcoal on Upson board 47 x 23 in. (119.4 x 58.4 cm)

In Beige with Charcoal No. 7

1973 Acrylic and charcoal on Upson board 47 x 23 in. (119.4 x 58.4 cm)

1973 Acrylic and charcoal on Upson board 36 x 48 in. (91.4 x 121.9 cm)

Knoedler & Company, New York, 1978, cat. no. 7, color illus. p. 13 (in exhibition), illus. p. 22.

Inscriptions Recto, lower left: RM \ 5 Feb 73

Inscriptions Recto, upper left: RM \ 5 Feb 1973

Inscriptions Recto, lower right: RM \ 5 Feb 73

Verso not seen

Verso not signed, not dated

William Benton Museum of Art, University of Connecticut, Storrs, 1979, cat. no. 56 (brochure); cat. no. 59 (catalogue).

Present Owner Elyse and Bob Lanier

Artist’s Studio Number P73-1548

Artist’s Studio Number P73-5221

Provenance Private collection, 1973; private col lection; Elyse and Bob Lanier

Present Owner Collection Bernard Jacobson Gallery, London

References Baillie 1977, p. 8; Mattison et al. 2009, color illus. p. 137.

Solo Exhibitions Tibor de Nagy Gallery, Houston, 1974.

Provenance Private collection, 1980; private collection, 1985; Bernard Jacobson Gallery, London, 2006

Laguna Gloria Art Museum, Austin, Tex., 1975.

Solo Exhibitions Städtische Kunsthalle Düsseldorf, 1976 (traveling), cat. no. 43, illus. p. 109.

Verso not seen

Present Owner Museo de Arte Moderno, Mexico City Provenance Museo de Arte Moderno, Mexico City, 1975 Solo Exhibitions Museo de Arte Moderno, Mexico City, 1975, cat. no. 34, illus. n.p.

Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, 1977. Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh, 1977.

paint ing s on canvas and pane l

361

P721

In Beige with Charcoal No. 8 1973 Acrylic and charcoal on Upson board 36 x 48 in. (91.4 x 121.9 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper right: RM \ 5 Feb 73

William Benton Museum of Art, University of Connecticut, Storrs, 1979, cat. no. 57 (brochure); cat. no. 60 (catalogue), color illus. p. 29. References Hobbs 1976b, p. 54.

P722

In Beige with Charcoal No. 9 1973 Acrylic and charcoal on Upson board 36 x 48 in. (91.4 x 121.9 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper left: RM \ 7 Feb 73

Knoedler & Company, New York, 1978, cat. no. 34, illus. p. 9 (in exhibition), illus. p. 14, illus. p. 22. William Benton Museum of Art, University of Connecticut, Storrs, 1979, cat. no. 58 (brochure); cat. no. 61 (catalogue), illus. p. 98. Centro Cultural de la Caixa de Pensions, Barcelona, 1980 (traveling), Barcelona, cat. no. 9; Madrid, cat. no. 9, color illus. n.p.

Verso not seen

Verso not signed, not dated

Artist’s Studio Number P73-1546

Artist’s Studio Number P73-1547

Present Owner Renate Ponsold Motherwell

Present Owner Denver Art Museum Collection. For a full list of donors, see the entry for P22.

Knoedler & Company, New York, February 1981, cat. no. 29.

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Denver Art Museum, 1995

References Arnason 1977b, color illus. n.p. (pl. 237); Bonet 1978, p. 6; Royal Academy of Arts exh. cat. 1978, illus. p. 13 (ill. 8); Bonet 1980, illus. p. 17; Flam 1991, color illus. n.p. (pl. 93); Bonet 1996, color illus. p. 11; Chalumeau 1998, color illus. p. 52 (pl. 55); Tieken 2000, illus. n.p.; Caws 2003, p. 165, color illus. p. 164 (ill. 111).

Provenance Renate Ponsold Motherwell, 1992 Solo Exhibitions Städtische Kunsthalle Düsseldorf, 1976 (traveling), cat. no. 44, illus. p. 110. Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, 1977. Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh, 1977.

Solo Exhibitions Ace Gallery, Los Angeles, 1975. Städtische Kunsthalle Düsseldorf, 1976 (traveling), cat. no. 45, color illus. p. 71, illus. p. 110. Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, 1977. Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1978, cat. no. 24, illus. p. 13 (ill. 8).

362

pain tin gs on c an v as an d pa n el

Denver Art Museum, 1995, illus. n.p.

P723

P724

P725

P724

P725

The Garden II

23 April 1973

1973 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 72 x 36 in. (182.9 x 91.4 cm)

1973 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 72 x 35¾ in. (182.9 x 90.8 cm)

Inscriptions Recto, upper right: R Motherwell \ 22 April 73

Inscriptions Recto, upper right: R Motherwell \ 23 April 73

Verso not seen

Artist’s Studio Number P73-2435

Artist’s Studio Number P73-2266

Present Owner Collection of Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art. Combined fractional gift and bequest of Dr. Dorothy Lincoln-Smith and Dr. Harvey Smith

Present Owner Private collection of Christina and Robert C. Baker

Present Owner Portland Museum of Art, Maine. Collection of Leslie B. Otten, 10.2002.40

Provenance Dr. Harvey K. Smith and Dr. Dorothy Lincoln-Smith, Scottsdale, Ariz., 1983; Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, Ariz., 2003

Comments The artist’s studio card for this work gives the title as The Garden II, and it was sold under that title; but studio records indicate that there was some confusion between this work and another painting, titled The Garden No. 2, which was executed two days later (P726). There is no number I in this series.

The Blue Door Alternative Title: Untitled 16 April 1973 1973 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 84 x 42 in. (213.4 x 106.7 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper left: RM \ 16 April 73

Solo Exhibitions Ace Gallery, Los Angeles, 1975, as Untitled 16 April 1973.

Group Exhibitions Whitney Museum of American Art, Fairfield County, Stamford, Conn., 1983. Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, Ariz., 2007. References Raynor 1983b, sec. 23, p. 24.

Provenance Christina and Robert C. Baker, 1981

Provenance Private collection, 1974; [Sotheby Parke Bernet, Inc., New York, November 13, 1980, lot 48, illus.]; private collection, 1980; Portland Museum of Art, Maine, 2002 Solo Exhibitions Gertrude Kasle Gallery, Detroit, 1975, cat. no. 11.

paint ing s on canvas and pane l

363

P727

P726

The Garden No. 2 1973 Acrylic, charcoal, and graphite on canvas 72 x 36 in. (182.9 x 91.4 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper left: R Motherwell \ 24 April 73

References Staber 1974–75, color illus. p. 118. Comments This painting is titled “Garden #2” on the verso, and dated “24 April 1973,” but not in Motherwell’s hand. Although this work is called The Garden No. 2, there is no number 1 in the series; there is, however, a painting titled The Garden II (P724).

P727

Open No. 100 Alternative Title: Open No. 100: In turbulent crimson 1969/1973 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 72 x 59 in. (182.9 x 149.9 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper left: R. Motherwell

Verso not signed, not dated

Recto, lower left, incised: RM

Present Owner Collection of Mr. and Mrs. L. Frankfort

Verso: RM \ 69–73

Provenance Private collection, 1976; [Christie’s, New York, September 15, 2004, lot 45, illus.]; Mr. and Mrs. L. Frankfort, 2004

Verso, oriented vertically [painted over]: [“open # 100” \ R. Motherwell \ Summer, 1969]

Solo Exhibitions Galerie André Emmerich, Zurich, 1974, color illus. n.p., as The Garden II.

Artist’s Studio Number P73-1125

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pain tin gs on c an v as an d pa n el

Verso: RM

Verso, oriented vertically: N.F.S.

Present Owner Collection of Karen LaGatta and Marshall G. Allan Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Karen LaGatta and Marshall G. Allan, 2006 Comments This painting began as a horizontal composition on a white ground, with an ochre rectangle containing a charcoal Open form in the upper left corner. It was repainted in crimson and consigned to the Marlborough-Gerson Gallery in 1969, with the subtitle In turbulent crimson. It was returned to Motherwell in 1972, and in 1973 he reoriented it and painted it over in blue, but retained the original title.

P728

Sic et Non 1973 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 77 x 96¾ in. (195.6 x 245.8 cm)

The composition recalls Jour La Maison, Nuit La Rue (P164). This is the first painting in some years that incorporates a clearly legible text in the image.

P729

Study for Shem the Penman 1973 Acrylic and charcoal on Upson board 20 x 16 in. (50.8 x 40.6 cm)

Inscriptions Recto, upper right: R. Motherwell \ 12 June 73

Inscriptions Recto, lower right: RM \ 13 June 73

Verso not seen

Artist’s Studio Number P73-1170

Present Owner Fayez Sarofim Collection Provenance Private collection, 1973; Fayez Sarofim, 1974 Solo Exhibitions Tibor de Nagy Gallery, Houston, 1974. Laguna Gloria Art Museum, Austin, Tex., 1975. Comments The title of this painting refers to the theological treatise Sic et non (Yes and No) by Pierre Abélard (1079–1142).

Verso not signed, not dated

P729

Comments Although titled as a “study,” this work was done a year later than the much larger Shem the Penman (P679). During the 1970s, Motherwell frequently used the word study or sketch to describe paintings that were done after the works evoked in the titles rather than before them. He seems to have used these terms to suggest further explorations of the themes and motifs involved.

Present Owner Collection Bernard Jacobson Gallery, London Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Bernard Jacobson Gallery, London, 2006 Solo Exhibitions Arthur A. Houghton Jr. Gallery, Cooper Union, New York, 1988, cat. no. 31. Bernard Jacobson Gallery, London, June 2009. References Mattison et al. 2009, color illus. p. 136.

paint ing s on canvas and pane l

365

P730

P731

P730

P731

P732

P733

A Sea of Sand

[ Untitled (Soot Black Stone)]

Untitled

[ Untitled (Open-Ochre) ]

1973 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 72 x 84 in. (182.9 x 213.4 cm)

Alternative Title: [Untitled (black)] 1973 Acrylic on canvas 96 x 59¾ in. (243.8 x 151.8 cm)

1973 Acrylic and charcoal on Upson board 20 x 23¾ in. (50.8 x 60.3 cm)

Alternative Title: {Open (Ochre)} 1973 Acrylic and charcoal on Upson board 20 x 26 in. (50.8 x 66 cm)

Inscriptions Recto, upper left: RM \ 14 June 73 Verso not seen Present Owner Private collection, Houston

Inscriptions Recto, upper left, incised: R Motherwell \ 26 Aug 73 Verso not signed, not dated

Provenance Private collection, 1973; Fayez Sarofim, 1974; private collection, Houston, ca. 1989

Artist’s Studio Number P73-2971

Solo Exhibitions Tibor de Nagy Gallery, Houston, 1974.

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991

Laguna Gloria Art Museum, Austin, Tex., 1975.

Comments The imagery of this painting, and of Soot Black Stone (P734), appears to have been based on Motherwell’s series of lithographs titled Soot-Black Stone (Engberg and Banach 2003, nos. 162–67).

366

pain tin gs on ca n v a s a n d pan el

Present Owner Dedalus Foundation

Inscriptions Recto, lower left [painted over]: [R Motherwell \ 3 Sept 73] Verso not signed, not dated Artist’s Studio Number P73-1016 Present Owner Private collection Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; private collection, 2007 Solo Exhibitions William Shearburn Gallery, Saint Louis, 2004, cat. no. 15. William Shearburn Gallery, Saint Louis, 2006, cat. no. 12.

Inscriptions Recto, upper right: R Motherwell \ 3 Sept 73 Verso not signed, not dated Artist’s Studio Number P73-1017 Present Owner Private collection Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; private collection, 2007

P732

P733

P734

{ Soot Black Stone} Alternative Title: [Untitled (black)] 1973 Acrylic on canvas 71¾ x 36 in. (182.3 x 91.4 cm)

Comments The imagery of this painting, and of Untitled (Soot Black Stone) (P731), appears to have been based on the Soot-Black Stone series of lithographs (Engberg and Banach 2003, nos. 162–67).

P734

P735

Black Open

Inscriptions Recto, lower right: R Motherwell \ 73

Verso: R Motherwell \ 13 Sept 73

Artist’s Studio Number P73-2956

Present Owner Dedalus Foundation Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991 Solo Exhibitions Galerie Lelong, Paris, 2005. Group Exhibitions Cape Museum of Fine Arts, Dennis, Mass., 1998. References Art in Embassies 2002b, color illus. p. 37.

References Mattison et al. 2009, color illus. p. 139.

Alternative Title: Untitled (Open) 1973 Acrylic on canvas 72 x 36 in. (182.9 x 91.4 cm)

Inscriptions Recto, upper right, incised: R Motherwell \ 13 Sept 73

Artist’s Studio Number P73-1131

P735

Verso: R. Motherwell \ 1973

Present Owner Collection Bernard Jacobson Gallery, London Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Bernard Jacobson Gallery, London, 2006 Solo Exhibitions Bernard Jacobson Gallery, London, June 2009. Group Exhibitions Art Galleries, American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters, New York, 1987, cat. no. 60, as Untitled (Open).

paint ing s on canvas and pane l

367

P736

P737

Open in Ultramarine with White

La Face du Silence

1973 Acrylic on canvas 84 x 42 in. (213.4 x 106.7 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper left, incised: R Motherwell \ 73 Verso: R. Motherwell \ “Open in Ultramarine \ with White” 1973 Artist’s Studio Number P73-1592 Present Owner Collection of Douglas R. Feurring Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Douglas R. Feurring, 2006

368

pain tin gs on c a n v a s a n d pan el

1973 Acrylic on canvas 61⅛ x 44⅛ in. (155.3 x 112.1 cm)

P737

Comments The title of this painting refers to La Face du silence (1967), a book of poems by the French writer Bernard Noël (b. 1930).

P738

Untitled 1973 Acrylic and charcoal on Upson board 36 x 48 in. (91.4 x 121.9 cm)

Inscriptions Recto, lower right, incised: R Motherwell \ 73

Inscriptions Recto, lower right: R Motherwell \ 17 Oct 73

Verso not seen [“R. Motherwell 30 Sept 73,” per Kunsthaus Lempertz 2001]

Verso not seen

Artist’s Studio Number P73-2160 Present Owner Private collection (present whereabouts unknown, stolen, 2000) Provenance Private collection, 1979 (stolen from private collection, 2000); [Kunsthaus Lempertz, Cologne, Germany, December 5, 2001, lot 938, illus. (not sold)]

Present Owner Unknown Provenance Private collection, 1977; unknown owner Solo Exhibitions Ace Gallery, Los Angeles, 1975, as Untitled 17 Oct. 1973.

P739

In Plato’s Cave Alternative Title: In Plato’s Cave (20 Oct 73) 1973 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 72 x 84 in. (182.9 x 213.4 cm)

Comments Regarding the title of this painting, see the Comments for In Plato’s Cave No. 1 (P673). Although this painting was left unnumbered, the date inscribed on the verso indicates that it was the second work in the series.

P740

In Plato’s Cave Alternative Title: In Plato’s Cave (21 Oct 73) 1973 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 72 x 84¾ in. (182.9 x 215.3 cm)

Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated

Verso: “In Plato’s Cave (20 Oct 73)” \ R. Motherwell

Verso: “In Plato’s Cave (21 Oct 73)” \ Robert Motherwell

Present Owner Private collection, Cologne

Artist’s Studio Number P73-AUC97.2

Provenance Private collection, Cologne, Germany, after 1975

Present Owner Philadelphia Museum of Art. Gift (by exchange) of Miss Anna Warren Ingersoll and partial gift of the Dedalus Foundation, Inc., 1998

Solo Exhibitions Tibor de Nagy Gallery, Houston, 1974. Group Exhibitions Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1975, illus. p. 75, erroneously as Plato’s Cove. References Holmes 1974, sec. 3, p. 18; Forgey 1975, sec. B, p. 2, erroneously as Plato’s Cove.

Solo Exhibitions Philadelphia Museum of Art, 2000. References Loring 1980, color illus. p. 112 (installation view); Rense 1982, color illus. p. 96 (installation view). Comments Regarding the title of this painting see the Comments for In Plato’s Cave No. 1 (P673). Although this painting was left unnumbered, the date inscribed on the verso indicates that it was the third work in the series.

Provenance Arthur E. Smith, New York, ca. 1974; Andrew Crispo, before 1980; [Sotheby’s, New York, November 20, 1997, lot 123, illus.]; Dedalus Foundation, 1997; Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1998

paint ing s on canvas and pane l

369

P742

P741

In Plato’s Cave No. 4 Alternative Title: In Plato’s Cave IV (22 Oct 73) 1973 Acrylic and chalk on canvas 72 x 84 in. (182.9 x 213.4 cm) Inscriptions Recto, lower right: R Motherwell \ 22 Oct 73 Verso: “In Plato’s Cave IV (22 Oct 73)” \ R. Motherwell Present Owner Virginia and Bagley Wright Collection. Promised gift of the Virginia and Bagley Wright Collection, in honor of the 75th anniversary of the Seattle Art Museum Provenance Virginia and Bagley Wright, 1975 Solo Exhibitions Museo de Arte Moderno, Mexico City, 1975, cat. no. 32. Ace Gallery, Los Angeles, 1975.

370

p ain tin gs on can v as an d pa n el

Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, 1983 (traveling), cat. no. 66, color illus. p. 98. Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, 1984, cat. no. 60. References Seldis 1975, sec. 4, p. 3, as Plato’s Cave; Arnason 1977b, color illus. n.p. (pl. 234); Motherwell in Arnason 1977b, n.p.; Hackett 1984, sec. C, p. 11. Comments Regarding the title of this painting, see the Comments for In Plato’s Cave No. 1 (P673).

P743

P742

In Plato’s Cave No. 7 Alternative Title: In Plato’s Cave, #VII 1973 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 44 x 61 in. (111.8 x 154.9 cm) Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated Verso not signed, not dated Present Owner Private collection Provenance Private collection, New York, 1974; [Christie’s, New York, May 8, 1984, lot 60, illus.]; Roger I. Davidson, 1984; [Sotheby’s, New York, October 3, 1991, lot 34, illus.]; private collection, 1991 Comments The verso of this work contains the following inscription in the hand of Claus Colsman-Freyberger, Motherwell’s studio assistant at the time: “ ‘In Plato’s Cave, #VII’ \ 1973 \ 44" x 61".” Although this work was the fifth painting executed in the In Plato’s

Cave series, it was given the number 7. Motherwell did not number the works in this series until all had been completed, hence the number sequence does not always follow the chronological sequence in which the works were done. Regarding the title of the series, see the Comments for In Plato’s Cave No. 1 (P673).

P744

P743

P744

[ Untitled (Elegy) ]

The Sienna Wall

1973 Acrylic on canvas 3 x 4 in. (7.6 x 10.2 cm)

1972–73 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 80 x 108 in. (203.2 x 274.3 cm)

Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated

Inscriptions Recto, upper left: R Motherwell \ 72

Verso not seen [“R. Motherwell/8 Nov 73/For Renate M.,” per studio card]

Verso [painted over]: [illegible]

Artist’s Studio Number P73-2717 Present Owner Renate Ponsold Motherwell Provenance Renate Ponsold Motherwell Comments Our reproduction of this work comes from an early Polaroid photograph. The dedication on the back is to Renate Ponsold, whom Motherwell married in 1972.

Verso: R. Motherwell \ 27 Sept 1972– \ 8 Nov 1973 Artist’s Studio Number P72/73-1526 Present Owner National Gallery of Australia, Canberra. Purchased with the assistance of American Friends of the National Gallery of Australia, Inc., New York, N.Y., made possible with the generous support of the Dedalus Foundation and the Foundation of the National Gallery of Australia, 1994 Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, 1994

P745

Solo Exhibitions Galerie André Emmerich, Zurich, 1974.

P745

Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, 1977.

1973 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 77¼ x 96½ in. (196.2 x 245.1 cm)

Galerie Veith Turske, Cologne, Germany, 1979. References Arnason 1982, illus. p. 81 (pl. 73, in progress). Comments The first version of this painting was finished in September 1972, but Motherwell subsequently reworked it and redated it November 1973 on the verso. The recto signature, however, retains the date of the earlier version, which was illustrated in Arnason 1982, p. 81.

Untitled (Ochre Open)

Inscriptions Recto, upper left: R. Motherwell \ 73 Verso not signed, not dated Artist’s Studio Number P73-2950; P76-2950 Present Owner Collection of the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth. Museum purchase, the Friends of Art Endowment Fund Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, 1993 Solo Exhibitions Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, 1993. Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, 1994. References Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth Calendar 1993, p. 3.

p aint ing s on canvas and pane l

371

P746

P748

P747

P746

P747

P748

[ Untitled (Open) ]

{ Untitled (Ochre and Black)}

1973 Acrylic and charcoal on Upson board 11¾ x 23⅞ in. (29.9 x 60.6 cm)

1973 Acrylic and charcoal on Upson board 12 x 24 in. (30.5 x 61 cm)

Inscriptions Recto, lower right: RM \ 73

Inscriptions Recto, upper left: RM \ 73

Verso not seen

Verso not signed, not dated

Present Owner Unknown

Artist’s Studio Number P73-267

Artist’s Studio Number P73-472

Provenance Private collection, 1977; Richard Gray Gallery, Chicago, ca. 1988; Waddington Galleries, London, 1989; [Sotheby’s, New York, November 14, 1991, lot 318, illus.]; unknown owner, 1991

Present Owner Private collection

Present Owner Dedalus Foundation

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; private collection, 2009

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991

Wall Painting Sketch 1973 Acrylic and charcoal on Upson board 12 x 24 in. (30.5 x 61 cm)

Solo Exhibitions Dart Gallery, Chicago, 1976, cat. no. 10. Group Exhibitions Annely Juda Fine Art, London, 1989, cat. no. 67, color illus. p. 97.

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p ain tin gs on ca n v a s a n d pan el

Comments Our reproduction of this painting comes from the 1991 Sotheby’s auction catalogue.

Solo Exhibitions William Shearburn Gallery, Saint Louis, 2006, cat. no. 1.

P749

P750

In Black and Tan

Ochre with Black Window

1973 Acrylic on canvas 44 x 61 in. (111.8 x 154.9 cm)

1973 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 59¾ x 72 in. (151.8 x 182.9 cm)

Inscriptions Recto, upper right: RM 73

Inscriptions Recto, upper left: R. Motherwell \ 12 Nov 73

Verso not seen Present Owner Ricardo Cisneros Provenance Private collection, ca. 1974; Estudio Actual; Ricardo Cisneros, 1981

P750

References Cincinnati Enquirer 1974, sec. F, p. 6, erroneously as Ochre and Black; Motherwell in Cincinnati Enquirer 1974, sec. F, p. 6.

P751

Yellow Wall Alternative Title: Untitled Yellow 1973 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 71⅝ x 47½ in. (181.9 x 120.7 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper right: R. Motherwell \ 73

Verso not signed, not dated

Artist’s Studio Number P73-5211

Artist’s Studio Number P73-1218

Present Owner Cincinnati Art Museum. Gift in memory of Mary Stern Fanning from her children and the Joseph Stern family

Present Owner Private collection

Provenance Private collection, 1974; Cincinnati Art Museum, 1974

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; private collection, 2000 Solo Exhibitions Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, 1977. Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1978, cat. no. 26, illus. p. 19. William Benton Museum of Art, University of Connecticut, Storrs, 1979, cat. no. 63 (brochure); cat. no. 63 (catalogue), illus. p. 103.

p aint ing s on canvas and pane l

373

P751

Knoedler & Company, New York, February 1981, cat. no. 10.

P752

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, 1984, cat. no. 75.

1972–73 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 72 x 60 in. (182.9 x 152.4 cm)

Group Exhibitions Museum of Modern Art, New York, February 1975 (circulating), cat. no. 39, illus. n.p., as Untitled Yellow. References Quantrill 1978, illus. p. 47; Highwater 1979; Morrin 1979, illus. p. 13 (in exhibition); Terenzio 1979, p. 3; Arnason 1982, color illus. p. 183 (pl. 255); Motherwell in Arnason 1982, p. 182; Flam 1991, color illus. n.p. (pl. 98); Terenzio 1992b, color illus. n.p.; Caws 1996b, p. 101, illus. p. 103; Chalumeau 1998, color illus. p. 54 (pl. 58); Caws 2003, pp. 160–61, illus. p. 161 (ill. 107); Mattison et al. 2009, pp. 84, 88.

The Pale Wall

Inscriptions Recto, upper right: RM 73 Verso not signed, not dated Present Owner Private collection Provenance Private collection, Paris, 1976; Greenberg Gallery, Saint Louis, 1981; André Emmerich Gallery, 1982; private collection, 1983; private collection, 1989; private collection, 1993 Solo Exhibitions Galerie André Emmerich, Zurich, 1974, color illus. n.p. Knoedler & Company, New York, February 1993, cat. no. 12. Group Exhibitions Thomas Babeor Gallery, La Jolla, Calif., 1984.

P752

References Staber 1974–75, color illus. p. 119; Pleynet 1975, illus. p. 9, erroneously as The Garden II. Comments This painting is dated 1973 on the recto, but it also bears an inscription on the verso, not in Motherwell’s hand, that reads “30 Sept 1972.” The earlier date suggests that Motherwell may have begun The Pale Wall around the same time that he was painting Opening (P678) in September of 1972.

P753

The Red Window 1973 Acrylic on canvas 73½ x 55 in. (186.7 x 139.7 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper left, incised: Motherwell \ 73 Verso: “The Red Window” \ R. Motherwell \ 1973 Artist’s Studio Number P73-5185; P73-5186 Present Owner Private collection Provenance Paul Haim, 1974; Sarah Campbell Blaffer Foundation, Houston, 1976; private collection, 1987; private col lection, 1987; private collection, 1987 Solo Exhibitions Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, 1996, cat. no. 57. Group Exhibitions Sarah Campbell Blaffer Foundation, Houston, 1983 (circulating). Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, 2000.

374

p ain tin gs on c an v as an d pa n el

P755

P753

P754

P756

P755

P756

[ Untitled (Black, Blue, Brown, White Open) ]

[ Untitled (Black, Blue, Brown Open) ]

Alternative Title: Alberti Suite No. 6 1968–73 Acrylic on canvas 40 x 30 in. (101.6 x 76.2 cm)

Alternative Title: Alberti Suite No. 10 1968–73 Acrylic on canvas 40 x 30 in. (101.6 x 76.2 cm)

Alternative Title: Alberti Suite No. 11 1968–73 Acrylic on canvas 40 x 30 in. (101.6 x 76.2 cm)

Inscriptions Recto, lower left: R Motherwell 73

Inscriptions Recto, lower right: R Motherwell 73

Verso not seen

Artist’s Studio Number P68-73-626

Artist’s Studio Number P68-73-625

Artist’s Studio Number P68-73-624

Present Owner Unknown (said to have been destroyed in 1984)

Provenance The artist

Comments A note on the studio card for this work says that it was destroyed in January 1984. The alternative title comes from a studio inventory card (studio inventory photo no. PH 45-12), which reads “Originally ‘Alberti Suite #10.’ ” Our reproduction comes from an early Polaroid photograph of the work covered with polyethylene sheeting.

Comments A note on the studio card for this work says that it was destroyed in January 1984. The alternative title comes from a studio inventory card (studio inventory photo no. PH 45-11), which reads “Originally ‘Alberti Suite #11.’ ” Our reproduction comes from an early Polaroid photograph of the work covered with polyethylene sheeting.

[ Untitled (Black, Blue, Brown, White Open) ]

Present Owner Unknown (said to have been destroyed in 1984) Provenance The artist Comments A note on the studio card for this work says that it was destroyed in January 1984. The alternative title comes from a studio inventory card (studio inventory photo no. PH 45-10), which reads “Originally ‘Alberti Suite #6.’ ” (Regarding this series, see the Comments for Alberti Suite No. 1, P522.)

Our reproduction comes from an early Polaroid photograph of the work covered with polyethylene sheeting.

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375

P757

Bête Noire 1973 Acrylic on canvas 80 x 50 in. (203.2 x 127 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper left, incised [painted over]: [RM 73] Recto, upper left, incised: Motherwell \ 73

Comments The black form at the center of this painting relates it to a contemporaneous collage, Poe No. 4 (C405).

P758

P759

P758

P759

Untitled

Alternative Title: {Untitled (Samurai Black and Ochre)} 1973 Acrylic on canvas 20 x 16 in. (50.8 x 40.6 cm)

Ca. 1973 Acrylic on canvas board 24 x 18 in. (61 x 45.7 cm)

Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated

Verso not signed, not dated

Inscriptions Recto, lower left, incised: Motherwell

Verso: R Motherwell \ 1973

Artist’s Studio Number P64-3350

Verso: “Bête Noire” \ R. Motherwell \ 1 Dec 73 \ 80" x 50"

Artist’s Studio Number P73-1111

Present Owner Private collection

Present Owner Private collection, Miami

Present Owner Collection of Eve and Michael Steinberg

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; private collection, 2004

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Eve and Michael Steinberg, 1999

Solo Exhibitions Manny Silverman Gallery, Los Angeles, November 2002, cat. no. 42 (color illus. in brochure).

Provenance Acquavella Contemporary Art, Inc., 1976; Mr. and Mrs. William Shuart, Houston, 1976; [Sotheby Parke Bernet, Inc., New York, May 4, 1987, lot 68, illus.]; private collection, Boston, 1987; [Sotheby’s, New York, November 9, 1989, lot 227, illus.]; private collection, 1989; [Sotheby’s, New York, May 13, 2004, lot 195, illus.]; private collection, Miami, 2004

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Group Exhibitions Manny Silverman Gallery, Los Angeles, 2003, cat. no. 26. Comments The date of this painting is difficult to ascertain (the 1964 inventory

P760

number on the studio card was not assigned until around 1987). It is stylistically related to gestural works from the mid-1970s, especially to similarly small works from 1973 and to larger works from 1977.

P761

P762

P760

P761

P762

Untitled

Ca. 1973 Acrylic on canvas board 30 x 24 in. (76.2 x 61 cm)

Ca. 1973 Acrylic on canvas board 24 x 18 in. (61 x 45.7 cm)

Inscriptions Recto, lower left, incised: Motherwell

Inscriptions Recto, upper left, incised: Motherwell

Inscriptions Recto, lower right, incised: Motherwell

Verso not seen

Verso [crossed out]: [“Drawing” R.M.]

Verso not signed, not dated

Present Owner Private collection, Germany

Artist’s Studio Number P62-1089

Artist’s Studio Number P70-1088

Provenance Private collection, Germany, 1973

Present Owner Private collection, Miami

Present Owner Dedalus Foundation

Comments Motherwell gave this painting to its present owner in April 1973.

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; private collection, Miami, 2008

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991

Comments This painting and Untitled (P762) are stylistically related to Untitled (P759), and their dates are similarly difficult to ascertain. The 1962 studio number was an incorrect estimate made in 1994.

Comments This painting and Untitled (P761) are stylistically related to Untitled (P759), and their dates are similarly difficult to ascertain. The 1970 studio number was an incorrect estimate made in 1994.

paint ing s on canvas and pane l

377

P764

P763

P764

Study in Black

Mexican Window

1973 Acrylic on canvas 10 x 14 in. (25.4 x 35.6 cm)

1974 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 76½ x 96 in. (194.3 x 243.8 cm)

Inscriptions Recto, upper right, incised: RM

Inscriptions Recto, upper left: Motherwell 74

Verso: R. Motherwell \ 1973

Verso not seen

Artist’s Studio Number P73-1034

Artist’s Studio Number P74-5180

Present Owner Private collection, London

Present Owner Collection of Mildred and Herbert Lee

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; private collection, London, 2009

Provenance Knoedler & Company, 1974; Mildred and Herbert Lee, 1974

Solo Exhibitions Knoedler & Company, New York, 1978, cat. no. 4, color illus. p. 12 (in exhibition), illus. p. 22.

Solo Exhibitions Knoedler & Company, New York, 1974, cat. no. 9.

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P765

References Herrera 1974, p. 112; Arnason 1976, p. 25; Arnason 1977b, pp. 87–88, color illus. n.p. (pl. 284); Arnason 1982, p. 91, color illus. p. 90 (pl. 98); Flam 1991, color illus. n.p. (pl. 99); Chalumeau 1998, color illus. p. 55 (pl. 59).

P765

{ Untitled (Open Grey on Ochre)} 1974 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 12 x 16 in. (30.5 x 40.6 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper left: RM 74 Verso: R Motherwell \ February, 1974 Artist’s Studio Number P74-501 Present Owner Dedalus Foundation Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991 Solo Exhibitions Manny Silverman Gallery, Los Angeles, November 2002, cat. no. 35 (color illus. in brochure).

P766

Untitled Alternative Title: Untitled (Ochre with Black Line) 1972–73/1974 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 55¾ x 74 in. (141.6 x 188 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper right: Motherwell \ 73 Verso not seen Present Owner Mr. and Mrs. Stanley Scholsohn Provenance Knoedler & Company, 1974; Mr. and Mrs. Stanley Scholsohn, 1974

Solo Exhibitions Tibor de Nagy Gallery, Houston, 1974 (shown in early state), as Untitled (Ochre with Black Line). Laguna Gloria Art Museum, Austin, Tex., 1975, as Untitled (Ochre with Black Line). Comments An early, unsigned version of this work was begun in 1972 and shown at Motherwell’s 1974 exhibition at the Tibor de Nagy Gallery, as Untitled (Ochre with Black Line). After the painting was returned to Motherwell in February 1974, he added heavy black paint over the original linear Open form before selling it to Knoedler & Company in June of the same year. The inscribed recto date of 1973 refers to the earlier state.

P767

Gray Shade, Blue Light 1969–71/1974 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 84 x 42 in. (213.4 x 106.7 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper left: RM \ 74 Verso not seen [“signed, inscribed with title, and dated 1969–71 on reverse,” per Christie’s 1980]

Comments Motherwell first worked on this painting between 1969 and 1971, then reworked and retitled it in 1974. The title Dover Beach II appears on the label of a photograph of it (Dedalus Foundation Archives); that title may refer to an undocumented early state that had no public life (see the Comments for Dover Beach III, P768).

Artist’s Studio Number P69/71-5195 Present Owner Private collection Provenance Acquavella Contemporary Art, Inc., 1976; private collection, 1978; private collection, ca. 1980; [Christie’s, New York, May 16, 1980, lot 35, illus.]; private collection, 1987 p aint ing s on canvas and pane l

379

P768

Dover Beach III 1974 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 77 x 96 in. (195.6 x 243.8 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper left: R Motherwell \ March 74 Verso: “dover beach iii” \ R. Motherwell Artist’s Studio Number P74-5181 Present Owner Collection Bernard Jacobson Gallery, London Provenance Private collection, 1974; [Phillips de Pury & Co., New York, May 11, 2006, lot 51, illus.]; Bernard Jacobson Gallery, London, 2006 380

p ain tin gs on can v as an d pa n el

Solo Exhibitions Galerie André Emmerich, Zurich, 1974, color illus. n.p. Städtische Kunsthalle Düsseldorf, 1976 (traveling), cat. no. 51, illus. p. 111. Bernard Jacobson Gallery, London, June 2009. Group Exhibitions Haus der Kunst, Munich, 1999, cat. no. 204, color illus. n.p., as Ohne Titel (Untitled). Bernard Jacobson Gallery, London, July 2006. References Staber 1974–75, color illus. p. 120; Arnason 1976, p. 25, color illus. p. 20; Arnason 1977b, p. 87, color illus. n.p. (pl. 235); Arnason 1982, p. 91, color illus. p. 200 (pl. 272); Pleynet 1989b, color illus. p. 137; Flam 1991, color

illus. n.p. (pl. 109); Caws 1996b, illus. p. 156; Chalumeau 1998, color illus. p. 60 (pl. 68); Mattison et al. 2009, pp. 84, 88, color illus. p. 157. Comments The title of this painting refers to Matthew Arnold’s “Dover Beach,” which Motherwell characterized in a 1961 interview with Rudi Blesh as “a 19th century Wasteland” (see “Writings by the Artist,” in the Bibliography); see also an earlier collage, The End of Dover Beach (C68). An early version of Gray Shade, Blue Light (P767) was originally titled Dover Beach II.

P769

Blueness of Blue 1974 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 72 x 84 in. (182.9 x 213.4 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper left: R Motherwell \ Feb 74

Solo Exhibitions Knoedler & Company, New York, January 1975, cat. no. 10. Städtische Kunsthalle Düsseldorf, 1976 (traveling), cat. no. 48, color illus. p. 77, illus. p. 111. Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, 1977, color illus. n.p.

Verso: “Blueness of Blue” (March 1974) \ R. Motherwell

Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh, 1977.

Artist’s Studio Number P75-1555

Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1978, cat. no. 28, illus. p. 19.

Present Owner Private collection, Cologne

Group Exhibitions Galerie Veith Turske, Cologne, Germany, 1978.

Provenance Private collection, Cologne, Germany, 1979

Josef-Haubrich-Kunsthalle Köln, Cologne, Germany, 2000, cat. no. 65.

References Ellenzweig 1975, p. 21; Arnason 1976, color illus. p. 17 (in studio); Hobbs 1976b, pp. 49, 50; Arnason 1977b, color illus. n.p. (pl. 253, in studio); Pleynet 1977, p. 198; Pischel 1978, p. 695, erroneously as In the Blueness of Blue; Pomarède and Delaroière 1978, illus. n.p.; Spurling 1978, p. 230; Vaizey 1978, p. 35; Pleynet 1986, p. 86; Pleynet 1989b, color illus. p. 138; Flam 1991, color illus. n.p. (pl. 108); Caws 1996b, p. 99; Torner 1996, color illus. p. 13; Mattison et al. 2009, pp. 66, 67, 68, color illus. p. 163.

P770

In Plato’s Cave No. 5 Alternative Title: In Plato’s Cave V 1974 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 72 x 84 in. (182.9 x 213.4 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper right: Motherwell \ 74 Verso: R. Motherwell Artist’s Studio Number P73/74-1967 Present Owner Worcester Art Museum. Eliza S. Paine Fund and gift of the Dedalus Foundation Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Worcester Art Museum, Mass., 1997

p aint ing s on canvas and pane l

381

P770

Solo Exhibitions Knoedler & Company, New York, February 1981, cat. no. 8. Comments On the verso of this painting there is an inscription in the hand of Claus Colsman-Freyberger, Motherwell’s studio assistant at the time: “ ‘In Plato’s Cave V’ (30. March 74) \ Don’t Varnish.” Regarding the title of this painting, see the Comments for In Plato’s Cave No. 1 (P673).

P771

In Plato’s Cave No. 6 Alternative Title: In Plato’s Cave VI 1974 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 72 x 83¾ in. (182.9 x 212.7 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper right: Motherwell \ 74 Verso: R. Motherwell Artist’s Studio Number P74-2329 Present Owner Pinakothek der Moderne. Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen, inv. nr. 14729

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P771

p. 21; Schmidt 1982, p. 15; Belting 1983, p. 66, as In Plato’s Cave VI; Thierolf 2002, pp. 290–95, 312, 314–15, illus. p. 291 (cat. no. 25). Comments On the verso of this painting there is an inscription in the hand of Claus Colsman-Freyberger, Motherwell’s studio assistant at the time: “ ‘In Plato’s Cave VI’ (1. April 74).” Regarding the title of this painting, see the Comments for In Plato’s Cave No. 1 (P673).

P772

Calligraphic Open Alternative Title: Untitled 1974 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 91 x 144 in. (231.1 x 365.8 cm) Inscriptions Recto, lower left: R Motherwell \ 10 April 74 Verso not signed, not dated Artist’s Studio Number P74-1525; P74-3698

Provenance Knoedler & Company, 1974; Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich, 1982

Present Owner The Detroit Institute of Arts. Founders Society purchase, W. Hawkins Ferry Fund, the Maxwell and Marjorie Jospey Fund, and partial gift of the Dedalus Foundation

Solo Exhibitions Knoedler & Company, New York, January 1975, cat. no. 13.

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Detroit Institute of Arts, 1995

References Ellenzweig 1975, p. 21; Kaplan 1975, p. 107; Kramer 1975, p. 21; Brenson 1982, sec. C, p. 16; Hegewisch 1982,

Solo Exhibitions Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, 1977, as Untitled.

P773

P772

Group Exhibitions Musée Galliera, Paris, 1974, illus. p. 69, as Untitled. Dennos Museum Center, Northwestern Michigan College, Traverse City, 1997. References Arnason 1976, color illus. p. 21, erroneously as The Day After; Bonet 1978, illus. p. 6; Galerie Daniel Templon exh. cat. 1978, illus. p. 55 (in exhibition). Comments Motherwell titled this painting Calligraphic Open around 1991, during the planning for his 1991 solo exhibition at the Galería Joan Prats. Though it appeared on the preliminary studio lists for that exhibition, it was not shown there. It had been shown in the mid-1970s as Untitled.

P774

P773

P774

P775

{ Title unknown}

Samurai No. 1

Ca. 1974 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas board (?) 18 x 24 in. (45.7 x 61 cm), approx.

1973 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas (?) 29½ x 39 in. (74.9 x 99.1 cm)

1974 Acrylic on Upson board 48 x 36 in. (121.9 x 91.4 cm)

Inscriptions Unknown

Inscriptions Recto, upper left: Motherwell \ 74

Present Owner Unknown

Verso not seen

Provenance The artist

Comments This work is known only through an early black-and-white studio inventory photograph (PH 53-12). We do not know whether it still exists in the form illustrated here.

Comments This work is known only through an early black-and-white studio inventory photograph (PH 58-8). We do not know whether it still exists in the form illustrated here.

Artist’s Studio Number P74-1551 Present Owner Collection of Carol and Stephen Shey, Gainesville, Fla. Provenance Private collection, 1979; Isabel Trimper, 1987; private collection; private collection, 1995; Carol and Stephen Shey, Gainesville, Fla., 1996 Solo Exhibitions Städtische Kunsthalle Düsseldorf, 1976 (traveling), cat. no. 52, color illus. p. 73, illus. p. 112. Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, 1977, color illus. n.p.

paint ing s on canvas and pane l

383

P775

Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1978, cat. no. 33, illus. p. 20. Knoedler & Company, New York, 1978, cat. no. 21, illus. p. 11, illus. p. 20. Group Exhibitions Samuel P. Harn Museum of Art, University of Florida, Gainesville, 2008, cat. no. 77, color illus. p. 12, color illus. p. 185. References Westphal 1976, illus. p. 33; Arnason 1977b, illus. n.p. (pl. 288); Cape Codder 1977, illus. sec. 2, p. 8; Shipway 1977, illus. sec. Arts, p. 12, as Samurai 1; Russell 1978, illus. sec. C, p. 1; Arnason 1982, illus. p. 184 (pl. 256); Freedman 1985, illus. sec. 2, p. 1; Clarke 1988, illus. n.p. (pl. 96); Pleynet 1989b, illus. p. 47; Flam 1991, color illus. n.p. (pl. 113); Qin 1996, pp. 24, 58, illus. p. 84 (fig. 19); Chalumeau 1998, color illus. p. 41 (pl. 37). Comments The title Samurai (which refers to a class of aristocratic Japanese warriors) was first used by Motherwell for a 1971 print with a similar composition

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and gestural, calligraphic feeling (Engberg and Banach 2003, no. 104). Motherwell’s use of the title acknowledges the inspiration he took from Japanese brush and ink painting and calligraphy. The series title was first used publicly in his 1976 Düsseldorf retrospective. Precedents for the composition of this painting can be found as early as 1962, in his Beside the Sea series (see W127), and in works such as Gesture Series (A), 1969 (W311); see also the 1970 screenprint Africa Suite: Africa 2 (Engberg and Banach 2003, no. 70), as well as the 1972 series of tapestry studies (W389–W393). Regarding the numbered works in the Samurai series: numbers 1–6 were done in 1974 (P775–P780), and numbers 8–14 were done in 1977 (P929–P935). No work in the series was assigned the number 7.

P776

Samurai No. 2 1974 Acrylic on Upson board 48 x 36 in. (121.9 x 91.4 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper left: Motherwell 74 Verso not seen Artist’s Studio Number P74-1552

Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh, 1977. Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1978, cat. no. 34. Knoedler & Company, New York, 1978, cat. no. 22, illus. p. 20. William Benton Museum of Art, University of Connecticut, Storrs, 1979, cat. no. 65 (brochure); cat. no. 68 (catalogue), illus. p. 48 (in exhibition), illus. p. 105.

Present Owner Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia. Gift of the Dedalus Foundation and John Lambert Fund, 1994.6.1

Janie C. Lee Gallery, Houston, 1979, cat. no. 73.

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, 1994

Group Exhibitions Martin-Gropius-Bau, Berlin, 1990, color illus. p. 244.

Solo Exhibitions Städtische Kunsthalle Düsseldorf, 1976 (traveling), cat. no. 53, illus. p. 112. Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, 1977.

Knoedler & Company, New York, February 1981, cat. no. 13.

References Arnason 1977b, illus. n.p. (pl. 289); Newtown Bee 1979, illus. sec. C, p. 1, illus. sec. C, p. 28; Scott 1979, illus., as Samurai; Newman 1981, illus. p. 25; Wolff 1981, illus. p. 18; Clarke 1988, illus. n.p. (pl. 96).

P777

P778

P777

Denver Art Museum, 1995, illus. n.p.

P778

Samurai No. 3

Fundació Antoni Tàpies, Barcelona, 1996 (traveling), cat. no. 51, color illus. p. 183.

Samurai No. 4

1974 Acrylic on Upson board 48 x 36 in. (121.9 x 91.4 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper left: Motherwell \ 74 Verso not signed, not dated Artist’s Studio Number P74-2212 Present Owner Denver Art Museum Collection. For a full list of donors, see the entry for P22. Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Denver Art Museum, 1994 Solo Exhibitions Museo de Arte Contemporaneo de Caracas, Venezuela, 1979, cat. no. 7, illus. n.p. Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, 1983 (traveling), cat. no. 71, color illus. p. 104.

Group Exhibitions Gruenebaum Gallery, New York, 1976, cat. no. 5, color illus. p. 18. National Museum of Art, Osaka, Japan, 1977, cat. no. 321, illus. p. 166. Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig Wien, Vienna, 1997, illus. p. 21, color illus. p. 310. References Arnason 1977b, illus. n.p. (pl. 290); Arnason 1982, illus. p. 184 (pl. 257); Bannon 1983b, sec. Art; Inje 1984, p. 13; Shere 1984, sec. Calendar, p. 4; Clarke 1988, illus. n.p. (pl. 96); Pleynet 1989b, color illus. p. 142; Tieken 2000, illus. n.p.; Caws 2003, p. 38, illus. p. 39 (ill. 28).

1974 Acrylic on Upson board 48 x 36 in. (121.9 x 91.4 cm)

1989b, color illus. p. 143; Flam 1991, color illus. n.p. (pl. 114); Chalumeau 1998, color illus. p. 41 (pl. 38, erroneously as Samurai no. 2).

Inscriptions Recto, upper left: R. Motherwell \ 74 Verso not seen Artist’s Studio Number P74-1445 Present Owner Private collection Provenance Private collection, 1978 Solo Exhibitions Janie C. Lee Gallery, Houston, 1978. References Baker-Carr 1975, color illus. p. 37, as Untitled; Arnason 1977b, illus. n.p. (pl. 291); Terenzio 1979, illus. p. 2; Arnason 1982, illus. p. 185 (pl. 258); Clarke 1988, illus. n.p. (pl. 96); Pleynet

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, 1984, cat. no. 73.

p aint ing s on canvas and pane l

385

P779

Samurai No. 5

Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh, 1977.

Alternative Title: Untitled 1974 Acrylic on Upson board 48 x 36 in. (121.9 x 91.4 cm)

Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1978, cat. no. 35.

Inscriptions Recto, upper left: Motherwell \ 74

William Benton Museum of Art, University of Connecticut, Storrs, 1979, cat. no. 66 (brochure); cat. no. 69 (catalogue), illus. p. 48 (in exhibition).

Verso not signed, not dated Artist’s Studio Number P74-1553 Present Owner Collection of Gerald S. Lippes & Jody B. Ulrich Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Gerald S. Lippes & Jody B. Ulrich, 2002 Solo Exhibitions Ace Gallery, Los Angeles, 1975, as Untitled. Städtische Kunsthalle Düsseldorf, 1976 (traveling), cat. no. 54, illus. p. 112. Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, 1977.

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Knoedler & Company, New York, 1978, cat. no. 20, illus. p. 20.

Janie C. Lee Gallery, Houston, 1979, cat. no. 72. Miriam & Ira D. Wallach Art Gallery, Columbia University, New York, 1997 (traveling), cat. no. VIII.5, color illus. p. 154 (pl. 83). References C. 1977, illus. p. 18; Gibson 1977, illus. p. 7; Syring 1977, illus. p. 7; Newtown Bee 1979, illus. sec. C, p. 1.

P780

Samurai No. 6

Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1978, cat. no. 36.

1974 Acrylic on Upson board 48 x 36 in. (121.9 x 91.4 cm)

Knoedler & Company, New York, 1978, cat. no. 2, color illus. p. 12 (in exhibition), illus. p. 20.

Inscriptions Recto, lower right: Motherwell \ 74

William Benton Museum of Art, University of Connecticut, Storrs, 1979, cat. no. 67 (brochure); cat. no. 70 (catalogue), illus. p. 48 (in exhibition), illus. p. 104.

Verso not signed, not dated Artist’s Studio Number P74-1554 Present Owner Collection of Gerald S. Lippes & Jody B. Ulrich Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Gerald S. Lippes & Jody B. Ulrich, 2002 Solo Exhibitions Städtische Kunsthalle Düsseldorf, 1976 (traveling), cat. no. 55, illus. p. 112. Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, 1977. Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh, 1977.

Janie C. Lee Gallery, Houston, 1979, cat. no. 74. Miriam & Ira D. Wallach Art Gallery, Columbia University, New York, 1997 (traveling), cat. no. VIII.6, color illus. p. 155 (pl. 84). References Catoir 1976b, cover illus.; Flash Art 1977, illus. p. 48; Pomarède and Delaroière 1978, illus. n.p.; Newtown Bee 1979, illus. sec. C, p. 28; Moore 1980, cover illus.

P781

P782

P783

P781

P782

Splurge No. 2

Untitled

1974–75 Acrylic on canvas 78 x 30 in. (198.1 x 76.2 cm)

1974–75 Acrylic on canvas 71⅝ x 36 in. (181.9 x 91.4 cm)

Inscriptions Recto, upper right: Motherwell 74

Inscriptions Recto, upper right: RM

Inscriptions Recto, lower right: RM \ 8 April 74

Verso: “Splurge #2” \ R. Motherwell \ 1974

Verso not signed, not dated

Present Owner Private collection

Present Owner Private collection, New York

Present Owner Private collection, Montreal

Provenance Gertrude Kasle, 1975; [Christie’s, New York, November 19, 1992, lot 295, illus.]; private collection, 1992

Provenance Private collection of William Aucoin, 1978; private collection, France, 1986; private collection, New York

Solo Exhibitions Gertrude Kasle Gallery, Detroit, 1975, cat. no. 12.

References Carlsen 1979, color illus. p. 85 (installation view).

Provenance Lee V. Eastman, ca. 1974; [Christie’s, New York, November 9, 2005, lot 229, illus.]; private collection, Montreal, 2005

Group Exhibitions Meadow Brook Art Gallery, Oakland University, Rochester, Mich., 1976, cat. no. 32, illus. p. 5.

Comments The date of this painting is uncertain. The 1974–75 date is based upon the stylistic similarity between this painting and other works done in that year; see Splurge No. 2 (P781) and an early version of a painting that was later reworked and retitled as Full Tide (P982). When

Comments Although this painting is given the number 2 in what would appear to be a series, there are no other known paintings with the title Splurge.

this painting was photographed in the artist’s studio in 1974, the black forms in the lower half were somewhat less dense; it was apparently finished in 1975.

P783

Untitled 1974 Acrylic on canvas 72 x 26¼ in. (182.9 x 66.7 cm)

p aint ing s on canvas and pane l

387

P784

P785

[ Untitled (Black Wave on Blue) ]

[ Untitled (Pink, Black Caprice) ]

1974 Acrylic on canvas 40 x 30 in. (101.6 x 76.2 cm)

1974 Acrylic on Upson board 47¾ x 24 in. (121.3 x 61 cm)

Inscriptions Recto, upper left, incised: RM \ 74

Inscriptions Recto, upper right: Motherwell \ 74

Verso not signed, not dated

Artist’s Studio Number P74-683

Artist’s Studio Number P74-991

Present Owner Ms. Samie Falvey, California

Present Owner Private collection, London

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Samie Falvey, California, 2009

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; private collection, 2007; private collection, London, 2008

Solo Exhibitions William Shearburn Gallery, Santa Fe, N.Mex., 2008, cat. no. 6.

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P785

P786

Summer Open with Mediterranean Blue 1974 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 48 x 108 in. (121.9 x 274.3 cm) Inscriptions Recto, lower right: RM Verso: R Motherwell \ 29 July 74 Artist’s Studio Number P74-1557 Present Owner Collection of the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth. Museum purchase, the Friends of Art Endowment Fund Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, 1993 Solo Exhibitions Gertrude Kasle Gallery, Detroit, 1975, cat. no. 15. Städtische Kunsthalle Düsseldorf, 1976 (traveling), cat. no. 49, color illus. p. 75, illus. p. 111.

Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, 1977, color illus. n.p. Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1978, cat. no. 30, illus. p. 20. Centro Cultural de la Caixa de Pensions, Barcelona, 1980 (traveling), Barcelona, cat. no. 11; Madrid, cat. no. 11, cover color illus. Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, 1983 (traveling), cat. no. 72, color illus. p. 106; not shown in Los Angeles. Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, 1984, cat. no. 74.

1988, color illus. p. 644 (fig. 2); Pleynet 1989b, color illus. p. 129; Flam 1991, color illus. n.p. (pl. 106); Polcari 1991, p. 320; Wilson 1991, sec. F, p. 1; Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth Calendar 1993, p. 3, color illus. p. 5; Caws 1996b, p. 99, illus. p. 100, color illus. n.p.; Arnason 1998, p. 466, color illus. p. 460 (pl. 256); Chalumeau 1998, color illus. pp. 58–59 (pl. 67); Caws 2003, pp. 24, 162, illus. p. 162 (ill. 108); Mattison et al. 2009, pp. 36, 68, 88, color illus. p. 159.

Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, 1993. References Miro 1975, sec. D, p. 4; Schmidt 1976, color illus. p. 78; Arnason 1977b, color illus. n.p. (pl. 208); Hughes 1977, p. 51, color illus. p. 51; Lucie-Smith 1978b, p. 23; Pischel 1978, p. 695, as Mediterranean Blue; Arnason 1982, color illus. p. 172 (pl. 237); Hughes 1983, p. 69; Arnason 1986, p. 407, color illus. p. 404 (pl. 192); National Museum of Contemporary Art exh. cat.

paint ing s on canvas and pane l

389

P787

P788

P787

P788

P789

Blue Open

Window over Madrid

The Persian No. 1

Ca. 1974 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 48 x 36 in. (121.9 x 91.4 cm)

1974 Acrylic on canvas 90 x 120 in. (228.6 x 304.8 cm)

1974 Acrylic and charcoal on Upson board 48 x 36 in. (121.9 x 91.4 cm)

Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated Verso not signed, not dated

Inscriptions Recto, lower center, incised: Motherwell 74

Inscriptions Recto, upper right: R. Motherwell \ 4 Aug 74

Artist’s Studio Number P70-3674; P91-3630

Verso: “Window Over Madrid” \ R. Motherwell \ 1974

Verso not seen

Present Owner Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Michael L. Riddle

Artist’s Studio Number P74-2777

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Bernard Jacobson Gallery, London, 2003; Mr. and Mrs. Michael L. Riddle, 2003 Comments This painting is dated to around 1974 because of the fluid brushwork in the blue ground and the crispness of the Open form.

390

Present Owner North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh. Purchased with funds from the North Carolina Art Society (Robert F. Phifer Bequest) and Arthur Leroy and Lila Fisher Caldwell, by exchange, and gift of the Dedalus Foundation, Inc. Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, 1998

p ain tin gs on ca n v a s a n d pan el

Artist’s Studio Number P74-1229 Present Owner Collection of the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth. Museum purchase, the Friends of Art Endowment Fund Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, 1999 Solo Exhibitions Knoedler & Company, New York, January 1975, cat. no. 7. Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, 1977, illus. n.p.

Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1978, cat. no. 32. Centro Cultural de la Caixa de Pensions, Barcelona, 1980 (traveling), Barcelona, cat. no. 12; Madrid, cat. no. 12, color illus. n.p. Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, 1983 (traveling), cat. no. 70, color illus. p. 105. Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, 1984, cat. no. 37. Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, 1993. References Arnason 1976, p. 25, as The Persian; Arnason 1977b, p. 88, color illus. n.p. (pl. 261); Motherwell in Arnason 1977b, n.p.; Arnason 1982, pp. 92–93, color illus. p. 197 (pl. 269); Motherwell in Arnason 1982, pp. 196, 199; Motherwell in Albright-Knox Art Gallery exh. cat. 1983, p. 13, color illus. p. 105; Gaugh 1985, p. 73; Mattison 1985a, p. 92; Pleynet 1989b, color illus. p. 146; Flam 1991, p. 10, color illus. n.p. (pl. 111); Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth

Calendar 1993, color illus. p. 7; Tyson 1993a, color illus. p. 1. Comments Motherwell described his state of mind when he did this and related paintings from the summer of 1974 (see P792, P794–P797), in relation to his impending surgery (Motherwell in Arnason 1982, p. 196). He also discussed his unconscious reversion here to the abstracted figures he had done at the time of the Homely Protestant paintings (P82, P84, and P85). In 1985 he created a print based on the Persian series, called The Persian II (Engberg and Banach 2003, no. 353). Motherwell dated this painting and several others done around the same time (see p790–p797) with the day as well as the month, so we have placed them in strictly chronological order.

P789

paint ing s on canvas and pane l

391

P790

P791

Untitled (Ultramarine)

Waves I

Manny Silverman Gallery, Los Angeles, 2000, cat. no. 13. Annandale Galleries, Sydney, Australia, 2005, as Waves.

1974 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 72½ x 84½ in. (184.2 x 214.6 cm)

1974/ca. 1980 Acrylic on Upson board 48 x 36 in. (121.9 x 91.4 cm)

Inscriptions Recto, upper right, incised: RM \ 7 Aug 74

Inscriptions Recto, upper left: RM \ 12 Aug 74

Group Exhibitions Bernard Jacobson Gallery, London, March 2006, cat. no. 7.

Verso (on frame): “waves i” 48 x 36" 1974

References Thierolf 2002, illus. p. 299 (fig. 6).

Present Owner Collection San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Gift of Mr. and Mrs. George G. Walker

Artist’s Studio Number C74-2215; C74-3637; P74-3637

Provenance Mr. and Mrs. George G. Walker, 1977; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, 1977

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Gert W. Munthe, Oslo, 2007

Comments The basic composition of this work was set in 1974, and a first version was shown at the B. R. Kornblatt Gallery in 1976 and again at the Museo de Arte Contemporaneo de Caracas in 1979. After it was returned to Motherwell in May 1979, and before it was sent to storage in December 1981, he revised the canvas by adding more black paint to the top two horizontal black forms. This work is related to an untitled 1974 painting on paper (W464), and to a number of prints done in 1974 (Engberg and Banach 2003, nos. 154, 156–58). A work titled Waves II was later retitled The Tide No. 2 (P793).

Verso not signed, not dated

Solo Exhibitions Knoedler & Company, New York, January 1975, cat. no. 5, as Untitled. Group Exhibitions Newport Harbor Art Museum, Newport Beach, Calif., 1981.

392

Present Owner Gert W. Munthe, Oslo

Solo Exhibitions B. R. Kornblatt Gallery, Baltimore, 1976 (shown in early state). Museo de Arte Contemporaneo de Caracas, Venezuela, 1979, cat. no. 8, color illus. n.p. (shown in early state). Fundació Antoni Tàpies, Barcelona, 1996 (traveling), cat. no. 50, color illus. p. 181.

pain tin gs on can v as an d pa n el

P791

P792

The Persian No. 2 1974 Acrylic and charcoal on Upson board 26 x 20 in. (66 x 50.8 cm) Inscriptions Recto, lower left: Motherwell \ 14 August 1974 Recto, lower left, incised [painted over]: [Motherwell 74] Verso not signed, not dated Artist’s Studio Number P74-1945 Present Owner Dedalus Foundation Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991 References Arnason 1976, cover color illus.; Arnason 1977b, p. 88, color illus. n.p. (pl. 262); Motherwell in Arnason 1977b, n.p.; Arnason 1982, pp. 92–93, illus. p. 92 (pl. 101); Motherwell in Arnason 1982, pp. 196, 199.

P792

Comments Regarding the genesis of this work, see the Comments for The Persian No. 1 (P789).

P793

The Tide No. 2

P793

Museum Morsbroich, Leverkusen, Germany, 2004, color illus. p. 109.

Alternative Title: Waves II 1974 Acrylic on Upson board 47⅞ x 35⅞ in. (121.6 x 91.1 cm)

Galerie Bernd Klüser, Munich, May 2005, cat. no. 12.

Inscriptions Recto, upper left: Motherwell \ 16 Aug. 74

Group Exhibitions Long Point Gallery, Provincetown, Mass., 1997.

Verso (on frame): “the tide #2” 48 x 36 1974

References Drudi 1984, illus. p. 106 (in studio); Drudi 1988b, illus. p. 112 (in studio).

Verso (on frame) [crossed out]: [waves ii] Artist’s Studio Number C74-997; P74-997 Present Owner Dedalus Foundation Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991

P794

The Wild Duck

William Shearburn Gallery, Santa Fe, N.Mex., 2008, cat. no. 11, as The Tide II.

Comments This work was originally given the title Waves II, but the title was changed to The Tide No. 2, even though there is no other painting called The Tide. It is clearly related to the painting titled Waves I (P791) and to a monotype titled Waves III.

1974 Acrylic and charcoal on Upson board 36 x 24 in. (91.4 x 61 cm) Inscriptions Recto, lower right: R Motherwell \ 18 Aug 74 Verso not signed, not dated Artist’s Studio Number P74-1206 Present Owner Private collection Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; private collection, 2005 Solo Exhibitions Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, 1977.

Solo Exhibitions David Mirvish Gallery, Toronto, 1975.

Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1978, cat. no. 31, illus. p. 20.

Ulrich Museum of Art, Wichita State University, Kans., 1979.

References Arnason 1976, p. 55, color illus. p. 24; Arnason 1977b, p. 88, color illus. n.p. (pl. 263); Motherwell in Arnason

p aint ing s on canvas and pane l

393

P795

1977b, n.p.; Arnason 1982, p. 92, color illus. p. 199 (pl. 271); Motherwell in Arnason 1982, pp. 196, 199; Pleynet 1989b, color illus. p. 145; Flam 1991, p. 9, color illus. n.p. (pl. 112); Caws 1996b, illus. p. 81; Caws 2003, p. 79, color illus. p. 81 (ill. 54). Comments The title of this painting refers to an 1884 play of the same title by Henrik Ibsen (1828–1906). Motherwell discussed the genesis of this painting, which was based on a glimpse of a wild duck “lifting itself from a blue sea,” in Arnason 1982, p. 199 (see also Chapter 8 in volume 1).

P795

P796

The Persian III

The Spartan

1974 Acrylic and charcoal on Upson board 36 x 24 in. (91.4 x 61 cm)

1974 Acrylic and charcoal on Upson board 48 x 36 in. (121.9 x 91.4 cm)

Inscriptions Recto, upper left, incised: Motherwell \ 23 August 74

Inscriptions Recto, upper right: Motherwell \ 2 Sept 1974

Verso not signed, not dated

Artist’s Studio Number P74-1003

Artist’s Studio Number C74-1957

Present Owner Dedalus Foundation

Present Owner Denver Art Museum Collection. For a full list of donors, see the entry for P22.

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991 Solo Exhibitions Museo de Arte Moderno, Mexico City, 1975, cat. no. 39, as Sin titulo (Untitled). Comments There are two works in the Persian series to which Motherwell assigned the number 3 (see P797).

394

P796

pain tin gs on can v as an d pa n el

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Denver Art Museum, 1994 Solo Exhibitions Denver Art Museum, 1995, illus. n.p. Group Exhibitions Century Club, New York, 1994. References Arnason 1976, pp. 25, 55; Arnason 1977b, pp. 88–89, color illus. n.p. (pl. 264); Motherwell in Arnason

P797

1977b, n.p.; Arnason 1982, pp. 92–93, illus. p. 92 (pl. 102); Motherwell in Arnason 1982, pp. 196, 199; Pleynet 1989b, p. 217; Paglia 1996, p. 56; Tieken 2000, illus. n.p.

P798

P797

P798

The Persian No. 3

[ Untitled (Pink 4 on Blue) ]

1974 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 36 x 24 in. (91.4 x 61 cm)

1974 Acrylic and Conté crayon on canvas 40 x 30 in. (101.6 x 76.2 cm)

Inscriptions Recto, lower left: Motherwell 74 \ 3 Sept

Inscriptions Recto, lower right, incised: RM \ 74

Verso not signed, not dated

Artist’s Studio Number P74-684

Artist’s Studio Number P74-1479 Present Owner Dedalus Foundation Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991 Comments There are two works in the Persian series to which Motherwell assigned the number 3 (see P795).

Verso not signed, not dated

Present Owner Dedalus Foundation Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991

P799

Gray Chords 1974 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 78 x 30 in. (198.1 x 76.2 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper right: RM \ 74 Verso: R Motherwell \ Sept 74

Fundació Antoni Tàpies, Barcelona, 1996 (traveling), cat. no. 49, color illus. p. 179. References Arnason 1976, p. 25; Arnason 1977b, p. 86, color illus. n.p. (pls. 258, 282, in studio); Arnason 1982, p. 87, color illus. p. 88 (pl. 96); Pleynet 1989b, p. 56; Thierolf 2002, illus. p. 299 (fig. 7).

Artist’s Studio Number P74-2210 Present Owner Private collection Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; private collection, 2000 Solo Exhibitions Museo de Arte Contemporaneo de Caracas, Venezuela, 1979, cat. no. 5.

paint ing s on canvas and pane l

395

P800

P802

P801

P803

P800

P801

P802

P803

Open Study in Charcoal on Grey No. 1

Open Study in Charcoal on Grey No. 2

Open Study in Charcoal on Grey No. 3

Open Study in Charcoal on Grey No. 4

1974 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas board 18 x 30 in. (45.7 x 76.2 cm)

Inscriptions Recto, lower left: RM

Verso not signed, not dated

Verso: 1974 \ Robert Motherwell

Artist’s Studio Number P74-493

Artist’s Studio Number P74-496

Artist’s Studio Number P74-495

Artist’s Studio Number P74-494

Present Owner Dedalus Foundation

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991

Solo Exhibitions Museo de Arte Moderno, Mexico City, 1975, cat. no. 35, as Untitled (Open Study in Charcoal on Grey No. 1).

Solo Exhibitions Museo de Arte Moderno, Mexico City, 1975, cat. no. 36, as Untitled (Open Study in Charcoal on Grey No. 2).

Solo Exhibitions Bernard Jacobson Gallery, London, June 2009.

Solo Exhibitions Waddington Galleries, London, 1975.

References Mattison et al. 2009, color illus. p. 140.

Bernard Jacobson Gallery, London, June 2009. References Mattison et al. 2009, color illus. p. 141.

396

pain tin gs on c an v as an d pa n el

Group Exhibitions Acquavella Contemporary Art, New York, 1974, as Untitled (Open Study in Charcoal on Grey No. 3). References Mattison et al. 2009, color illus. p. 141.

P804

A la pintura No. 7 Alternative Title: Untitled 1974 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 80 x 85 in. (203.2 x 215.9 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper right: RM \ 74 Verso not seen Present Owner Private collection, France Provenance Janie C. Lee Gallery; private collection, 1987; private collection, France, ca. 1989 Solo Exhibitions Knoedler & Company, New York, January 1975, cat. no. 8, as Untitled. Janie C. Lee Gallery, Houston, 1976. Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, 1983 (traveling), cat. no. 67, color illus. p. 101; not shown in Seattle and Washington, D.C. Group Exhibitions Janie C. Lee Gallery, Houston, April 1985.

Espace de l’Art Concret, Centre d’Art Contemporain, Mouans-Sartoux, France, 2009, color illus. p. 129. References Schjeldahl 1975, p. 24, illus. p. 24; Arnason 1976, p. 25; Arnason 1977b, p. 87, color illus. n.p. (pls. 259, 282, in studio); Arnason 1982, p. 91, color illus. p. 89 (pl. 97); Inje 1984, p. 13; Johnson 1985, sec. “Zest,” p. 16; Pleynet 1989b, p. 56, color illus. p. 141; Pleynet 1991, pp. 13, 26, illus. p. 13; Franzke 1994, color illus. p. 13 (fig. 14); Caws 1996b, illus. p. 106; Pleynet 1998, pp. 88, 100; Mattison et al. 2009, p. 84. Comments This 1974 work, although given the number 7 in the A la pintura series, was actually the first painting in the series to be completed. A la pintura No. 2 (P813) is the only painting given a lower series number, but it was not finished until 1975. The remaining works in the series, which continued through 1976, have similarly inconsistent numbers, and no work was given the number 1 (see P805, P814, and P896–P899). The title refers

to the Spanish poet Rafael Alberti’s book of poems A la pintura (1948), which had inspired Motherwell’s 1972 livre d’artiste by the same title (Engberg and Banach 2003, nos. 111–31). While working on the images for that book between 1968 and 1972, Motherwell had immersed himself in Alberti’s writings. See also the Comments for Alberti Suite No. 1 (P522).

P805

A la pintura No. 12 Alternative Title: The Experience of Nothingness 1971–ca. 1974 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 108 x 120 in. (274.3 x 304.8 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper left: RM \ 71 Verso [ painted over]: [“The Experience of Nothingness”] Summer \ 1971 Verso [painted over]: Robert Motherwell \ [“The Experience of Nothingness”] Artist’s Studio Number P71/74-1556 Present Owner Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo. Museum purchase with Sarah Norton Goodyear Fund and gift of the Dedalus Foundation, 1995 Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; AlbrightKnox Art Gallery, Buffalo, 1995 Solo Exhibitions Knoedler & Company, New York, 1976, cat. no. 15.

p aint ing s on canvas and pane l

397

P805

P806

Städtische Kunsthalle Düsseldorf, 1976 (traveling), cat. no. 39, color illus. p. 69, illus. p. 108. Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, 1977, color illus. n.p. Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh, 1977. Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1978, cat. no. 19, illus. p. 18. Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, 1983 (traveling), cat. no. 56, color illus. p. 95; not shown in Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, 1984, cat. no. 61. Padiglione d’Arte Contemporanea, Milan, 1989, cat. no. 10. Artcurial Centre d’Art Plastique Contemporain, Paris, 1990 (traveling), Paris, color illus. p. 21. Fundació Antoni Tàpies, Barcelona, 1996 (traveling), cat. no. 44, color illus. p. 169.

References Ellenzweig 1976, p. 22; Hobbs 1976b, pp. 50–51; Arnason 1977b, pp. 87, 206, color illus. n.p. (pls. 280, in progress, 281, 282, in studio); Motherwell in Arnason 1977b, n.p.; Spurling 1978, p. 230; Chapman 1980, p. 64, illus. p. 64 (fig. 15); Hernandez 1980, illus. p. 30; Arnason 1982, p. 91, color illus. p. 202 (pl. 275); Gelles 1984, illus. p. 10; Gaugh 1985, p. 72; Pély-Audan 1991, p. 102; Lynton 1997, color illus. p. 41; Lynton 2001, color illus. p. 179; Thierolf 2002, pp. 312, 314, illus. p. 314; Mattison et al. 2009, pp. 67–68, 84, color illus. p. 123. Comments Although this painting is dated 1971 on both the recto and the verso, it was given the date 1971–74 when it was exhibited at the Städtische Kunsthalle Düsseldorf, in 1976. It was apparently not finished until late 1974 or early 1975, when Motherwell added the rectangular U-shaped form in the upper part of the canvas (the painting is visible, finished, in an April 1975 studio photograph).

P806

Group Exhibitions Fine Arts Center Gallery, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, 1976, illus. p. 10, as Untitled.

Untitled (Rose) Alternative Title: Untitled 1974 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 72¼ x 84⅜ in. (183.5 x 214.3 cm)

Knoedler & Company, New York, 1977, cat. no. 6. References Morrison 1976, p. 16, as Untitled; Carlsen 1979, color illus. p. 90 (installation view).

Inscriptions Recto: upper right: Motherwell \ 12 Sept 74 Verso not signed, not dated Present Owner Unknown Provenance Private collection of William Aucoin, New York, 1978; private collection, ca. 1978; unknown owner; [Christie’s, New York, November 9, 2005, lot 346, illus.]; unknown owner, 2005 Solo Exhibitions Knoedler & Company, New York, January 1975, cat. no. 2, as Untitled. Dart Gallery, Chicago, 1976, cat. no. 14, as Untitled.

paint ing s on canvas and pane l

399

P807

P808

P809

Untitled

The Calligraphy of the Night

Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, 1977.

1974 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 96 x 120 in. (243.8 x 304.8 cm)

1974 Acrylic on canvas board 14 x 28 in. (35.6 x 71.1 cm)

Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh, 1977.

Inscriptions Recto, upper right: Motherwell 74

Inscriptions Recto, upper left, incised: RM

Inscriptions Recto, upper right, incised: Motherwell \ 74

Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1978 (“Additions to Catalogue of Motherwell Exhibition” checklist addenda C).

Verso not signed, not dated

Verso: R Motherwell 1974

Bernard Jacobson Gallery, London, June 2009.

Artist’s Studio Number P74-2984; P74-3091

Verso: Robert Motherwell \ “premonition open with flesh over grey”

Present Owner Collection Bernard Jacobson Gallery, London

Premonition Open with Flesh over Grey 1974 Acrylic, charcoal, and graphite on canvas 72 x 84 in. (182.9 x 213.4 cm)

Artist’s Studio Number P74-1558 Present Owner Collection Bernard Jacobson Gallery, London Provenance Private collection; Dr. Eleonore and Dr. Michael Stoffel, ca. 1980; Bernard Jacobson Gallery, London, 2008

Städtische Kunsthalle Düsseldorf, 1976 (traveling), cat. no. 50, color illus. p. 79, illus. p. 111.

Group Exhibitions Josef-Haubrich-Kunsthalle Köln, Cologne, Germany, 2000, cat. no. 66, color illus. p. 200. References Hobbs 1976b, p. 52; Pleynet 1989b, color illus. p. 136; Flam 1991, color illus. n.p. (pl. 110); Chalumeau 1998, color illus. p. 61 (pl. 69); Mattison et al. 2009, color illus. p. 158.

Solo Exhibitions Gertrude Kasle Gallery, Detroit, 1975, cat. no. 14.

400

p ain tin gs on c an v as an d pa n el

Provenance Jane and Marc Nathanson, 1982; [Christie’s, New York, November 13, 2008, lot 195, illus.]; Bernard Jacobson Gallery, London, 2008 Solo Exhibitions Knoedler & Company, New York, January 1975, cat. no. 12. Ace Gallery, Los Angeles, 1975. References Arnason 1977b, color illus. n.p. (pl. 260); Motherwell in Arnason 1977b, n.p.; Mattison et al. 2009, color illus. pp. 160–61, erroneously as Untitled (Salmon).

Present Owner Dedalus Foundation Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991 Solo Exhibitions Galerie André Emmerich, Zurich, 1977 (not in catalogue). References Drudi 1984, color illus. p. 6 (in studio), color illus. p. 63 (in studio); Drudi 1988b, color illus. p. 6 (in studio), color illus. p. 63 (in studio); Terenzio 1992b, illus. n.p. (in studio). Comments This work is stylistically close to two 1969 Iberia paintings that were revised in 1974 (P520 and P521).

P811

P809

P812

P810

Comments This painting, which is dated 1974 on the verso, was given a studio number with an erroneous date of 1959; the medium has in the past been incorrectly described as oil largely on the basis of that erroneous date, which preceded Motherwell’s use of acrylic polymer emulsion paints.

P810

P811

Untitled

Elegy Study

1974 Acrylic on Upson board 12 x 30 in. (30.5 x 76.2 cm)

1974 Acrylic on canvas board 9⅞ x 13⅞ in. (25.1 x 35.2 cm)

Inscriptions Recto, lower left, incised: RM \ 74

Inscriptions Recto, lower right: RM

Verso not signed, not dated

Verso: R. Motherwell \ 1974

Artist’s Studio Number P74-1166

Artist’s Studio Number P59/74-1313

Verso: Robert Motherwell \ “mural sketch” \ (mounted canvas)

Present Owner Dedalus Foundation

Present Owner Denver Art Museum Collection. For a full list of donors, see the entry for P22.

Artist’s Studio Number P77-3808

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Denver Art Museum, 1994 Solo Exhibitions William Ehrlich Gallery, New York, June 1979. Denver Art Museum, 1995, illus. n.p. References Tieken 2000, illus. n.p.

P812

Mural Sketch Alternative Title: Mural Study 1974 Acrylic on canvas board 6 x 12 in. (15.2 x 30.5 cm) Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated

Present Owner Collection of David and Geraldine Pincus Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; David and Geraldine Pincus, 2004 References Carmean 1978, p. 118, illus. p. 118 (fig. 22, as Mural Study). Comments The title of this work, Mural Sketch, refers to Elegy to the Spanish Republic No. 100 (P850), the right side of which

paint ing s on canvas and pane l

401

P813

is based both on this small painting and on Untitled (Elegy) (P605). This work was correctly dated to 1974 the first time it was reproduced, in Carmean 1978, p. 118, even though there is an inscription (not in Motherwell’s hand) on its verso that dates it to 1964/1974—which seems to refer to the length of time Motherwell had been at work on Elegy to the Spanish Republic No. 100, which he dated “65/75.”

P813

A la pintura No. 2 Alternative Title: A la pintura II 1971–75 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 68½ x 128 in. (174 x 325.1 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper left, incised: Motherwell \ 71–75 Verso: R. Motherwell \ “A la pintura II” 1971–75 Verso (on vertical stretcher): R. Motherwell Present Owner The Hakone Open-Air Museum, from the collection of Fuji Media Holdings, Inc. Provenance Private collection, 1976; private collection, 1978; Knoedler & Company, 1979; Irving Galleries, Palm Beach, Fla., 1979; Hakone Open-Air Museum, Hakone-Machi, Kanagawa, Japan, 1991 Solo Exhibitions Ace Gallery, Los Angeles, 1975.

402

pain tin gs on c a n v a s a n d pan el

P814

Group Exhibitions National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, 1995, cat. no. 10, color illus. pp. 26–27. References Arnason 1977b, p. 87, color illus. n.p. (pls. 285, in progress, 286); Arnason 1982, p. 91, color illus. p. 91 (pls. 99, 100, in progress). Comments This painting was begun in 1971. A photograph taken of it around 1974 shows that the basic composition was already set then, but with only a charcoal line delineating the area at the extreme left; the black bar was painted in later. Although this painting has the lowest known number in the A la pintura series, it was not completed until 1975, after A la pintura No. 7 (P804) and A la pintura No. 12 (P805). Regarding the title and numbering of the series as a whole, see the Comments for P804.

P814

A la pintura No. 8 Alternative Title: A la pintura #VIII 1975 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 96 x 120 in. (243.8 x 304.8 cm) Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated Verso: R. Motherwell \ “A la pintura #VIII” \ March 1975 Present Owner Private collection, Denver Provenance Ace Gallery, Los Angeles, 1976; private collection, 1978; [Sotheby’s, New York, May 4, 1994, lot 44, illus. (not sold)]; private collection, Denver, 1998 Solo Exhibitions Ace Gallery, Los Angeles, 1975. References Seldis 1975, sec. 4, p. 3, as A La Pintura VIII; Arnason 1977b, color illus. n.p. (pl. 282, in studio).

P815

Comments The H-like form at the center of this painting echoes that found in the 1974 print Dutch Linen Suite: Untitled (Engberg and Banach 2003, no. 155). Regarding the title and numbering of the A la pintura series, see the Comments for P804.

P815

Elegy to the Spanish Republic No. 128 1974–75 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 96 x 120 in. (243.8 x 304.8 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper left, incised: Motherwell Verso not seen Artist’s Studio Number P74-1522 Present Owner Fayez Sarofim Collection Provenance Private collection, 1986; Fayez Sarofim, 1987 Solo Exhibitions Knoedler & Company, New York, 1976, cat. no. 12.

References Andre 1976, p. 119; Carmean 1976, pp. 95–96, illus. p. 95 (in early state, erroneously as Spanish Elegy No. 128); Ratcliff 1976, p. 75, illus. p. 75 (upside down); Arnason 1977b, color illus. n.p. (pls. 277, in studio, 279); Wilson 1977b, sec. Calendar, pp. 1, 86, illus. sec. Calendar, p. 86 (upside down); Carmean 1978, p. 116; Ashton 1980, illus. p. 6; Arnason 1982, illus. p. 210 (pl. 294, in studio), color illus. p. 211 (pl. 295); Drudi 1984, p. 33; Hunter and Jacobus 1985, pp. 277–78, 378, color illus. p. 278 (fig. 499, upside down); Drudi 1988b, p. 32; Polcari 1991, p. 318, illus. p. 317 (fig. 256); Magyar 1994, p. 94; Caws 1996b, illus. p. 43 (in studio); Santiago 1998, p. 3; Wentrup 2001, p. 75, illus. (fig. 40); Caws 2003, illus. p. 51 (ill. 37); Engberg and Banach 2003, illus. n.p. (in studio).

Comments The composition of this work was based on a small 1971 painting, Spanish Elegy with Orange No. 3 (P644). This work is one of a group of eight large-scale Elegy paintings that were conceived of as two groupings of four Elegies, some composed in black and white and some in color, that were meant to explore different possible spatial structures within the series (see Hobbs 1975b, p. 281). The first group of four would include this work along with P816–P818; the second group would include P819–P822. As the paintings developed, however, Motherwell more or less abandoned this concept.

p aint ing s on canvas and pane l

403

P816

Elegy to the Spanish Republic No. 129 1974–75 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 96 x 120 in. (243.8 x 304.8 cm) Inscriptions Recto, lower center, incised: RM 74 Verso not signed, not dated Artist’s Studio Number P74-1204 Present Owner Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution. Museum purchase and partial gift of Joseph H. Hirshhorn, by exchange, 1981 Provenance Knoedler & Company, 1981; Joseph H. Hirshhorn, 1981; Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., 1981

Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, 1977, as Elegy No. 129. Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh, 1977. Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1978, cat. no. 37, illus. p. 21. Group Exhibitions Knoedler & Company, New York, summer 1980, cat. no. 5. Knoedler & Company, New York, September 1980, cat. no. 4. Museum of Fine Arts, Museum of New Mexico, Santa Fe, 1994, color illus. p. 43. References Andre 1976, p. 119; Ellenzweig 1976, p. 22; Ratcliff 1976, p. 75, as Elegy to the Spanish Republic; Tannenbaum 1976, illus. p. 224; W Magazine 1976; Quantrill 1978, p. 48, illus. p. 47; Arnason 1982, illus. p. 210 (pl. 294, in studio, in progress); Caws 1996b, illus. p. 43 (in studio, in progress).

Solo Exhibitions Knoedler & Company, New York, 1976, cat. no. 3.

404

p ain tin gs on c a n v a s a n d pan el

P817

Comments This painting took its basic composition from the earlier, small-scale Elegy to the Spanish Republic (Study 2—1971) (P643). An early state, without the blue paint, is visible in a June 1975 photograph (Sloman photo no. 205). The blue paint was added, and adjustments were made to the black forms, sometime before January 1976, when the painting was photographed in its final state. Regarding the context of this work within the Elegy series, see the Comments for Elegy to the Spanish Republic No. 128 (P815).

P817

Elegy to the Spanish Republic No. 130 1974–75 Acrylic on canvas 96 x 120 in. (243.8 x 304.8 cm) Inscriptions Recto, lower left, incised: R Motherwell Verso: #130 Artist’s Studio Number P74/75-2537 Present Owner Collection of Irma and Norman Braman Provenance Irma and Norman Braman, 1981; [Christie’s, New York, May 9, 2006, lot 56, illus. (not sold)] References Turner 1989, p. 108. Comments Begun in 1974, this painting took its basic composition from an earlier, small-scale work, Spanish Elegy with Orange No. 5 (P646). This painting was

P818

still in an early state when photographed in June 1975 (Sloman photo no. 208). Sometime after that, Motherwell added the red, blue, and white paint in the upper left, and the white vertical band on the right side of the picture. In January 1981, Motherwell exchanged this work with the collector Norman Braman for In Black and White No. 2 (P860). Studio records indicate that in 1991 Motherwell repainted all of the black forms in order to repair water damage in those areas of the picture. Regarding the context of this work within the Elegy series, see the Comments for Elegy to the Spanish Republic No. 128 (P815).

P818

Elegy to the Spanish Republic No. 131 1974–75 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 96 x 120 in. (243.8 x 304.8 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper left, incised: Motherwell \ 74 Verso: #131 Artist’s Studio Number P75-5212 Present Owner The Detroit Institute of Arts. Founders Society purchase, W. Hawkins Ferry Fund Provenance Detroit Institute of Arts, 1977 Group Exhibitions Columbus Gallery of Fine Arts, Ohio, 1976 (traveling), New York, cat. no. 38, illus. p. 24, illus. p. 76, as Elegy No. 131; replaced mid-show in New York.

Toyota Municipal Museum of Art, Japan, 1995, cat. no. 67, color illus. p. 167. Dennos Museum Center, Northwestern Michigan College, Traverse City, 1997. References Gallery Guide 1977, illus. p. 29, as Elegy No. 131; Syring 1977, illus. p. 9 (in studio); Jacob 1977–78, p. 284, illus. p. 286 (fig. 17); Centro Cultural de la Caixa de Pensions exh. cat. 1980, illus. n.p. (in studio). Comments This painting took its basic com position from the earlier, small-scale Spanish Elegy with Orange No. 4 (P645). The initial composition was set in 1974, but studio photographs show that Motherwell altered it by adding the black bars in three of the corners sometime between the spring and fall of 1975. Regarding the context of this work within the Elegy series, see the Comments for Elegy to the Spanish Republic No. 128 (P815).

P819

Elegy to the Spanish Republic No. 132 1975–77/1982/1985/1988 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 96 x 120 in. (243.8 x 304.8 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper right: Motherwell 75 Verso: #132 Verso: R. Motherwell \ 1975 \ (1982) revision \ (1985) revision \ (removed pink) \ r.m. Artist’s Studio Number P75/85-1255 Present Owner Tate. Presented by the American Fund for the Tate Gallery, 2002 Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Tate, London, 1996 Solo Exhibitions Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, 1977 (shown in early state), as Elegy No. 132.

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405

P819

Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh, 1977 (shown in early state). Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, 1983 (traveling), cat. no. 92, color illus. p. 24 (shown in early state). Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, 1984, cat. no. 80 (shown in early state). Padiglione d’Arte Contemporanea, Milan, 1989, cat. no. 16, color illus. p. 42. Artcurial Centre d’Art Plastique Contemporain, Paris, 1990 (traveling), Paris, color illus. p. 27. Knoedler & Company, New York, 1994, cat. no. 2. Fundació Antoni Tàpies, Barcelona, 1996 (traveling), cat. no. 53, illus. frontispiece (in studio, in progress), color illus. p. 187. Group Exhibitions Marisa del Re Gallery, New York, 1988, illus. n.p. Imperial War Museum, London, 2001, color illus. p. 60.

406

References Arnason 1977b, color illus. n.p. (pl. 310, in studio, in progress); Syring 1977, p. 7, illus. p. 9 (in studio, in progress); Centro Cultural de la Caixa de Pensions exh. cat. 1980, illus. n.p. (in studio, in progress); Drudi 1984, p. 41, color illus. p. 91 (in progress), color illus. p. 92 (in progress), color illus. p. 93 (in early state); Gelles 1984, p. 38; Glenn 1984, color illus. p. 91 (in studio, in progress); McColm 1984, illus. (in early state); Richard 1984, sec. D, p. 13; Wilson 1984, sec. Calendar, p. 75; Motherwell in Gardner 1985, p. 94, illus. p. 94 (in early state); Drudi 1988b, p. 40, color illus. pp. 91, 93 (in early state), color illus. p. 92 (in progress); Appella 1989, p. 3; Pleynet 1989b, p. 58, color illus. pp. 176 (in studio), 177; La Depeche 1990, illus.; M. 1990, illus. p. 45; Flam 1991, color illus. n.p. (pl. 91); Karmel 1994, sec. C, p. 3, illus. sec. C, p. 3; Banach 1996, p. 25, illus. p. 24 (in studio, in progress); Caws 1996b, pp. 43, 51, illus. p. 44; Ràfols-Casamada 1996, color illus. p. 19; Chalumeau 1998, color illus. p. 27 (pl. 23); Jones

p ain tin gs on c a n v a s a n d pan el

2002, color illus. p. 165; Ashton and Banach 2007, illus. p. 341. Comments This painting took its basic composition from an earlier, small-scale work, Spanish Elegy with Orange No. 3 (P644). It then underwent a number of permutations and revisions, beginning in the mid-1970s and lasting into the next decade (see figs. 274–78 in volume 1). Studio photographs show that the earliest version of this painting hewed closely to the smaller painting on which it had been based (fig. 274); it was then painted entirely in black and white and it had a prominently curved black vertical form on the left side, and a configuration of forms similar to The Spanish Death (P838) in its right half (fig. 275). A slightly later version, also in black and white, was first exhibited in Motherwell’s 1977 retrospective exhibitions in Paris and Edinburgh (fig. 276). A further revised version, which incorporated large areas of pink and yellow ochre, was shown in Motherwell’s 1983 retrospective exhibition, which traveled from October 1983 to February

1985 (fig. 277). After the work was returned to his studio in 1985, Motherwell revised it again, painting over the pink areas with ochre (fig. 278; see Motherwell in Gardner 1985, p. 94, for the artist’s comments on how the repainting of these areas gave the work greater spatial coherence). From 1985 to 1988, the painting was consigned to Knoedler & Company. Shortly after it was returned to Motherwell, he made some small adjustments around the left oval and in the ochres. Regarding the context of this work within the Elegy series, see the Comments for Elegy to the Spanish Republic No. 128 (P815).

P820

Elegy to the Spanish Republic No. 133 1974–75/1977/1982 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 96 x 120¼ in. (243.8 x 305.4 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper left, incised: Motherwell 75 Verso: #133 Artist’s Studio Number P75-1205 Present Owner Pinakothek der Moderne. Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen, inv. nr. 14793 Provenance Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich, 1983 Solo Exhibitions Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, 1977 (shown in early state), as Elegy No. 133. Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh, 1977 (shown in early state). Museum Morsbroich, Leverkusen, Germany, 2004, color illus. pp. 150–51.

Group Exhibitions Seibu Museum of Art, Tokyo, 1976, cat. no. 9, illus. n.p. (shown in early state). References Arnason 1977b, illus. p. 55 (pl. 31, in progress); Brenson 1982, sec. C, p. 16; Hegewisch 1982, illus. p. 21; Schmidt 1982, p. 15, illus. p. 15; Belting 1983, p. 67, illus. p. 66, referred to in text and in illus. as Elegy No. 133; Maier and Steingräber 1983, pp. 386, 387, illus. n.p., color illus. p. 391 (fig. 5); Staatlichen Kunstsammlungen and Zentralinstitut für Kunstgeschichte 1983, illus. p. 247 (fig. 8); Stabenow 1983, p. 82, illus. p. 82; Drudi 1984, illus. p. 105 (in studio); Von Hohenzollern 1984, p. 58, illus. p. 61 (fig. 90); Drudi 1988b, illus. p. 111 (in studio); Schulz-Hoffmann et al. 1995, pp. 233–34, color illus. p. 233; Thierolf 2002, pp. 28, 207, 274, 284, 302–11, color illus. p. 303 (cat. no. 27); Imdahl 2004, color illus. p. 28; Luddemann 2004, illus.; Palette & Zeichenstift 2004, p. 33, illus. p. 33; S. 2004, illus. p. 44; Stadel 2004; Stiftel 2004, p. 298; Vielhaber 2004, color illus. p. 153.

P821

Comments This painting took its basic composition from the earlier, small-scale Spanish Elegy with Orange No. 3 (P644). Motherwell sketched out the compositional structure for this large painting in 1974, as can be seen in a studio photograph from that year (Arnason 1977b, p. 55, pl. 31). An early version of the work, dominated by black vertical bands, was shown in Tokyo in 1976. The following year, a significantly revised version that involved extensive overpainting in white and ochre was shown in Motherwell’s Paris and Edinburgh retrospectives. That version of the work was consigned to Knoedler & Company from April 1979 until around March 1982, when it was returned to the artist’s studio. At that time Motherwell again revised the work, repainting the ground in white, ochre, and black, and reworking the edges of the Elegy forms. Regarding the context of this work within the Elegy series, see the Comments for Elegy to the Spanish Republic No. 128 (P815).

P821

Elegy to the Spanish Republic No. 134 1974–ca. 1977 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 96 x 120⅛ in. (243.8 x 305.1 cm) Inscriptions Recto, lower left: 74 \ R Motherwell Verso: #134 Artist’s Studio Number P74-1254 Present Owner Collection of Joanne and Roberto de Guardiola Provenance Mr. and Mrs. Graham Gund, 1978; [Christie’s, New York, May 3, 1989, lot 31, illus.]; private collection, 1989; [Christie’s, New York, May 4, 1993, lot 28, illus. (not sold)]; Acquavella Contemporary Art, Inc., 1993; [Sotheby’s, New York, May 14, 1998, lot 29, illus.]; Joanne and Roberto de Guardiola, 1998

p aint ing s on canvas and pane l

407

P822

Solo Exhibitions Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, 1977, as Elegy No. 134. Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh, 1977. Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1978, cat. no. 38, illus. p. 21. Group Exhibitions Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1982, color illus. p. 62. Portland Museum of Art, Maine, 1984. Sezon Museum of Art, Tokyo, 1996 (traveling), cat. no. 42, color illus. p. 129. References Quantrill 1978, p. 48; Wilkin 1984, illus. p. 104 (pl. 121, upside down); Clothier 1990, pp. 113–14, color illus. p. 114 (installation view); Kusin 1991, sec. A, p. 4; Fundació Antoni Tàpies exh. cat. 1996, illus. frontispiece (in studio); Vogel 1998b, sec. B, p. 5; Tapert 2000, color illus. pp. 240–41; De Guardiola 2006, color illus. p. 109 (installation view).

408

Comments This painting took its basic com position from the earlier, small-scale Spanish Elegy with Orange No. 5 (P646). The date inscribed on the recto of this canvas indicates that it was begun in 1974, and it appears in an early state in studio photographs taken in 1975. It was completed with the addition of black paint along the central vertical form and along the right edge by the time it was photographed in March 1977. There are two works with the title Elegy to the Spanish Republic No. 134 (see P822). Regarding the context of this work within the Elegy series, see the Comments for Elegy to the Spanish Republic No. 128 (P815).

p ain tin gs on can v as an d pa n el

P822

Elegy to the Spanish Republic No. 134 1975 Acrylic on canvas 72 x 84 in. (182.9 x 213.4 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper right, incised [partially painted over]: Motherwell \ 28 March [75] Verso not seen Present Owner Private collection Provenance First City National Bank of Houston; private collection Group Exhibitions Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts, Ala., 1979 (traveling), illus. p. 207. Comments The composition of this painting is related to the earlier, small-scale Spanish Elegy (P642) and the right side of Mural Sketch (P812).

There are two works with the title Elegy to the Spanish Republic No. 134 (see P821). Regarding the context of this work within the Elegy series, see the Comments for Elegy to the Spanish Republic No. 128 (P815).

P823

Euclid’s Sand 1975 Acrylic and oil stick on canvas board 18 x 14 in. (45.7 x 35.6 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper right, incised and inscribed: Motherwell/75 Verso (on backing board) not seen [“Euclid’s Sand, Robert Motherwell, Summer 1975, acrylic on canvas 18" x 14",” per present owner] Artist’s Studio Number P75-5191 Present Owner Private collection, Lausanne Provenance Private collection and Margo Leavin Gallery, Los Angeles, 1977; private collection, 1977; Greenberg Gallery, Saint Louis, ca. 1981; Margo Leavin Gallery, Los Angeles, 1981; private collection, 1983; [Sotheby’s, New York, October 8, 1988, lot 138, illus.]; private collection, 1988; [Sotheby’s, New York, November 20, 1996, lot 129, illus.

(not sold)]; [Ketterer Kunst, Munich, June 2, 1997, lot 116, illus. (not sold)]; [Sotheby’s, London, October 23, 1997, lot 48, illus.]; private collection, Lausanne, Switzerland, 1997 Solo Exhibitions Janie C. Lee Gallery, Houston, 1976. Group Exhibitions Margo Leavin Gallery, Los Angeles, 1977. Musée Cantonal des Beaux-Arts, Lausanne, Switzerland, 1999, cat. no. 57. Comments The title of this work refers to the Greek mathematician Euclid, who was known for drawing the lines of his geometrical figures in sand. See also Euclid’s Meditation (P895).

P824

P825

P824

P825

Untitled

Summer Night

1975 Acrylic, oil, and oil stick on canvas 40 x 29¾ in. (101.6 x 75.6 cm)

1975 Acrylic on canvas board 16 x 12 in. (40.6 x 30.5 cm)

Inscriptions Recto, lower left, incised [painted over]: [RM \ 75]

Inscriptions Recto, lower right, incised: RM \ 75

Verso (on backing board): acrylic + oil \ on canvas

Present Owner Private collection of Donn and Dolores Shapiro, Glencoe, Ill.

Artist’s Studio Number P60-610

Verso not signed, not dated

Present Owner Dedalus Foundation

Provenance Private collection, 1978; Donn and Dolores Shapiro, Glencoe, Ill., 2003

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991

Solo Exhibitions Dart Gallery, Chicago, 1976, cat. no. 13. Comments A painting done in 1972 is also titled Summer Night (P662).

paint ing s on canvas and pane l

409

P826

P827

P828

P826

P827

P828

P829

{ Untitled (Ochre and Black)}

Nightwatch

Creature

Africa No. 3

1975 Acrylic on canvas board 18 x 13⅞ in. (45.7 x 35.2 cm)

1975 Acrylic, charcoal, and Conté crayon on canvas board 16 x 12 in. (40.6 x 30.5 cm)

1975 Acrylic on canvas board 18 x 14 in. (45.7 x 35.6 cm)

1975–76 Acrylic on canvas mounted on board 24 x 36 in. (61 x 91.4 cm)

Inscriptions Recto, upper right: RM \ 75

Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated

Verso: Robert Motherwell \ July 1975

Verso, incised: R Motherwell \ 22 Aug 75 \ “Africa #3”

Inscriptions Recto, lower right: RM \ 75 Verso not signed, not dated Artist’s Studio Number P75-503 Present Owner Collection of Mark and Fiona Lochtenberg Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Mark and Fiona Lochtenberg, 2005

Inscriptions Recto, upper left, incised: Motherwell Verso not signed, not dated Present Owner Collection of Dr. and Mrs. Leon London Provenance Michael and Beverly Kloian, 1975; [DuMouchelles Art Galleries, Detroit, May 17, 2002, lot 2024, illus.]; Dr. and Mrs. Leon London, 2002 Solo Exhibitions Gertrude Kasle Gallery, Detroit, 1975, cat. no. 5. References Miro 1975, sec. D, p. 4, as Night Watch.

410

p ain tin gs on c an v as an d pa n el

Artist’s Studio Number P75-506; P75-506A Present Owner Collection of Linda and Jerry Bruckheimer Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Linda and Jerry Bruckheimer, 2005

Artist’s Studio Number P76-1437 Present Owner Private collection, Switzerland Provenance Private collection, Switzerland, 1977 Solo Exhibitions Galerie André Emmerich, Zurich, 1977, color illus. n.p. References Catoir 1980, p. 283, illus. p. 283 (fig. 6); Pleynet 1989b, color illus. p. 144. Comments The title of this work refers to the earlier, large-scale paintings in the Africa series (see P338 and P339). There is also

P829

a 1964 painting on paper that shares the title Africa No. 3 (W196). In an early color slide taken of this work, a signature is visible at the upper right of the recto (“RM \ 76”), indicating that Motherwell worked on the painting after 1975. That signature was apparently written in marking pen, and has since completely faded.

P830

Study for In Black and White No. 2 Alternative Titles: Africa No. 4; Study for Kilimanjaro 1975–77 Acrylic on canvas board 13½ x 30 in. (34.3 x 76.2 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper left: Motherwell \ 75 Verso not seen Artist’s Studio Number P75-912 Present Owner Unknown Provenance Irving Galleries, Palm Beach, Fla., 1980; unknown owner, ca. 1981; [Sotheby’s, New York, October 8, 1988, lot 100, illus. (not sold)] Solo Exhibitions Douglas Drake Gallery, Kansas City, Mo., 1978, as Africa No. 4. Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, 1983 (traveling), cat. no. 81, color

P830

illus. p. 110 (in early state); shown in final state. Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, 1984, cat. no. 127. References Arnason 1977b, p. 90, color illus. n.p. (pl. 306, in progress, as Study for Kilimanjaro); Pleynet 1977, p. 198, as Study for Kilimanjaro; Alloway 1978, pp. 29, 30, as Study for Kilimanjaro; Arnason 1982, p. 94, illus. p. 97 (pl. 107, in progress, as Study for “Kilimanjaro”); Pleynet 1986, p. 85, as Study for Kilimanjaro; Pleynet 1989b, color illus. p. 153 (in progress); Fundació Antoni Tàpies exh. cat. 1996, illus. frontispiece (in studio); Qin 1996, p. 58, illus. p. 116 (fig. 63), referred to in text and in illus. erroneously as Black on White No. 2.

paint on the left side down to the bottom edge, making the form on the left more of a solid black mass. The work was consigned to Knoedler & Company and photographed in its final state in October 1977. This work was used as a source for In Black and White No. 2 (P860).

Comments The caption of a November 1975 studio photograph reproduced in Arnason 1977b, plate 306, identifies this work as Study for Kilimanjaro. At that time, the composition contained two arcing black forms, the left side echoing the right. Motherwell later extended the black

p aint ing s on canvas and pane l

411

P833

P831

P832

P834

P831

P832

P833

P834

Africa No. 5

Africa No. 6

Uganda

The African Plateau No. 1

1975 Acrylic on canvas mounted on board 10¾ x 24 in. (27.3 x 61 cm)

Alternative Title: Africa 1975 Acrylic on canvas mounted on board 24 x 72 in. (61 x 182.9 cm)

1975 Acrylic on canvas 24 x 72 in. (61 x 182.9 cm)

1975/ca. 1977 Acrylic on canvas 36 x 72 in. (91.4 x 182.9 cm)

Inscriptions Recto, lower left: Motherwell 75

Inscriptions Recto, upper left: R Motherwell \ 75

Verso not seen

Artist’s Studio Number P75-1288

Present Owner Unknown

Present Owner Private collection

Provenance Waddington and Tooth Galleries, 1977; private collection, 1978; unknown owner, 1980

Inscriptions Recto, upper left: RM Verso not signed, not dated Artist’s Studio Number P75-913 Present Owner Collection of Joseph and Maxine Berzok Provenance Joseph and Maxine Berzok, 1978 References Fundació Antoni Tàpies exh. cat. 1996, illus. frontispiece (in studio).

Inscriptions Recto, upper left: Motherwell 75 Verso not signed, not dated Artist’s Studio Number P75-432; P75-2432 Present Owner Private collection Provenance Mr. and Mrs. Donald M. Feuerstein, 1982; private collection, 1989 Solo Exhibitions Gertrude Kasle Gallery, Detroit, 1975, cat. no. 7, as Africa. Dart Gallery, Chicago, 1976, cat. no. 1, erroneously as Africa No. IV. references Morrison 1976, p. 16, as Africa.

412

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Provenance Private collection, ca. 1975; Knoedler & Company, 1980; private collection, 1980 References Carmean 1980, color illus. p. 45 (in studio), illus. p. 47 (in studio); Drudi 1984, illus. p. 104 (in studio); Drudi 1988b, illus. p. 110 (in studio).

Solo Exhibitions Janie C. Lee Gallery, Houston, 1976 (shown in early state). Galerie André Emmerich, Zurich, 1977 (not in catalogue). Group Exhibitions Galerie Brusberg, Hannover, Germany, 1977. Waddington and Tooth Galleries, London, 1978, illus. n.p.

P836

P835

References Crossley 1976, illus. sec. A, p. 9 (in exhibition, in early state); Scarpetta 1977, illus. pp. 20–21. Comments The basic composition of this painting was set in 1975 and that version was shown at the Janie C. Lee Gallery from April to May 1976. After it was returned to Motherwell’s studio in October of that year, he made small adjustments to the black forms. It was consigned to the André Emmerich Gallery in its final state in February 1977.

P837

P835

P836

P837

The African Plateau No. 2

African Plateau

1975 Acrylic on canvas mounted on Masonite 36 x 72 in. (91.4 x 182.9 cm)

1975 Acrylic on canvas 24 x 36 in. (61 x 91.4 cm)

1975 Acrylic on canvas mounted on board 35⅞ x 72⅛ in. (91.1 x 183.2 cm)

Inscriptions Recto, upper left: Motherwell \ 75

Inscriptions Recto, upper right: Motherwell 75

Verso: R. Motherwell \ 1975

Verso not signed, not dated

Verso: “the african plateau #2” \ 1975 \ Robert Motherwell

Present Owner Private collection

Artist’s Studio Number P75-2407

Provenance Private collection, 1977; [Sotheby Parke Bernet, Inc., New York, November 2, 1978, lot 219, illus.]; private collection, 1978; private collection, 1979; Greenberg Gallery, Saint Louis, 1980; Barbara Mathes Gallery, New York, 1981; private collection, 1981; private collection; private collection, 2004; private collection, 2008

Provenance Private collection, 1975

Present Owner Gerald M. McCue and Barbara W. McCue Marital Trust Provenance Private collection, 1980; Gerald M. McCue and Barbara W. McCue Marital Trust, 1980 Solo Exhibitions Ulrich Museum of Art, Wichita State University, Kans., 1979. Comments Motherwell also titled another work The African Plateau No. 2 (see P836).

Solo Exhibitions Galerie André Emmerich, Zurich, 1977, color illus. n.p. Comments Motherwell also titled another work The African Plateau No. 2 (see P835). paint ing s on canvas and pane l

413

P838

The Spanish Death Alternative Title: Lorca’s Light 1975 Acrylic on canvas 96 x 74½ in. (243.8 x 189.2 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper left: Motherwell \ 30 Aug 75 Verso (on horizontal stretcher): “the spanish death” 75 Artist’s Studio Number P75-1541 Present Owner Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig Wien. On loan from the Austrian Ludwig Foundation (since 1981) Provenance Ludwig Foundation, 1979; Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig Wien, Vienna, 1981 Solo Exhibitions Knoedler & Company, New York, 1976, cat. no. 14. Städtische Kunsthalle Düsseldorf, 1976 (traveling), cat. no. 61, illus. p. 113. Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, 1977, color illus. n.p. Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh, 1977. Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1978, cat. no. 39, cover illus. William Benton Museum of Art, University of Connecticut, Storrs, 1979, cat. no. 76 (brochure). Padiglione d’Arte Contemporanea, Milan, 1989, cat. no. 17, color illus. p. 43. Fundació Antoni Tàpies, Barcelona, 1996 (traveling), cat. no. 52, color illus. p. 185. Museum Morsbroich, Leverkusen, Germany, 2004, color illus. p. 153. Group Exhibitions National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1978, cat. no. 9, illus. p. 117 (fig. 19). Neue Galerie der Stadt Linz, Austria, 1990, cat. no. 7.391, color illus. p. 313. References Andre 1976, p. 119; Arnason 1976, p. 56, color illus. p. 23; Art Now Gallery Guide 1976, color illus. p. 23;

Carmean 1976, p. 97, illus. p. 96; Catoir 1976b, illus. p. 14 (in studio); Greenwich Time 1976a, p. 9; Kramer 1976a, p. 21, illus. p. 21; Ratcliff 1976, p. 75; Arnason 1977a, p. 536, illus. n.p.; Arnason 1977b, pp. 33, 90, color illus. n.p. (pls. 310, in studio, 311); Flash Art 1977, illus. p. 48; Franzke 1977, p. 66; Oliver 1977; Syring 1977, illus. p. 9 (in studio); Wilson 1977b, sec. Calendar, p. 1; Wolfowicz 1977, p. 15; Carmean 1978, pp. 116–17, 118–19, illus. p. 117 (fig. 19); Gaugh 1978, p. 31; Highwater 1979; Centro Cultural de la Caixa de Pensions exh. cat. 1980, illus. n.p. (in studio); Hernandez 1980, cover color illus.; Arnason 1982, pp. 33, 94, color illus. p. 212 (pl. 296, in studio); Gaugh 1985, p. 74; Highwater 1986, p. 217; Pleynet 1989b, color illus. p. 150; Domino and Husson 1991, p. 129; Flam 1991, color illus. n.p. (pl. 117); Kingsley 1992, p. 306; Pleynet 1995, p. 109; Wentrup 2001, p. 75, illus. (fig. 39). Comments This work was painted in a single session, inspired by the right-hand portion of the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Elegy to the Spanish Republic No. 70 (P220). Motherwell later recalled that after leaving a party in Provincetown during the summer of 1975, he had decided to go home early to paint: “As I was coming up the stairs to my studio I saw the Metropolitan picture on the Museum of Modern Art poster of my show. I suddenly thought—I can take a detail of it, the right portion— and make a picture out of it. There was a horizontal canvas in my studio, which had been prepared to paint an Open. I turned it vertically and began to paint Spanish Death, using one brush with white and another with black. The whole thing was finished in six hours” (Carmean 1978, p. 116). Around 1975, this painting was reproduced on a postcard under the title Lorca’s Light, as part of the “For Israel’s Right to Exist” campaign. When it was first exhibited, in January 1976, however, it was called The Spanish Death—a title that may well refer to the death of the Spanish dictator Francisco Franco on November 20, 1975. The memorably bold image of this painting provided later inspiration. In 1975, Motherwell used it to help resolve the final phase of Elegy to the Spanish Republic No. 100 (P850). He also used it

P839

in other paintings (see, for example, P939–P943, P1012, and P1013), and in two 1985 prints, Elegy Fragment I and Elegy Fragment II (Engberg and Banach 2003, nos. 359–60).

P839

Dark Elegy 1975/ca. 1983 Acrylic on canvas board 12 x 16 in. (30.5 x 40.6 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper right, incised: RM Recto, lower right: 75 \ Motherwell Verso covered by remounting, no longer visible Artist’s Studio Number P-1104; P75-2715 Present Owner Ulrich Museum of Art, Wichita State University Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Ulrich Museum of Art, Wichita State University, Kans., 1994 Solo Exhibitions Knoedler & Company, New York, April 1991, cat. no. 29. Museo Rufino Tamayo, Mexico City, 1991 (traveling), cat. no. 13.

paint ing s on canvas and pane l

415

P840

References Drudi 1984, color illus. p. 82; Drudi 1988b, color illus. p. 82. Comments An early version of this painting was completed and photographed by September 1975 (Sloman photo no. 234B). The original composition consisted of the more defined kinds of oval and rectangular forms characteristic of other works in the Elegy series. Sometime before 1983 (when this work was photographed in its final state), Motherwell revised it, extending the black paint over most of the upper half. He assigned the title Dark Elegy to this painting in 1991, when preparations were being made for its exhibition at the Museo Rufino Tamayo.

P840

Elegy to the Spanish Republic No. 135 1975–77 Acrylic on canvas mounted on Masonite 24 x 36 in. (61 x 91.4 cm) Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated Verso: R. Motherwell \ 75 \ “elegy to the \ spanish republic \ #135” Present Owner Collection of Mrs. Jeanne Lang Mathews Provenance Jeanne Lang Mathews, 1977 Solo Exhibitions Galerie André Emmerich, Zurich, 1977 (not in catalogue). Comments An early state of this work was signed “27 Aug 75” in the upper right corner (as per Sloman photo no. 243 taken in September 1975). At the time, it contained a white figure 4 on the right side. Prior to having the work photographed

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P841

again in February 1977, Motherwell added a black vertical bar along the left edge and painted over the signature and most of the figure 4 with black— though a trace of the 4 still remains as a white line within the black area on the right. Motherwell titled two different works Elegy to the Spanish Republic No. 135 (see P874).

P841

{ Untitled (Two Black Vertical Bands)} 1975 Acrylic on canvas board 30 x 12 in. (76.2 x 30.5 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper right: RM \ 75 Verso: Robert Motherwell \ 2 Sept 75 Artist’s Studio Number P75-502 Present Owner Collection Bernard Jacobson Gallery, London Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Bernard Jacobson Gallery, London, 2007 Solo Exhibitions William Shearburn Gallery, Saint Louis, 2006, cat. no. 6.

P842

The Blue Painting Lesson No. 1 1973–75 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 61 x 44 in. (154.9 x 111.8 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper right: Motherwell \ 20 April 73 Verso [painted over]: [illegible] Verso: R Motherwell \ 73 \ “the blue painting lesson #1” Verso (on horizontal crossbar): #1 of a pentaptych Artist’s Studio Number P73-1220 Present Owner Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford, Conn. The Ella Gallup Sumner and Mary Catlin Sumner Collection Fund Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford, Conn., 1995 Solo Exhibitions Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, 1977. Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh, 1977. Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1978, cat. no. 25. Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, 1983 (traveling), cat. no. 60, color illus. p. 99 (in studio).

1998, p. 49, color illus. p. 56 (pls. 60, in studio, 61); Fineberg 2000, p. 72, color illus. p. 73 (fig. 3.36, as The Blue Painting Lesson: A Study in Painterly Logic, number one of five); Mattison et al. 2009, color illus. p. 144 (in studio). Comments This painting was begun in 1973, tentatively titled Blue Window or Blue Open. A first, signed version with multiple Open forms, which would later be painted over, is visible in early studio photographs. It was reworked in 1975, along with four other canvases that were eventually grouped together to form a five-part polyptych—or, as Motherwell wrote on the verso, a “pentaptych,” which would be shown aligned to the bottom edge of each canvas rather than to the traditional center line (see the illustration below). According to labels on a set of 8 x 10 transparencies, the series was originally meant to be called The Blue Window, with each work in it given a number (The Blue Window No. 1, etc.). But when the five pictures were finished within a short period of time in 1975, they were given the global title of The Blue Painting Lesson. The subtitle A Study in Painterly Logic was given to the group as a whole (see Arnason 1982, p. 173) but was not meant to be applied to the titles of the individual paintings, as is evident in two publications for which Motherwell provided the illustration captions: the exhibition catalogue for the 1983 Albright-Knox retrospective, pp. 127– 28; and Flam 1991, plates 100–105.

P843

The Blue Painting Lesson No. 2 Alternative Titles: Open No. 85; Open No. 95 1969/1973–75 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 72 x 42 in. (182.9 x 106.7 cm)

Art Museum, Princeton University, N.J., 1973, cat. no. 7 (shown in early state), as Open No. 85. John Berggruen Gallery, San Francisco, 1973, cat. no. 3 (shown in early state), as Open No. 85. Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, 1977.

Inscriptions Recto, upper right: Motherwell

Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh, 1977.

Verso: “the blue painting \ lesson #2”

Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1978, cat. no. 25.

Verso [painted over]: [illegible] #2”

Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, 1983 (traveling), cat. no. 61, color illus. p. 99 (in studio).

Verso: April 73 \ (“open #85”) \ R. Motherwell \ Summer 1969 \ nfs \ RM \ 1969–1973 72" x 42" Verso (on horizontal crossbar): #2 of a pentaptych Artist’s Studio Number P73-1221 Present Owner Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford, Conn. The Ella Gallup Sumner and Mary Catlin Sumner Collection Fund Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford, Conn., 1995 Solo Exhibitions David Mirvish Gallery, Toronto, December 1970 (shown in early state), as Open No. 85.

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, 1984, cat. no. 68. Group Exhibitions Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford, Conn., 1996. References Kramer 1973b, sec. D, p. 23, as Open No. 85; Arnason 1977b, color illus. n.p. (pls. 205, installation view, in early state, as Open No. 85, 209, in studio); Cohen 1977, color illus. p. 230 (in studio); Motherwell in Arnason 1977b, n.p.; Arnason 1982, color illus. p. 173 (pl. 238, in studio); Motherwell in Arnason 1982, p. 172; Hasiotis 1983, color illus. n.p. (fig. 2, in studio); Bannon 1984a, color illus. p. 39 (in studio); Inje 1984, p. 13; Richard 1984, sec. D, p. 1; Pleynet 1989a, color illus. p. 74 (in studio); Pleynet 1989b, color illus. p. 132 (in studio); Flam 1991, color

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, 1984, cat. no. 67. Group Exhibitions Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford, Conn., 1996. References Arnason 1977b, color illus. n.p. (pl. 209, in studio); Motherwell in Arnason 1977b, n.p.; Arnason 1982, color illus. p. 173 (pl. 238, in studio); Motherwell in Arnason 1982, p. 172; Hasiotis 1983, color illus. n.p. (fig. 2, in studio); Bannon 1984a, color illus. p. 39 (in studio); Inje 1984, p. 13; Richard 1984, sec. D, p. 1; Kimball 1985, p. 37; Pleynet 1989a, color illus. p. 74 (in studio); Pleynet 1989b, color illus. p. 132 (in studio); Flam 1991, color illus. n.p. (pls. 100, in studio, 101); Fineberg 1995, p. 72, color illus. p. 73 (fig. 3.37); Chalumeau

The five paintings in The Blue Painting Lesson: A Study in Painterly Logic (P842–P846) seen together as a polyptych, as the artist intended

p aint ing s on canvas and pane l

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P842

illus. n.p. (pls. 100, in studio, 102); Chalumeau 1998, p. 49, color illus. p. 56 (pls. 60, in studio, 62); Mattison et al. 2009, color illus. p. 144 (in studio). Comments A 1969 composition on this canvas, titled Open No. 85, was exhibited several times during the early 1970s. Motherwell revised that work in 1973, extending the left charcoal line farther down and adding more texture to the blue paint surface. In 1975, the work was reconceived of as a part of the Blue Painting Lesson polyptych (see the Comments for P842). The alternative titles for this work, Open No. 85 and Open No. 95, both come from Motherwell’s May 26, 1970, “open Series, 1967–1970” list, where it is listed under both numbers; both of these numbers also appear on a 1969 Marlborough inventory report.

P844

The Blue Painting Lesson No. 3 1973–75 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 84 x 42 in. (213.4 x 106.7 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper left: Motherwell \ 9 April 73 Verso: 84" x 42" \ “the blue painting \ lesson #3” Verso: nfs \ 1973 Verso [painted over]: “[illegible] #3” Verso: R Motherwell Verso (on horizontal crossbar): #3 of a pentaptych Artist’s Studio Number P73-1222 Present Owner Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford, Conn. The Ella Gallup Sumner and Mary Catlin Sumner Collection Fund

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P843

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford, Conn., 1995 Solo Exhibitions Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, 1977. Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh, 1977. Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1978, cat. no. 25. Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, 1983 (traveling), cat. no. 62, color illus. p. 99 (in studio). Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, 1984, cat. no. 69. Group Exhibitions Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford, Conn., 1996. References Arnason 1977b, color illus. n.p. (pl. 209, in studio); Cohen 1977, color illus. p. 230 (in studio); Motherwell in Arnason 1977b, n.p.; Arnason 1982, color illus. p. 173 (pl. 238, in studio); Motherwell in Arnason 1982, p. 172;

P844

Hasiotis 1983, color illus. n.p. (fig. 2, in studio); Bannon 1984a, color illus. p. 39 (in studio); Inje 1984, p. 13; Richard 1984, sec. D, p. 1; Pleynet 1989b, color illus. p. 132 (in studio); Flam 1991, color illus. n.p. (pls. 100, in studio, 103); Chalumeau 1998, p. 49, color illus. p. 56 (pl. 60, in studio), color illus. p. 57 (pl. 63); Mattison et al. 2009, color illus. p. 144 (in studio). Comments This work was begun in 1973. An early version with multiple Open forms appears in photographs of Motherwell’s studio. Motherwell revised it in 1975 by painting over several of the linear vertical forms and adding fuller texture to the blue ground. At this time he reconceived it as a part of the Blue Painting Lesson polyptych (see the Comments for P842).

P845

The Blue Painting Lesson No. 4 Alternative Title: The Blue Window 1973–75 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 61 x 52 in. (154.9 x 132.1 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper left: RM \ 9 April 1973 Verso [partially painted over]: “the blue painting lesson #4” \ [illegible] #4” \ R. Motherwell \ 1973 Verso (on horizontal crossbar): #4 of a pentaptych Artist’s Studio Number P73-1223 Present Owner Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford, Conn. The Ella Gallup Sumner and Mary Catlin Sumner Collection Fund Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford, Conn., 1995

Solo Exhibitions Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, 1977. Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh, 1977. Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1978, cat. no. 25. Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, 1983 (traveling), cat. no. 63, color illus. p. 99 (in studio). Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, 1984, cat. no. 70. Group Exhibitions Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford, Conn., 1996. References Arnason 1977b, color illus. n.p. (pl. 209, in studio); Motherwell in Arnason 1977b, n.p.; Arnason 1982, color illus. p. 173 (pl. 238, in studio); Motherwell in Arnason 1982, p. 172; Hasiotis 1983, color illus. n.p. (fig. 2, in studio); Bannon 1984a, color illus. p. 39 (in studio); Inje 1984, p. 13; Richard 1984, sec. D, p. 1; Pleynet 1989a, color illus. p. 75 (in studio); Pleynet 1989b, color illus.

P846

p. 132 (in studio); Flam 1991, color illus. n.p. (pls. 100, in studio, 104, 107, in progress, as The Blue Window); Caws 1996b, illus. p. 88, as Untitled (Blue Open), color illus. n.p. (in progress, as Untitled [Blue Open]); Chalumeau 1998, p. 49, color illus. p. 56 (pl. 60, in studio), color illus. p. 57 (pl. 64); Caws 2003, illus. p. 158 (ill. 106, as The Blue Window); Mattison et al. 2009, color illus. p. 144 (in studio). Comments An early version of this work, photographed in 1973, contained a more complex network of charcoal lines, traces of which are still visible beneath the surface. Motherwell revised it in 1975 by painting over some of the charcoal lines and by adding the green paint at the right and more texture to the blue ground. It was at this time that he reconceived the work as a part of the Blue Painting Lesson polyptych (see the Comments for P842).

P846

The Blue Painting Lesson No. 5 Alternative Title: Blue Window No. 5 1973–75 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 72 x 36 in. (182.8 x 91.4 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper right: RM \ 9 April 73 Verso: “the blue painting \ lesson #5” Verso [painted over]: [illegible] Verso: R Motherwell \ 73 Verso: 72" x 36" Verso (on horizontal crossbar): #5 of a pentaptych Artist’s Studio Number P73-1224 Present Owner Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford, Conn. The Ella Gallup Sumner and Mary Catlin Sumner Collection Fund

paint ing s on canvas and pane l

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P847

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford, Conn., 1995 Solo Exhibitions Janie C. Lee Gallery, Houston, 1976, as The Blue Window #5. Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, 1977. Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh, 1977. Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1978, cat. no. 25. Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, 1983 (traveling), cat. no. 64, color illus. p. 99 (in studio). Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, 1984, cat. no. 71.

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Group Exhibitions Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford, Conn., 1996. References Arnason 1982, color illus. p. 173 (pl. 238, in studio); Motherwell in Arnason 1982, p. 172; Hasiotis 1983, color illus. n.p. (fig. 2, in studio); Bannon 1984a, color illus. p. 39 (in studio); Inje 1984, p. 13; Richard 1984, sec. D, p. 1; Pleynet 1989a, color illus. p. 75 (in studio); Pleynet 1989b, color illus. p. 132 (in studio); Flam 1991, color illus. n.p. (pls. 100, in studio, 105); Chalumeau 1998, p. 49, color illus. p. 56 (pl. 60, in studio), color illus. p. 57 (pl. 65); Mattison et al. 2009, color illus. p. 144 (in studio). Comments An early version of this work, seen in 1973 studio photographs, contained a

p ain tin gs on c a n v a s a n d pan el

more complex network of lines. In 1975 Motherwell revised that composition, painting over some of the charcoal lines and adding texture to the blue ground. It was at this time that he reconceived the work as a part of the Blue Painting Lesson polyptych (see the Comments for P842). Even after this work had become associated with The Blue Painting Lesson, it was shown at the Janie C. Lee Gallery in April 1976 under its original title, The Blue Window No. 5.

P847

California Window 1975 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 72 x 84 in. (182.9 x 213.4 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper right: RM 75 Verso not seen Present Owner Private collection Provenance Private collection, 1977; Margo Leavin Gallery, Los Angeles, 1984; private collection, 1984 References Drohojowska 1988, color illus. p. 113 (installation view).

P848

P849

Elegy (25 October 1975)

Mural Sketch

1975 Acrylic and graphite on canvas 3 x 5⅛ in. (7.6 x 13 cm)

Alternative Title: Study for Elegy to the Spanish Republic No. 100 1975 Acrylic on canvas board 8½ x 24 in. (21.6 x 61 cm)

Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated Verso: Robert Motherwell \ 25 Oct 1975 Artist’s Studio Number P75-1312 Present Owner Collection of the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth. Museum purchase, the Friends of Art Endowment Fund Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, 1999 Solo Exhibitions William Ehrlich Gallery, New York, June 1979. Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, 2004.

P849

Comments This small painting was a study for Elegy to the Spanish Republic No. 100 (P850).

Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated Verso: Robert Motherwell \ (mural sketch) 22 October 1975 \ canvas Artist’s Studio Number P75-3807 Present Owner Collection of Bonnie and Richard Reiss Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Bonnie and Richard Reiss, 2004 References Arnason 1977b, color illus. n.p. (pl. 308, as Study for Elegy to the Spanish Republic No. 100); Flam 1991, color illus. n.p. (pl. 118); Chalumeau 1998, color illus. p. 22 (pl. 19, as Study for the Elegy to the Spanish Republic no. 100).

paint ing s on canvas and pane l

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P850

Elegy to the Spanish Republic No. 100 1962–63/1973–75 Oil and acrylic on canvas 84 x 240 in. (213.4 x 609.6 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper left: R Motherwell 65/75 Verso: “elegy to the \ spanish republic, \ #100” \ Robert Motherwell \ 1963 \ 84" x 240" \ oil on canvas Artist’s Studio Number P63/75-1539 Present Owner Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Purchased with funds provided by the Art Museum Council and gift of the Dedalus Foundation Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1995 Solo Exhibitions Museum of Modern Art, New York, Robert Motherwell, September 1965 (traveling), New York, cat. no. 73, illus. pp. 6–7; Amsterdam, cat. no. 66, illus. n.p.; Essen, cat. no. 66; Turin, cat. no. 66, illus. p. 111 (pl. 51); shown in early state. Städtische Kunsthalle Düsseldorf, 1976 (traveling), cat. no. 63, illus. p. 28, color illus. pp. 82–83, illus. p. 114. Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, 1977, color illus. n.p. Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1978, cat. no. 14, illus. pp. 16–17. Centro Cultural de la Caixa de Pensions, Barcelona, 1980 (traveling), Barcelona, cat. no. 7, illus. n.p. (in studio); Madrid, cat. no. 7, illus. n.p. (in studio). Museo Rufino Tamayo, Mexico City, 1991 (traveling), cat. no. 9, illus. p. 28 (in studio). Knoedler & Company, New York, 1994, cat. no. 3. Group Exhibitions National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1978, cat. no. 10, illus. p. 118 (fig. 21, in exhibition, in early state), illus. p. 119 (fig. 23). References B[erkson] 1965, p. 42, illus. p. 43 (in early state); Bourdon 1965, p. 13, as Elegy No. 100; Genauer 1965b, p. 23;

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Lippard 1965, p. 34; Sheehy 1965, illus. sec. 2, p. 3 (in exhibition, in early state); Arnason 1966b, pp. 38, 40; Baro 1966b, illus. p. 5 (in early state); Bowen 1966, p. 132; Lebeer 1971, illus. p. 10 (in early state, upside down, as Elegie a la Republique espagnole [Elegy to the Spanish Republic]); Hobbs 1975b, pp. 186, 210, 263–64, illus. n.p. (pl. 43); Pleynet 1975, p. 8; Arnason 1976, illus. p. 9 (in early state, in exhibition); Carmean 1976, pp. 95, 96–97, illus. p. 96 (in early state, as Spanish Elegy No. 100 [State A]), color illus. p. 97 (in studio, as Spanish Elegy No. 100 [Revised] [State C]), illus. p. 97 (as Spanish Elegy No. 100 [Revised]); Hobbs 1976a, pp. 30, 31, illus. p. 28; Romdahl 1976, illus. (in exhibition); Schmidt 1976, p. 78; Winter 1976b, illus. p. 7 (in exhibition); Almansi 1977, sec. Cultura, pp. 8–9, illus. sec. Cultura, pp. 8–9; Arnason 1977a, pp. 535, 582, color illus. pp. 516–17 (pl. 219); Arnason 1977b, pp. 66, 226, illus. p. 65 (pl. 42, in studio, in early state), illus. n.p. (pl. 181, in exhibition, in early state), color illus. n.p. (pl. 309, in studio); Hughes 1977, color illus. p. 51; Kramer 1977a, pp. 16–17, 22, 24, 31, color illus. p. 17 (in studio); Lecombre 1977, sec. Manifestations Culturelles, illus. sec. Manifestations Culturelles; Motherwell in Arnason 1977b, n.p.; Oliver 1977, illus.; Scottish Press 1977, p. 15, illus. p. 15, as Spanish Elegy; Tyler 1977, illus. sec. F, p. 7 (in exhibition, in early state); Bonet 1978, p. 6; Carmean 1978, pp. 114, 117–18, 119, illus. p. 118 (fig. 21, in exhibition, in early state), illus. p. 119 (fig. 23); Kingsley 1978, p. 113; Lucie-Smith 1978b, illus. p. 23; MacMillan 1978, illus. p. 5; Quantrill 1978, p. 48; Bonet 1980, illus. p. 15 (in exhibition); Carmean 1980, illus. p. 82 (in studio); Corredór-Matheos 1980, p. 40, illus. p. 40; Garcia 1980, illus. p. 3; Torroella 1980, p. 17; Scarpetta 1981, illus. p. 11 (in studio, in progress); Arnason 1982, p. 66, illus. p. 151 (pl. 190, in studio, in progress); Motherwell in Arnason 1982, p. 151; Belting 1983, p. 67, as Elegy No. 100; Drudi 1984, pp. 9, 14; Drudi 1988b, pp. 9, 14; Pleynet 1989b, p. 56, illus. p. 93 (in studio); Scarpetta 1989–90, color illus. p. 116 (in studio); Flam 1991, color illus. n.p. (pl. 69, in studio); Polcari 1991, p. 316; Art Now Gallery Guide 1992a, color illus. sec. SW, p. 7 (upside down); Kingsley 1992, pp. 315, 318–19; Karmel

pain tin gs on can v as an d pa n el

1994, sec. C, p. 3; At the Museum 1995–96b, pp. 4–5, front and back cover color illus., color illus. pp. 4–5; del Conde 1997, illus. n.p.; Chalumeau 1998, color illus. p. 23 (pl. 20, in studio). Comments The medium used for this large painting has been given variously as oil and acrylic. (See, for example, the different descriptions in two publications with which Motherwell was deeply involved: Arnason 1977b, caption to pl. 309, gives the medium as oil; while the catalogue for Motherwell’s 1976 exhibition at the Städtische Kunsthalle Düsseldorf, cat. no. 63, gives the medium as acrylic.) While the earlier work on the canvas was done in oil, as per the verso inscription, forensic testing has revealed that the later work was done at least partly in acrylic. Though this painting has been dated variously, in 1966 Motherwell stated that he had begun it in 1962 (letter to the English curator Bryan Robertson, April 20, 1966; see “Writings by the Artist,” in the Bibliography). That early version was shown at Motherwell’s 1965 Museum of Modern Art retrospective (where it was dated to 1963), and also in the European tour of that exhibition. (Later, however, Motherwell said that he was dissatisfied with the picture and had not wanted it to travel; see Carmean 1976, p. 96.) Motherwell began to revise this painting in 1973, and in 1975 he reworked it extensively, using an earlier work as a source of inspiration (P605), and incorporating the imagery of two recently finished paintings: The Spanish Death (P838) and Mural Sketch (P812). Certain features of both of these works were first incorporated into a small study for the entire final composition, Mural Sketch of 1975 (P849), which Motherwell used as a model when he brought the large canvas toward its final resolution (see Motherwell in Arnason 1977b, captions for pls. 308 and 309). In both the small 1975 Mural Sketch and the final large painting, the imagery of The Spanish Death is incorporated into the section at the far left; but the forms at the center and right side of the large painting are related to the composition of the 1974 Mural Sketch (P812). Especially striking is the way in which the left side of the composition

of Elegy to the Spanish Republic No. 100 is given particular emphasis by the substantial area of white that separates it from the rest of the composition. The final extended period of work on this picture, which Motherwell had struggled with for more than a decade, lasted from October 15 to November 4, 1975, when he noted in his datebook: “Finish Elegy #100!! after ten years.”

P850

P851

Elegy to the Spanish Republic No. 126 1972–75 Acrylic on canvas 77¾ x 200¼ in. (197.5 x 508.6 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper right: Motherwell \ 65–75 Verso not seen Present Owner University of Iowa Museum of Art. Purchased with the aid of funds from the National Endowment for the Arts with matching funds and partial gift of the artist, 1973.289 Provenance University of Iowa Museum of Art, Iowa City, 1973 Group Exhibitions University of Iowa Museum of Art, Iowa City, 1974, cat. no. 24, illus. p. 8 (installation view); shown in early state. University of Iowa Museum of Art, Iowa City, 1986, color illus. pp. 106–7. IBM Gallery of Science and Art, New York, 1993. Figge Art Museum, Davenport, Iowa, 2009. References University of Iowa Museum of Art 1973, p. 10, illus. p. 8 (cat. no. 24, in early state); Iowa City Press-Citizen 1974, illus. sec. A, p. 7 (in early state); Hobbs 1975b, p. 275, illus. n.p. (pl. 51); Carmean 1976, p. 96, cover illus. (in studio); Arnason 1977b, color illus. n.p. (pl. 278, in studio); Motherwell in Arnason 1977b, n.p.; Baldwin 1978, sec. B, p. 5, illus. sec. B, p. 5 (in studio); Motherwell in Baldwin 1978, sec. B, p. 5; Caws 2003, color illus. p. 26 (ill. 17, in studio); Newhouse 2005, color illus. p. 188 (pl. 151, installation view); Sheets 2005, color illus. p. 140 (installation view); Griggs 2006, sec. D, p. 3, illus. sec. D, p. 3; Gaul 2009, color illus. (installation view). Comments This painting was commissioned in 1971 for the University of Iowa Museum of Art by the artist Ulfert Wilke, who served as the museum’s director from 1968 to 1978. The inspiration for the commission was a 1970 sketch (W353) that Wilke had seen during a visit to Motherwell’s Greenwich studio in October 1971. In 424

December of that year, Wilke received approval for the project from the museum’s board of directors, and plans were set in motion for Motherwell to travel to Iowa and execute the mural on site in July 1972. Because of illness, Motherwell could not make the trip to Iowa, and by October of 1972 he informed Wilke of his intention to paint the mural in Greenwich. Motherwell began work on the mural that autumn, on a roll of primed, unstretched No. 2 Belgian cotton canvas that measured 22 x 14 feet. Photographs of the work-in-progress were taken by Renate Ponsold in May of 1973. (One of these photographs was published twice during 1974: in the Iowa City Press-Citizen, and in the catalogue for the University of Iowa Museum of Art exhibition Accessions 1973.) In the summer of 1974 Motherwell sent the rolled but as yet unfinished canvas to Iowa, with the intention of determining its final dimensions after he had seen it in situ—opposite Jackson Pollock’s 1944 Mural in the museum’s sculpture court. He then planned to make the final revisions to the composition on site. Once again, however, illness prevented his making the trip to Iowa. Instead, he studied photographs of the unfinished work and decided to have a stretcher built that was half the height of the original canvas roll. In 1975, the canvas was returned to him. He then completed the painting in Greenwich— extending the black verticals to the new bottom edge and adding areas of ochre paint and small red linear accents—and cut the canvas down to size. Because of the thinness of the canvas and the large scale of the work, stretching it posed a real challenge. During the summer of 1978 it was stretched by conservators, who relined the canvas and mounted it to a birch panel support. The work was finally installed in the museum in September 1978. Motherwell inscribed the date “65–75” on the front of this painting, even though it was not begun until 1972; the early part of the date range refers to the relationship between this work and Elegy to the Spanish Republic No. 100 (P850), which was first shown in 1965 but not given its final form until a decade later. The sketch on which Motherwell modeled Elegy to the Spanish Republic No. 126 was later

pain tin gs on can v as an d pa n el

titled Study for State II “Elegy No. 100” (W353); and in fact, studio photographs show that he had used it as a model for Elegy to the Spanish Republic No. 100 before he made the final revisions on that painting in 1975.

P851

P852

P853

P854

Dr. Zhivago’s Country Study

Untitled

1975 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas board 5½ x 18 in. (14 x 45.7 cm)

1975 Acrylic on canvas board 24 x 10¾ in. (61 x 27.3 cm)

Inscriptions Recto, upper left: Motherwell \ 75

Inscriptions Recto, lower right, incised: RM 75

Inscriptions Recto, upper right: RM

Verso: “Dr Zhivago’s Country Study” \ R. Motherwell \ 22 Nov 1975

Verso not signed, not dated

Artist’s Studio Number P75-1109

Untitled Alternative Title: {Monster (Black and White)} Ca. 1975 Acrylic on canvas 9 x 12 in. (22.9 x 30.5 cm)

Comments This work is visible in its final form in a late 1975 photograph of Motherwell’s studio taken by Renate Ponsold Motherwell. The 1977 studio number was a later guess at the date of the painting.

Artist’s Studio Number P77-1119 Present Owner Private collection Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; private collection, California, 2007; [Sotheby’s, New York, November 15, 2007, lot 137, illus. (not sold)]; private collection, 2007 Solo Exhibitions Manny Silverman Gallery, Los Angeles, November 2002, cat. no. 41, as Monster (Black and White).

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Present Owner Private collection Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; private collection, 2008 Solo Exhibitions Bernard Jacobson Gallery, London, June 2009. References Glover 2009, p. 139; Mattison et al. 2009, illus. p. 162. Comments The title refers to the protagonist of Boris Pasternak’s 1957 novel.

Artist’s Studio Number P75-1112 Present Owner Dedalus Foundation Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991

P854

P855

P856

[ Untitled (Ochre, Black, White) ]

The House of Atreus

1975 Acrylic on canvas board 29½ x 23½ in. (74.9 x 59.7 cm)

Alternative Title: The House of Atreus I 1968–75/ca. 1990 Acrylic on canvas 69 x 54 in. (175.3 x 137.2 cm)

Inscriptions Recto, upper left, incised: RM

Inscriptions Recto, lower left: Motherwell

Verso not signed, not dated

Verso: Robert Motherwell

Artist’s Studio Number P75-473

Artist’s Studio Number P68/75-1219; P75-1219D

Present Owner Dedalus Foundation

Present Owner Private collection, Minneapolis

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; private collection, Minneapolis, 2008 Solo Exhibitions Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, 1977 (shown in early state). Artcurial Centre d’Art Plastique Contemporain, Paris, 1990 (traveling), Stockholm and Göteborg, color illus. n.p., as The House of Atreus I; shown in Sweden only.

P856

References Arnason 1977b, pp. 88–89, color illus. n.p. (pl. 283, in progress); Arnason 1982, pp. 92–93, illus. p. 93 (pl. 103, in progress). Comments This canvas was first worked on in 1968, and initially may have been related to the Open series. On October 11, 1975, Motherwell noted in his datebooks “paint ‘Grey House,’ ” which was most likely a reference to this painting. The title of this painting refers to the mythological dynasty of the Greek king Atreus, father of Agamemnon, which was marked by violence and tragedy in every generation. The forms in this work are based on the entrance to the tholos, or beehive tomb, commonly referred to as the “Treasury of Atreus” or the “Tomb of Agamemnon,” in Mycenae, which is reproduced in several books in Motherwell’s studio library. The entrance to the tomb incorporates the same shapes as those seen in this painting. Similar shapes were used in the 1974 Persian series (see P789, P792, P795, and P797) and also recur

in a series of 1976 works that are related to this painting (see P904, P906, W514, and W515); ultimately, these shapes also look back to Motherwell’s figurative paintings of the 1940s. Although the composition of this painting was set in 1975, Motherwell made revisions to the blues and ochres around 1990.

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P858

P857

House of Atreus 1975/1983 Acrylic on canvas 14 x 10 in. (35.6 x 25.4 cm) Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated Verso: Robert Motherwell \ 1975 Artist’s Studio Number P75-1031 Present Owner Private collection Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Knoedler & Company, 2005; private collection, 2005 Solo Exhibitions Provincetown Art Association and Museum, Mass., 1983 (traveling); shown at Provincetown Art Association and Museum only.

References Drudi 1984, color illus. p. 6 (in studio), color illus. p. 29 (in studio), color illus. p. 63 (in studio); Gaugh 1985, p. 73; Drudi 1988b, color illus. p. 6 (in studio), color illus. p. 29 (in studio), color illus. p. 63 (in studio); Pleynet 1989b, color illus. p. 172, erroneously as The House of Altreus, color illus. p. 173 (in studio). Comments An early version of this work, painted in 1975, was returned from consignment at Knoedler & Company in January 1983. Before it left the studio again that May, when it was shown in Provincetown, Motherwell added dark blue and sienna accents throughout the composition. Regarding the title, see the Comments for P856.

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, 1984, cat. no. 119. Galerie Bernd Klüser, Munich, 2001, cat. no. 41, color illus. p. 60 (in studio), color illus. p. 61.

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P859

P858

P859

Haiti

Study for In Black and White No. 2

Ca. 1975 Acrylic on canvas 9 x 12 in. (22.9 x 30.5 cm) Inscriptions Recto, lower right, incised: RM Verso: R. Motherwell Artist’s Studio Number P73-1117 Present Owner Collection of Jane and Barton Shallat Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Jane and Barton Shallat, 2005 Solo Exhibitions William Ehrlich Gallery, New York, May 1979. Comments An inscription on the verso of this work (not in Motherwell’s hand) notes the date as “ca. 1973,” but the work does not appear in any records or photographs until 1975.

Alternative Title: Study for Kilimanjaro Series 1975 Acrylic on canvas mounted on board 15⅛ x 30⅛ in. (38.4 x 76.5 cm) Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated Verso not signed, not dated Artist’s Studio Number P75-1355 Present Owner The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Gift of the Cyvia and Melvyn Wolff Family Foundation and the Dedalus Foundation Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, 2001 Solo Exhibitions William Benton Museum of Art, University of Connecticut, Storrs, 1979, cat. no. 75 (brochure); cat. no. 75

P860

(catalogue), illus. p. 48 (in exhibition); as Study for Kilimanjaro Series. References Arnason 1982, color illus. p. 208 (pl. 287), color illus. p. 209 (pl. 293, in studio); Drudi 1984, illus. p. 104 (in studio); Drudi 1988b, illus. p. 110 (in studio); Pleynet 1989b, color illus. p. 153; Fundació Antoni Tàpies exh. cat. 1996, illus. frontispiece (in studio). Comments This work served as a study for the larger painting In Black and White No. 2 (P860).

P860

In Black and White No. 2 1975 Acrylic on canvas 72¼ x 161 in. (183.5 x 408.9 cm) Inscriptions Recto, lower right, incised: 75 \ RM Verso: “in black and white no. 2”

Knoedler & Company, New York, 1978, cat. no. 5, color illus. p. 12 (in exhibition), illus. p. 22. William Benton Museum of Art, University of Connecticut, Storrs, 1979, cat. no. 79 (brochure); cat. no. 81 (catalogue), color illus. p. 90 (in exhibition), illus. pp. 110–11.

Verso [crossed out]: [“haïtian black”] \ [“kilimanjaro”]

Centro Cultural de la Caixa de Pensions, Barcelona, 1980 (traveling), Barcelona, cat. no. 14.

Verso: Robert Motherwell \ Nov 1975 \ 72" x 160"

Knoedler & Company, New York, February 1981, cat. no. 4.

Artist’s Studio Number P75-1542

Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, 1983 (traveling), cat. no. 75, illus. p. 8; shown in Buffalo only.

Present Owner The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Given anonymously Provenance Irma and Norman Braman, 1979; Robert Motherwell, 1981; Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1984 Solo Exhibitions Städtische Kunsthalle Düsseldorf, 1976 (traveling), cat. no. 62, illus. p. 114. Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, 1977.

References Arnason 1977b, pp. 90–91, illus. p. 91 (pl. 55); Highwater 1979, illus.; Morrin 1979, p. 13, illus. p. 13 (in exhibition); Newtown Bee 1979, sec. C, p. 28, illus. sec. C, p. 28, as Black and White Number 2; Arnason 1982, pp. 94, 96, illus. pp. 94–95 (pl. 105); AlbrightKnox Art Gallery Calendar 1983, illus. p. 3; Ashton 1983, p. 42, illus. p. 8; Bannon 1983b, sec. Art; Brenson 1983b, sec. 2, p. 35; Motherwell in Albright-

Knox Art Gallery exh. cat. 1983, pp. 12, 15, illus. p. 8; Los Angeles County Museum of Art Members’ Calendar 1984, illus. n.p.; Highwater 1986, p. 217; Pleynet 1989b, illus. p. 46; Windrow 1992, p. 19. Comments The composition of this painting was based upon two considerably smaller works, both titled Study for In Black and White No. 2 (P830 and P859). Although the title appears to refer to a series, this is the only painting that was given the title In Black and White at this time. (There are two earlier numbered works with related titles, In Black and White No. 1, P358, and In Black and White No. 2, P359, but they are formally unrelated to this painting.) Motherwell probably meant the number of this work to refer to works in the Africa series of 1965 (see P338 and P339). This painting was sold to Norman Braman in March 1979. In January 1981 Motherwell gave Braman Elegy to the Spanish Republic No. 130 (P817) in exchange for this work, which remained in his studio until 1984, when he gave it to the Museum of Modern Art.

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P861

Goya’s Dog (Sketch) 1975 Acrylic on canvas mounted on wood panel 9⅝ x 24 in. (24.5 x 61 cm) Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated Verso: Robert Motherwell \ 1975 Artist’s Studio Number P75-1310 Present Owner The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Gift of Isabel B. and Wallace S. Wilson and the Dedalus Foundation Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, 2001

References Gelles 1984, p. 37; Caws 1996b, p. 65, illus. p. 66; Caws 2003, illus. p. 71 (ill. 47). Comments The title of this work refers to Goya’s famous Perro semihundido (1821–23), which Motherwell saw in the Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid, in 1958 (see also Spanish Painting with the Face of a Dog, P176). This work served as the model for the large-scale painting Threatening Presence (P875), which was shown under the title Goya’s Dog (Threatening Presence) at Knoedler & Company in 1978. Goya’s dog appears again later in the titles of two collages: Goya’s Dog II (C816) and The Disappearance of Goya’s Dog (C864).

Solo Exhibitions Dart Gallery, Chicago, 1976, cat. no. 12. Group Exhibitions Manny Silverman Gallery, Los Angeles, 1995, cat. no. 3.

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P862

Les Caves Alternative Title: Untitled 1975 Oil on canvas 8 x 24 in. (20.3 x 61 cm) Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated Verso not seen Present Owner Baron Philippe de Rothschild S. A. Provenance Baron Philippe de Rothschild, 1975; Baron Philippe de Rothschild S. A., ca. 1988 Solo Exhibitions Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, 1977. Group Exhibitions Château Mouton Rothschild, Pauillac, France, 1981 (circulating), color illus. p. 66, color illus. p. 67. References Arnason 1977b, illus. n.p. (pl. 325, as Untitled); Pleynet 1977, illus. p. 199;

Alloway 1978, pp. 29–30; Arnason 1982, p. 97; Kessler 1984, sec. Weekend, p. 61; R[ebello] 1985, illus. p. 13. Comments This painting was commissioned by Baron Philippe de Rothschild to be used as the image on the label for the 1974 vintage of Château Mouton Rothschild wine. In preparation for the commission, Motherwell executed a series of works in the same approximately 1:3 proportion, which he also used in other paintings at this time (see, for example, P863 and P864). There are two other works with similar titles: Les Caves No. 2 (P877) and Les Caves IV (P923). The title refers both to prehistoric cave painting, by which it is stylistically informed, and to the French word for wine cellar.

P864

P863

P864

Arabesque

Primordial Sketch No. 6

1975 Acrylic on canvas board 8 x 20 in. (20.3 x 50.8 cm)

Alternative Title: Dordogne Series (Study for Monsters) 1975 Acrylic on canvas mounted on panel 8 x 20 in. (20.3 x 50.8 cm)

Inscriptions Recto, upper left: RM \ 75 Verso not seen Artist’s Studio Number P75-1346

Inscriptions Recto, upper right: RM \ 75 Verso not signed, not dated

Present Owner Unknown

Artist’s Studio Number P75-1347

Provenance The artist

Present Owner Collection Bernard Jacobson Gallery, London

References Fundació Antoni Tàpies exh. cat. 1996, illus. frontispiece (in studio). Comments We do not know whether this work still exists in the form illustrated here.

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Bernard Jacobson Gallery, London, 2005 Solo Exhibitions William Benton Museum of Art, University of Connecticut, Storrs, 1979, cat. no. 72 (brochure), as Dordogne Series (Study for Monsters); cat. no. 73 (catalogue), illus. p. 48 (in exhibition), as Dordogne Series (study for Monsters).

P865

References Fundació Antoni Tàpies exh. cat. 1996, illus. frontispiece (in studio). Comments This painting has the lowest number in the Primordial Sketch series. The numbers 10 and 11 are also missing from this series. Other similar compositions, such as Goya’s Dog (Sketch) (P861), Les Caves (P862), and Arabesque (P863), may have been originally intended to be a part of this series, which had previously been called the Dordogne series.

P865

Primordial Sketch No. 7 Alternative Title: Dordogne Series (Study for Monsters) 1975 Acrylic on canvas mounted on panel 9½ x 24 in. (24.1 x 61 cm) Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated Verso not signed, not dated Artist’s Studio Number P75-1349 Present Owner The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Gift of the Caroline Wiess Law Foundation and the Dedalus Foundation Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, 2001 Solo Exhibitions William Benton Museum of Art, University of Connecticut, Storrs, 1979, cat. no. 74 (catalogue), illus. p. 48 (in exhibition), as Dordogne Series (study for Monsters). paint ing s on canvas and pane l

431

P866

Knoedler & Company, New York, April 1991, cat. no. 15. Museo Rufino Tamayo, Mexico City, 1991 (traveling), cat. no. 14. References Caws 1996b, p. 47, illus. p. 68; Fundació Antoni Tàpies exh. cat. 1996, illus. frontispiece (in studio); Caws 2003, p. 48, illus. p. 49 (ill. 35). Comments This work was used as the basis for Atavistic Presence (P922).

P866

Primordial Sketch No. 8 1975 Acrylic on canvas mounted on panel 8 x 19 in. (20.3 x 48.3 cm)

Comments The composition of this work was the initial basis for Face of the Night (for Octavio Paz) (P1024).

P867

Primordial Sketch No. 9 1975 Acrylic on canvas mounted on panel 12 x 24 in. (30.5 x 61 cm)

Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated

Inscriptions Recto, upper left: RM \ 75

Verso not signed, not dated

Artist’s Studio Number P75-1350

Artist’s Studio Number P75-1348

Present Owner The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Gift of the Caroline Wiess Law Foundation and the Dedalus Foundation

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, 2001

Solo Exhibitions Museo Rufino Tamayo, Mexico City, 1991 (traveling), cat. no. 15.

Solo Exhibitions Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, 1983 (traveling), cat. no. 78, color illus. p. 42.

References Fundació Antoni Tàpies exh. cat. 1996, illus. frontispiece (in studio).

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P867

p ain tin gs on can v as an d pa n el

References Arnason 1982, color illus. p. 208 (pl. 292), color illus. p. 209 (pl. 293, in

P868

studio); Ashton 1983, p. 42, color illus. p. 42; Pleynet 1989b, color illus. p. 148; Caws 1996b, illus. p. 69; Fundació Antoni Tàpies exh. cat. 1996, illus. frontispiece (in studio); Caws 2003, p. 48, illus. p. 49 (ill. 36).

P868

Primordial Sketch No. 12 Alternative Title: Primordial Study 1975 Acrylic on canvas board 12 x 24 in. (30.5 x 61 cm) Inscriptions Recto, lower right, incised: RM Verso not signed, not dated Artist’s Studio Number P75-1345 Present Owner Private collection, Houston Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Richard L. Feigen & Co., 2000; private collection, Houston, 2000 Solo Exhibitions Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, 1983 (traveling), cat. no. 79, color illus. p. 42, as Primordial Study. References Arnason 1982, color illus. p. 208 (pl. 291), color illus. p. 209 (pl. 293, in studio); Ashton 1983, p. 42, color

P869

illus. p. 42, referred to in text and in illus. as Primordial Study; Glenn 1984, color illus. p. 91 (in studio); Pleynet 1989b, color illus. p. 153; Fundació Antoni Tàpies exh. cat. 1996, illus. frontispiece (in studio). Comments This work was used as a source for Primal Image (P1160), which was begun in 1977 and underwent several revisions before it was finished in 1988.

P869

Primordial Sketch No. 13 Alternative Title: Study for Kilimanjaro Series 1975 Acrylic on canvas board 9 x 18 in. (22.9 x 45.7 cm) Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated Verso not signed, not dated Artist’s Studio Number P75-1353 Present Owner Collection of the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth. Museum purchase and gift of the artist Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, 1999 Solo Exhibitions William Benton Museum of Art, University of Connecticut, Storrs, 1979, cat. no. 74 (brochure); cat. no. 76 (catalogue), illus. p. 48 (in exhibition); as Study for Kilimanjaro Series.

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433

P871

P870

Fort Worth Art Museum, September 1985, cat. no. 3, color illus. p. 11.

P872

P870

P871

P872

Primordial Sketch No. 14

Primordial Sketch No. 15

Primordial Sketch No. 16

Museo Rufino Tamayo, Mexico City, 1991 (traveling), cat. no. 16, inside front and back cover illus.

1975 Acrylic on canvas mounted on panel 8⅞ x 22⅜ in. (22.5 x 56.8 cm)

1975 Acrylic on canvas board 9 x 22½ in. (22.9 x 57.2 cm)

1975 Acrylic on canvas board 12 x 30 in. (30.5 x 76.2 cm)

Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, 2004.

Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated

Inscriptions Recto, upper right, incised: RM

Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated

References Pleynet 1977, p. 198; Arnason 1982, color illus. p. 208 (pl. 288), color illus. p. 209 (pl. 293, in studio); Fort Worth Art Museum Calendar 1985b, p. 2, illus. p. 4; Kutner 1985a, sec. C, p. 3; Sewell 1985, p. 21, as Primordial Sketch No. 13 (Study for Kilimanjaro); Fundació Antoni Tàpies exh. cat. 1996, illus. frontispiece (in studio).

Verso not signed, not dated

Artist’s Studio Number P75-1351

Artist’s Studio Number P75-1352

Artist’s Studio Number P75-1354

Present Owner The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Gift of the Caroline Wiess Law Foundation and the Dedalus Foundation

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, 2001

References Fundació Antoni Tàpies exh. cat. 1996, illus. frontispiece (in studio).

References Arnason 1982, color illus. p. 208 (pl. 290), color illus. p. 209 (pl. 293, in studio); Fundació Antoni Tàpies exh. cat. 1996, illus. frontispiece (in studio).

Comments This work was later used as the basis for the painting Mexican Past (P1204).

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P873

P874

References Arnason 1982, color illus. p. 208 (pl. 289), color illus. p. 209 (pl. 293, in studio); Drudi 1984, illus. p. 104 (in studio); Drudi 1988b, illus. p. 110 (in studio); Fundació Antoni Tàpies exh. cat. 1996, illus. frontispiece (in studio). Comments This work served as a source for Ancestral Presence (P876).

P873

P874

P875

Untitled (Elegy)

Elegy to the Spanish Republic No. 135

Threatening Presence

1975 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas mounted on Masonite 36 x 71¾ in. (91.4 x 182.3 cm)

1975–76 Acrylic on canvas 38 x 72 in. (96.5 x 182.9 cm)

Inscriptions Recto, lower right: Motherwell 75

Inscriptions Recto, upper left, incised: Motherwell 76

Verso not signed, not dated

Verso not seen

Present Owner Private collection, Germany

Present Owner Mr. and Mrs. Meredith J. Long, Houston

Provenance Private collection, Germany, ca. 1975

Provenance Mr. and Mrs. Meredith J. Long, Houston, 1977 Comments This painting was begun in 1975 and revised during the following year. Motherwell assigned the title Elegy to the Spanish Republic No. 135 to two works (see P840).

Alternative Title: Goya’s Dog (Threatening Presence) 1976 Acrylic on canvas 72 x 180 in. (182.9 x 457.2 cm) Inscriptions Recto, lower right, incised: RM 76 Verso not signed, not dated Artist’s Studio Number P76-1241 Present Owner Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid, 1996

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435

P875

Solo Exhibitions Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, 1977. Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh, 1977.

Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid, 1998, cover color illus., color illus. frontispiece, color illus. p. 20 (detail).

Artcurial Centre d’Art Plastique Contemporain, Paris, 1990 (traveling), Paris, color illus. pp. 22–23.

References Arnason 1977b, pp. 90–91, 94, illus. p. 93 (pl. 57); Alloway 1978, p. 29; Frackman 1978, p. 24; Heathcote 1978, sec. F, p. 5; Maloon 1978, illus. p. 16 (in studio); Arnason 1982, pp. 94, 96, 98, illus. p. 99 (pl. 109, in progress); Brenson 1983b, sec. 2, p. 35; Gelles 1984, p. 37, cover illus. (in studio); Richard 1984, sec. D, p. 1; Gaugh 1985, p. 72; Rosand 1985, p. 93; Ashton 1989, p. 19, color illus. p. 44 (cat. no. 18, in studio); D’Amico 1989, p. 31; Pleynet 1989b, p. 44, color illus. p. 152 (in studio); Warnod 1990, p. 27; Domino and Husson 1991, p. 129; Pleynet 1995, p. 113; Banach 1996, pp. 25, 29, illus. p. 24 (in studio, in progress); Caws 1996b, pp. 40, 65; Lynton 1997, p. 40; Lynton 2001, p. 180; Bonet 2002, color illus. p. 160.

Fundació Antoni Tàpies, Barcelona, 1996 (traveling), cat. no. 55, color illus. pp. 192–93.

Comments This painting was based on a small work from 1975 called Goya’s Dog (Sketch)

Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1978, cat. no. 44. Knoedler & Company, New York, 1978, cat. no. 6, color illus. p. 13 (in exhibition), illus. p. 22, as Goya’s Dog (Threatening Presence). Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, 1983 (traveling), cat. no. 82, color illus. p. 112 (in studio); not shown in Los Angeles and Seattle. Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, 1984, cat. no. 146. Padiglione d’Arte Contemporanea, Milan, 1989, cat. no. 18, color illus. p. 44 (in studio).

436

pain tin gs on c an v as an d pa n el

(P861). It was originally given the working title of Goya’s Dog, a reference to the famous painting by Francisco Goya called Perro semihundido (1821–23, Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid), and was subsequently retitled Goya’s Dog (Threatening Presence) when shown at Knoedler & Company in 1978. Motherwell expressed his intention of reinstating the earlier title in a letter of April 28, 1978, to John Russell, the art critic of the New York Times (see “Writings by the Artist,” in the Bibliography), but in the end this work continued to be exhibited during his lifetime as Threatening Presence. See also the Comments for Spanish Painting with the Face of a Dog (P176).

P876

Ancestral Presence 1976 Acrylic on canvas 72 x 180 in. (182.9 x 457.2 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper left: 76 \ Motherwell Verso not seen [“titled and dated,” per Sotheby’s 1986] Artist’s Studio Number P76-5209 Present Owner Private collection Provenance Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Va., 1976; [Sotheby Parke Bernet, Inc., New York, November 10, 1986, lot 28, illus.]; private collection, 1986 Solo Exhibitions Knoedler & Company, New York, 1976, cat. no. 16. References Ellenzweig 1976, illus. p. 22; Hoesterey 1976, p. 49; Arnason 1977a, p. 536, color illus. p. 517 (pl. 220); Arnason 1977b,

P877

P876

pp. 90–91, 92, 94, color illus. n.p. (pl. 307); Pleynet 1977, p. 198; Alloway 1978, pp. 29–30; Motherwell in Maloon 1978, p. 22; Ashton 1980, illus. p. 7; Arnason 1982, pp. 94, 96, illus. p. 96 (pl. 106); Pleynet 1986, p. 85; Pleynet 1989b, p. 44, color illus. p. 149; Savage 1989, p. 10; Pleynet 1995, p. 113; Caws 1996b, p. 65; Morgan 1997, p. 115.

P877

Comments This work was based on Primordial Sketch No. 16 (P872).

Verso: les caves (#2) \ 72 x 144 \ Jan 1976 \ Robert Motherwell

Les Caves No. 2 1976 Acrylic on canvas 72 x 120 in. (182.9 x 304.8 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper left, incised: 76 \ Motherwell

Artist’s Studio Number P76-1245 Present Owner Ulrich Museum of Art, Wichita State University Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Ulrich Museum of Art, Wichita State University, Kans., 1994

Solo Exhibitions Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, 1977.

References Arnason 1977b, pp. 90–92, illus. p. 92 (pl. 56); Arnason 1982, pp. 94, 96, 97, 98, illus. p. 98 (pl. 108); Belting 1983, p. 67; Pleynet 1989b, p. 217; Caws 1996b, p. 65.

Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1978, cat. no. 45, illus. p. 23. Knoedler & Company, New York, 1978, cat. no. 19, illus. p. 18, illus. p. 22. William Benton Museum of Art, University of Connecticut, Storrs, 1979, cat. no. 81 (brochure); cat. no. 90 (catalogue), illus. pp. 10–11. Knoedler & Company, New York, February 1981, cat. no. 28. Group Exhibitions Haus der Kunst, Munich, 1981, cat. no. 212, illus. p. 190 (in progress); shown in final state.

Comments This painting is dated “Jan 1976” on the verso, but a photograph taken in February of that year shows an early version of the work in which the ground along the right edge is painted in white. Motherwell subsequently repainted this area in ochre and finished the painting sometime before it was photographed again in March 1977 (Sloman photo no. 544). The first Les Caves painting was completed in 1975 (P862), and another work with the series title was done in 1977 (see P923).

p aint ing s on canvas and pane l

437

P878

P880

P879

P881

P882

P878

P879

P880

P881

[ Untitled (Elegy) ]

Untitled

1976 Acrylic and graphite on canvas 3⅛ x 5⅛ in. (7.9 x 13 cm)

1976 Acrylic and graphite on canvas 4⅛ x 5 in. (10.5 x 12.7 cm)

1976 Acrylic and graphite on canvas 4 x 5 in. (10.2 x 12.7 cm)

1976 Ink on acrylic ground on canvas board 1⅝ x 2¼ in. (4.1 x 5.7 cm)

Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated

Verso: R Motherwell \ 13 June 76

Verso: R. Motherwell \ 22 June 1976

Verso: R. Motherwell \ 23 June 1976

Verso not seen

Artist’s Studio Number P76-1978

Artist’s Studio Number P76-1979

Artist’s Studio Number P76-1977

Present Owner Collection of the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth. Museum purchase, the Friends of Art Endowment Fund

Present Owner Private collection

Present Owner Kunsthaus Zürich. Schenkung von Herbert Distel und der Julius Bär-Stiftung, 1979

Provenance Private collection, 1991; private collection

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, 1999 Comments This small work later served as the basis for Improvisation (P1201).

Comments This work later served as a model for an untitled Elegy (P1202) and Mourning Elegy (P1203).

Provenance Herbert Distel, Das Schubladenmuseum (The Museum of Drawers), 1976; Kunsthaus Zürich, 1979 Group Exhibitions Kunsthaus Zürich, 1976 (circulating), Antwerp, illus. p. 38; Zurich, illus. p. 22, color illus. p. 80. Comments This small painting was created specifically for inclusion in The Museum of Drawers, a project by the Swiss artist Herbert Distel (b. 1942), who asked

438

pain tin gs on ca n v a s a n d pan el

P883

Motherwell to participate in the fall of 1975. Utilizing a found cabinet of drawers, Distel invited artists to contribute diminutive original works to be displayed alongside similarly small works by a diverse range of other artists. Eventually the cabinet came to hold works by 500 different artists; it was originally shown at Documenta 5 in 1972 and continued to travel to various museums as new works were added, before going to its permanent home at the Kunsthaus Zürich.

P884

P882

P883

P884

[ Untitled (Elegy) ]

Adobe Studio with Sky Blue

Untitled

1976 Ink on acrylic ground on canvas board 1⅝ x 2¼ in. (4.1 x 5.7 cm)

1976 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 72½ x 84¼ in. (184.2 x 214 cm)

1976 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 16 x 20 in. (40.6 x 50.8 cm)

Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated

Inscriptions Recto, upper left: Motherwell \ 1 July 76

Inscriptions Recto, upper left: RM 76

Verso: “adobe studio with \ sky blue” \ R. Motherwell \ 1 July 1976

Artist’s Studio Number P76-1105

Artist’s Studio Number P76-2206

Present Owner Dedalus Foundation

Present Owner Private collection

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; private collection, 2003

Solo Exhibitions Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, 1984, cat. no. 57.

Verso not seen [“R Motherwell \ 30 June 76,” per studio card] Artist’s Studio Number D76-2716 Present Owner Renate Ponsold Motherwell Provenance Renate Ponsold Motherwell, 1991 Comments Our reproduction of this work comes from an early Polaroid photograph of it taken in Motherwell’s studio.

Verso not signed, not dated

paint ing s on canvas and pane l

439

P885

P886

P885

P886

P887

Hello!

Black Figuration No. 1

Black Figuration No. 2

1976 Acrylic on canvas 48½ x 36 in. (123.2 x 91.4 cm)

1976 Acrylic on canvas 36 x 24 in. (91.4 x 61 cm)

1976 Acrylic on canvas 48 x 48 in. (121.9 x 121.9 cm)

Inscriptions Recto, lower left: Motherwell \ Jan 76

Inscriptions Recto, lower right, incised: Motherwell

Inscriptions Recto, upper right: RM \ 76

Verso: “Hello!” \ R. Motherwell \ Jan, 1976 \ 48" x 36"

Verso (on backing board): “Black Figuration #1” \ R. Motherwell \ 1976

Verso: “black figuration #2” 1976 R. Motherwell

Present Owner Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Raymond Perelman

Present Owner Collection Elliot K. Wolk

Present Owner Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Lawrence E. Singer

Provenance Private collection, Toronto, 1977; [Sotheby’s, New York, May 5, 1994, lot 97, illus. (not sold)]; [Sotheby’s, New York, May 9, 1996, lot 163, illus.]; Mr. and Mrs. Raymond Perelman, 1996

Provenance Private collection, 1977; [Christie’s, New York, May 8, 1984, lot 45, illus.]; Elliot K. Wolk, 1984 Solo Exhibitions Galerie André Emmerich, Zurich, 1977, color illus. n.p.

Provenance Private collection, 1977; Mr. and Mrs. Lawrence E. Singer, 1980 Solo Exhibitions Galerie André Emmerich, Zurich, 1977, color illus. n.p. Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, 1977, color illus. n.p. References Hernandez 1980, illus. p. 29.

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p ain tin gs on can v as an d pa n el

P887

P888

P889

Black Mountain

The Big A

1976 Acrylic on canvas 20 x 30 in. (50.8 x 76.2 cm)

1976–77 Acrylic on canvas 30 x 20 in. (76.2 x 50.8 cm)

Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated

Inscriptions Recto, upper right: RM \ 76

Verso not signed, not dated

Artist’s Studio Number P76-1959

Artist’s Studio Number P77-922

Present Owner Collection Bernard Jacobson Gallery, London

Present Owner Dedalus Foundation

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; private collection, 2005; Bernard Jacobson Gallery, London, 2007 Solo Exhibitions Manny Silverman Gallery, Los Angeles, November 2002, cat. no. 46.

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991 Solo Exhibitions Museum Morsbroich, Leverkusen, Germany, 2004, color illus. p. 112. Galerie Bernd Klüser, Munich, May 2005, cat. no. 16.

P889

Comments The composition of this painting was set in 1976, but in 1977 Motherwell modified the central gestural form and added the ochre ground, as per studio photographs. This work has the same title as P1136.

P890

[ Untitled (Samurai or Gesture) ] Ca. 1976 Acrylic on canvas 30 x 20 in. (76.2 x 50.8 cm) Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated Verso not signed, not dated Artist’s Studio Number P77-967 Present Owner Collection of Mr. and Mrs. L. Frankfort Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Mr. and Mrs. L. Frankfort, 2003 Solo Exhibitions Manny Silverman Gallery, Los Angeles, November 2002, cat. no. 45.

paint ing s on canvas and pane l

441

P891

P892

P893

P892

P893

Inverness

Creature with Red

1976 Acrylic on canvas mounted on board 36 x 24 in. (91.4 x 61 cm)

1976 Acrylic on canvas 36 x 24 in. (91.4 x 61 cm)

Inscriptions Recto, upper left: RM \ 76

Inscriptions Recto, upper right: RM \ July 76

Inscriptions Recto, upper right: Motherwell 76

Verso not signed, not dated

Artist’s Studio Number P76/77-921; P77-921B

Artist’s Studio Number P76-1304

Artist’s Studio Number P76-1480

Present Owner Private collection

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; private collection, 2004

Provenance Donn Golden, ca. 1984; private collection, 2002

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; private collection, 2002

Solo Exhibitions Museo de Arte Contemporaneo de Caracas, Venezuela, 1979, cat. no. 13, illus. n.p.

Solo Exhibitions William Benton Museum of Art, University of Connecticut, Storrs, 1979, cat. no. 88 (catalogue).

Comments The studio card for this work says that some revisions were made to it

Comments The title of this painting refers to Inverness, near Loch Ness in Scotland, where the legendary Loch Ness monster is said to live.

Gesture Figure III 1976–77 Acrylic on canvas 30 x 20 in. (76.2 x 50.8 cm)

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in 1977. There are only two paintings with titles that connect them to the Gesture Figure series, this one and Gesture Figure VI (P928).

pain tin gs on c a n v a s a n d pan el

P894

P895

P896

P894

P895

P896

Untitled

Euclid’s Meditation

A la pintura No. 15

1976 Acrylic on canvas board 40 x 30 in. (101.6 x 76.2 cm)

1976 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas board 24 x 36 in. (61 x 91.4 cm)

1976 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 77½ x 96½ in. (196.9 x 245.1 cm)

Inscriptions Recto, upper right: RM \ July 76 Verso not signed, not dated

Inscriptions Recto, upper left: Motherwell \ 27 July 76

Inscriptions Recto, lower left: Motherwell \ 31 July 76

Artist’s Studio Number P76-1297

Verso: “euclid’s meditation” \ Summer, 1976 \ R. Motherwell

Verso: “a la pintura #15”

Present Owner Collection of Linda and Robert Schmier

Artist’s Studio Number P76-1968

Artist’s Studio Number P76-2203; P76-2689

Present Owner The Headington Collection

Present Owner Pinakothek der Moderne. Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen, inv. nr. 14753

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Linda and Robert Schmier, 2003 Comments The gestural form in this work was set in 1976, as per a Polaroid photograph taken in the studio; the ground was reworked at an unknown later date.

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Headington Collection, 2009 Comments The title of this work refers to the Greek mathematician Euclid; see also Euclid’s Sand (P823).

pp. 385–86, color illus. p. 390 (fig. 4); Staatlichen Kunstsammlungen and Zentralinstitut für Kunstgeschichte 1983, p. 246; Stabenow 1983, p. 82; Drudi 1984, illus. p. 105 (in studio), illus. p. 107 (in studio); Drudi 1988b, illus. p. 111 (in studio); Schulz-Hoffmann et al. 1995, p. 236, color illus. p. 236; Thierolf 2002, pp. 290, 312–17, color illus. p. 313 (cat. no. 28). Comments This painting is one of two works titled A la pintura No. 15 (see P897). Regarding the title and numbering of the A la pintura series, see the Comments for P804.

Verso: R. Motherwell \ 31 July 76

Provenance Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich, 1982 Solo Exhibitions Museum Morsbroich, Leverkusen, Germany, 2004, color illus. pp. 74–75. References Brenson 1982, sec. C, p. 16, erroneously as Al la Pintura; Schmidt 1982, p. 15; Maier and Steingräber 1983,

paint ing s on canvas and pane l

443

P897

P899

P898

P897

A la pintura No. 15 Alternative Title: [ Phoenician Study ] 1976 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 5 x 12⅜ in. (12.7 x 31.4 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper left [partially painted over]: Motherwell \ [76]

P900

Comments This painting is one of two works titled A la pintura No. 15 (see P896). It was also listed in later studio records as Phoenician Study, probably a reference to Phoenician Red Studio (P924), although this title was not used publicly in Motherwell’s lifetime. Regarding the title and numbering of the A la pintura series, see the Comments for P804.

P901

P898

P899

A la pintura No. 16

A la pintura No. 17

1976 Acrylic on canvas 5½ x 3⅛ in. (14 x 7.9 cm)

1976 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas board 7 x 14 in. (17.8 x 35.6 cm)

Inscriptions Recto, lower right, incised [painted over]: [RM 76]

Inscriptions Recto, upper left: RM Recto, lower left [painted over]: [RM \ 76]

Verso not signed, not dated

Verso: R Motherwell \ 1976 \ A la pintura #16

Artist’s Studio Number P76-1183; P76-3583

Artist’s Studio Number P76-1974A

Artist’s Studio Number P76-1013; P76-1331

Present Owner Private collection

Present Owner Collection of Ruth and William Ehrlich

Present Owner Dedalus Foundation

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; private collection, 2003

Provenance Ruth and William Ehrlich, 1979

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991

Solo Exhibitions William Ehrlich Gallery, New York, June 1979.

Comments Regarding the title and numbering of the A la pintura series, see the Comments for P804.

Solo Exhibitions William Ehrlich Gallery, New York, May 1979. Manny Silverman Gallery, Los Angeles, November 2002, cat. no. 13 (color illus. in brochure), as Phoenician Study.

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p ain tin gs on c a n v a s a n d pan el

Verso not signed, not dated

P902

P903

P900

P901

P902

P903

Untitled

Phalanx

{ Untitled (Ochre Open)}

1976 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 24 x 36 in. (61 x 91.4 cm)

Ca. 1976 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 11½ x 15½ in. (29.2 x 39.4 cm)

1976 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 72½ x 84⅛ in. (184.2 x 213.7 cm)

1976 Acrylic on Upson board 9½ x 18½ in. (24.1 x 47 cm)

Inscriptions Recto, lower right: RM \ 1 Aug 76

Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated

Inscriptions Recto, upper left: Motherwell \ 76

Verso not signed, not dated

Inscriptions Recto, lower left, incised [painted over]: [RM 76] Verso not signed, not dated

Artist’s Studio Number P76-1116

Artist’s Studio Number P75-685

Artist’s Studio Number P75-1282

Present Owner Dedalus Foundation

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991 Solo Exhibitions Delaware Art Museum, Wilmington, 1999. Manny Silverman Gallery, Los Angeles, November 2002, cat. no. 34.

Artist’s Studio Number P76-1244 Present Owner Dedalus Foundation

Verso not signed, not dated

Present Owner Collection of John Daly, Dublin

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; John Daly, Dublin, 2007

Solo Exhibitions Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, 1977.

Solo Exhibitions William Shearburn Gallery, Saint Louis, 2006, cat. no. 11. Group Exhibitions Hillsboro Fine Art, Dublin, May 2006.

p aint ing s on canvas and pane l

445

P904

P905

P906

P904

P905

P906

P907

Emblematic Presence

The Barbarian

Totem No. 2

Spanish Elegy Study No. 150

1976 Acrylic on canvas 36 x 24 in. (91.4 x 61 cm)

1976 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 24 x 18 in. (61 x 45.7 cm)

1976 Acrylic on canvas 36 x 24 in. (91.4 x 61 cm)

Inscriptions Recto, upper right: RM \ 4 Aug 76

Inscriptions Recto, lower right, incised: RM \ 76

Inscriptions Recto, upper right: RM \ 22 Aug 76

1976 Acrylic on canvas mounted on Masonite 24 x 48 in. (61 x 121.9 cm)

Verso: R. Motherwell 4 Aug 76

Verso: R. Motherwell \ 20 Aug 76

Artist’s Studio Number P76-1253

Artist’s Studio Number P77-1195

Verso: “totem #2” \ Aug–November 1976 \ R. Motherwell

Present Owner Dedalus Foundation

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991

Solo Exhibitions Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, 1977.

Comments The imagery of this work is related to that of The House of Atreus (P856); see also P857, P906, W514, and W515.

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pain tin gs on c a n v a s a n d pan el

Inscriptions Recto, lower right: RM \ July 76 Verso not signed, not dated

Artist’s Studio Number P76-1972

Artist’s Studio Number P76-711

Present Owner Dedalus Foundation

Present Owner Sprengel Museum, Hannover

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991

Provenance Bernhard Sprengel, 1979; Sprengel Museum, Hannover, Germany, 1992

References Fundació Antoni Tàpies exh. cat. 1996, illus. frontispiece (in studio). Comments The imagery of this work is related to that of The House of Atreus (P856); see also P857, P904, W514, and W515. There is no work titled Totem No. 1.

Solo Exhibitions Galerie Veith Turske, Cologne, Germany, 1979. Group Exhibitions Galerie Isernhagen, Germany, 1979. Sprengel Museum, Hannover, Germany, 1985, cat. no. 32, illus. p. 71.

P907

P908

References Elger and Krempel 2003, p. 295, illus. p. 295 (pl. 777). Comments The word Study in the title of this painting appears to connote an exploration of the Elegy theme rather than a study for a specific work. There is a 1978 work called Elegy to the Spanish Republic No. 150 (W534), which is painted on the impression of a lithograph, but this work does not bear any direct relationship to it. Most other Elegy “studies” are unnumbered, so we cannot account for the high number in the title of this work, which appears only in Sprengel Museum records and not in any Motherwell studio documents.

P908

Elegy Study No. XIII 1976–79 Acrylic on canvas mounted on board 24 x 48 in. (61 x 121.9 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper right: RM \ Aug 76 Verso not seen Artist’s Studio Number P79-712 Present Owner The Collection of Blema and Arnold Steinberg Provenance Blema and Arnold Steinberg, 1981 Solo Exhibitions Museo de Arte Contemporaneo de Caracas, Venezuela, 1979, cat. no. 14.

P909

He extended and repainted some of the black forms before exhibiting the painting in Caracas in May 1979. The shipping documents and catalogue from the Caracas exhibition give a revised date of 1979 for the picture, but the basic composition was set in 1976. The word Study in the title connotes an exploration of the Elegy theme rather than a study for a specific work. We do not know what the other works are that are implicitly referred to by the number XIII in the title.

P909

Elegy Sketch 1976 Acrylic on canvas 36 x 48 in. (91.4 x 121.9 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper left: RM \ 24 Aug 76 Verso: “elegy sketch” 24 Aug 1976 R. Motherwell Present Owner Private collection Provenance Private collection, 1977; private collection, 1987 Solo Exhibitions Galerie André Emmerich, Zurich, 1977, color illus. n.p.

References Drudi 1984, color illus. p. 69; Drudi 1988b, color illus. p. 69. Comments Motherwell began this work in 1976, as evidenced by the recto signature that dates it to August of that year.

paint ing s on canvas and pane l

447

P910

P911

P912

P911

P912

Ochre Open

Middle Wall of China

1976 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 72 x 36 in. (182.9 x 91.4 cm)

1976 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 36 x 24 in. (91.4 x 61 cm)

Inscriptions Recto, upper right: RM \ 17 Sept 76

Inscriptions Recto, lower left: RM

Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated

Verso: “ochre open” \ 1976 \ R. Motherwell

Verso: “Middle Wall of China” \ Nov 76 \ R. Motherwell

Verso: 29 Dec 76

Artist’s Studio Number P76-1970

Artist’s Studio Number P76-2433

Present Owner Ezratti Collection, Florida. Courtesy of Kim Heirston Art Advisory

Present Owner Dedalus Foundation

Elegy Sketch Alternative Title: Elegy Study 1976 Acrylic and graphite on canvas mounted on Masonite 10 x 25 in. (25.4 x 63.5 cm)

References Arnason 1982, color illus. p. 214 (pl. 300, as Elegy Study); Danto 1997, illus. p. 56 (fig. 9, as Elegy Study); Danto 1999, p. 34, illus. p. 35 (fig. 4, as Elegy Study).

Verso (on paper attached to backing board): “elegy sketch” \ R. Motherwell \ Sept 1976 \ acrylic on canvas Artist’s Studio Number P76-1080 Present Owner Private collection Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; private collection, 2003

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pain tin gs on can v as an d pa n el

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Ezratti Collection, Florida, 2006 Solo Exhibitions Museo de Arte Contemporaneo de Caracas, Venezuela, 1979, cat. no. 10.

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991

P913

The Deserted Studio Alternative Titles: Open No. 152: In Yellow Ochre and Black; Untitled (In Yellow Ochre with Charcoal Line and Blue Window on Right); Untitled 1970/ca. 1976 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 82¼ x 225 in. (208.9 x 571.5 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper right: RM 71 Verso: “the deserted studio” \ R. Motherwell \ 1971 Artist’s Studio Number P71-1523; P71-3635; P71-3643 Present Owner Collection of the Art Fund, Inc., at the Birmingham Museum of Art. Purchased with funds provided by the Merton Brown Estate and the Thelma Brown Trust, with additional funds provided by the Bluff Park Art Association in honor of their 40th anniversary, Nancy and John Poyner, Mrs. Herbert E. Smith Jr., the Honorable and Mrs. J. Scott Vowell, Mr. and Mrs. Glenn

Ireland II, the Rucker and Margaret Agee Fund, Mrs. Marilyn B. Scruggs, Mr. and Mrs. Stanley M. Erdreich, and Mrs. Robert Loeb Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Birmingham Museum of Art, Ala., 2005 Solo Exhibitions Tibor de Nagy Gallery, Houston, 1974 (shown in early state), as Untitled (In Yellow Ochre with Charcoal Line and Blue Window on Right). Laguna Gloria Art Museum, Austin, Tex., 1975 (shown in early state), as Untitled. Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, 1977. Group Exhibitions Knoedler & Company, New York, 1998, cat. no. 3 (added mid-show). Comments This painting was begun in 1970 as a composition with an ochre ground and a black rectangle at the extreme right. Its original title was Open No. 152: In Yellow Ochre and Black. Although it

was listed as Untitled (In Yellow Ochre with Charcoal Line and Blue Window on Right) when exhibited in Houston in 1974, photographs of that exhibition reveal that it was shown there in the original ochre and black state. Sometime around 1976 Motherwell reworked the image considerably, adding the two sections of blue; he then renamed the work The Deserted Studio, and dated it 1971 on both the recto and the verso. Because the 1976 revisions altered the work substantially, we have placed it with works from that year.

P914

Summer Seaside Doorway Alternative Title: Green Stripe with Blue and Grey 1971/ca. 1976 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 60 x 40 in. (152.4 x 101.6 cm) Inscriptions Recto, lower right, incised: Sept \ Motherwell \ 71 Verso: R. Motherwell \ “summer seaside doorway” \ 1971 Present Owner Frederick R. Weisman Art Foundation, Los Angeles Provenance Lord McAlpine of West Green, 1977; private collection and André Emmerich Gallery, 1977; Frederick R. Weisman, 1977; Frederick R. Weisman Art Foundation, Los Angeles, 1982 Solo Exhibitions Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, 1972, cat. no. 9 (shown in early state), as Green Stripe with Blue and Grey.

p aint ing s on canvas and pane l

449

P914

Galerie André Emmerich, Zurich, 1977, color illus. n.p., as Summer Sea Side Doorway. Group Exhibitions San Francisco Art Institute, 1984, cat. no. 28. Frederick R. Weisman Art Foundation, Los Angeles, 1985 (circulating), color illus. p. 51.

Comments This work was begun in 1971 and shown at the Walker Art Center in 1972 as Green Stripe with Blue and Grey. Around 1976, Motherwell extensively revised it with the addition of the dominant blacks and renamed it Summer Seaside Doorway.

References Welish 1972, illus. p. 45 (in early state, erroneously as Green Stripe with Ochre); Arnason 1977b, illus. n.p. (pl. 217, in exhibition); Curtis 1984, p. 12; Frederick R. Weisman Foundation 1984, p. 44; Frederick R. Weisman Foundation 1985, color illus. p. 116; Pleynet 1989b, color illus. p. 139; Caws 1996b, pp. 92, 99, illus. p. 94, color illus. n.p.; Caws 2003, color illus. p. 155 (ill. 102); Frederick R. Weisman Philanthropic Foundation 2007, p. 242, color illus. p. 238 (installation view), color illus. p. 243.

P915

Summer Seaside Night 1974–76 Acrylic on canvas 72 x 84 in. (182.9 x 213.4 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper right, incised: RM \ May 74 Verso: R. Motherwell May 1974 Artist’s Studio Number P74-1524 Present Owner Private collection, California Provenance Private collection, 1977; [Christie’s, New York, May 8, 1984, lot 29, illus.]; Keck Collection, 1984; [Sotheby’s, New York, November 14, 1991, lot 317, illus.]; private collection, 1991; private collection, California, 2009 Solo Exhibitions Galerie André Emmerich, Zurich, 1977, cover color illus. Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, 1977.

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p ain tin gs on can v as an d pa n el

References G[reenspan] 1984, p. 61. Comments This painting was begun in 1974 with a predominantly blue ground and a pink rectangular plane on the left side. Studio photographs show that in November 1975 Motherwell painted most of the ground black around a blue rectangular form at the center of the painting. Final revisions, including the addition of the green paint, probably occurred in late 1976, as per a February 1977 studio photograph of the work in its final form. This painting shares formal characteristics with Summer Seaside Doorway (P914), which was returned to Motherwell’s studio from Knoedler & Company and revised in December 1976.

P916

Study in Automatism 1976–77 Acrylic and china marker on canvas 16 x 20 in. (40.6 x 50.8 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper right: RM \ 76 Verso: R. Motherwell \ January 1977 \ acrylic on canvas Artist’s Studio Number P77-1309 Present Owner Ulrich Museum of Art, Wichita State University Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Ulrich Museum of Art, Wichita State University, Kans., 1994

P917

P918

P917

P918

Calligraphic Presence

Gesture No. 45

Group Exhibitions Century Club, New York, 1994.

1977 Acrylic on canvas 30 x 20 in. (76.2 x 50.8 cm)

Ca. 1977 Acrylic on canvas 48 x 36 in. (121.9 x 91.4 cm)

Nassau County Museum of Art, Roslyn Harbor, N.Y., 1997, illus. p. 52 (upside down).

Inscriptions Recto, upper left: RM \ 77

Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated

Verso not signed, not dated

Verso (on stretcher): Gesture #45

Artist’s Studio Number P77-915

Artist’s Studio Number P75-1283

Present Owner Private collection, Zurich

Present Owner Collection of Arthur and Susie Goldner

Provenance Private collection, Zurich, 1978

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Arthur and Susie Goldner, 2005

Museo Rufino Tamayo, Mexico City, 1991 (traveling), cat. no. 17, color illus. p. 62.

Nassau County Museum of Art, Roslyn Harbor, N.Y., 2007, color illus. p. 52. References Sweeney 1986, illus. sec. A, p. 1 (in studio); Tyson 1992, sec. D, p. 5; Caws 1996b, illus. p. 28, color illus. n.p.; Fundació Antoni Tàpies exh. cat. 1996, illus. n.p. (in studio); Caws 2003, p. 77, illus. p. 77 (ill. 50).

Group Exhibitions Galerie André Emmerich, Zurich, 1978.

References Art in Embassies 1999, color illus. n.p. (detail), color illus. n.p.

Solo Exhibitions Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, 1984, cat. no. 113. Knoedler & Company, New York, April 1991, cat. no. 19.

paint ing s on canvas and pane l

451

P919

P920

P919

P920

P921

[ Untitled (Samurai) ]

1977 Acrylic on canvas 48 x 36 in. (121.9 x 91.4 cm)

1977 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 48 x 36 in. (121.9 x 91.4 cm)

1977 Acrylic on canvas 48 x 24 in. (121.9 x 61 cm)

Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated

Inscriptions Recto, upper left, incised: RM \ 77

Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated

Verso: R. Motherwell 1977

Verso: «6» \ R. Motherwell \ March 77 \ acrylic on canvas \ 48 x 36"

Verso: «K» \ R. Motherwell \ March 1977 \ acrylic on sized canvas \ 48 x 24"

Artist’s Studio Number P77-1192

Artist’s Studio Number P77-1191

Present Owner Collection of Ray Ellen and Allan Yarkin

Present Owner Private collection

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Ray Ellen and Allan Yarkin, 2004

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; private collection, 2004

Solo Exhibitions Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, 1977, illus. n.p.

Solo Exhibitions Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, 1977.

Artist’s Studio Number P77-2671 Present Owner Private collection Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; private collection, 2004 References Architectural Digest 2006a, color illus. p. 191 (installation view).

452

p ain tin gs on c an v as an d pa n el

P921

P922

Atavistic Presence 1977 Acrylic on canvas 72 x 170 in. (182.9 x 431.8 cm)

Comments This painting was based on a small 1975 work, Primordial Sketch No. 7 (P865).

Inscriptions Recto, upper left: RM 77 Verso not seen Artist’s Studio Number P77-1242 Present Owner Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery and Sculpture Garden, University of Nebraska–Lincoln. Gift of the Dedalus Foundation, Inc., and Olga N. Sheldon Acquisition Trust Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery and Sculpture Garden, University of Nebraska– Lincoln, 1994 Solo Exhibitions Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, 1977.

paint ing s on canvas and pane l

453

P923

P924

Les Caves IV

Phoenician Red Studio

1977 Acrylic on canvas 24 x 48 in. (61 x 121.9 cm)

1977 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 86 x 192 in. (218.4 x 487.7 cm)

Inscriptions Recto, upper left, incised: RM \ 77

Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated

Verso: R. Motherwell \ “Les Caves IV” \ 1977

Verso not signed, not dated

Artist’s Studio Number P77-1281 Present Owner Dedalus Foundation Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991 Solo Exhibitions Museum Morsbroich, Leverkusen, Germany, 2004, color illus. pp. 98–99. Galerie Bernd Klüser, Munich, May 2005, cat. no. 15. Comments The first Les Caves painting was completed in 1975 (P862), and Les Caves No. 2 (P877) was done in 1976. There is no known Les Caves No. 3.

454

p ain tin gs on c an v as an d pa n el

Artist’s Studio Number P77-1207 Present Owner Guggenheim Museum Bilbao Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, Spain, 1997

William Benton Museum of Art, University of Connecticut, Storrs, 1979, cat. no. 86 (brochure); cat. no. 92 (catalogue), color illus. p. 107 (in exhibition). Centro Cultural de la Caixa de Pensions, Barcelona, 1980 (traveling), Barcelona, cat. no. 17. Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, 1984, cat. no. 51. Museo Rufino Tamayo, Mexico City, 1991 (traveling), cat. no. 18. Group Exhibitions Art Galleries, American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters, New York, 1987, cat. no. 59.

Solo Exhibitions Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, 1977.

Musée Saint-Pierre Art Contemporain, Lyon, France, 1988, cat. no. 77, color illus. p. 197, color illus. n.p. (in exhibition).

Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1978 (“Additions to Catalogue of Motherwell Exhibition,” checklist addenda D).

Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo, 1997 (traveling), cat. no. 61, color illus. pp. 124–25.

Knoedler & Company, New York, 1978, cat. no. 37, color illus. p. 19 (in exhibition), illus. p. 22.

Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, Spain, 1997, cat. no. 8.

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, 2001. References Baro 1966b, p. 5; Frackman 1978, p. 24; Motherwell in MacMillan 1978, p. 5; Russell 1978, sec. C, p. 15; Spurling 1978, p. 230; Vaizey 1978, p. 35; Highwater 1979; Morrin 1979, p. 13; Newtown Bee 1979, illus. sec. C, p. 28; Scott 1979, as Phoenician Red; Terenzio 1979, p. 3; Ashton 1980, color illus. p. 8; Mattison 1981, p. 200, as Phoenician Studio; Arnason 1982, color illus. p. 203 (pl. 276); Motherwell in Arnason 1982, p. 203; Gaugh 1985, p. 73; Highwater 1986, p. 217, as Phoenician Red; Flam 1991, color illus. n.p. (pl. 122); Tyson 1992, sec. D, p. 5; Falgàs 1995, p. 45, as Phoenician Studio; Torner 1996, p. 16; Thierolf 2002, p. 314, illus. p. 315 (fig. 3); Mattison et al. 2009, p. 84, color illus. pp. 164–65. Comments This painting appears to have been modeled on a smaller work from 1976, A la pintura No. 15 (P897), which was also listed in Motherwell’s studio

P924

P925

records as Phoenician Study. Motherwell discussed the genesis of this large work in a letter of April 28, 1978, to John Russell of the New York Times, saying that the two charcoal forms are letters from the Phoenician alphabet: “The title of this painting, Phoenician Red Studio, is then, of course, a play on the Phoenician alphabet and in an equally remote way on Matisse’s Red Studio” (see “Writings by the Artist,” in the Bibliography).

P925

Elegy to the Spanish Republic No. 127 Alternative Titles: Elegy; Elegy to the Spanish Republic No. 126 1971–77 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 80 x 101 in. (203.2 x 256.5 cm) Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated Verso: R. Motherwell \ 1973 Artist’s Studio Number P71-75; P73-1203 Present Owner Private collection, Palm Beach Provenance Art Enterprises, Ltd., Chicago, 1981; private collection, Palm Beach, Fla., 2009

456

p ain tin gs on ca n v a s a n d pan el

Solo Exhibitions Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, 1977, as Elegy. Harcus Krakow Gallery, Boston, 1980, cat. no. 2, as Elegy to the Spanish Republic No. 126. Thomas McCormick Gallery, Chicago, December 2005 (traveling), as Elegy to the Spanish Republic No. 126. Group Exhibitions Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, 1994, cat. no. 96, as Elegy to the Spanish Republic No. 126. Rockford Art Museum, Ill., 2004. References Pleynet 1975, p. 7; Weisman 1978, illus. p. 119 (in progress); Arnason 1982, illus. p. 65 (in studio, in progress); Art Enterprises 2000, color illus. p. 121 (foldout), as Elegy to the Spanish Republic #126.

Comments This painting was begun in 1971, on a slightly larger canvas (88 x 122 inches). The earliest known version had a horizontal beige band along the bottom edge and was signed and dated 1971 in the upper right corner. Motherwell subsequently revised the painting (as per studio photographs), and dated it 1973 on the verso. In early 1977, Motherwell gave the painting its final form, reworking the composition and cropping the canvas to its present dimensions. The work was first exhibited without an Elegy series number. In 1980, it was assigned the number 126; but after it was sold Motherwell renumbered it as 127, to avoid duplication with the already extant Elegy to the Spanish Republic No. 126 (P851).

P926

P927

P928

P929

P926

P927

P928

P929

Painting (29 May 1977)

Black Rocks and Sea

Gesture Figure VI

Samurai No. 8

1977 Acrylic on canvas 5⅛ x 4 in. (13 x 10.2 cm)

1977 Acrylic on canvas 5⅛ x 3⅛ in. (13 x 7.9 cm)

1977 Acrylic on canvas 36 x 24 in. (91.4 x 61 cm)

Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated

Inscriptions Recto, lower right, incised: RM

1977 Acrylic on canvas mounted on Masonite 36 x 24 in. (91.4 x 61 cm)

Verso: R. Motherwell \ 29 May 77

Verso not seen [“R. Motherwell / 29 May 77,” per studio card]

Verso not signed, not dated

Artist’s Studio Number P77-1301 Present Owner Private collection Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; private collection, 2002 Solo Exhibitions William Ehrlich Gallery, New York, June 1979. Knoedler & Company, New York, April 1991, cat. no. 14. References Tyler 1991a, illus. sec. D, p. 3.

Artist’s Studio Number P77-1939 Present Owner Unknown Provenance Private collection, 1979; unknown owner Solo Exhibitions William Ehrlich Gallery, New York, May 1979. References Henry 1979, p. 181. Comments Our reproduction of this work comes from a Polaroid photograph.

Artist’s Studio Number P77-923; P77-923C Present Owner Private collection Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; private collection, 2005 Comments Although this painting is titled Gesture Figure VI, there exists only one other work in the series, Gesture Figure III (P891).

Inscriptions Recto, upper right: RM \ 77 Verso: R. Motherwell \ 1977 Artist’s Studio Number P77-934 Present Owner Private collection Provenance Private collection, 1987; private collection, 1987 Solo Exhibitions Janie C. Lee Gallery, Houston, 1978. References Glenn 1984, color illus. p. 90 (in studio). Comments Regarding the title and numbering of the Samurai series, see the Comments for Samurai No. 1 (P775).

paint ing s on canvas and pane l

457

P930

P931

P932

P930

P931

P932

P933

Samurai No. 9

Samurai No. 10

Samurai No. 11

Samurai No. 12

1977 Acrylic on canvas mounted on board 36 x 24 in. (91.4 x 61 cm)

1977 Acrylic on canvas mounted on board 40 x 30 in. (101.6 x 76.2 cm)

1977 Acrylic on canvas mounted on board 48 x 36 in. (121.9 x 91.4 cm)

Inscriptions Recto, lower left: RM \ 77

Inscriptions Recto, upper right: RM 77

Inscriptions Recto, upper right: RM. June 77

Inscriptions Recto, upper right: RM 77

Verso not seen [signed “Robert Motherwell \ Samurai #IX \ size 36" x 24",” per present owner]

Verso not seen

Verso not signed, not dated

Artist’s Studio Number P77-914

Artist’s Studio Number P77-917

Artist’s Studio Number P77-938; P77-938C

Artist’s Studio Number P77-930; P77-930-C

Present Owner Mrs. Pamela Skaist-Levy and Mr. Jefery Levy

Present Owner Gert W. Munthe, Oslo

Present Owner Taubman Museum of Art, Roanoke, Va. Partial gift of the 1999 Collectors Circle and the Dedalus Foundation, and partial purchase funds from the Cherry Hill Endowment, 2000.004

Present Owner Private collection Provenance Jay Spectre, 1978; private collection, ca. 1978

Provenance Private collection, 1978; private collection, 1987; Frances Bass, 1987; Pamela Skaist Levy and Jefery Levy, 2007

Provenance Private collection, 1980; André Emmerich Gallery, 1984; private collection, California, 1984; private collection, 1988; Ann Kendall Richards, Inc., 2008; Gert W. Munthe, Oslo, 2008 Group Exhibitions André Emmerich Gallery, New York, 1984.

458

p ain tin gs on c a n v a s a n d pan el

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Taubman Museum of Art, Roanoke, Va., 2000 Solo Exhibitions Centro Cultural de la Caixa de Pensions, Barcelona, 1980 (traveling), Barcelona, cat. no. 19; Madrid, cat. no. 19, color illus. n.p.

P933

References Rubio 1980, color illus. p. 20; Tàpies 1984, illus. p. 37.

P934

Samurai No. 13 1977 Acrylic on canvas mounted on board 48 x 36 in. (121.9 x 91.4 cm)

P934

References Glenn 1982b, color illus. p. 102 (installation view).

P935

Samurai No. 14 1977 Acrylic on canvas mounted on board 36 x 24 in. (91.4 x 61 cm)

Inscriptions Recto, upper right: RM \ 77

Verso not signed, not dated

Verso not seen

Artist’s Studio Number P77-916

Artist’s Studio Number P77-931

Present Owner Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Raymond Perelman

Present Owner Private collection

Provenance Private collection and André Emmerich Gallery, 1980; Mr. and Mrs. Jimmy J. Younger, 1981; [Christie’s, New York, May 3, 1994, lot 39, illus. (not sold)]; [Sotheby’s, New York, May 9, 1996, lot 175, illus.]; Mr. and Mrs. Raymond Perelman, 1996

Provenance Private collection, 1984 Solo Exhibitions Knoedler & Company, New York, 1978, cat. no. 12, illus. p. 20.

Group Exhibitions Philharmonic Center for the Arts, Naples, Fla., 1996.

paint ing s on canvas and pane l

459

P936

P937

P938

La Mer

{ Iberia}

The Blackness of Black

1977 Acrylic on canvas board 30¼ x 24 in. (76.8 x 61 cm)

Alternative Title: Untitled Ca. 1977 Acrylic on canvas 9 x 12 in. (22.9 x 30.5 cm)

Alternative Title: [The Blackness of Black (Hector’s Helmet)] 1977 Acrylic on canvas 12 x 9 in. (30.5 x 22.9 cm)

Inscriptions Recto, lower right: RM 77 Verso: “la mer” (bien) \ for Marcelin Pleynet \ with profound admiration \ and gratitude \ Robert Motherwell \ Provincetown–Paris June 1977 \ acrylic on canvas panel Present Owner Seattle Art Museum. Gift of Neuberger Berman Provenance Marcelin Pleynet, 1977; [Christie’s, New York, May 5, 1993, lot 283, illus. (not sold)]; Neuberger Berman; Seattle Art Museum, 2000 Comments The dedication on the verso of this painting is to the French poet and critic Marcelin Pleynet (b. 1933), who began to write about Motherwell in 1975.

460

Inscriptions Recto, upper left, incised [partially painted over]: R[M]

Inscriptions Recto, lower left, incised: RM

Recto, lower right [painted over]: [Motherwell]

Verso: R. Motherwell \ 18 July 1977

Verso not seen

Verso: “the blackness of black”

Artist’s Studio Number P66-1121; P77-1121

Artist’s Studio Number P77-1161

Present Owner Collection of the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth. Museum purchase, the Friends of Art Endowment Fund

Present Owner Dedalus Foundation

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, 1999 Solo Exhibitions Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, 2004.

p ain tin gs on c a n v a s a n d pan el

Verso [crossed out]: “[illegible]”

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991 Comments The alternative title for this work occurs only on the studio card, but may refer to the illegible inscription on the verso, which probably was the title of an earlier state. Deep scoring is visible under the surface of the paint film throughout

P937

the image, indicating the presence of an earlier, undocumented composition that may correlate to the crossedout title.

P938

P939

Spanish Death II 1977/ca. 1984 Acrylic on canvas board 17⅞ x 14 in. (45.4 x 35.6 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper left: RM \ 77 Verso not signed, not dated Artist’s Studio Number P77-1942 Present Owner Private collection Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; private collection, 2003 Solo Exhibitions Knoedler & Company, New York, February 1981, cat. no. 24 (shown in early state). group Exhibitions Long Point Gallery, Provincetown, Mass., August 1978, cat. no. 8 (shown in early state).

P939

References Drudi 1984, color illus. p. 6 (in studio), color illus. p. 29 (in studio), color illus. p. 63 (in studio); Drudi 1988b, color illus. p. 6 (in studio, in early state), color illus. p. 29 (in studio, in early state); Pleynet 1989b, color illus. p. 173 (in studio, in early state); Galerie Bernd Klüser exh. cat. 2001, color illus. p. 60 (in studio, in early state); Engberg and Banach 2003, illus. p. 54 (in studio, in early state). Comments The composition of this painting was set in 1977, and that first state was shown in 1978 and 1981. Motherwell made some small modifications to the black forms in 1984. Another work from 1977 (P940) had been given the same title but was later retitled Spanish Death IIA. The composition is related to the earlier large-scale painting The Spanish Death (P838).

P940

Spanish Death IIA Alternative Title: Spanish Death II 1977/ca. 1984 Acrylic on canvas board 10 x 8 in. (25.4 x 20.3 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper right: RM Verso: R. Motherwell \ 1 June 77 \ “Spanish Death II” Artist’s Studio Number P77-918

P940

References Sweeney 1986, illus. sec. A, p. 1 (in studio); Galerie Bernd Klüser exh. cat. 2001, color illus. p. 60 (in studio). Comments This painting was originally signed and titled Spanish Death II on the verso; Motherwell later added the suffix “A” to the number in order to avoid confusion with another work that had the same title (P939). The black bar that runs down the left side of the picture was added sometime after January 1984.

Present Owner Honolulu Academy of Arts. Partial purchase and partial gift of the Dedalus Foundation, 1999 (8988.1) Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Honolulu Academy of Arts, 1999 Solo Exhibitions William Ehrlich Gallery, New York, June 1979 (shown in early state), as Spanish Death II.

paint ing s on canvas and pane l

461

P941

P942

P943

P941

P942

P943

P944

Spanish Death IV

Spanish Death V

The Spanish Death VI

The Sky Blue Sea

1977 Acrylic on canvas board 30 x 24 in. (76.2 x 61 cm)

Alternative Title: Spanish Death #5 1977 Acrylic on canvas board 6 x 4 in. (15.2 x 10.2 cm)

1977 Acrylic on canvas 12 x 9 in. (30.5 x 22.9 cm)

1977 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 30 x 78 in. (76.2 x 198.1 cm)

Inscriptions Recto, upper right: RM \ 77

Inscriptions Recto, lower right, incised: RM \ 77 Verso: 16 July 77 \ “Spanish Death IV”

Inscriptions Recto, upper right, incised: RM \ 77

Artist’s Studio Number P77-945

Verso: R. Motherwell \ “The Spanish Death VI” \ August 1977 \ acrylic on canvas

Verso not seen

Verso: R. Motherwell \ “Spanish Death #5”

Present Owner Private collection

Artist’s Studio Number P77-1023

Artist’s Studio Number P77-1265

Present Owner Deanna and Joseph Bittker

Provenance Private collection, 1979

Present Owner Private collection

Present Owner Collection of Luther W. Brady

Solo Exhibitions Knoedler & Company, New York, 1978, cat. no. 25, illus. p. 15 (in exhibition), illus. p. 21.

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; private collection, 2005

Provenance Kenneth E. Tyler; [Sotheby’s, New York, May 18, 2000, lot 391, illus.]; private collection, 2000; Luther W. Brady

Provenance Private collection, 1979; Deanna and Joseph Bittker, 1987

Douglas Drake Gallery, Kansas City, Mo., 1978.

Solo Exhibitions William Ehrlich Gallery, New York, June 1979. Manny Silverman Gallery, Los Angeles, November 2002, cat. no. 16.

462

pain tin gs on c an v as an d pa n el

Artist’s Studio Number P77-937

Group Exhibitions Galerie André Emmerich, Zurich, 1978.

P944

P945

P946

P945

P946

The Blue Hour

The Summer Studio

1977 Acrylic on canvas board 6 x 4 in. (15.2 x 10.2 cm)

1977 Acrylic on canvas 44 x 54 in. (111.8 x 137.2 cm)

Inscriptions Recto, upper left, incised: RM \ 77

Inscriptions Recto, upper right: RM \ 77

Verso: R. Motherwell \ 1977

Verso not seen [“signed and dated 1977,” per Locks Gallery records]

Artist’s Studio Number P77-1026 Present Owner Dedalus Foundation Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991 Solo Exhibitions William Ehrlich Gallery, New York, June 1979. Comments The title of this painting is a translation of l’heure bleue, a French expression for twilight.

Artist’s Studio Number P77-1296 Present Owner Private collection. Courtesy Locks Gallery, Philadelphia Provenance Private collection, 1983; [Sotheby’s, New York, November 11, 1988, lot 170, illus.]; private collection, 1988

Locks Gallery, Philadelphia, 1992, color illus. p. 30. Group Exhibitions Locks Gallery, Philadelphia, 1991. References Moser 1978, sec. 3, p. 9; Carmean 1980, illus. p. 12 (in studio), illus. p. 27 (in studio), illus. p. 39 (in studio), illus. p. 43 (in studio), illus. p. 44 (in studio), color illus. p. 45 (in studio), illus. p. 46 (in studio); Winter 1982, illus. p. 74 (in studio, flipped); Pleynet 1986, illus. p. 88 (in studio).

P947

Window on Madrid 1977 Acrylic and graphite on canvas board 4 x 6 in. (10.2 x 15.2 cm) Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated Verso: R. Motherwell 1977 Artist’s Studio Number P77-1027; P77-2264 Present Owner Dedalus Foundation Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991 Solo Exhibitions William Ehrlich Gallery, New York, May 1979.

Solo Exhibitions Janie C. Lee Gallery, Houston, 1978. Galerie Veith Turske, Cologne, Germany, 1979. Marian Locks Gallery, Philadelphia, 1989, color illus. n.p.

paint ing s on canvas and pane l

463

P948

P950

P949

P948

P949

Spanish Elegy with Marine Blue

Elegy Study

Marisa del Re Gallery, New York, December 1982. References Pleynet 1989b, color illus. p. 173 (in studio); Galerie Bernd Klüser exh. cat. 2001, color illus. p. 60 (in studio).

P950

Elegy Sketch

1977 Acrylic on canvas board 12 x 16 in. (30.5 x 40.6 cm)

Alternative Title: Elegy Sketch 1977 Acrylic on canvas board 4 x 6 in. (10.2 x 15.2 cm)

Inscriptions Recto, upper right: RM 77

Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated

Inscriptions Recto, upper right: RM \ 77

Verso not seen

Verso: R. Motherwell \ “Elegy Study” 1977 \ acrylic on canvas

Verso not signed, not dated

Artist’s Studio Number P77-1330 Present Owner Collection of Joseph and Maxine Berzok Provenance Joseph and Maxine Berzok, 1979 References Fundació Antoni Tàpies exh. cat. 1996, illus. frontispiece (in studio). Comments The composition of this painting is quite unusual in that the Elegy forms rise from the bottom of the canvas rather than being suspended from the top. See also the Comments for Spanish Elegy XVII (Segura) (P149). 464

Artist’s Studio Number P77-1024 Present Owner Private collection Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; private collection, 2001 Solo Exhibitions William Ehrlich Gallery, New York, June 1979, as Elegy Sketch. Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, 1984, cat. no. 130. Group Exhibitions New Britain Museum of American Art, Conn., 1982.

pain tin gs on c an v as an d pa n el

1977 Acrylic and ink on canvas mounted on board 5 x 12½ in. (12.7 x 31.8 cm)

Artist’s Studio Number D77-1044 Present Owner Dedalus Foundation Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991 Solo Exhibitions William Ehrlich Gallery, New York, May 1979. Comments This work and p951–p955 are studies for Reconciliation Elegy (p956).

P951

P953

P952

P954

P951

P952

P953

P954

Wall Painting Sketch

Untitled

Study on Canvas A

[ Untitled (Elegy Sketch) ]

1978 Acrylic and ink on canvas mounted on board 7⅞ x 19¾ in. (20 x 50.2 cm)

1977 Acrylic and graphite on canvas mounted on Masonite 10 x 25 in. (25.4 x 63.5 cm)

1977 Acrylic and ink on canvas mounted on board 10 x 25 in. (25.4 x 63.5 cm)

Ca. 1977 Acrylic and graphite on canvas mounted on wood panel 9½ x 23½ in. (24.1 x 59.7 cm)

Inscriptions Recto, upper right: RM \ 78

Inscriptions Recto, lower left: Motherwell

Inscriptions Recto, upper left: RM \ 77

Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated

Verso not signed, not dated

Artist’s Studio Number P78-2261

Artist’s Studio Number D-1074; P77-1074

Artist’s Studio Number P77-1033

Artist’s Studio Number D79-1519

Present Owner Dedalus Foundation

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991

Solo Exhibitions William Ehrlich Gallery, New York, May 1979.

Solo Exhibitions Janie C. Lee Gallery, Houston, 1979, cat. no. 102, illus. n.p. (in exhibition).

Present Owner Art Gallery of Ontario. Purchased with funds from an anonymous donor, with support from the Dedalus Foundation, 1998

Knoedler & Company, New York, April 1991, cat. no. 11.

Galerie Lelong, Paris, 2007.

Museo Rufino Tamayo, Mexico City, 1991 (traveling), cat. no. 19, color illus. pp. 54–55.

Group Exhibitions Long Point Gallery, Provincetown, Mass., August 1978, cat. no. 22.

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, 1998

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991 Solo Exhibitions Galerie Lelong, Paris, 2007.

Solo Exhibitions Knoedler & Company, New York, 1978, cat. no. 27, illus. p. 21.

William Shearburn Gallery, Saint Louis, 2006, cat. no. 32. paint ing s on canvas and pane l

465

P955

Study for Reconciliation Elegy 1977 Acrylic and graphite on canvas board 5¾ x 18¼ in. (14.6 x 46.4 cm) Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated Verso not seen [“center reverse: Robert Motherwell \ Sept 1977,” per present owner] Artist’s Studio Number P77-959 Present Owner National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. Gift of the Dedalus Foundation Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 2004 References Carmean 1980, color illus. p. 71. Comments This painting served as a maquette for the large-scale mural Reconciliation Elegy (P956), which was commissioned by the National Gallery of Art in

466

Washington, D.C. The strips of masking tape on the left and bottom edges contain notations (not in the artist’s hand) about the dimensions of the work. The image of two standing men in the lower right corner (taken from a New Yorker cartoon) is meant to give an idea of the scale relationship of people standing some distance in front of the mural, which was meant to be hung high on the wall. Motherwell experimented with several other compositional studies (primarily drawings) for the mural before settling on this one (see for example p950–p954 and C616). During the summer of 1987, this work was vandalized when its surface was scratched while it was on display at the National Gallery. In a letter of February 16, 1988, to Jack Cowart, then the museum’s curator of twentiethcentury art, Motherwell requested that the work be left in its scratched state rather than being restored (Dedalus Foundation Archives).

pain tin gs on c a n v a s a n d pan el

P956

Reconciliation Elegy 1978 Acrylic, charcoal, and chalk on canvas 120 x 364 in. (304.8 x 924.6 cm) Inscriptions Recto, lower right: R Motherwell \ 1978 Verso not seen Present Owner National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. Gift of the Collectors Committee Provenance National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1978 Group Exhibitions National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1988. References Wallach 1977b, pt. II, p. 17; Canaday 1978, p. 31; Forgey 1978a, sec. Calendar, p. 3; Harvard Gazette 1978, p. 5; Horizon 1978, p. 59, illus. p. 59 (in progress); Kernan 1978, p. 41, color illus. p. 44 (installation view); Kingsley 1978, p. 113, illus. p. 113; Knoedler &

Company exh. cat. 1978, illus. p. 16 (in studio); Kramer 1978, p. 67, illus. p. 61; Motherwell in Horizon 1978, p. 59; National Gallery of Art 1978, illus. n.p.; Taylor 1978a, sec. A, p. 8; Braun 1979, p. 16, as Reconciliation; Motherwell in Diamonstein 1979b, p. 390; Vastokas 1979, illus. p. 22; Carmean 1980, color cover illus. (in progress), color back cover illus., illus. pp. 24–51 (in progress), illus. pp. 55–59 (in progress), illus. p. 60, color illus. pp. 62–63, color illus. pp. 74–75 (installation view), illus. p. 78 (installation view), illus. p. 85 (installation view); Motherwell in Carmean 1980, pp. 11, 15, 16–17, 19, 23, 26, 41, 55, 68–69, 71, 74–76, 77, 79; Anderson 1981, p. 156; Paire 1981, p. 223; [Pleynet] 1981, pp. 18, 25; Arnason 1982, color illus. p. 213 (pl. 297, in studio, in progress), illus. p. 216 (pl. 302, in studio, in progress), color illus. p. 217 (pl. 303, installation view); Lewis 1982, sec. D, p. 4; Motherwell in Arnason 1982, p. 215; Winter 1982, illus. p. 74 (in studio, in progress; image reversed); Bonet 1983, p. 134; Clarke 1983, p. 13; Cook et al. 1983, pp. 17, 19, 28–32,

P956

P957

37–38, 43–46, 63–64, color illus. n.p. (installation view); Irvine 1983, p. 15, illus. p. 16; Drudi 1984, p. 9; Wallach 1984a, sec. F, p. 1; Wallach 1984b, pt. 2, p. 4; Gamarekian 1985, sec. 1, p. 76, illus. sec. 1, p. 76 (installation view); Gaugh 1985, p. 74; Yale Center for International and Area Studies 1985, cover illus.; Pleynet 1986, p. 13, illus. p. 88 (in studio); Sweeney 1986, sec. A, p. 4; Thaw 1986–87, p. 43; Clarke 1988, p. 205, illus. n.p. (pl. 98); Drudi 1988b, p. 9; Kimmelman 1988, illus. p. 1 (in exhibition); Lloyd 1988b, p. 21, illus. p. 20 (upside down); Connaissance des Arts 1989, color illus. p. 17; Pleynet 1989b, pp. 12, 56, color illus. p. 155 (foldout), illus. p. 155 (in studio); Scarpetta 1989–90, p. 116; Poesia y Poética 1990, illus. n.p. (foldout); Brunet-Weinmann 1991, illus. sec. B, p. [1]; Polcari 1991, pp. 318–19, illus. p. 318 (fig. 257); Robinson and Wilkes 1991, p. 160, erroneously as Reconstruction Elegy; Careri 1992, pp. 19–21, illus. p. 18 (in studio, in progress), illus. p. 19 (installation view);

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Taylor 1993, p. 54, color illus. p. 55 (fig. 12, installation view); Falgàs 1995, p. 30; Pleynet 1995, illus. p. 111; Caws 1996b, pp. 57, 63, 65, 70, 75, 116, illus. p. 58 (in studio, in progress), illus. p. 64; Qin 1996, pp. 24, 57, illus. p. 86 (fig. 21); Durozoi 1998, p. 124; Dumas 2001, p. 114; National Gallery of Art 2001, color illus. p. 11; Richardson 2001, pp. 253–55; Wentrup 2001, pp. 75–77, illus. (fig. 41); Caws 2003, pp. 16, 150, 171, 184, illus. p. 172 (ill. 122), illus. p. 185 (ill. 131, in studio, in progress). Comments This painting was commissioned by the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., to be installed in the museum’s new East Building, designed by the architect I. M. Pei. Discussions about the commission between Motherwell and E. A. Carmean, then the museum’s curator of twentieth-century art, began in late 1974. Over the next few years, Motherwell did a number of paintings, collages, and drawings as preparatory studies for this project (see, for example, P950–p955, w527–w532, and C616).

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The mural painting was completed and installed in March 1978. After Motherwell saw the painting installed, he made plans to rework the white area along the left edge, but those revisions were never done. Motherwell commented on the title at length, noting that “Reconciliation has multiple meanings . . . Reconciliation (hopefully) of the Spanish peoples, reconciliation with Death and Life” (see Motherwell in Carmean 1980, p. 77).

P957

Untitled (for Jules Verne) 1978 Acrylic, charcoal, and china marker on canvas 48 x 36 in. (121.9 x 91.4 cm) Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated Verso not seen Artist’s Studio Number P78-1284 Present Owner Unknown Provenance Private collection, 1980; unknown owner Comments The title of this painting refers to Jules Verne (1828–1905), the author of, among other works, Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea.

P959

Painting for Bertolt Brecht P958

P958

The Blue Door 1978–79 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 84 x 42 in. (213.4 x 106.7 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper left, incised [partially painted over]: RM \ [78] Verso not signed, not dated Artist’s Studio Number P76-1287 Present Owner Collection of Linda and Robert Schmier Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Linda and Robert Schmier, 2002

Solo Exhibitions Centro Cultural de la Caixa de Pensions, Barcelona, 1980 (traveling), Barcelona, cat. no. 18; Madrid, cat. no. 18, color illus. n.p.

1979/ca. 1983 Acrylic and graphite on canvas 14 x 18 in. (35.6 x 45.7 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper left: RM \ 6 July 79 Verso not seen Artist’s Studio Number P79-2367

Knoedler & Company, New York, February 1981, cat. no. 30.

Present Owner Private collection

References Rubio 1980, color illus. p. 21.

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; private collection, 2006

Comments This work was signed and dated in 1978, when its basic composition was set. The pink vertical strip along the left edge (which resembles the pink in works such as P977) was probably added just before September 1979, when the painting was photographed in its final form (Sloman photo no. 897).

sometime before April 1980, when the work was consigned to Knoedler & Company. The work was returned to him in December 1982, and he subsequently revised it again, covering most of the vertical lines with white paint. The title refers to the German playwright and director Bertolt Brecht (1898–1956), whose work Motherwell wrote about in “Parisian Artists in Exile: New York, 1939–45,” in 1977, and in a journal entry, around 1981 (Motherwell 2007, pp. 292, 326).

Solo Exhibitions Museum Morsbroich, Leverkusen, Germany, 2004, color illus. p. 117. Comments This painting was begun in 1979, and originally had white paint in the middle of the circular form near the center. Motherwell darkened the center form and added red paint to it, along with several vertical lines near the left edge,

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P960

P961

P960

Posada 1979 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 36 x 72 in. (91.4 x 182.9 cm) Inscriptions Recto, lower right, incised: RM \ 79 Verso not signed, not dated Artist’s Studio Number P79-2358 Present Owner Private collection Provenance Private collection, 1985; private collection, 1991; [Christie’s, New York, May 14, 2008, lot 214, illus.]; private collection, 2008 Solo Exhibitions Long Point Gallery, Provincetown, Mass., 1979, cat. no. 3.

References Drudi 1984, p. 34, color illus. p. 83; Drudi 1988b, p. 33, color illus. p. 83; Manthorne 1990, color illus. p. 69. Comments The title of this painting refers to the Mexican printmaker José Guadalupe Posada (1852–1913). Motherwell became acquainted with Posada’s work, including his calaveras, or images of skeletons engaged in the activities of living people, during the early 1940s, and he later discussed the influence of Posada’s imagery on his own early work in his introduction to a 1984 book about Robert Osborn (see “Writings by the Artist,” in the Bibliography). Posada is referred to again in the title of Motherwell’s 1980 painting Posada, the Mexican Printmaker (P991).

Ulrich Museum of Art, Wichita State University, Kans., 1979.

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P962

P961

P962

Untitled

1979 Acrylic and graphite on canvas 3 x 5 in. (7.6 x 12.7 cm)

1979 Oil and acrylic on canvas mounted on Masonite 5 x 12½ in. (12.7 x 31.8 cm)

Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated Verso: Robert Motherwell \ July 1979 Artist’s Studio Number P79-2373 Present Owner Dedalus Foundation Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991

Inscriptions Recto, upper left, incised: RM Verso [circled]: [oil on canvas] Verso [circled]: [Robert Motherwell \ Aug 1979] Verso: R. Motherwell \ Aug 1979 Artist’s Studio Number P79-2741 Present Owner Dedalus Foundation Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991

P963

Elegy to the Spanish Republic No. 159

Group Exhibitions Marisa del Re Gallery, New York, 1983, color illus. n.p. (upside down), as Elegy to the Spanish Republic.

1979 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 44 x 71¾ in. (111.8 x 182.3 cm)

References Hirsch 2002, cover color illus.

Inscriptions Recto, upper right: RM \ Aug 79 Verso not seen [“ ‘Elegy to the Spanish Republic No. 159’ R. Motherwell 1979,” per Christie’s 1993] Artist’s Studio Number P79-2360 Present Owner Private collection Provenance Norma Darwin Golden; [Christie’s, New York, November 7, 1990, lot 31, illus. (not sold)]; [Christie’s, New York, November 9, 1993, lot 15, illus.]; private collection, 1993 Solo Exhibitions Long Point Gallery, Provincetown, Mass., 1979, cat. no. 16.

P964

Elegy to the Spanish Republic No. 160 1979 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 52 x 84 in. (132.1 x 213.4 cm)

References Corredór-Matheos 1980, p. 40; Torroella 1980, p. 17; Bonet 1996, p. 8; Hess and Steiner 2009, color illus. pp. 238–39.

Inscriptions Recto, upper right, incised: RM \ Sept 79 Verso not signed, not dated Artist’s Studio Number P79-2361 Present Owner Hess Art Collection Provenance Hess Art Collection, ca. 1983 Solo Exhibitions Long Point Gallery, Provincetown, Mass., 1979, cat. no. 10. Centro Cultural de la Caixa de Pensions, Barcelona, 1980 (traveling), Barcelona, cat. no. 23.

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471

P965

P966

Untitled

1979 Acrylic on Masonite 12 x 16 in. (30.5 x 40.6 cm)

Alternative Title: {The Measure of Things} 1979 Oil on Masonite 7 x 13¼ in. (17.8 x 33.7 cm)

Inscriptions Recto, upper right: RM Verso not signed, not dated Artist’s Studio Number P79-2226 Present Owner Private collection, Munich Provenance Private collection, 1979; [Christie’s, New York, November 19, 1997, lot 250, illus.]; private collection, Munich, 1997

Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated Verso: Robert Motherwell \ 1979 \ oil on gesso panel Artist’s Studio Number D-2846 Present Owner Collection Bernard Jacobson Gallery, London Provenance Ownership undetermined; [Christie’s, New York, July 10, 2007, lot 192, illus.]; Bernard Jacobson Gallery, London, 2007 Group Exhibitions Bernard Jacobson Gallery, London, January 2009, cat. no. 6.

472

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P966

Comments The composition of this work is inspired by a well-known brush-and-ink painting called The Universe, by the Japanese Zen master Sengai (1750–1837). The alternative title of this painting was first given in the Christie’s 2007 auction catalogue.

P967

Brushstroke 1979 Oil on Masonite 7 x 6 in. (17.8 x 15.2 cm) Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated Verso not signed, not dated Artist’s Studio Number P80-3677 Present Owner Dedalus Foundation Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991 Comments This painting, like the others in what became the Brushstroke series, seems to have been inspired by a Japanese ink painting that Motherwell had acquired in 1968. That painting, by an anonymous seventeenth-century artist, consisted of a single horizontal brushstroke, signifying the concept of ichi (one). Motherwell’s Brushstroke series is composed of three numbered works and

P967

P968

four unnumbered ones; several untitled works are also clearly related to this series. Since the first numbered work in the series is given the number IV, it is likely that some of the unnumbered and untitled Brushstroke paintings were intended as the earlier numbers in the series. All of the works in this series were begun in September 1979, and all appear to have been initially painted in black and white; the additional colored paint on the three numbered works (P971–P973) was added later, around 1980. The Brushstroke paintings most likely coincided with Motherwell’s work on the lithograph Brushstroke (Engberg and Banach 2003, no. 251), which, according to Tyler Graphics Ltd. workshop records (TGL# RM79387), was executed in 1979 and published in 1980.

P969

P970

P968

P969

P970

Untitled

1979 Oil on Masonite 7 x 6 in. (17.8 x 15.2 cm)

1979 Oil on Masonite 16 x 12 in. (40.6 x 30.5 cm)

Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated

Inscriptions Recto, upper right: RM \ Sept 79

Verso not signed, not dated

Verso covered by remounting, no longer visible

Verso not signed, not dated

Artist’s Studio Number P79-2354 Present Owner Dedalus Foundation Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991

Artist’s Studio Number P79-2355 Present Owner Dedalus Foundation Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991

Artist’s Studio Number P79-2465 Present Owner Dedalus Foundation Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991

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473

P971

P972

P971

P972

P973

Brushstroke IV

Brushstroke V

Brushstroke VI

1979–80 Acrylic on canvas 14 x 10 in. (35.6 x 25.4 cm)

1979–80 Acrylic on canvas 12 x 9 in. (30.5 x 22.9 cm)

1979–80 Acrylic on canvas 18 x 14 in. (45.7 x 35.6 cm)

Inscriptions Recto, lower left: RM \ 79

Inscriptions Recto, upper right: RM \ 79

Verso: brushstroke #iv \ Robert Motherwell \ 10 Sept 1979

Verso: brushstroke #v \ Robert Motherwell \ 11 Sept 1979

Verso: brushstroke vi \ R. Motherwell \ 12 Sept 79

Artist’s Studio Number P79-2364

Artist’s Studio Number P79-2363

Artist’s Studio Number P79-2362

Present Owner Dedalus Foundation

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991

Group Exhibitions Manny Silverman Gallery, Los Angeles, 2009, cat. no. 17. Comments This painting is the earliest numbered work in the Brushstroke series, which includes two additional numbered works (P972 and P973); the color was added to all three in 1980.

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Solo Exhibitions Long Point Gallery, Provincetown, Mass., 1979, cat. no. 5 (shown in early state), as Brush Stroke.

P973

P974

Mexican Night 1979 Acrylic on canvas 48 x 48 in. (121.9 x 121.9 cm) Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated Verso: R. Motherwell \ Sept 1979 Artist’s Studio Number P79-2359 Present Owner Marilyn and Charles Baillie Provenance Douglas S. Cramer, 1981; [Sotheby’s, New York, November 15, 2007, lot 138, illus.]; Marilyn and Charles Baillie, 2007

Solo Exhibitions Long Point Gallery, Provincetown, Mass., 1979, cat. no. 14. Centro Cultural de la Caixa de Pensions, Barcelona, 1980 (traveling), Barcelona, cat. no. 22; Madrid, cat. no. 22, color illus. n.p. Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, 1983 (traveling), cat. no. 83, color illus. p. 113. Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, 1984, cat. no. 76. References ABC 1980, p. 21; Bonet 1980, p. 15; Figuerola-Ferretti 1980, illus. p. 359; Arnason 1982, color illus. p. 220 (pl. 307); Albright-Knox Art Gallery Calendar 1983, p. 3, cover illus.; Burkhart 1984, color illus. sec. D, p. 1; Danieli 1984, illus. p. 1; Duffy

No. 2 (Stephen’s Gate) (W542). This painting later served as the basis for the 1984 aquatint Mexican Night II (Engberg and Banach 2003, no. 348). One of Motherwell’s earliest oil paintings was also titled Mexican Night (P5).

1984, illus. p. 92; Hackett 1984, illus. sec. C, p. 11 (detail); Hayes 1984, p. 44; Hüllenkremer 1984, color illus. p. 107; Levine 1984, p. 16, color illus. p. 16; Los Angeles County Museum of Art Members’ Calendar 1984, n.p., illus. n.p.; Los Angeles Herald Examiner 1984, illus.; Amepnka 1986, color illus. pp. 46–47; Pleynet 1989a, color illus. p. 74; Pleynet 1989b, p. 56, color illus. p. 157; Manthorne 1990, p. 69, illus. p. 69; Flam 1991, color illus. n.p. (pl. 127); Chalumeau 1998, p. 45, cover color illus., color illus. p. 45 (pl. 47). Comments The initial composition of this painting, visible beneath the red paint, was related to the imagery of contemporaneous smaller works on paper from the Drunk with Turpentine series; see the Comments for Drunk with Turpentine

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P976

P975

P977

P975

P976

P977

Mexico

Drunk with Turpentine No. 10

[ Untitled (Black, Ochre, Pink) ]

1979 Acrylic on canvas mounted on board 25 x 10 in. (63.5 x 25.4 cm)

1979 Acrylic on canvas 19¾ x 28⅛ in. (50.2 x 71.4 cm)

1977–79 Acrylic on canvas 20 x 30 in. (50.8 x 76.2 cm)

Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated

Inscriptions Recto, upper left: R. Motherwell \ 1979

Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated

Verso (on paper glued to board): R. Motherwell \ 1979

Verso not signed, not dated

Verso: R. Motherwell \ 1979

Artist’s Studio Number D79-2281

Artist’s Studio Number P79-1305

Present Owner Dedalus Foundation

Present Owner Unknown

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; private collection, 2005; [Sotheby’s, New York, September 10, 2008, lot 96, illus.]; unknown owner, 2008

Artist’s Studio Number P79-2369 Present Owner Private collection Provenance Private collection, 1983 References Manthorne 1990, p. 69, color illus. p. 68.

476

Solo Exhibitions Ulrich Museum of Art, Wichita State University, Kans., 1979. Comments This painting is one of a small number of works in the Drunk with Turpentine series that were executed on canvas; most of the works in this series were painted on paper. Regarding the titling and numbering of the series, see the Comments for Drunk with Turpentine No. 2 (Stephen’s Gate) (W542).

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Comments An early state of this painting appears in a 1977 studio photograph, where it is tacked to the wall, unstretched and oriented vertically. By the time the painting was photographed again, in June 1979, it had been reoriented as a horizontal work, and the area of black

paint had been substantially enlarged (Sloman photo no. 829). Motherwell added the areas of pink paint in 1979 and the work was photographed in February 1980 (Sloman photo no. 991).

P978

Black Humor, with Pink 1977–79 Acrylic on canvas 30 x 20 in. (76.2 x 50.8 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper left: RM Verso: “black humor, with pink” \ R. Motherwell \ 79 Artist’s Studio Number P77/79-1306 Present Owner Private collection Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; private collection, 2005 References Drudi 1984, color illus. p. 73; Drudi 1988b, color illus. p. 73. Comments An early version of this painting with an ochre ground and a smaller black gestural form appears in a 1977 studio photograph. Motherwell added the pink paint to the ground and made

slight modifications to the black form before the work was photographed in its final state in November 1979 (Sloman photo no. 935). P979

P979

P980

Untitled

Blue Open with Ochre

1979–87 Acrylic and graphite on canvas 84 x 42 in. (213.4 x 106.7 cm)

1979 Acrylic on canvas 18 x 24 in. (45.7 x 61 cm)

Inscriptions Recto, upper left, incised [painted over]: [RM]

Inscriptions Recto, upper left: RM \ 79

Verso: RM \ 1979–87 Artist’s Studio Number P79-2423 Present Owner Dedalus Foundation Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991 Comments The composition of this painting was set in 1979. In 1987, Motherwell added the pinks to the central form.

Verso (on top horizontal stretcher): “blue open with ochre” Robert Motherwell 1979 Artist’s Studio Number P79-1307 Present Owner Collection of Esta and Robert Epstein, Boston Provenance Private collection, 1979; Esta and Robert Epstein, Boston, 1989

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P980

Comments When this painting was first sold in 1979, it was unsigned. In 1989, when the painting was being sold again by Knoedler & Company, it was sent to Motherwell for him to sign and date. Seeing this painting again, a decade after it was painted, inspired him to create the print Summer Sign (Engberg and Banach 2003, no. 494).

P981

Grey and Black Open 1970/1979 Acrylic on canvas board 15 x 30 in. (38.1 x 76.2 cm) Inscriptions Recto, lower right, incised [painted over]: [Motherwell] Verso not signed, not dated Artist’s Studio Number P79-265; P79-3777 Present Owner Collection of John Daly, Dublin Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; John Daly, Dublin, 2007 Solo Exhibitions Museum Morsbroich, Leverkusen, Germany, 2004, color illus. p. 76. Galerie Bernd Klüser, Munich, May 2005, cat. no. 3. Group Exhibitions Hillsboro Fine Art, Dublin, 2007.

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P981

References Stiftel 2004, p. 298.

P982

Comments An early version of this painting was consigned to the MarlboroughGerson Gallery in 1970 as “Untitled H (black with white lines).” Motherwell revised and retitled the work in 1979, painting over much of the original black ground.

Alternative Title: Untitled 1974/1976–80 Acrylic on canvas 78 x 30 in. (198.1 x 76.2 cm)

Full Tide

Inscriptions Recto, upper right: RM Verso not seen [“R. Motherwell 1976,” per Christie’s 1992] Artist’s Studio Number P76-2421 Present Owner Collection of Rachel and Dov Gottesman Provenance Private collection, 1981; [Sotheby Parke Bernet, Inc., New York, May 9, 1984, lot 44, illus.]; Mr. and Mrs. Edward S. Pantzer, 1984; [Christie’s, New York, November 18, 1992, lot 40, illus.]; Rachel and Dov Gottesman, 1992 Solo Exhibitions Ace Gallery, Los Angeles, 1975 (shown in early state), as Untitled.

P982

Comments An early version of this work, painted in black and white, was shown as Untitled at the Ace Gallery in Los Angeles from July to August 1975. In 1976, Motherwell began to add other colors to the work, which he completed in 1980, when he titled the work Full Tide.

P983

Elegy to the Spanish Republic No. 158 1975–80 Acrylic on canvas 36 x 72 in. (91.4 x 182.9 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper left: RM Verso: R Motherwell \ 1975–80

P983

Comments When this painting was begun in 1975, it was rotated 180 degrees in relation to its present orientation. Toward the end of 1979, Motherwell turned it upside down and revised the black forms. Early in 1980, he added the white vertical areas. The completed work was photographed in April 1980 (Sloman photo no. 970) when it was consigned to Knoedler & Company.

P984

Apse 1980–84 Acrylic on canvas 96 x 60 in. (243.8 x 152.4 cm) Inscriptions Recto, lower left: RM \ 80 Verso: R. Motherwell \ 1980

Verso [painted over]: [illegible]

Artist’s Studio Number P80-2961

Verso (upside down): R. Motherwell \ 1975

Present Owner Dedalus Foundation

Artist’s Studio Number p-1157

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991

Present Owner Private collection, Canada

Group Exhibitions Saint Peter’s Church, Citicorp Center, New York, 1984.

Provenance Private collection, Canada, 1980

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P985

P984

References Drudi 1984, color illus. p. 113 (in studio, in early state); Drudi 1988b, color illus. p. 119 (in studio, in early state). Comments The composition of this painting was set in 1980 and was based on a collage, Untitled (Cathedral Series) (C662), which was begun in 1977, inspired in part by a poster of Le Corbusier’s chapel of Notre Dame du Haut at Ronchamp, France, that Motherwell had hanging in his Provincetown studio. The central forms of the painting were originally blue, as they had been in an early version of the collage. Motherwell later repainted the forms of this work black, and then finally gray, between 1980 and 1984.

480

P986

P985

P986

[ Untitled (Open) ]

Untitled (Open)

1980 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 9 x 12 in. (22.9 x 30.5 cm)

1971/ca. 1980 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 54 x 60 in. (137.2 x 152.4 cm)

Inscriptions Recto, upper left [painted over]: [RM]

Inscriptions Recto, upper right, incised and inscribed: RM \ 71

Verso not seen Artist’s Studio Number P80-2691 Present Owner Unknown Provenance The artist Comments Our reproduction of this work comes from an undated Polaroid photograph of it in Motherwell’s Greenwich studio. We do not know whether this work still exists in the form illustrated here.

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Verso not signed, not dated Artist’s Studio Number P71-1286 Present Owner 803011 Foundation Provenance Private collection, 1983; [Christie’s, New York, February 22, 1996, lot 29, illus.]; Jim Gray, 1996; 803011 Foundation, 2000

Comments This painting was begun in 1971 as a rectilinear composition similar in format to the early Open paintings; that initial composition can be seen in the pentimenti under the red paint. The more slanted Open form and the red paint were added sometime before the work was consigned to Knoedler & Company in June 1983. The date inscribed on the recto refers to the early version. Our 1980 date for this painting is based on its similarity to other Open paintings from that year (see P987–P988).

P988

P987

P989

P987

P988

P989

Red Open

Grey Open

1980 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas board 14 x 18 in. (35.6 x 45.7 cm)

1980 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas board 16 x 20 in. (40.6 x 50.8 cm)

Inscriptions Recto, upper right: RM

Inscriptions Recto, upper left: RM

Alternative Title: Alberti Suite No. 4 1968/ca. 1980 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 12 x 16 in. (30.5 x 40.6 cm)

Verso: R. Motherwell

Verso: R. Motherwell \ 1980

Inscriptions Recto, upper left: RM

Artist’s Studio Number P80-2553

Artist’s Studio Number P80-2552

Recto, upper left, incised, oriented vertically [painted over]: [Motherwell]

Present Owner Collection Bernard Jacobson Gallery, London

Present Owner Private collection

Verso: R. Motherwell

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Renee and James M. Shelton Jr., 2000; Bernard Jacobson Gallery, London, 2006 Solo Exhibitions Bernard Jacobson Gallery, London, June 2009. References Mattison et al. 2009, color illus. p. 166.

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; private collection, 2007

of which can still be seen underneath the paint film, including the previous signature, written vertically on what is now the upper left (studio inventory photo no. PH 48-7). It was reoriented into a horizontal work and repainted around 1980.

Verso, oriented vertically [painted over]: [illegible] \ [Alberti Suite #4] \ [illegible] Verso (on vertical stretcher) [painted over]: [illegible] Artist’s Studio Number P68-271; P78-2628 Present Owner Dedalus Foundation Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991 Comments This work is painted over a vertical 1968 picture, Alberti Suite No. 4, traces

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P990

Africa No. 4 1977–80 Acrylic on canvas 20 x 30 in. (50.8 x 76.2 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper left, incised: RM

subsequently reoriented the work and revised it by adding pink and white, then painting over those colors with blue and black. He continued to revise this work until 1980 (Sloman photo nos. 830, 939, and 990). Regarding the Africa series, see the Comments for Africa No. 3 (P829).

Verso: R. Motherwell \ 79 Artist’s Studio Number P77/79-1322 Present Owner Private collection Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; private collection, 2007 References Carmean 1980, color illus. p. 13 (in studio, in early state); Drudi 1984, p. 28, color illus. p. 71 (in early state); Drudi 1988b, p. 28, color illus. p. 71 (in early state). Comments This painting was begun in 1977 as a black gestural form on a vertically oriented ochre ground. Motherwell

482

pain tin gs on c a n v a s a n d pan el

P991

Posada, the Mexican Printmaker 1980 Acrylic on Masonite 24 x 20 in. (61 x 50.8 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper left: RM Verso: “Posada, the Mexican Printmaker” \ 20 June \ R. Motherwell \ 1980 Verso (on top horizontal stretcher): posada, the mexican printmaker Artist’s Studio Number P80-2514 Present Owner Dedalus Foundation Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991 Solo Exhibitions Thomas McCormick Gallery, Chicago, December 2005 (traveling), cat. no. 6.

P992

Comments The title of this painting refers to the Mexican printmaker José Guadalupe Posada; see also the Comments for P960.

P993

P992

P993

Old Man of the Sea

Drunk with Turpentine (Maine)

1980 Oil and acrylic on Masonite 19⅞ x 15⅞ in. (50.5 x 40.3 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper right: RM \ 80 Verso: “old man of \ the sea” \ R Motherwell \ june 1980 \ oil + acrylic on \ gesso panel Artist’s Studio Number P80-2502 Present Owner Collection of Dr. and Mrs. Samuel Wells

Alternative Titles: Black Image with Tobacco; Black Imagery 1980/ca. 1986 Acrylic on canvas board 30 x 40 in. (76.2 x 101.6 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper right: RM Verso: R. Motherwell \ 1980 Artist’s Studio Number P80-2555 Present Owner Private collection

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Dr. and Mrs. Samuel Wells, 2005

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; private collection, 2006

Comments The title refers to the mythical Old Man of the Sea, a primordial figure known to the Greeks under the names of Proteus and Nereus, among others.

Comments The earliest version of this painting was completed in 1980, as a composition in ochre, white, and black, and consigned to Knoedler & Company from May 1981 to April 1982 under the title Black Image with Tobacco. It was consigned

P994

to Knoedler again from June until November 1983, as Black Imagery. Motherwell added the blue paint over most of the ochre areas and gave the work its present title prior to consigning it to Knoedler for a third time, in October 1986.

P994

Pieces in the Form of a Pear Alternative Title: Blue Pears 1980/1990 Acrylic on canvas board 18 x 24 in. (45.7 x 61 cm) Inscriptions Recto, lower right: RM Verso [painted over]: “[blue pears 80]” Verso: R. Motherwell \ 1980 Artist’s Studio Number P80-2482 Present Owner Private collection, Minneapolis Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; private collection, Minneapolis, 2007 Solo Exhibitions Museum Morsbroich, Leverkusen, Germany, 2004, color illus. p. 116. Galerie Bernd Klüser, Munich, May 2005, cat. no. 2.

paint ing s on canvas and pane l

483

P995

Comments The composition of this painting was set in 1980, but Motherwell added the sienna paint in 1990. The title refers to a 1903 piano composition by the French composer Erik Satie (1866–1925), Trois Morceaux en forme de poire (Three Pieces in the Form of a Pear). The earlier title, Blue Pears, had been inscribed by Motherwell on the verso and then painted out; the present title, though given to the work by Motherwell, is written on the verso by another hand.

P995

Gulfstream Alternative Title: Gulf Stream 1980 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 36 x 72 in. (91.4 x 182.9 cm)

P996

Inscriptions Recto, upper left: RM \ 80

Guillotine No. 2

Verso not seen [“signed, titled, and dated 1980 twice on the reverse,” per studio card]

1979–80 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 78 x 38 in. (198.1 x 96.5 cm)

Artist’s Studio Number P80-2554

Inscriptions Recto, upper left: RM \ 79

Present Owner Renate Ponsold Motherwell

Verso [painted over]: [“illegible]

Provenance Renate Ponsold Motherwell, 1992

Verso: “guillotine #2”

Solo Exhibitions Knoedler & Company, New York, April 1991, cat. no. 28. References Pleynet 1989b, color illus. p. 133, as Gulf Stream; Flam 1991, color illus. n.p. (pl. 129); Caws 1996b, p. 157, illus. p. 158, color illus. n.p.

484

P996

pain tin gs on c a n v a s a n d pan el

Verso [crossed out]: [Madrid”]

Verso: RM \ 1980 Artist’s Studio Number P79/80-1160 Present Owner Collection of Elaine Mitchell Attias Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; private collection, 2001; Elaine Mitchell Attias, 2002

Comments This painting was begun in 1979, and Motherwell signed and dated an early version of it “79” on the recto. In 1980, he extended the red area and added the “Je t’aime” motif. At that time, he redated the work 1980 on the verso and blacked out an earlier title, which read, in part, “Madrid.” (In 1980 Motherwell traveled to Madrid for the first time since 1958, to attend the opening of his exhibition at the Fundación Juan March.) Motherwell gave the final title to this work around the same time as he revised and retitled Guillotine (P352), which he had reworked over a number of years before completing it in 1981.

P998

Remembering Madrid P997

P997

{ Unfinished painting} Ca. 1980 Acrylic on canvas 84 x 42 in. (213.4 x 106.7 cm) Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated

intensive reworking before whatever image it might once have contained was painted over. It was probably started around 1980, when Motherwell began work on what would become The Homely Protestant No. II (40 Years Later) (P1187), a canvas of the same dimensions.

Alternative Title: Open No. 106 1969/1974–80 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 72 x 59 in. (182.9 x 149.9 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper right: RM Verso, oriented horizontally [painted over]: [illegible] Verso, oriented horizontally: Summer, 1969

Verso not signed, not dated

Verso: “remembering madrid” \ R. Motherwell \ 1980

Artist’s Studio Number P**- ???

Artist’s Studio Number P69/80-1145

Present Owner Dedalus Foundation

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991

Comments This unfinished canvas appears to be only the preliminary ground for an unrealized painting, but there are several layers of paint indicating fairly

Solo Exhibitions Toledo Museum of Art, Ohio, 1969, cat. no. 19 (shown in early state), as Open No. 106.

Galerie im Erker, St. Gall, Switzerland, 1971 (traveling), cat. no. 3, color illus. p. 33 (in exhibition); shown in early state, as Open No. 106. Galerie Lelong, Paris, 2007. Comments The first composition on this canvas, a horizontal blue painting titled Open No. 106, was completed in the summer of 1969. That painting was included in traveling exhibitions in the United States in 1969–70, and in Europe in 1971. Motherwell had begun to experiment with altering the Open form in this work in 1974 (as per studio inventory photo no. PH 52-4). But it was not until 1980 that he reoriented the canvas, repainted it, and gave it the title Remembering Madrid, a reference to his recent trip to Madrid, which he had last visited in 1958.

paint ing s on canvas and pane l

485

P999

[ Untitled (Blue, Green, Red) ] Ca. 1970–80 Acrylic on canvas board 15 x 30 in. (38.1 x 76.2 cm) Inscriptions Recto, lower left, incised: Motherwell Recto, lower left, incised [painted over]: [Motherwell] Verso not signed, not dated

Comments An early version of this painting, begun around 1970, included a linear white Open form at the upper right, similar to that found in Grey and Black Open (P981), which is the same size and was begun around the same time. Motherwell reworked this painting around 1980 by adding areas of red, green, and ultramarine blue paint, as is evident in studio photographs taken at that time.

Artist’s Studio Number P70-225 Present Owner Dedalus Foundation Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991

P1000

Untitled Alternative Title: Open No. 157: In Blue with Burnt Sienna 1970–ca. 1980 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 71¾ x 36 in. (182.3 x 91.4 cm) Inscriptions Recto, lower right, incised: R Motherwell Recto, upper right [painted over]: [Motherwell] Verso not signed, not dated Artist’s Studio Number P71-1127 Present Owner Dedalus Foundation Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991

486

pain tin gs on c a n v a s a n d pan el

P1000

Comments An early version of this painting appeared on Motherwell’s “23 Summer 1970 Pictures” list, under the title Open No. 157: In Blue with Burnt Sienna, but no photographs of that version survive. When the painting was photographed in February 1980 (Sloman photo no. 981), it was predominantly a composition in blue. The red paint was added sometime after this, but exactly when is not known.

P1001

P1002

P1003

P1004

P1001

P1002

P1003

P1004

Untitled

1980 Acrylic on canvas 12 x 9 in. (30.5 x 22.9 cm)

1980 Acrylic on canvas 20 x 16 in. (50.8 x 40.6 cm)

1980 Acrylic and graphite on canvas 3¼ x 5½ in. (8.3 x 14 cm)

Inscriptions Recto, lower left: RM \ 80

Inscriptions Recto, upper left: RM \ 80

Inscriptions Recto, upper right: RM \ 80

Inscriptions Recto, upper left: RM

Verso not signed, not dated

Verso: R Motherwell \ 1980

Artist’s Studio Number P80-2506

Artist’s Studio Number P80-2505

Artist’s Studio Number P80-2510

Artist’s Studio Number P80-3654

Present Owner Dedalus Foundation

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991 Solo Exhibitions Manny Silverman Gallery, Los Angeles, November 2002, cat. no. 11.

paint ing s on canvas and pane l

487

P1007

P1005

P1006

P1008

P1005

P1006

P1007

P1008

Catalonia

Untitled

Elegy Sketch

1980 Acrylic on canvas board 18 x 24 in. (45.7 x 61 cm)

1980 Acrylic on canvas 4 x 5 in. (10.2 x 12.7 cm)

[ Untitled (Pink and Black Elegy) ]

Inscriptions Recto, upper right: RM

Inscriptions Recto, lower right, incised: RM

Verso not seen

Verso: R Motherwell \ 1980

Artist’s Studio Number P80-2483

Artist’s Studio Number P80-3012

Present Owner Unknown

Present Owner Dedalus Foundation

Provenance Private collection, 1980; unknown owner

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991

Comments Motherwell had given the title Catalonia to one of the earliest Elegy paintings (P129). He traveled to Barcelona in 1980 for the opening of his exhibition at the Centro Cultural de la Caixa de Pensions.

488

pain tin gs on can v as an d pa n el

1980 Acrylic and graphite on canvas 6 x 8 in. (15.2 x 20.3 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper left: RM Verso not seen Artist’s Studio Number P80-2623; P82-2982 Present Owner Renate Ponsold Motherwell

Alternative Title: {Untitled (Elegy Sketch)} 1980–ca. 1984 Acrylic on canvas board 5⅞ x 11⅝ in. (14.9 x 29.5 cm) Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated Verso: Robert Motherwell \ acrylic on sized canvas board Artist’s Studio Number P80-2500

Provenance Renate Ponsold Motherwell, 1992

Present Owner Collection Bernard Jacobson Gallery, London

References Drudi 1984, color illus. p. 15 (in studio); Drudi 1988b, color illus. p. 15 (in studio).

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Bernard Jacobson Gallery, London, 2008 Solo Exhibitions Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, 1984, cat. no. 106. Manny Silverman Gallery, Los Angeles, November 2002, cat. no. 29, as Untitled (Elegy Sketch).

P1010

P1009

P1011

Annandale Galleries, Sydney, Australia, 2005, as Untitled (Elegy Sketch).

P1009

P1010

P1011

Madrid

Elegy Study

Untitled

Group Exhibitions Manny Silverman Gallery, Los Angeles, September 2002, cat. no. 11, as Untitled (Elegy Sketch).

1980 Acrylic and graphite on canvas board 16 x 20 in. (40.6 x 50.8 cm)

1980 Acrylic and Conté crayon on canvas mounted on Masonite 24 x 36 in. (61 x 91.4 cm)

1980 Acrylic on canvas 3⅛ x 5¼ in. (7.9 x 13.3 cm)

References Drudi 1984, color illus. p. 67 (in early state); Drudi 1988b, color illus. p. 67 (in early state). Comments An early version of this work was photographed in 1980 (Sloman photo no. 1217). Studio photographs show that Motherwell modified the black forms and added the white lines sometime around 1984, without changing the overall composition.

Inscriptions Recto, lower right: RM \ 80

Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated

Verso: “madrid” \ RM \ 1980

Inscriptions Recto [painted over]: [RM]

Artist’s Studio Number P80-2508

Verso not seen [“Robert Motherwell 1980 ‘Elegy Study,’ ” per Christie’s 1998]

Present Owner Michael Palin

Artist’s Studio Number P80-2516

Provenance Michael Palin, 1981

Present Owner Private collection. Courtesy of Locks Gallery, Philadelphia

Comments This work was created shortly after Motherwell returned from his first trip to Madrid since 1958 (see also the Comments for P996 and P998). One of Motherwell’s earliest Elegy paintings was titled Madrid (see P94).

Verso not seen [“R. Motherwell 18 Nov 1980,” per studio card] Artist’s Studio Number P80-3011 Present Owner Unknown Provenance The artist

Provenance Private collection, 1981; [Christie’s, New York, May 13, 1998, lot 276, illus.]; private collection, 1998

Comments Our reproduction of this work comes from a Polaroid photograph. We do not know whether it still exists in the form illustrated here.

paint ing s on canvas and pane l

489

P1012

Little Spanish Death 1980–81 Acrylic on canvas 14 x 10 in. (35.6 x 25.4 cm) Inscriptions Recto, lower right: RM \ 80 Verso not signed, not dated Artist’s Studio Number P80-2496 Present Owner Dedalus Foundation Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991 Solo Exhibitions Knoedler & Company, New York, April 1991, cat. no. 23. Museo Rufino Tamayo, Mexico City, 1991 (traveling), cat. no. 23, color illus. p. 70.

Galerie Lelong, Paris, 2007, color illus. in brochure (fig. 3). References Drudi 1984, color illus. p. 75 (in progress, as Untitled); Drudi 1988b, color illus. p. 75 (in progress, as Untitled ). Comments An early version of this painting, which had a strip of yellow paint along the left edge, was photographed in November 1980 (Sloman photo no. 1230); the yellow was painted over with black by the time it was photographed again in February 1981 (Sloman photo no. 1242). Not long after, Motherwell reworked the central forms and adjusted the black forms on the right side. The composition is based on The Spanish Death of 1975 (p838). In 1977, Motherwell had done five small Spanish Death paintings (see P939–p943).

Fundació Antoni Tàpies, Barcelona, 1996 (traveling), cat. no. 62, color illus. p. 207.

490

p ain tin gs on c a n v a s a n d pan el

P1013

Untitled (Spanish Death) 1980–81 Acrylic on Masonite 12 x 10 in. (30.5 x 25.4 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper left: RM \ 80 Verso not seen Artist’s Studio Number P80-2497 Present Owner Private collection, New York Provenance Private collection, 1985; private collection, 1985; private collection, New York, 1990 Solo Exhibitions Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, 1984, cat. no. 63, as Untitled. References Drudi 1984, color illus. p. 29 (in studio), color illus. p. 78 (in progress); Drudi 1988b, color illus. p. 29 (in studio), color illus. p. 78 (in progress); Pleynet 1989b, color illus. p. 173 (in studio);

P1014

Galerie Bernd Klüser exh. cat. 2001, color illus. p. 60 (in studio). Comments Motherwell set the basic composition of this work in 1980, when it had a predominantly blue background. He revised it sometime between late November 1980 and March 1981 by adjusting the black form on the left side of the picture and painting most of the background white.

P1015

P1014

Untitled Alternative Title: Idaho 1977–ca. 1980 Acrylic on canvas 24 x 18 in. (61 x 45.7 cm) Inscriptions Recto, lower right, incised: RM

By March 1981, he had added more black to the upper right of the picture, and changed the title from Idaho to Untitled (invoice for Sloman photo no. 1256).

P1016

P1015

P1016

Taxco

Waiting for Samuel Beckett

1981 Acrylic on canvas 11 x 8½ in. (27.9 x 21.6 cm)

Alternative Title: Goya’s Dog 1979–81 Acrylic on Masonite 30 x 24 in. (76.2 x 61 cm)

Inscriptions Recto, upper left: RM

Verso: “idaho” \ R. Motherwell \ 1980

Verso: R. Motherwell \ 8 January 1981 \ “taxco”

Artist’s Studio Number P77/80-1308

Artist’s Studio Number P81-2642; P81-2647

Present Owner Dedalus Foundation

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991

Comments The earliest version of this work, signed and dated 1977, contained a black gestural form on a beige ground (Sloman photo no. 827). By February 1980, Motherwell had covered over most of the original image with black paint and added the white lines that seem to delineate a figure (Sloman photo no. 1009).

Solo Exhibitions William Shearburn Gallery, Santa Fe, N.Mex., 2008, cat. no. 10. Comments The title of this painting refers to Taxco, Mexico, which Motherwell had traveled to in 1941, 1943, and 1968.

Inscriptions Recto, upper right: RM Verso [crossed out]: [“goya’s dog”] Verso: R. Motherwell \ 1979 Artist’s Studio Number P79-2415; P80-2415 Present Owner Collection of Mark and Katherine Casa Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Mark and Katherine Casa, 2005 Solo Exhibitions Galería Joan Prats, Barcelona, 1986 (traveling), Barcelona, cat. no. 42, color illus. n.p.; Palma de Mallorca, cat. no. 42, color illus. n.p.; Madrid, cat. no. 42, color illus. n.p. Museum Morsbroich, Leverkusen, Germany, 2004, color illus. p. 110. Galerie Lelong, Paris, 2005. paint ing s on canvas and pane l

491

P1017

References Gauer 2004, illus.; Thiels 2004, illus. sec. Kultur, p. 69; Via Rheinland 2004– 5, illus. p. 25; Dittmar 2005, color illus. p. 98; Gross 2005, illus. n.p. Comments This painting was begun in 1979 and at one time included a “Je t’aime” motif as its central image. By March 1981 Motherwell had entirely repainted the picture, and it was then photographed in its final state. This work may have been consigned at one time to Knoedler & Company as Goya’s Dog (which is written and crossed out on the verso), but it was never exhibited under that title. The title of the finished painting is probably related to the celebration of Samuel Beckett’s seventy-fifth birthday in April 1981, which coincided with a widely discussed production of Waiting for Godot at the Public Theater in New York.

P1018

P1017

Untitled Alternative Title: [Untitled (Open)] 1979–81 Acrylic on canvas board 12 x 9 in. (30.5 x 22.9 cm) Inscriptions Recto, lower left, incised: RM Verso: Robert Motherwell \ 30 August 1979 Artist’s Studio Number P79-2366 Present Owner Collection Bernard Jacobson Gallery, London

Comments An early version of this painting, which was photographed in October 1979, contained an Open form in black lines on a blue ground with a pink vertical band along the left edge—a composition similar to that of The Blue Door (P958) and to the earliest known version of Untitled (P1018). After this painting was photographed, Motherwell made numerous later revisions, and painted over the original Open form. The final version of this work was photographed around July 1981.

P1018

Untitled 1979–81 Acrylic on canvas 12 x 9 in. (30.5 x 22.9 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper right, incised: RM Verso: Robert Motherwell \ 28 Aug 1979 Verso (on top horizontal stretcher): R. Motherwell 1979 Artist’s Studio Number P79-2365 Present Owner Collection of John Daly, Dublin

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Bernard Jacobson Gallery, London, 2005

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; John Daly, Dublin, 2008

Solo Exhibitions Manny Silverman Gallery, Los Angeles, November 2002, cat. no. 30, as Untitled (Open).

Comments Motherwell began this painting in 1979. The earliest known composition consisted of an Open form in black lines on a blue ground with a narrow pink vertical band along the right edge; it was photographed in September 1979

Annandale Galleries, Sydney, Australia, 2005, as Untitled (Open).

492

References Mattison et al. 2009, color illus. p. 166, as Untitled (Open).

P1019

pain tin gs on can v as an d pa n el

P1020

(Sloman photo no. 894). Subsequently, Motherwell continued to make revisions, adding areas of brown, yellow, black, and the darker blue paint. The picture was probably completed early in 1981, around the same time as a similar painting, Untitled (P1017).

P1021

P1019

P1020

P1021

Untitled

Canyon

Untitled

Alternative Title: {Open Untitled (Yellow)} 1981 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 12 x 16 in. (30.5 x 40.6 cm)

1980–81 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 18 x 24 in. (45.7 x 61 cm)

Inscriptions Recto, upper left: RM

Verso: R. Motherwell \ 1981

Alternative Title: [Untitled (Gray Ground with Red Open Window on the Bottom)] 1981 Acrylic on canvas mounted on Masonite 10 x 25 in. (25.4 x 63.5 cm)

Verso not signed, not dated

Artist’s Studio Number P80-2481

Artist’s Studio Number P81-2652

Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated

Present Owner Fisher Collection, New York

Present Owner Collection Bernard Jacobson Gallery, London

Provenance Private collection, 1984; Fisher Collection, New York, 1993

Verso (upside down, with arrow pointing in opposite direction): R. Motherwell

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Bernard Jacobson Gallery, London, 2007

Solo Exhibitions Knoedler & Company, New York, February 1993, cat. no. 11.

References Mattison et al. 2009, color illus. p. 167, as Open Untitled (Yellow).

References Jaffe and Korshak 1983, p. 130; Robb Report 1984, cover color illus.

Inscriptions Recto, upper right: RM

Artist’s Studio Number P80-2546; P81-2753 Present Owner Dedalus Foundation Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991 Comments This work is painted on two cut pieces of Masonite, with the red rectangular section fitted into the larger gray piece. Motherwell appears originally to have

paint ing s on canvas and pane l

493

P1022

intended for this work to be oriented with the red rectangle along the bottom, as evidenced by the signature on the verso, as well as by a photograph of the work oriented that way (Sloman photo no. 1259), and by the title on the studio card: Untitled (gray ground with red open window on the bottom). Motherwell subsequently changed his mind about the orientation and added an arrow on the verso to indicate how he wanted the painting to be seen.

P1022

Alberti Suite No. 3 1968/ca. 1981 Acrylic on canvas board 14 x 10 in. (35.6 x 25.4 cm) Inscriptions Recto, lower right, incised: RM

the studio number was assigned to it and from its palette, which recalls other works done around 1981. Motherwell also titled another work Alberti Suite No. 3 (see P524). Regarding the title and numbering of works in this series, see the Comments for Alberti Suite No. 1 (P522).

P1023

{ Untitled (In Sienna)} Ca. 1970–ca. 1981 Acrylic on canvas board 10 x 24 in. (25.4 x 61 cm) Inscriptions Recto, lower right, incised: RM

Verso [painted over]: [illegible]

Verso not signed, not dated

Verso: R. Motherwell \ 1968

Artist’s Studio Number P68-3295

Artist’s Studio Number P68-270; P68-2629 Present Owner Private collection, California Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; John Daly, Dublin, 2006; private collection, California, 2008 Group Exhibitions Hillsboro Fine Art, Dublin, May 2006. Comments This work was begun in 1968, as per the verso inscription; at that time it was an Alberti Suite painting (studio inventory photo no. PH 53-5). It was repainted around 1981, judging from the time that

494

P1023

pain tin gs on can v as an d pa n el

Present Owner Dedalus Foundation Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991 Comments Begun around 1970 as an Elegy composition (traces of which remain in the pentimenti), this work was repainted with its present color scheme around 1981. The masking of the forms by over-painting is similar to Motherwell’s procedure in the much larger Face of the Night (for Octavio Paz) (P1024), which was completed in 1981.

P1024

Face of the Night (for Octavio Paz) Alternative Title: Cuba y La Noche Ca. 1977–79/1981 Acrylic on canvas 72 x 180 in. (182.9 x 457.2 cm)

Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, 1983 (traveling), cat. no. 87, color illus. pp. 116–17. Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, 1984, cat. no. 138. Knoedler & Company, New York, May 1987, cat. no. 9.

Inscriptions Recto, upper left, incised [painted over]: [Motherwell]

Sert Gallery, Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass., 1989.

Recto, lower right, incised: RM \ 81

Museo Rufino Tamayo, Mexico City, 1991 (traveling), cat. no. 24, color illus. pp. 66–67.

Verso not signed, not dated Artist’s Studio Number P79-1302; P81-2645 Present Owner Collection of the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth. Museum purchase, the Friends of Art Endowment Fund Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, 1993 Solo Exhibitions Ulrich Museum of Art, Wichita State University, Kans., 1979 (shown in early state), as Cuba y la Noche.

Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, 1993. The Modern at Sundance Square, Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, 1998. Group Exhibitions Centro Cultural Arte Contemporáneo, Mexico City, 1990, cat. no. 277, color illus. pp. 418–19, as Rostro de la noche (Face of the Night).

References Arnason 1982, color illus. p. 224 (pl. 314); Morgan 1983, sec. D, p. 3, as Face of the Night; Motherwell in Albright-Knox Art Gallery exh. cat. 1983, pp. 16–17, color illus. pp. 116–17; Duffy 1984, pp. 61, 93; Fowler 1984, sec. A, p. 15; Glowen 1984; Glueck 1984b, sec. Magazine, p. 80; Inje 1984, p. 13, as Face of the Night; Russell 1984, sec. C, p. 22, as Face of the Night; Sozanski 1984, sec. H, p. 16; Tarzan 1984, sec. E, p. 1; Wilson 1984, sec. Calendar, p. 75, as Face of the Night; Ruhe 1987, p. 6; Ashton 1989, illus. pp. 22–23; Pleynet 1989b, p. 44, as Face of the Night, color illus. pp. 164–65; Fuchs 1990, n.p.; Manthorne 1990, p. 69, color illus. p. 67; Flam 1991, color illus. n.p. (pl. 134); Kutner 1992a, sec. C, p. 4; Windrow 1992, p. 24; Kutner 1993, sec. A, p. 25; Tyson 1993a, p. 1; Tyson 1993b, sec. E, p. 3; Tyson 1993c, sec. A, p. 13; Falgàs 1995, p. 50; Caws 1996b, p. 40, illus. p. 41; Morgan 1997, pp. 113, 114–15, 117, as Cuba y La Noche; Tyson 1998, sec. F, pp. 1, 7; Caws 2003, pp. 48, 149, illus. p. 48 (ill. 34).

Comments Motherwell began sketching the forms for this painting as early as March 1977 (see fig. 247 in volume 1). The initial composition was based on the small Primordial Sketch No. 8 (P866) and contained a looming black form on an ochre ground, similar in feeling to large-scale works such as Threatening Presence (P875) and Primal Image (P1160), both of which appear alongside this painting in studio photographs. Motherwell subsequently added striped bands of yellow, pink, green, and red to the ground, apparently inspired by Matisse’s design for the cover of the catalogue for his 1951 retrospective exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art. (Matisse’s design was also used on the invitation for the opening of the 1978 exhibition Matisse in the Collection of the Museum of Modern Art, and a copy of this invitation was hanging on Motherwell’s studio wall while he was working on this painting.) That highly colored version of the painting was exhibited at the Ulrich Museum of Art in 1979 under the title

paint ing s on canvas and pane l

495

P1025

Cuba y la Noche, which was taken from the first line of “Dos Patrias” by the Cuban poet José Marti (1853–1985); the line reads: “Dos patrias tengo yo: Cuba y la noche” (I have two homelands: Cuba, and the night). In 1981 Motherwell dramatically altered this painting by adding large areas of black over most of the brightly colored areas. He then gave the work a new title, Face of the Night, after a phrase in a poem by his friend Octavio Paz (1914–1998), “Piedra de Sol” (Sunstone): “puerta del ser, despiértame, amanece, / déjame ver el rostro de este día, / déjame ver el rostro de esta noche” (door of being, dawn and wake me, / allow me to see the face of this day, / allow me to see the face of this night); translation by Eliot Weinberger, The Collected Poems of Octavio Paz: 1957–1987 (New York: New Directions, 1987), p. 33. Motherwell discussed in detail the “three radical transformations” that this painting went through, and its relation to his “monster” paintings and to collage, in an interview with Jack Flam

496

(see Motherwell in Albright-Knox Art Gallery exh. cat. 1983, pp. 16–17). In a December 10, 1985, letter to the English curator Bryan Robertson, he noted that this painting was “in a sense ‘literary’ in various submerged and indirect references—the Mexican color in the Paz picture, and that ominousness that is one major chord in the Mexican experience” (Dedalus Foundation Archives).

pain tin gs on c an v as an d pa n el

P1025

Dance 1979–81 Acrylic on canvas 84¼ x 126⅛ in. (214 x 320.4 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper left, incised: RM Verso (on horizontal crossbar) [painted over]: [illegible] [illegible] Artist’s Studio Number P81-2631 Present Owner North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh. Purchased with funds from the North Carolina Art Society (Robert F. Phifer Bequest) and Arthur Leroy and Lila Fisher Caldwell, by exchange, and gift of the Dedalus Foundation Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, 1998 Solo Exhibitions Knoedler & Company, New York, 1982, cat. no. 3.

Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, 1983 (traveling), cat. no. 86, color illus. p. 119; not shown in Los Angeles. Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, 1984, cat. no. 48. Group Exhibitions Stamford Museum & Nature Center, Conn., 1982, illus. p. 22. Cameron Art Museum, Wilmington, N.C., 2008. References Arnason 1982, illus. p. 218 (pl. 304, in studio, in progress); Beals 1982, sec. Weekend, p. 1; Jinishian 1982, sec. C, p. 9, illus. sec. C, p. 9; Kurtzman 1982, illus. sec. C, p. 5; Raynor 1982, sec. 23, p. 26, illus. sec. 23, p. 26; Bannon 1983a, color illus. sec. E, p. 1; Morgan 1983, sec. D, p. 3; Drudi 1984, color illus. p. 80; Glowen 1984; Russell 1984, sec. C, p. 22, illus. sec. C, p. 22; Tarzan 1984, sec. E, p. 12; Drudi 1988b, color illus. p. 80; Pleynet 1989b, color illus. p. 175; Polcari 1991, p. 308.

P1026

Comments Motherwell scaled up the composition of his 1979 lithograph Elegy Study (Engberg and Banach 2003, no. 240) onto a large canvas to create this work. The composition of the black painted forms was already set in 1979, but the ground was reworked a number of times, with vertical bands of color similar to those in Face of the Night (for Octavio Paz) (P1024), before the painting was completed two years later.

P1026

Blue Elegy 1981 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 69 x 99 in. (175.3 x 251.5 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper left: RM \ 68 Verso: R. Motherwell \ 1968 \ “blue elegy” Artist’s Studio Number P68-1126; P81-1126 Present Owner Worcester Art Museum. Eliza S. Paine Fund and gift of the Dedalus Foundation Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Worcester Art Museum, Mass., 1997

Group Exhibitions Hirschl & Adler Modern and Hirschl & Adler Galleries, New York, 1984, color illus. p. 93. References Pleynet 1989b, color illus. p. 159; Flam 1991, color illus. n.p. (pl. 131); Bonet 1996, color illus. p. 12; Qin 1996, p. 57, illus. p. 113 (fig. 59); Chalumeau 1998, color illus. p. 28 (pl. 25); Caws 2003, p. 16, color illus. p. 152 (ill. 99).

Motherwell later used this image in three prints done in 1987: Blue Elegy, Blue Elegy State I, and Blue Elegy State II (Engberg and Banach 2003, nos. 379–81).

Comments This work, painted in 1981, was based on a small painting on cardboard from 1968 called Blue Elegy (W272), which had represented a notable shift from the predominantly black-andwhite color schemes Motherwell used in earlier Elegy paintings. The dates on the recto and verso of this work refer to its origins in the earlier, much smaller painting on cardboard. paint ing s on canvas and pane l

497

P1027

P1028

P1027

Elegy to the Spanish Republic No. 161 1981–ca. 1984 Acrylic and Conté crayon on canvas board 16 x 25 in. (40.6 x 63.5 cm) Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated Verso: R. Motherwell, 1981 (November) \ Elegy to the Spanish Republic, #161 Artist’s Studio Number P81-2644 Present Owner Private collection, Woodbridge, Conn. Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; private collection, Woodbridge, Conn., 2001

in progress), color illus. p. 63 (in studio); Drudi 1988b, color illus. pp. 6, 29, 63 (in studio, in progress); Pleynet 1989b, color illus. p. 173 (in studio, in progress); Galerie Bernd Klüser exh. cat. 2001, color illus. p. 60 (in studio, in progress). Comments Motherwell set the composition of this work in 1981; it was then rendered predominantly in black and ochre, and he signed and dated it that November. He added the pink areas that surround the central Elegy form around 1984, either shortly before or just after the work was shown at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. The composition became the basis for Untitled (Elegy) (P1110).

Solo Exhibitions Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, 1984, cat. no. 54. References Drudi 1984, color illus. p. 6 (in studio, in progress), color illus. p. 29 (in studio,

498

pain tin gs on c a n v a s a n d pan el

P1029

P1028

P1029

Untitled

Signs on a White Field

Alternative Title: {Cave Study} 1981 Acrylic and graphite on canvas 5 x 7 in. (12.7 x 17.8 cm)

1981 Acrylic on canvas 88 x 120 in. (223.5 x 304.8 cm)

Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated Verso: R. Motherwell \ 1981 Verso (on top horizontal stretcher): RM Verso (on top horizontal stretcher) [painted over]: [illegible] Artist’s Studio Number P81-3082 Present Owner Dedalus Foundation Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991 Solo Exhibitions Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, 1984, cat. no. 111. Group Exhibitions Galería Cayón, Madrid, 2008, color illus. p. 43 (upside down), color illus. p. 69 (upside down), as Cave Study.

Inscriptions Recto, lower right, incised: RM \ 81 Verso: R. Motherwell \ “signs on a white field” \ 1981 Artist’s Studio Number P81-2619 Present Owner Michael Palin Provenance Michael Palin, 1982 Solo Exhibitions Knoedler & Company, New York, 1982, cat. no. 7. References Arnason 1982, color illus. p. 225 (pl. 315, in progress), illus. p. 226 (pl. 316, in studio, in progress); Bass 1982, p. 168; Hooton 1982, illus. p. 1; Patton 1982, cover color illus., illus. p. 70; Bannon 1984a, cover color illus. (in studio);

P1030

Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture 1984, illus. n.p.; Perry 1985, illus. sec. 13, p. 21 (in studio, flipped); Pleynet 1989b, p. 56, color illus. p. 57 (in progress). Comments This work was based on a much smaller painting on paper from the Drunk with Turpentine series (see W606). The title comes from James Joyce’s Ulysses: “Endless, would it be mine, form of my form? Who watches me here? Who ever anywhere will read these written words? Signs on a white field” (London: Bodley Head, 1968), p. 60.

P1030

Stephen’s Iron Crown 1981 Acrylic on canvas 88 x 120 in. (223.5 x 304.8 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper left: R. Motherwell \ 1981

Solo Exhibitions Knoedler & Company, New York, 1982, cat. no. 5.

Group Exhibitions Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, 2002, color illus. p. 122, illus. p. 266.

Fort Worth Art Museum, September 1985, cover color illus., illus. p. 2 (in exhibition), illus. p. 19 (in studio), color illus. p. 21.

References Arnason 1982, illus. p. 226 (pl. 317, in studio); Bass 1982, p. 168, as Stephen’s Crown; Firestone 1982, p. 116; Drudi 1984, color illus. p. 90; Fort Worth Art Museum Calendar 1985b, pp. 1–2, color illus. p. 1, illus. p. 16; Kutner 1985a, sec. C, pp. 1, 3, illus. sec. C, p. 1; Kutner 1985b, sec. A, p. 31; Marvel 1985, sec. C, p. 3; Sewell 1985, pp. 21, 30, illus. p. 21; Drudi 1988b, p. 126, color illus. p. 90; Modern Art Museum’s Gallery Guide for Children 1988, illus. p. 8 (installation view); Pleynet 1989b, color illus. p. 168; Flam 1991, color illus. n.p. (pl. 132); Kutner 1991, sec. A, p. 18; Kutner 1992a, sec. C, p. 4; Kutner 1992b, sec. G, p. 2; Tyson 1992, illus. sec. D, p. 5; Kutner

Verso: “stephen’s iron crown” \ (Joyce) \ R. Motherwell \ 1981

Museo Rufino Tamayo, Mexico City, 1991 (traveling), cat. no. 25, color illus. p. 61.

Artist’s Studio Number P81-2620

Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, 1993.

Present Owner Collection of the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth. Museum purchase, Sid Richardson Foundation Endowment Fund

Fundació Antoni Tàpies, Barcelona, 1996 (traveling), cat. no. 63, color illus. p. 209, as Stephen’s Iron Crown (Joyce).

Provenance Private collection, 1982; Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, 1985

The Modern at Sundance Square, Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, 1998.

paint ing s on canvas and pane l

499

P1031

1993, sec. A, p. 25; Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth Calendar 1993, p. 1; Qin 1996, p. 24, illus. p. 86 (fig. 22); Tyson 1998, sec. F, p. 7; Thierolf 2002, p. 322, illus. p. 322 (fig. 4). Comments This work was done in September 1981. It is based on a small painting from the Drunk with Turpentine series (see W583). The title refers to James Joyce’s description of a procession that includes “the high constable carrying the sword of state, saint Stephen’s iron crown, the chalice and bible,” Ulysses (London: Bodley Head, 1968), p. 603. See also the Comments for The Iron Crown (W452). A 1982 print, Stephen’s Iron Crown Etched (Engberg and Banach 2003, no. 292), was based upon the same imagery.

P1031

A Strange Kind of Music Alternative Title: Icarus Falling 1981 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 88 x 120 in. (223.5 x 304.8 cm) Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated Verso [painted over]: [“icarus falling”]

P1032

Black Signs 1981 Acrylic on canvas 66 x 90 in. (167.6 x 228.6 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper left: RM \ 81 Verso: R. Motherwell \ black signs

Verso: R. Motherwell \ 1981

Artist’s Studio Number P81-2635

Artist’s Studio Number P81-2618

Present Owner Weingarten Family

Present Owner Private collection of Mr. Andy Williams

Provenance ALCOA Collection, Pittsburgh, 1984; [Sotheby’s, New York, November 15, 1995, lot 54, illus.]; Rita and Julio Bogoricin, 1995; [Sotheby’s, New York, May 13, 2009, lot 123, illus.]; Weingarten Family, 2009

Provenance Private collection, 1983; [Sotheby Parke Bernet, Inc., New York, May 2, 1985, lot 66, illus.]; Andy Williams, 1985 Solo Exhibitions Knoedler & Company, New York, 1982, cat. no. 10. References Arnason 1982, illus. p. 226 (pl. 316, in studio); Ratcliff 1987, p. 40, color illus. p. 40 (installation view).

500

Comments This work was based on Drunk with Turpentine No. 50 (W578). The title is taken from James Joyce’s Ulysses: “No use humming then. Allude to it. Strange kind of music that last night” (London: Bodley Head, 1968), p. 84. The early title “Icarus Falling,” inscribed on the verso, had no public life.

P1032

p ain tin gs on c a n v a s a n d pan el

Group Exhibitions Knoedler & Company, New York, June 1984, cat. no. 6. References Terenzio 1992b, illus. n.p. (in studio, in progress).

P1033

Comments This painting was based on a work from the Drunk with Turpentine series (W586).

P1033

Procession, with Oil 1981 Acrylic on canvas 66 x 90 in. (167.6 x 228.6 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper right: RM

P1034

Comments This work was based on Drunk on Turpentine No. 47 (W576). The procession in the title may refer to the scene in Ulysses from which Motherwell took the title of Stephen’s Iron Crown (see the Comments for P1030).

P1034

Forced Entry 1981 Acrylic on canvas 120 x 88 in. (304.8 x 223.5 cm) Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated

Verso not seen

Verso not signed, not dated

Artist’s Studio Number P81-2632

Artist’s Studio Number P81-2638

Present Owner Private collection

Present Owner Dedalus Foundation

Provenance Private collection, 1982

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991

Solo Exhibitions Knoedler & Company, New York, 1982, cat. no. 9.

Solo Exhibitions Knoedler & Company, New York, 1982, cat. no. 1.

References Garcia-Herraiz 1982, illus. p. 227; Patton 1982, color illus. p. 72, as Untitled.

References Bannon 1984a, cover color illus. (in studio); Perry 1985, illus. sec. 13, p. 21 (in studio, flipped); Pleynet 1989b, illus. p. 194 (in studio). Comments This painting was based on Drunk with Turpentine (W609).

paint ing s on canvas and pane l

501

P1035

White Sanctuary

Galerie Lelong, Paris, 2007, color illus. in brochure (fig. 2).

P1036

Study for Bloom in Dublin

1981 Acrylic on canvas 88 x 120 in. (223.5 x 304.8 cm)

Group Exhibitions Kunstsammlungen Chemnitz, Germany, 2005, color illus. p. 339.

1981 Acrylic and Conté crayon on Masonite 20 x 24 in. (50.8 x 61 cm)

Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated

References Inje 1984, p. 13; Pleynet 1989b, p. 56, color illus. p. 158; Lokale Informationen 2004, illus.

Inscriptions Recto, upper left: RM \ 81

Comments This painting was based on Untitled (Drunk with Turpentine) (W585).

Artist’s Studio Number P81-2611

Verso: R. Motherwell \ inv # p-2660 Artist’s Studio Number P81-2660 Present Owner Dedalus Foundation Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991 Solo Exhibitions Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, 1983 (traveling), cat. no. 89, illus. p. 121; shown in Buffalo and San Francisco only. Museum Morsbroich, Leverkusen, Germany, 2004, color illus. pp. 118–19. Galerie Bernd Klüser, Munich, May 2005, cat. no. 6.

502

pain tin gs on can v as an d pa n el

Verso not signed, not dated

Present Owner Private collection, Minneapolis Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; private collection, Minneapolis, 2007 Solo Exhibitions Arthur A. Houghton Jr. Gallery, Cooper Union, New York, 1988, cat. no. 30. Galerie Bernd Klüser, Munich, 2001, cat. no. 42, color illus. p. 63, as Bloom in Dublin.

P1036

Comments Regarding the title of this painting, see the Comments for Bloom in Dublin (P1037).

P1037

Bloom in Dublin 1981 Acrylic on canvas 60½ x 72½ in. (153.7 x 184.2 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper right: RM Verso: R. Motherwell Artist’s Studio Number P81-2634 Present Owner Private collection Provenance Private collection, New York, 1982; private collection, 1985; private collection, 1985

Solo Exhibitions Knoedler & Company, New York, 1982, cat. no. 6. Museum Morsbroich, Leverkusen, Germany, 2004. References Bass 1982, p. 168; Firestone 1982, p. 116; Drudi 1984, p. 34, color illus. p. 89; Fort Worth Art Museum exh. cat. September 1985, illus. p. 2 (in exhibition), illus. p. 24; Drudi 1988b, p. 33, color illus. p. 89. Comments This work was based on the considerably smaller Study for Bloom in Dublin (P1036). The title refers to Leopold Bloom, one of the main characters in James Joyce’s Ulysses.

p aint ing s on canvas and pane l

503

P1038

The Blank End Off 1981 Acrylic on canvas 60 x 96 in. (152.4 x 243.8 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper right, incised: RM Verso not seen Artist’s Studio Number P81-2609 Present Owner Collection Martin Z. Margulies, Miami

References Hooton 1982, illus. p. 9; Regan 1984, sec. Review, p. 12; Gaugh 1985, p. 72; Pleynet 1989b, color illus. p. 169 (in progress). Comments In an early version of this work (reproduced in Pleynet 1989b), the black rectangular form on the left was partly white. The title is taken from Joyce’s Ulysses: “Old Deasey’s letter. Here. Thanking you for hospitality tear the blank end off” (London: Bodley Head, 1968), p. 60.

P1039

Nemesis 1981–82 Acrylic on canvas 60 x 44 in. (152.4 x 111.8 cm) Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated Verso not seen Artist’s Studio Number P81-2666 Present Owner Private collection, New York

Provenance Martin Z. Margulies, Miami, 1982

Provenance Private collection, New York, 1984

Solo Exhibitions Knoedler & Company, New York, 1982, cat. no. 2.

Solo Exhibitions Museum Morsbroich, Leverkusen, Germany, 2004, color illus. p. 115.

Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, 1983 (traveling), cat. no. 85, color illus. p. 115.

Group Exhibitions Phoenix II Gallery, Washington, D.C., 1982, color illus. p. 86.

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, 1984, cat. no. 77.

References Bujese 1982, color illus. p. 86; Stiftel 2004, p. 298, illus. p. 298.

504

p ain tin gs on can v as an d pa n el

P1039

P1040

Stephen’s Gate 1981 Acrylic on canvas 68¾ x 54⅛ in. (174.6 x 137.5 cm) Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated Verso: “stephen’s gate” Verso [painted over]: [illegible] Verso: R. Motherwell \ 1981 Verso [painted over]: [illegible] Artist’s Studio Number P81-2617 Present Owner Pinakothek der Moderne. Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen, inv. nr. 14735

Provenance Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich, 1982 Solo Exhibitions Museum Morsbroich, Leverkusen, Germany, 2004, color illus. p. 133. References Brenson 1982, sec. C, p. 16; Firestone 1982, p. 116; Patton 1982, color illus. p. 74; Maier and Steingräber 1983, p. 386, color illus. p. 392 (fig. 6); Staatlichen Kunstsammlungen and Zentralinstitut für Kunstgeschichte 1983, p. 246; Fort Worth Art Museum Calendar 1985b, p. 2; Fort Worth Art Museum exh. cat. September 1985, illus. p. 18; Mai 1986, illus. p. 16 (upside down); Pleynet 1989b, color illus. p. 163; Pleynet 1991, p. 24; Pleynet 1998, p. 99; Thierolf 2002, pp. 318–27.

Comments This work was based on Drunk with Turpentine No. 2 (Stephen’s Gate) (W542), which was given the parenthetical addition to its title after this larger work on canvas was painted. The title refers to Saint Stephen’s Gate (or Lions’ Gate) in Jerusalem, the site of the stoning of the first Christian martyr, Saint Stephen (the saint for whom Stephen Dedalus was named). The three brushstrokes above the portal-like triangular form are a direct reference to the three vertical openings above the Lions’ Gate in Jerusalem, which Motherwell must have known from photographs.

paint ing s on canvas and pane l

505

P1041

Stephen’s Harp 1981/1985–86 Acrylic on canvas 60 x 44 in. (152.4 x 111.8 cm)

returned to him, Motherwell changed its orientation, added the color to the ground, and modified some areas of the black.

P1042

Music over Music 1981–82 Acrylic on canvas 84 x 42 in. (213.4 x 106.7 cm)

Inscriptions Recto, upper right: RM

Inscriptions Recto, upper right, incised: RM

Verso not signed, not dated

Verso: “music over music” \ R. Motherwell \ Sept. 1981

Artist’s Studio Number P81-2633 Present Owner Brian and Randye Kwait Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Brian and Randye Kwait, 2007 Comments This painting was based on a work from the Drunk with Turpentine series (W614). The first version, painted in 1981, consisted of black gestural forms on a white ground; unlike the work on which it was based, it was oriented horizontally. That first version was consigned to Knoedler & Company from April 1982 to November 1985. After it was

506

p ain tin gs on c an v as an d pa n el

Artist’s Studio Number P81-2621 Present Owner Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. Bequest of Mary Elizabeth Sterling Provenance Private collection, 1984; Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, 2006 Group Exhibitions Whitney Museum of American Art, Fairfield County, Stamford, Conn., 1983. William Benton Museum of Art, University of Connecticut, Storrs, 2004. Contemporary Museum, Honolulu, 2005.

P1043

References Sill 1983, p. 16. Comments This painting was begun in 1981, when Motherwell hand-painted a section of sheet music from Mozart’s Das Bandel (K. 441) at its center, in a manner that resembled his use of sheet music in his collages. The pink paint and the black accents over the music were added sometime between March 1982, when it was photographed in the artist’s studio, and October 1982, when the work was consigned to Knoedler & Company.

P1044

P1045

P1043

P1044

Two Black Stripes with Grey

In Beige with Broken Easel

1975–ca. 1982 Acrylic on canvas mounted on Masonite 72 x 24 in. (182.9 x 61 cm)

1977–82 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 48 x 24 in. (121.9 x 61 cm)

Inscriptions Recto, upper right: Motherwell \ 8 Sept 75 Verso not seen Artist’s Studio Number P75-986 Present Owner Private collection Provenance Gary and Barbara Sorensen, 1983; private collection, 2002 Comments The blue area in this work was painted over what had previously been green by the beginning of 1982; the work was consigned to Knoedler & Company in January of that year.

1982 he added the areas of blue paint on the right side of the oblique black vertical form.

P1045

Blood Wedding 1981–82 Acrylic on canvas 66 x 90 in. (167.6 x 228.6 cm)

Inscriptions Recto, lower left, incised: RM \ 77

Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated

Verso [painted over]: “[illegible]”

Verso not signed, not dated

Verso: R. Motherwell \ 1977–79

Artist’s Studio Number P81-2662

Artist’s Studio Number P77-1248C; P77/79-1298 Present Owner Collection of Ivor and Colette Royston Provenance Ivor and Colette Royston, 1987 Comments This painting began with a black form on an ochre ground, as is apparent in studio photographs taken in 1977. Although it is dated 1977–79 on the verso, Motherwell continued to revise the painting during the following years. In 1980 he added the blue area on the left side of the canvas, and in

Present Owner Collection of Ehud and Terry Levy Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Ehud and Terry Levy, 2003 Group Exhibitions Century Club, New York, 1994. Comments In February 1982 this work was sent to Knoedler & Company as a 1981 work, but Motherwell’s datebooks show that he was working on it just prior to its being sent to the gallery. The title refers to Federico García Lorca’s 1932 play Bodas de sangre (Blood Wedding). p aint ing s on canvas and pane l

507

P1046

Wall Fragment 1982 Acrylic on canvas 90 x 66 in. (228.6 x 167.6 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper right: RM Verso: “wall fragment” Verso: R. Motherwell \ inv. p-2657 Artist’s Studio Number P81-2657; P82-2657 Present Owner Unknown Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; private collection, 2004; unknown owner, after 2006 Solo Exhibitions Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, 1983 (traveling), cat. no. 91, color illus. p. 122. Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, 1984, cat. no. 135.

508

p ain tin gs on ca n v a s a n d pan el

P1047

P1048

Group Exhibitions CDS Gallery, New York, April 1982, illus. p. 8.

P1047

P1048

Portal

A Chord for Alban Berg

References Glueck 1982, illus. p. 3; Hahn 1982, illus. p. 43; Beals 1984, illus. sec. C, p. 3; Fowler 1984, sec. A, p. 15; Polcari 1991, p. 308; Qin 1996, p. 56, illus. p. 111 (fig. 56), referred to in text and in illus. erroneously as Hollow Men; Art in Embassies 2001, color illus. p. 25.

1982 Acrylic on canvas 60 x 44 in. (152.4 x 111.8 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper left, incised: RM

Alternative Title: Music for Alban Berg 1981–82 Acrylic on canvas 60 x 44 in. (152.4 x 111.8 cm)

Comments This work was based on the right half of a much smaller painting on paper, Untitled (Drunk with Turpentine) (W584).

Verso: “portal” \ R. Motherwell \ inv #p-2658

Inscriptions Recto, upper left: RM Verso not seen

Artist’s Studio Number P82-2658

Artist’s Studio Number P81-2639

Present Owner Collection of Ehud and Terry Levy

Present Owner Private collection

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Ehud and Terry Levy, 2003

Provenance Private collection, 1982; unknown owner; private collection; Mark Borghi Fine Art, Inc., 2007; private collection, 2007

Group Exhibitions Century Club, New York, 1994. References De Coppet and Jones 1984, illus. p. 78; Art in Embassies 1985, color illus. n.p. Comments Traces of an early version of this work, which was based on Drunk with Turpentine No. 3, 1979 (W543), can be seen in the pentimenti.

References Drudi 1984, color illus. p. 77 (in progress, as Music for Alban Berg); Drudi 1988b, color illus. p. 77 (in progress, as Music for Alban Berg).

P1050

P1049

Comments Motherwell began this painting as a composition in black and white, based on one of his ink-on-paper drawings from the Lyric Suite (see Arnason 1982, pl. no. 213), which took its title from Alban Berg’s string quartet composition of the same name. The yellow ground in the upper half of the painting and the pink and blue stripes were added just before it was consigned to Knoedler & Company in April 1982.

P1051

P1049

P1050

P1051

Nightwood

Untitled

Birth

1981–82 Oil on Masonite 20 x 24 in. (50.8 x 61 cm)

1982 Acrylic and china marker on canvas mounted on Masonite 24 x 36 in. (61 x 91.4 cm)

1982 Acrylic and china marker on canvas board 24 x 36 in. (61 x 91.4 cm)

Inscriptions Recto, upper right: RM

Inscriptions Recto, upper left: RM

Recto, upper left [painted over]: [RM]

Verso not signed, not dated

Artist’s Studio Number P81-2752

Recto, lower left, incised: RM Verso: R. Motherwell \ 2 May 1982

Artist’s Studio Number P82-2682

Present Owner Dedalus Foundation

Artist’s Studio Number P82-2683

Present Owner Rodman W. Moorhead III, Wilson, Wyo.

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991

Present Owner Dedalus Foundation

References Drudi 1984, color illus. p. 81; Drudi 1988b, p. 28, color illus. p. 81.

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Rodman W. Moorhead III, Wilson, Wyo., 2008

Comments The title of this work refers to Djuna Barnes’s 1936 novel Nightwood. The studio card notes that this work was revised in 1990. But since the illustration of this work in Drudi 1984 appears to be the same as the final state, any changes made in 1990 would have been very minor.

Group Exhibitions Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, Conn., 1983, cat. no. 44.

Inscriptions Recto, lower left, incised: RM \ 81 Verso: “nightwood” \ R. Motherwell \ 1982 \ oil on panel

Solo Exhibitions William Shearburn Gallery, Santa Fe, N.Mex., 2008, cat. no. 5.

References Raynor 1983a, sec. 23, p. 18. paint ing s on canvas and pane l

509

P1053

P1052

P1054

P1052

P1053

P1054

Grey Day No. 1

Grey Day No. 2

Grey Day No. 3

1982 Acrylic and Conté crayon on wood 8¼ x 14 in. (21 x 35.6 cm)

1982 Acrylic, Conté crayon, and graphite on wood 7¼ x 13½ in. (18.4 x 34.3 cm)

1982 Acrylic and graphite on wood 7 x 13¼ in. (17.8 x 33.7 cm)

Inscriptions Recto, upper right: RM \ 82 Verso: “grey day #1” \ R. Motherwell \ 22 July 82 Artist’s Studio Number P82-2742 Present Owner Dedalus Foundation Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991 Group Exhibitions Long Point Gallery, Provincetown, Mass., 1982. Comments Motherwell painted the three Grey Day paintings (see also P1053 and P1054) just prior to the exhibition at the Long Point Gallery Gray Day Studies, which opened on July 25, 1982.

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Inscriptions Recto, upper left, incised: RM \ 82 Verso: “grey day #2” \ R. Motherwell \ 22 July 82 Artist’s Studio Number P82-2743 Present Owner Dedalus Foundation Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991 Group Exhibitions Long Point Gallery, Provincetown, Mass., 1982. References Drudi 1984, color illus. p. 84; Drudi 1988b, color illus. p. 84.

Inscriptions Recto, upper right: RM \ 82 Verso: “grey day #3” \ R. Motherwell \ 22 July 82 Artist’s Studio Number P82-2744 Present Owner Dedalus Foundation Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991 Group Exhibitions Long Point Gallery, Provincetown, Mass., 1982. References Drudi 1984, color illus. p. 88; Drudi 1988b, color illus. p. 88.

P1055

Straw Horse I Alternative Title: Self Portrait as Dog I 1982 Acrylic and graphite on canvas 24 x 18 in. (61 x 45.7 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper left: RM Verso: “self portrait as dog i” \ R. Motherwell \ 30 Aug 82 \ Pencil + \ Acrylic \ on canvas Artist’s Studio Number P82-2704 Present Owner Collection of John Daly, Dublin Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; John Daly, Dublin, 2004

Group Exhibitions Hillsboro Fine Art, Dublin, November 2005, erroneously as Straw Horse III. Comments The titles inscribed on the verso of this painting and related works (see P1056, P1057, and C681) allude to Dylan Thomas’s 1940 book Portrait of the Artist as a Young Dog. Motherwell later recalled that he had originally based the creature depicted in these works on a child’s straw basket with a straw horse head on top, which he had seen during the late summer of 1982. He subsequently retitled the works Straw Horse I, II, and III, and exhibited them with those titles at Knoedler & Company in 1991.

P1056

P1057

P1056

P1057

Straw Horse II

Straw Horse III

Alternative Title: Self Portrait as Dog II 1982 Acrylic, Conté crayon, and graphite on canvas 24 x 18 in. (61 x 45.7 cm)

Alternative Title: Self Portrait as Dog III 1982 Acrylic and graphite on canvas 24 x 18 in. (61 x 45.7 cm)

Inscriptions Recto, upper left, incised: RM \ 82 Verso: “self portrait \ as dog ii” \ acrylic \ on canvas

Inscriptions Recto, upper left: RM \ 82 Verso: “self portrait \ as dog iii” \ R. Motherwell \ 7 Sept 82

Verso: R. Motherwell \ 2 Sept 82

Artist’s Studio Number P82-2703

Artist’s Studio Number P82-2702

Present Owner Dedalus Foundation

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991

Solo Exhibitions Knoedler & Company, New York, April 1991, cat. no. 5.

Solo Exhibitions Knoedler & Company, New York, April 1991, cat. no. 7.

Solo Exhibitions Knoedler & Company, New York, April 1991, cat. no. 6.

Museo Rufino Tamayo, Mexico City, 1991 (traveling), cat. no. 26, color illus. p. 71 (erroneously as Straw Horse III).

Museo Rufino Tamayo, Mexico City, 1991 (traveling), cat. no. 27.

Museo Rufino Tamayo, Mexico City, 1991 (traveling), cat. no. 28. References Windrow 1992, color illus. p. 10.

p aint ing s on canvas and pane l

511

P1059

P1058

P1059

Untitled

[ Untitled (Je t’aime) ]

1982 Acrylic, graphite, and Conté crayon on wood 7½ x 20 in. (19.1 x 50.8 cm), irreg.

1979–ca. 1982 Acrylic and graphite on canvas 18 x 24 in. (45.7 x 61 cm)

Inscriptions Recto, upper left: RM \ 82 Verso not signed, not dated Artist’s Studio Number P82-2705 Present Owner Private collection Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; private collection, 2004

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and added the “Je t’aime” motif. He continued to modify the colors during the early 1980s.

P1060

Untitled 1982–91 Acrylic and graphite on canvas board 6 x 12 in. (15.2 x 30.5 cm)

Inscriptions Recto, upper left: RM

Inscriptions Recto, upper left: RM \ 82

Verso not signed, not dated

Verso not seen [“R. Motherwell \ 12 Sept 82,” per studio card]

Artist’s Studio Number P79-2368 Present Owner Private collection, New York Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; private collection, New York, 2005 Comments This work, originally signed and dated “12 July 79,” began as a black gestural painting on a white ground, one among many paintings and works on paper from Motherwell’s Drunk with Turpentine series, which he began in 1979. He later added a red ground, then painted over the original forms (and the original signature and date)

Artist’s Studio Number P82-2699 Present Owner Private collection Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; private collection, 1999 References Pleynet 1989b, color illus. p. 173 (in studio, in early state); Galerie Bernd Klüser exh. cat. 2001, color illus. p. 60 (in studio). Comments This work was begun in 1982 as a painting with an ochre ground. Motherwell continued to make revisions through

P1061

early 1991. The pink was added to the ground by 1984; the black linear forms on the left side of the composition and above the ovals were added in 1991.

P1062

P1061

P1062

P1063

Elegy to the Spanish Republic No. 163

Elegy to the Spanish Republic No. 164

The Hollow Men

1979–82 Acrylic and Conté crayon on canvas 23¼ x 29¼ in. (59.1 x 74.3 cm)

1982 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 36 x 48 in. (91.4 x 121.9 cm)

Inscriptions Recto, upper left, incised: RM

Inscriptions Recto, upper left: RM \ 13 Sept 82

Verso: R. Motherwell \ 1979

Verso not seen [“R. Motherwell, date in charcoal,” per studio card]

Artist’s Studio Number P79-2678 Present Owner Collection of Ashley and Harriet Hoffman Provenance Ashley and Harriet Hoffman, 1983 Comments This painting was begun in 1979 as a black-and-white Elegy. In 1982, Motherwell added the pink and red paint on the left side of the canvas and reworked portions of the black forms. The painting was consigned to Knoedler & Company in January 1983 and sold that March.

Artist’s Studio Number P82-2697 Present Owner Phyllis and Stuart G. Moldaw Provenance Private collection, San Diego, 1983; Rachofsky Collection, Dallas, 1987; Phyllis and Stuart G. Moldaw, 1999 References Drudi 1984, color illus. p. 70; Drudi 1988b, color illus. p. 70.

Alternative Title: { The Hollow Men (from T. S. Eliot) } 1983 Acrylic, charcoal, and graphite on canvas 88 x 176 in. (223.5 x 447 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper left, incised: RM \ 83 Verso not signed, not dated Artist’s Studio Number P83-2810 Present Owner Art Gallery of Ontario. Anonymous gift, 2003 Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, 2003 Solo Exhibitions Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, 1983 (traveling), cat. no. 93, color illus. p. 123; not shown in Los Angeles. Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, 1984, cat. no. 92.

paint ing s on canvas and pane l

513

P1063

Knoedler & Company, New York, May 1987, cat. no. 19. Padiglione d’Arte Contemporanea, Milan, 1989, cat. no. 22, color illus. p. 46. Fundació Antoni Tàpies, Barcelona, 1996 (traveling), cat. no. 74, color illus. pp. 232–33, as The Hollow Men (From T.S. Eliot). Group Exhibitions Knoedler & Company, New York, February 1990, cat. no. 4. Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, 2003, as The Hollow Men (from T. S. Eliot). References Bannon 1983b, illus. sec. Art; Bannon 1983c, illus. sec. E, p. 5; Morgan 1983, sec. D, p. 3; Baitz 1984, illus. sec. Reader’s Guide, p. 15; Bannon 1984a, p. 100, color illus. p. 38; Bannon 1984b, p. 31; Duffy 1984, pp. 61, 93; Gelles 1984, illus. p. 37; Glueck 1984b, sec. Magazine, p. 68, color illus. sec. Magazine, p. 68; McClintic 1984, pp. 39, 40, illus. p. 39; McColm 1984, illus.; Regan 1984, sec. Review, p. 12;

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Richard 1984, sec. D, p. 13; Shere 1984, sec. Calendar, p. 4; Stevens 1984, p. 67; Tarzan 1984, sec. E, p. 12; Wallach 1984a, sec. F, p. 5; Wallach 1984b, pt. 2, p. 4; Kimball 1985, p. 36; Amepnka 1986, color illus. p. 48; Ruhe 1987, p. 6, illus. p. 1; Drudi 1988a, p. 12, color illus. p. 13; Ashton 1989, p. 19, color illus. p. 46 (cat. no. 22); Pleynet 1989b, pp. 12, 40, 59, 60, color illus. p. 171 (foldout), color illus. p. 171 (in studio); Scarpetta 1989–90, p. 118; Flam 1991, color illus. n.p. (pl. 136); Polcari 1991, p. 35; Terenzio 1992b, color illus. n.p.; Banach 1996, p. 37; Caws 1996b, pp. 78, 80, 83, 182, illus. p. 79; Anfam 1997, p. 505; Lynton 1997, p. 41, color illus. p. 39; Mattison 1997, n.p., illus. n.p.; Chalumeau 1998, p. 7, illus. p. 7 (fig. g); Lynton 2001, pp. 180, 182, color illus. pp. 182–83, referred to in text and in illus. as The Hollow Men (From T. S. Eliot); Wentrup 2001, p. 79, illus. (fig. 44); Caws 2003, p. 105, color illus. p. 105 (ill. 68); Art Gallery of Ontario Annual Report 2004, p. 11.

Comments The title of this work refers to T. S. Eliot’s 1925 poem The Hollow Men. Motherwell had originally considered calling this rather overtly figurative work Ulysses’ Crew. In a December 10, 1985, letter to Bryan Robertson, he noted that this painting was “in a sense ‘literary’ in various submerged and indirect references,” and conveyed “not only ‘straw men,’ but a funny kind of group resignation” (see “Writings by the Artist,” in the Bibliography). A crossed-out inscription on the center horizontal stretcher, not in Motherwell’s hand, gives the title as Elegy to the Spanish Republic No. 166 (a number that was later given to Elegy to the Spanish Republic No. 166 [All Souls’ Day Elegy], P1111). In fact, the imagery of the Hollow Men paintings originated in Motherwell’s linear studies for Reconciliation Elegy (see P956 and related works, such as W528), which he transferred in 1983 onto the large canvas that he used for this work, and which served as the basis for the

abstracted figurative imagery of the Hollow Men series and stylistically related works such as The Grand Inquisitor (P1182). The imagery of this painting marked an important new departure for Motherwell, which he would explore in various ways over the next several years.

P1064

The Hollow Men No. II 1983 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 44 x 61 in. (111.7 x 154.9 cm)

Comments Motherwell would later give another work in the Hollow Men series the number II (P1166).

P1065

P1066

The Hollow Men No. III

Shem the Penman No. 16

1983 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 44 x 60 in. (111.7 x 152.4 cm)

Alternative Title: Untitled 1983/1984 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 16 x 20 in. (40.6 x 50.8 cm)

Inscriptions Recto, upper right, incised: RM

Inscriptions Recto, upper right: RM \ 83

Verso not seen [“R. Motherwell May 1983,” per studio card]

Verso not seen [“R. Motherwell 18 Sept 1983,” per studio card]

Artist’s Studio Number P83-2875

Artist’s Studio Number P83-2866

Verso (on bottom horizontal stretcher): shem the penman #16

Present Owner Collection of Mr. and Mrs. M. Klebanoff

Present Owner Fayez Sarofim Collection

Artist’s Studio Number P83-2872

Provenance Mr. and Mrs. Donald M. Feuerstein, 1983; Mr. and Mrs. Meredith J. Long, Houston, 1989; Fayez Sarofim, 1989

Present Owner Private collection

Provenance Mr. and Mrs. M. Klebanoff, 1983 References Glenn 1984, color illus. p. 90 (in studio, in progress).

References Glenn 1984, color illus. p. 91 (in studio, in progress).

Inscriptions Recto, lower left: RM Verso: R. Motherwell \ 1983

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; private collection, 2005 Solo Exhibitions Provincetown Art Association and Museum, Mass., 1983 (traveling); shown at Long Point Gallery only (shown in early state).

paint ing s on canvas and pane l

515

P1066

P1068

P1067

P1069

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, 1984, cat. no. 56, as Untitled.

P1067

P1068

P1069

Shem the Penman No. 17

Shem the Penman No. 18

Shem the Penman No. 19

References Pleynet 1989b, color illus. p. 173 (in studio, in early state); Galerie Bernd Klüser exh. cat. 2001, color illus. p. 60 (in studio, in early state).

1983 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 10 x 14 in. (25.4 x 35.6 cm)

1983 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 10 x 13¾ in. (25.4 x 34.9 cm)

1983 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 10 x 14 in. (25.4 x 35.6 cm)

Inscriptions Recto, upper left: RM \ 83

Inscriptions Recto, upper left, incised: RM

Inscriptions Recto, upper left: RM

Verso: R. Motherwell \ 1983

Artist’s Studio Number P83-2877

Verso [painted over]: [illegible]

Verso (on bottom horizontal stretcher): shem the penman \ #19

Comments Motherwell began the Shem the Penman series in 1972 (see P679). He returned to it in 1983 when an exhibition of his works with Joycean themes was being organized to coincide with the annual James Joyce International Symposium held in Provincetown, June 12–16. Motherwell repainted the ground of this work after it was shown at the Long Point Gallery. This painting and P1067–P1069 seem to continue the numbering of the works called Study for Shem the Penman (P680–P691), even though these paintings are not called “studies.”

Present Owner Private collection, California Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; private collection, California, 2005

Verso (on bottom horizontal stretcher): shem the penman #18 Artist’s Studio Number P83-2876 Present Owner Collection Bernard Jacobson Gallery, London Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; private collection, 2006; Bernard Jacobson Gallery, London, 2007 Solo Exhibitions Bernard Jacobson Gallery, London, June 2009. References Mattison et al. 2009, color illus. p. 167.

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pain tin gs on c a n v a s a n d pan el

Artist’s Studio Number P83-2874 Present Owner Private collection Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; private collection, 2005 Solo Exhibitions Provincetown Art Association and Museum, Mass., 1983 (traveling); shown at Long Point Gallery only (shown in early state). Comments The blue forms on the left side of this painting were added sometime after the Long Point Gallery exhibition, which ended August 20, 1983.

P1070

Le Printemps Alternative Title: Open No. 158: In Blues with Ochre 1970/ca. 1983 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 72 x 36 in. (182.9 x 91.4 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper left, incised [partially painted over]: Motherwell \ [7]0 Verso not signed, not dated Artist’s Studio Number P70-2849

Comments This painting was begun in 1970 as a composition titled Open No. 158: In Blues with Ochre. Motherwell reworked it around 1983, as evidenced by Polaroid photographs taken in his studio, and retitled it Le Printemps (a title that he had also given to an earlier painting of similar dimensions, P667).

P1071

The Bridge Alternative Titles: The Great Wall of China No. 1; Brooklyn Bridge 1971/ca. 1976–83/1987 Acrylic on canvas 72 x 36 in. (182.9 x 91.4 cm) Inscriptions Recto, lower left, incised: RM Verso [painted over]: [illegible] \ [illegible] Verso [painted over]: [illegible] \ [The Great Wall of China] Verso: #1 \ Robert Motherwell \ Aug 71

Present Owner Private collection

Artist’s Studio Number P71-2834

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; private collection, 2000

Present Owner Dedalus Foundation

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991 Solo Exhibitions Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, 1972, cat. no. 5 (shown in early state), as Great Wall of China No. 1. Artcurial Centre d’Art Plastique Contemporain, Paris, 1990 (traveling), Paris, color illus. p. 19. Group Exhibitions Museum of the Borough of Brooklyn at Brooklyn College, 1985 (shown in early state), as Brooklyn Bridge. References Glenn 1984, color illus. p. 90 (in studio, in early state); Brown 1985, sec 2, p. 11B, as Brooklyn Bridge; Civic News 1985, p. 5, as Brooklyn Bridge; Dinhofer 1985, p. 9, illus. p. 9 (pl. 4, in early state, as Brooklyn Bridge); Marzano 1985, sec. 2,

paint ing s on canvas and pane l

517

P1072

P1073

p. 15; Shepard 1985, sec. C, p. 15, as Brooklyn Bridge. Comments The August 1971 date on the verso of this work, inscribed beneath a paintedout early title, refers to the earliest known composition on the canvas, which was originally titled The Great Wall of China No. 1 (see the Comments for The Great Wall of China No. 2, P615). That version of this canvas was shown at the Walker Art Center in 1972. Subsequently, Motherwell completely repainted the canvas numerous times. A studio photograph taken around March 1976 shows the work as dominated by a black gestural form (similar to those in his Samurai series) on an ochre ground, and containing small areas of lavender and violet paint. An undated Polaroid photograph, probably taken in the artist’s studio during the early 1980s, shows that the work had subsequently been changed entirely—repainted in broad areas of yellow, red, gray, and white. Motherwell repainted the work again in 1983, giving it a predominantly blue ground, and this version was

518

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exhibited in 1985 under the title Brooklyn Bridge. In 1987, he made a minor modification to the upper left corner of the composition. By the time this work was exhibited again in 1990 at Artcurial, Paris, Motherwell shortened the title to the more evocative The Bridge, which alluded to Hart Crane’s book of poems by the same name.

P1072

P1073

Summer Studio with Sea

Madrid Plateau

1983 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 18 x 35½ in. (45.7 x 90.2 cm)

1983 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 30 x 78 in. (76.2 x 198.1 cm)

Inscriptions Recto, upper right: RM \ 83

Verso: R. Motherwell \ 25 July 1983

Verso: “madrid plateau” \ R. Motherwell \ Summer, 1983

Artist’s Studio Number P83-2873 Present Owner Private collection, Los Angeles Provenance Coe Kerr Gallery, New York, 1984; [Sotheby’s, New York, November 10, 2004, lot 287, illus.]; private collection, Los Angeles, 2004

Artist’s Studio Number P83-2864 Present Owner Private collection, California Provenance Private collection, 1984; Scott White Contemporary Art, San Diego, 2006; private collection, California, 2006 Group Exhibitions Knoedler & Company, New York, 1983, cat. no. 20.

P1074

P1076

P1075

P1077

P1074

P1075

P1076

P1077

Elegy Study No. 1

Elegy Study No. 2

Elegy Study No. 3

Elegy Study No. 4

1983 Acrylic on canvas board 12 x 30 in. (30.5 x 76.2 cm)

1983 Acrylic and graphite on canvas board 12 x 30 in. (30.5 x 76.2 cm)

Inscriptions Recto, upper right: RM \ 83

Inscriptions Recto, lower left: RM \ 83

1983 Acrylic and Conté crayon on canvas board 12 x 30 in. (30.5 x 76.2 cm)

Verso not signed, not dated

Inscriptions Recto, upper right: RM \ 83

Inscriptions Recto, lower right, incised: RM Verso not signed, not dated

Artist’s Studio Number P83-2867

Artist’s Studio Number P83-2868

Recto, lower left: RM \ 83

Present Owner Dedalus Foundation

Artist’s Studio Number P83-2871

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991

Present Owner Dedalus Foundation

Solo Exhibitions Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, 1984, cat. no. 88.

Solo Exhibitions Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, 1984, cat. no. 89.

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Sanford and Barbara Wernick, 2005

Manny Silverman Gallery, Los Angeles, November 2002, cat. no. 43.

Galerie Lelong, Paris, 2007.

Solo Exhibitions Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, 1984, cat. no. 90.

Solo Exhibitions Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, 1984, cat. no. 91.

References Drudi 1984, color illus. p. 29 (in studio); Drudi 1988b, color illus. p. 29 (in studio); Pleynet 1989b, color illus. p. 173 (in studio); Galerie Bernd Klüser exh. cat. 2001, color illus. p. 60 (in studio).

Manny Silverman Gallery, Los Angeles, November 2002, cat. no. 44 (color illus. in brochure).

References Drudi 1984, color illus. p. 29 (in studio), color illus. p. 113 (in studio); Drudi 1988b, color illus. pp. 29, 119 (in studio); Pleynet 1989b, color illus. p. 173 (in studio).

References Drudi 1984, color illus. p. 29 (in studio), color illus. p. 63 (in studio); Drudi 1988b, color illus. pp. 29, 63 (in studio); Pleynet 1989b, color illus. p. 173 (in studio); Galerie Bernd Klüser exh. cat. 2001, color illus. p. 60 (in studio).

Verso not signed, not dated

Artist’s Studio Number P83-2869 Present Owner Collection of Sanford and Barbara Wernick

References Drudi 1984, color illus. p. 6 (in studio), color illus. p. 29 (in studio); Drudi

paint ing s on canvas and pane l

519

P1078

1988b, color illus. pp. 6, 29 (in studio); Pleynet 1989b, color illus. p. 173 (in studio), color illus. p. 180 (in studio); Galerie Bernd Klüser exh. cat. 2001, color illus. p. 60 (in studio).

520

P1079

P1078

P1079

Study with Blue

Elegy Study with Buff

1983 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 36 x 48 in. (91.4 x 121.9 cm)

Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated

Inscriptions Recto, upper right: RM \ Sept 83

Verso not seen

Verso not signed, not dated

Artist’s Studio Number P83-2902

Artist’s Studio Number P83-2901

Present Owner Unknown

Present Owner Dedalus Foundation

Provenance Private collection, 1985; unknown owner

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991

p ain tin gs on can v as an d pa n el

P1080

Elegy Study Alternative Title: Untitled 1983 Acrylic and graphite on Masonite 22 x 27¹⁄₅ in. (55.9 x 69.9 cm)

illus. pp. 29, 63 (in studio); Pleynet 1989b, color illus. p. 173 (in studio); Galerie Bernd Klüser exh. cat. 2001, color illus. p. 60 (in studio).

P1081

[ Untitled (Figure in Doorway) ] Alternative Title: { Mural Painting } 1982–83 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 80 x 96 in. (203.2 x 243.8 cm)

Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated

Inscriptions Recto, upper left: RM

Verso: R. Motherwell \ 1983 \ “Elegy Study”

Verso not signed, not dated

Artist’s Studio Number P83-2865 Present Owner Collection of Linda and Jerry Bruckheimer Provenance Linda and Jerry Bruckheimer, 1988 Solo Exhibitions Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, 1984, cat. no. 52, as Untitled. References Drudi 1984, color illus. p. 6 (in studio), color illus. p. 29 (in studio), color illus. p. 63 (in studio); Drudi 1988b, color

Artist’s Studio Number P82-2774 Present Owner Dedalus Foundation

was photographed at the beginning of May 1983, he altered some of the forms and changed the color of the upper horizontal form from ochre to lavender. The present title comes from the studio card for the painting, and may have been based on an association between the forms in this painting and an early work called Doorway with Figure (P88). Studio records indicate that Motherwell once considered naming this work On Stage—a title that he gave to a print made in August 1983 (Engberg and Banach 2003, no. 317).

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991 Solo Exhibitions Galerie Lelong, Paris, 2007, color illus. in brochure (fig. 1), as Mural Painting. Comments Motherwell began this painting on November 30, 1982 (as per an entry in his datebook), enlarging a small, untitled work from the early 1950s, which he would later call Mural Study (see P100). Sometime after this large work

paint ing s on canvas and pane l

521

P1084

P1082

P1083

P1085

P1082

P1083

P1084

P1085

Cave Study

Untitled

Alternative Title: Untitled 1983 Acrylic, charcoal, and graphite on canvas board 9 x 12 in. (22.9 x 30.5 cm)

Alternative Title: {Cave Study} 1984 Acrylic, graphite, and china marker on canvas 6 x 8 in. (15.2 x 20.3 cm)

1984 Acrylic on canvas 6 x 8 in. (15.2 x 20.3 cm)

1984 Oil, acrylic, and ink on canvas 8 x 10 in. (20.3 x 25.4 cm)

Inscriptions Recto, upper left: RM

Verso: R. Motherwell \ 1984

Inscriptions Recto, upper left, incised and inscribed: RM

Verso not seen [“R. Motherwell 1983,” per studio card]

Verso: R. Motherwell \ 11 March 84

Artist’s Studio Number P84-3077

Verso: R. Motherwell \ 1984 \ oil, ink, acrylic

Present Owner Collection of Lorenzo and Teresa Fertitta

Artist’s Studio Number P84-3080

Artist’s Studio Number P83-3078 Present Owner Private collection Provenance Private collection, 1987 Solo Exhibitions Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, 1984, cat. no. 122, as Untitled. Knoedler & Company, New York, May 1987, cat. no. 3.

Artist’s Studio Number P84-3079 Present Owner Collection of John Daly, Dublin Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; John Daly, Dublin, 2008 Solo Exhibitions Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, 1984, cat. no. 102. Arthur A. Houghton Jr. Gallery, Cooper Union, New York, 1988, cat. no. 42. Group Exhibitions Hillsboro Fine Art, Dublin, 2009, as Cave Study.

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p ain tin gs on c an v as an d pa n el

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Lorenzo and Teresa Fertitta, 2008 Solo Exhibitions Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, 1984, cat. no. 114. Museum Morsbroich, Leverkusen, Germany, 2004, color illus. p. 96.

Present Owner Dedalus Foundation Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991 Solo Exhibitions Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, 1984, cat. no. 115.

P1087

P1086

Primal Mark Alternative Title: Untitled 1983–84/ca. 1986 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas board 11¾ x 24 in. (29.9 x 61 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper left: R Motherwell Verso covered by remounting, no longer visible Artist’s Studio Number P83-2870 Present Owner João Carlos Arez Torres, Lisbon Provenance Private collection, 1989; João Carlos Arez Torres, Lisbon, 1990 Solo Exhibitions Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, 1984, cat. no. 96 (shown in early state), as Untitled. Galería Joan Prats, Barcelona, 1986 (traveling), Barcelona, cat. no. 49, color illus. n.p.; Palma de Mallorca, cat.

P1088

no. 49, color illus. n.p.; Madrid, cat. no. 49, color illus. n.p.

P1087

P1088

Untitled

References Pleynet 1989b, color illus. p. 173 (in studio, in progress); Galerie Bernd Klüser exh. cat. 2001, color illus. p. 60 (in studio, in progress).

1984–87 Acrylic on canvas 6 x 8 in. (15.2 x 20.3 cm)

Alternative Title: {Cave Study} 1984 Acrylic, graphite, and china marker on canvas 5 x 7 in. (12.7 x 17.8 cm)

Comments This painting was begun in 1983. The earliest known version of it appears in a 1984 studio photograph that was published in Pleynet 1989b, p. 173. That early state appears to have served as a model for the print Australia (Engberg and Banach 2003, no. 322). In 1984 Motherwell revised this painting considerably, adding heavier black paint and a stroke of orange to the central form; that version of the work was exhibited at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in December 1984. Motherwell added the strokes of blue paint sometime around 1986. This work was used as the model for the earliest state of The Big 4 (see P1138).

Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated Verso: R. Motherwell \ 1984 Artist’s Studio Number P84-3008

Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated Verso: Motherwell \ 1984

Present Owner Private collection

Artist’s Studio Number P84-3081

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; private collection, 2000

Present Owner Dedalus Foundation

Comments This painting was begun in 1984. The vertical gray forms and the blue bars were added in 1987.

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991 Solo Exhibitions Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, 1984, cat. no. 93. Manny Silverman Gallery, Los Angeles, November 2002, cat. no. 21, as Cave Study.

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P1089

P1090

P1091

Chrome Yellow Elegy

House of the Drowned Helmsman

Hollow Men Study (Trio I)

1984 Acrylic and oil stick on canvas 36 x 24 in. (91.4 x 61 cm)

Alternative Title: Trio I 1985 Acrylic and graphite on canvas 20 x 24 in. (50.8 x 61 cm)

Inscriptions Recto, upper right: RM \ 84

Inscriptions Recto, upper left: RM \ 85

Verso: R. Motherwell \ 1984

Verso: R. Motherwell \ August, 1984

Verso: R. Motherwell \ July, 1985

Verso (on top horizontal stretcher): “chrome yellow elegy”

Artist’s Studio Number P84-3058; P84-3073

Artist’s Studio Number P85-3227

Artist’s Studio Number P84-3036

Present Owner Private collection

Present Owner Dedalus Foundation

Present Owner Private collection

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; private collection, 2008

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991

1984 Acrylic, Conté crayon, and charcoal on canvas 24 x 36 in. (61 x 91.4 cm)

Provenance Neil and Sharon Norry, 1985; [Christie’s, New York, May 4, 1994, lot 162, illus. (not sold)]; private collection, 1994 References Terenzio 1992b, illus. n.p. (in studio).

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Comments The title of this painting probably refers to Palinurus, the helmsman of Aeneas’s ship in the Aeneid, whose death by drowning guarantees the safe passage of Aeneas and his people after the fall of Troy.

Solo Exhibitions Galería Joan Prats, Barcelona, 1986 (traveling), Barcelona, cat. no. 45, color illus. n.p.; Palma de Mallorca, cat. no. 45, color illus. n.p.; Madrid, cat. no. 45, color illus. n.p.; erroneously as Hollow Men Study (Trio II). Comments There are six numbered works in the Hollow Men Study (Trio) series. When

P1090

works from the series were first shown at Knoedler & Company in April 1986, each work was simply titled Trio, followed by its series number. But in October 1986, when works from the series were shown at the Galería Joan Prats in Barcelona, the series title had been changed to Hollow Men Study (Trio). Two works from the series have retained their original titles, Trio IV and Trio VI (P1094 and P1096), because they were not shown at the Joan Prats exhibition.

P1092

P1091

P1092

P1093

Hollow Men Study (Trio II)

Hollow Men Study (Trio III)

Alternative Title: Trio II 1985 Acrylic and graphite on canvas 18 x 24 in. (45.7 x 61 cm)

Alternative Title: Trio III 1985–86 Acrylic and graphite on canvas 18 x 24 in. (45.7 x 61 cm)

Inscriptions Recto, upper left: RM \ 85

Inscriptions Recto, upper left [painted over]: [RM \ 85]

Verso: R. Motherwell \ July 1985 Artist’s Studio Number P85-3225 Present Owner Dedalus Foundation Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991 Solo Exhibitions Knoedler & Company, New York, April 1986, cat. no. 6, as Trio II. Galería Joan Prats, Barcelona, 1986 (traveling), Barcelona, cat. no. 46, color illus. n.p.; Palma de Mallorca, cat. no. 46, color illus. n.p.; Madrid, cat. no. 46, color illus. n.p.; erroneously as Hollow Men Study (Trio I).

P1093

References Pleynet 1989b, color illus. p. 60.

P1094

Comments Motherwell began this painting in 1985. After it was briefly consigned to Knoedler & Company and photographed in February 1986, he made some small modifications, adding the yellows at the upper left and adjusting the blues.

1985–87 Acrylic and graphite on canvas 24 x 36 in. (61 x 91.4 cm)

Trio IV

Inscriptions Recto, upper right, incised [painted over]: [RM]

Verso: R. Motherwell \ Aug, 1985

Verso not seen [“R. Motherwell / 6 Sept 85,” per studio card]

Artist’s Studio Number P85-3226

Artist’s Studio Number P85-3223

Present Owner Dedalus Foundation

Present Owner Private collection, Miami

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; private collection, Miami, 2006

Solo Exhibitions Galería Joan Prats, Barcelona, 1986 (traveling), Barcelona, cat. no. 44, color illus. n.p.; Palma de Mallorca, cat. no. 44, color illus. n.p.; Madrid, cat. no. 44, color illus. n.p.

Comments This painting was begun in 1985 as a composition primarily in ochre and yellow paint, and graphite; an early version was photographed in February 1986. The darker ochres and the blacks near the top and bottom areas of the composition were added sometime

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before the picture was consigned to Knoedler & Company in March 1987. This is one of the two works from the original Trio series that retained their original titles; see the Comments for Hollow Men Study (Trio I) (P1091).

P1094

P1096

P1095

P1097

P1095

P1096

Hollow Men Study (Trio V)

Trio VI

1985 Acrylic, Conté crayon, and graphite on canvas 24 x 36 in. (61 x 91.4 cm)

1985 Acrylic and graphite on canvas 24 x 36 in. (61 x 91.4 cm)

Inscriptions Recto, lower right: RM \ 85 Verso: R. Motherwell \ Oct 1985 Artist’s Studio Number P85-3228 Present Owner Private collection Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; private collection, 2007 Solo Exhibitions Galería Joan Prats, Barcelona, 1986 (traveling), Barcelona, cat. no. 47, color illus. n.p.; Palma de Mallorca, cat. no. 47, color illus. n.p.; Bilbao, color illus. p. 26; Madrid, cat. no. 47, color illus. n.p. References Soler 1987, color illus. p. 37.

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Inscriptions Recto, upper left, incised: RM Verso: R. Motherwell \ Nov 1985 Artist’s Studio Number P85-3221 Present Owner Collection of John Daly, Dublin Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; John Daly, Dublin, 2006 Solo Exhibitions Knoedler & Company, New York, April 1986, cat. no. 2. Manny Silverman Gallery, Los Angeles, 2000, cat. no. 24. Group Exhibitions Hillsboro Fine Art, Dublin, December 2006, as Trio VI (Hollow Men).

References Silverthorne 1986, p. 126. Comments This painting is one of the two works from the original Trio series that retained their original titles; see the Comments for Hollow Men Study (Trio I) (P1091).

P1098

P1099

P1097

P1098

P1099

Hollow Men Study (Quartet 1)

Danse Macabre

Primavera Duet

1985 Acrylic and graphite on canvas 24 x 36 in. (61 x 91.4 cm)

1985 Acrylic on canvas mounted on board 24 x 30 in. (61 x 76.2 cm)

Inscriptions Recto, upper left: RM \ 85

Alternative Title: Primavera 1985 Acrylic and graphite on canvas 36 x 48 in. (91.4 x 121.9 cm)

Verso: R. Motherwell \ Aug 1985

Verso: R. Motherwell \ 1985

Artist’s Studio Number P85-3230

Artist’s Studio Number P85-3231

Present Owner Dedalus Foundation

Present Owner Private collection

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991

Provenance Steven Lapper, 1986; private collection, 1989

Solo Exhibitions Galería Joan Prats, Barcelona, 1986 (traveling), Barcelona, cat. no. 43, color illus. n.p.; Palma de Mallorca, cat. no. 43, color illus. n.p.; Madrid, cat. no. 43, color illus. n.p.

References Pleynet 1989b, color illus. p. 182 (in studio), color illus. p. 185, as Primavera; Flam 1991, color illus. n.p. (pl. 137); Ràfols-Casamada 1996, color illus. p. 20.

Inscriptions Recto, upper right: RM \ 85 Verso: R. Motherwell \ 10 Sept 1985 Artist’s Studio Number P85-3224 Present Owner Dedalus Foundation Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991

Solo Exhibitions Knoedler & Company, New York, April 1986, cat. no. 4.

Solo Exhibitions Knoedler & Company, New York, April 1986, cat. no. 7.

References Mathew 1986, pp. 1, 3; Silverthorne 1986, p. 126.

Knoedler & Company, New York, April 1991, cat. no. 10, as Primavera.

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P1100

P1101

Summer Sea

In the Studio

1985 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 36 x 48 in. (91.4 x 121.9 cm)

Alternative Title: Untitled 1984/ca. 1985 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 24 x 36 in. (61 x 91.4 cm)

Inscriptions Recto, upper left: RM \ 85 Verso not signed, not dated Artist’s Studio Number P85-3235 Present Owner Private collection Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; private collection, 2003 Solo Exhibitions Knoedler & Company, New York, April 1986, cat. no. 5.

Inscriptions Recto, upper right: RM \ 84 Verso: “in the studio” \ R. Motherwell Artist’s Studio Number P84-3073 Present Owner Dedalus Foundation Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991 Solo Exhibitions Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, 1984, cat. no. 94 (shown in early state), as Untitled. Galería Joan Prats, Barcelona, 1986 (traveling), Barcelona, cat. no. 48, color illus. n.p.; Palma de Mallorca, cat. no. 48, color illus. n.p.; Bilbao, color illus. p. 27; Madrid, cat. no. 48, color illus. n.p.

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References Miralles 1986, illus. p. 41; Garesse 1987, illus. p. 20; Soler 1987, color illus. p. 37. Comments This work was begun in 1984 and an early version was shown at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum that December. Motherwell added the black and sienna areas sometime after the Guggenheim exhibition closed in February 1985 and before the painting was consigned to Knoedler & Company in February 1986.

P1101

P1102

Untitled 1976/ca. 1985 Acrylic on canvas 16 x 20 in. (40.6 x 50.8 cm) Inscriptions Recto, lower right: RM \ 11 July 76 Verso not signed, not dated Artist’s Studio Number P76-1106 Present Owner Kimberly Schlegel Whitman and Justin Whitman Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Jonathan Novak Contemporary Art, 2005; Kimberly Schlegel Whitman and Justin Whitman, 2006 Solo Exhibitions Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, 1984, cat. no. 120 (shown in early state).

P1103

P1102

Comments An early version of this work contained two ovals alongside thinner lines, much like the composition of Mediterranean Figuration No. 2 (W668). That early version appears in installation photographs of Motherwell’s 1984 retrospective at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. Sometime after the end of that exhibition in February 1985, Motherwell extended and gave more emphasis to the areas of black.

P1104

P1103

P1104

P1105

Untitled

1984/ca. 1985 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas board 9 x 12 in. (22.9 x 30.5 cm)

1985 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 18 x 24 in. (45.7 x 61 cm)

Open No. 116: La France Open

Inscriptions Recto, upper right: RM

Inscriptions Recto, upper left: RM

Verso not signed, not dated

Artist’s Studio Number P84-3076

Artist’s Studio Number P85-3232

Present Owner Present Owner Collection of Arnold and Carol Wolowitz Dedalus Foundation Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Arnold and Carol Wolowitz, 2007 Solo Exhibitions Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, 1984, cat. no. 101 (shown in early state). Comments Sometime after February 1985, when this work was returned from Motherwell’s retrospective at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, he added the blue forms over areas that previously had been painted in ochre.

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991

Alternative Title: Open No. 116: In Sienna, Blue and Green 1969/1983/ca. 1985 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 72 x 42 in. (182.9 x 106.7 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper center, incised: RM \ 69 Recto, upper left, incised [painted over]: [RM] Verso: “open #116” \ R. Motherwell \ Summer, 1969 \ “La France Open” Artist’s Studio Number P69-1132 Present Owner Private collection Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; private collection, 2006 Group Exhibitions Knoedler & Company, New York, 1983, cat. no. 17 (shown in early state).

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P1105

Manny Silverman Gallery, Los Angeles, January 2006, cat. no. 7.

P1106

Comments The first version of this work, painted in 1969, was titled Open No. 116: In Sienna, Blue and Green, and was consigned to the Marlborough-Gerson Gallery from November 1969 to 1972. Motherwell later repainted the work, and by October 1983, when it was consigned to Knoedler & Company (where it was shown that December), it had been transformed into a predominantly blue painting with a red Open form, and retitled as Open No. 116: La France Open. Sometime after the work was returned to him in April 1985, he revised it again, painting the red rectangular Open form white.

1975–ca. 1985 Acrylic and silkscreen on canvas board 29 x 24 in. (73.7 x 61 cm)

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Djarum

Inscriptions Recto, upper right: Motherwell 76 Verso not seen Artist’s Studio Number P76-968 Present Owner Collection of Geraldine and Harold Alden Provenance Private collection, 1987; Geraldine and Harold Alden, 1990 Comments Motherwell began this work in 1975, when he silkscreened onto canvas board an image he had used in a contemporaneous print, Djarum (Engberg and Banach 2003, no. 176), and painted the ground in acrylic. He reworked the colors of the ground numerous times between 1975 and around 1985,

P1106

when most of the red paint was added, probably in Provincetown. Djarum is a brand of Indonesian kretek, or clove cigarette.

P1107

Untitled Alternative Title: {In Orange with Black Monogram} 1967/ca. 1985 Acrylic and oil stick on canvas board 24 x 19 in. (61 x 48.3 cm) Inscriptions Recto, lower left: RM \ 67 Verso not signed, not dated Artist’s Studio Number C67-2353; C67-3237 Present Owner Dedalus Foundation Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991 Solo Exhibitions Bernard Jacobson Gallery, London, June 2009, as In Orange with Black Monogram. References Mattison et al. 2009, color illus. p. 19, as In Orange with Black Monogram.

P1107

Comments Begun in 1967, this work was consigned to Knoedler & Company in January 1985 in an early state that contained a white ground with blue, orange, and brown horizontal stripes, and that had a Grand Vin de Chateau Latour wine label near its center. The work was returned to Motherwell in April 1985, and sometime after that he altered the colors of the ground, removed the wine label, added black paint over the area where the label had been, and incised a line drawing into the black paint.

P1108

Primal Sign 1980/1985 Acrylic and graphite on canvas mounted on Masonite 45½ x 33½ in. (115.6 x 85.1 cm)

& Company from October 1982 to November 1983. In 1985 Motherwell repainted the ground with ochre, modified the black forms, and changed the inscription of the date to “27 Oct 85.”

P1109

{ Unfinished painting} Ca. 1985 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas mounted on Masonite 30 x 40 in. (76.2 x 101.6 cm)

Inscriptions Recto, upper right: RM \ 27 Oct 85

Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated

Verso not signed, not dated

Artist’s Studio Number P81-2544; P85-2544

Artist’s Studio Number P**-

Present Owner Dedalus Foundation

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991

Comments An early version of this work, which was signed and dated “27 Oct 80,” contained a black form on a white ground with a yellow painted border; that composition was related to the contemporaneous print Primal Sign I (Engberg and Banach 2003, no. 256). That version of the work was consigned to Knoedler

Comments This work is unfinished, and its date is uncertain. The composition appears to be a reduced outline of the black forms in Untitled (Elegy) (P1110), and was perhaps blocked in by a studio assistant.

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P1110

Untitled (Elegy) 1983–85 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 66 x 90 in. (167.6 x 228.6 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper left: R Motherwell Verso not seen [“R. Motherwell \ 1983–85 \ (4 Nov.),” per studio card] Artist’s Studio Number P83/85-2974 Present Owner Private collection Provenance Private collection, 1985 References Drudi 1984, color illus. p. 6 (in studio, in progress), color illus. p. 29 (in studio, in progress), color illus. p. 63

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(in studio, in progress); Motherwell 1987, illus. p. 6 (in studio); Drudi 1988b, color illus. pp. 6, 29 (in studio, in progress); Pleynet 1989b, color illus. p. 173 (in studio, in progress); Architectural Digest 1996, color illus. (installation view); Webb 1996, color illus. p. 93 (installation view); Galerie Bernd Klüser exh. cat. 2001, color illus. p. 60 (in studio, in progress). Comments This work is based on Elegy to the Spanish Republic No. 161 (P1027). It was begun in 1983 and completed in 1985.

P1111

Elegy to the Spanish Republic No. 166 (All Souls’ Day Elegy) 1983–85 Acrylic, charcoal, Conté crayon, and graphite on canvas 72 x 84 in. (182.9 x 213.4 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper left, incised: RM Verso: R. Motherwell \ “elegy to the spanish republic #166” \ (“All Souls’ Day Elegy”) \ 1983–85 \ (2 November 1985) Artist’s Studio Number P83/85-2975 Present Owner Private collection Provenance Private collection, 1987

Solo Exhibitions Galería Joan Prats, Barcelona, 1986 (traveling), Barcelona, cat. no. 22, color illus. n.p.; Palma de Mallorca, cat. no. 22, color illus. n.p.; Bilbao, color illus. pp. 22–23; Madrid, cat. no. 22, color illus. n.p. References Drudi 1984, color illus. p. 6 (in studio, in progress), color illus. p. 63 (in studio, in progress); Wallach 1984b, cover illus. pt. 2 (in studio, in progress); Amepnka 1986, cover color illus.; Chamorro 1986, illus. p. 214 (in exhibition); Hemenway 1986, cover color illus.; Campoy 1987, illus. p. 101; Molina 1987, p. 28; Motherwell 1987, illus. p. 6 (in studio); Soler 1987, p. 37, as Elegia del Dia de Difuntos (Elegy of the Day of the Dead); Drudi 1988b, color illus. p. 6 (in studio, in progress), color illus. p. 63

P1111

(in studio, in progress); Appella 1989, p. 3; Pleynet 1989b, color illus. p. 178; Glueck 1991, illus. sec. A, p. 1 (in studio); Newsweek 1991, illus. p. 53 (in studio); Chalumeau 1998, illus. p. 5 (fig. c); Dumas 2001, color illus. p. 104 (in studio, in progress). Comments Motherwell began this painting in 1983, basing the central Elegy form on his 1982 lithograph Alberti Elegy (Engberg and Banach 2003, no. 288). The painting was signed and dated on All Souls’ Day 1985 and consigned to Knoedler & Company later that month.

P1112

Elegy to the Spanish Republic No. 167 (Spanish Earth Elegy) 1985/1988 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas mounted on wood panel 48 x 74 in. (121.9 x 188 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper left: Motherwell \ 1985 Verso [partially painted over]: [illegible] \ “Elegy to the Spanish Republic #167 \ (Spanish Earth Elegy)”

Angus Wurtele and the Dedalus Foundation, 1995 Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, 1995 Solo Exhibitions Galería Joan Prats, Barcelona, 1986 (traveling), Barcelona, cat. no. 1, color illus. n.p.; Palma de Mallorca, cat. no. 1, color illus. n.p.; Bilbao, color illus. p. 13; Madrid, cat. no. 1, color illus. n.p.; shown in early state.

Verso [partially painted over]: [illegible] \ [illegible] \ R. Motherwell \ 1985

Padiglione d’Arte Contemporanea, Milan, 1989, cat. no. 23, color illus. p. 47.

Artist’s Studio Number P85-3110; P85-3126

Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, 1992, cat. no. 22.

Present Owner Collection Walker Art Center, Minneapolis. Gift of Margaret and

Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, 1996, cat. no. 28, color illus. n.p.

Fundació Antoni Tàpies, Barcelona, 1996 (traveling), cat. no. 75, color illus. p. 235. Museo Dolores Olmedo Patiño, Mexico City, 2008, color illus. p. 32. Mary and Leigh Block Museum of Art, Northwestern University, Evanston, Ill., 2009, cat. no. 41. Group Exhibitions Martin-Gropius-Bau, Berlin, 1990, color illus. p. 245. Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, 2005. References Miralles 1986, p. 41; Parcerisas 1986, illus. p. 23 (in early state); Danvila 1987, illus. p. 9 (in early state); Molina 1987, p. 28, illus. p. 28 (in early state, detail); Soler 1987, p. 37, color illus. p. 37 (in early state), referred to in text and in illus. as Elegia del Dia de la

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P1112

tierra espanola (Elegy for the Day of the Spanish Earth); Zaya 1987, illus. sec. Cultura, p. 1 (in early state); Pleynet 1989b, color illus. p. 179; Porikys 1990, illus.; Art Now Gallery Guide 1992b, color illus. sec. MW, p. 11 (upside down); Caws 1996b, p. 71, illus. p. 72, color illus. n.p.; Caws 2003, illus. p. 72 (ill. 48).

P1113

Comments Motherwell set the composition of this work in 1985, and it was first exhibited in its original form in Barcelona in October 1986. He revised it in 1988, adding the black vertical bars on the sides and painting the oval on the right, which had previously been very light, a dense black. The title refers to a wellknown 1937 documentary film about the Spanish Civil War.

Verso: R. Motherwell \ July, 1984

Elegy with Opening Alternative Title: Piero’s House 1984–85/1988 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 24 x 36 in. (61 x 91.4 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper right, incised: RM

Artist’s Studio Number P84-3059 Present Owner The New Britain Museum of American Art. Museum purchase (Charles F. Smith Fund) and gift of the Dedalus Foundation Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; New Britain Museum of American Art, Conn., 1995 Group Exhibitions Charles Cowles Annex Gallery, New York, 1987, color illus. p. 37 (shown in early state).

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Long Point Gallery, Provincetown, Mass., July 1988. Hyde Collection, Glens Falls, N.Y., 2004 (traveling). References Glueck 1984b, sec. Magazine, p. 74, as Piero’s House; Barr 1999, p. 116, color illus. p. 117. Comments In 1984, Motherwell remarked that this work had been “unconsciously” influenced by a reproduction of Piero della Francesca’s Flagellation of Christ (ca. 1455–60) that was pinned to his studio wall (see Glueck 1984b). That early version, which was never shown publicly, was originally titled Piero’s House and was composed mainly of yellow Elegy-like forms. Around 1985, Motherwell painted dense blacks over most of the original composition, and the picture was consigned to Knoedler & Company in that form in February 1986, as Elegy with Opening; it was also shown in that form at the Charles Cowles Gallery in September 1987.

Sometime after the work was returned to him in January 1988, Motherwell extended the black vertical strip on the left side of the painting down to the bottom edge.

P1113

P1114

Quintet Alternative Title: {Quintet (The Hollow Men Series)} 1986/ca. 1989 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 36 x 72 in. (91.4 x 182.9 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper left: RM Verso not signed, not dated Artist’s Studio Number P86-3246 Present Owner Private collection, Minneapolis Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; private collection, Minneapolis, 2008 Solo Exhibitions Knoedler & Company, New York, April 1986, cat. no. 3 (shown in early state). Group Exhibitions Nassau County Museum of Art, Roslyn Harbor, N.Y., 1997, color illus. p. 48 (upside down), as Quintet (The Hollow Men Series).

References Silverthorne 1986, p. 126; Flam 1991, color illus. n.p. (pl. 139, in early state); Falgàs 1995, p. 53. Comments An early version of this work was exhibited at Knoedler & Company in April 1986. Sometime after October 1989, when the work was returned to Motherwell, he revised the lower edges of the central forms and adjusted the colors on the left and upper right sides of the painting.

P1114

P1115

The Golden Bough Alternative Title: Work in Progress (The Golden Bough) 1986 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 90 x 216 in. (228.6 x 548.6 cm)

no. 41, color illus. n.p.; Bilbao, color illus. pp. 16–17; Madrid, cat. no. 41, color illus. n.p.; as Work in Progress (The Golden Bough). Fundació Antoni Tàpies, Barcelona, 1996 (traveling), cat. no. 76, color illus. pp. 238–39.

Inscriptions Recto, upper right: RM

Group Exhibitions Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, 2003.

Verso not signed, not dated

References Chamorro 1986, illus. p. 214 (in exhibition); Diario de Mallorca 1986, illus. p. 36; MacDonald 1986, illus. p. 50 (upside down, as Work in Progress [‘The Golden Bough’]); Raynor 1986, sec. C, p. 30, as Work in Progress (The Golden Bough); Silverthorne 1986, illus. p. 126, as Work in Progress (The Golden Bough); Banach 1996, pp. 7, 37; Anfam 1997, p. 505; Art Gallery of Ontario Annual Report 2004, p. 11, color illus. p. 11.

Artist’s Studio Number P86-3244 Present Owner Art Gallery of Ontario. Anonymous gift, 2003 Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, 2003 Solo Exhibitions Knoedler & Company, New York, April 1986, cat. no. 11, as Work in Progress (The Golden Bough). Galería Joan Prats, Barcelona, 1986 (traveling), Barcelona, cat. no. 41, color illus. n.p.; Palma de Mallorca, cat.

Comments This painting has been published and exhibited as Work in Progress (The Golden Bough); since all known published reproductions have been of the final state, Work in Progress was

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P1115

probably meant as a reference to the provisional title that James Joyce first gave to Finnegans Wake. The present title of this painting refers to Sir James Frazer’s influential book The Golden Bough: A Study in Comparative Religion, first published in 1890; Frazer’s title in turn alluded to the Golden Bough of Virgil’s Aeneid, which allowed Aeneas’s passage across the river Styx into the underworld.

P1116

Homage to Catalonia 1985–86 Acrylic on canvas 24 x 36 in. (61 x 91.4 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper left: RM \ 85 Verso not seen Artist’s Studio Number P85-3109; P85-3243 Present Owner Private collection Provenance Private collection, 1986; private collection, California, 1988; Jonathan Novak Contemporary Art, 2002; private collection, 2002 Solo Exhibitions Knoedler & Company, New York, April 1986, cat. no. 20. References Mathew 1986, illus. p. 1 (upside down).

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Comments This painting was begun in 1985 as a work from the Hollow Men series. By 1986 it had been repainted and given the title Homage to Catalonia, after George Orwell’s 1938 book about his experiences in the Spanish Civil War.

P1117

Wanderers Alternative Title: Blue Elegy 1985–86 Acrylic on canvas 24 x 36 in. (61 x 91.4 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper right: RM \ 86 Verso: R. Motherwell \ 1986 Artist’s Studio Number P85-3108; P86-3141 Present Owner Collection of Glenn and Frances Schor Provenance Mr. and Mrs. Martin and Mimi Lipton, 1987; [Tajan, Paris, May 25, 2005, lot 26, illus.]; private collection, 2005; Glenn and Frances Schor, 2005 Comments An early version of this painting, begun in 1985 and titled Blue Elegy, was photographed at Knoedler & Company in February 1986. Motherwell subsequently reworked the black ovals, painting over

P1117

P1118

P1116

in blue what had been the second oval from the right, and renamed the work Wanderers. It was consigned to Knoedler in its present form in October 1986.

P1118

Blue Drunk with Turpentine 1980–86 Acrylic on canvas 18 x 24 in. (45.7 x 61 cm) Inscriptions Recto, lower right: RM \ 80 Verso: Robert Motherwell \ Summer 1980–1985 Verso [painted over]: [illegible] Artist’s Studio Number P80/85-2509 Present Owner Mr. David Hale Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; David Hale, 2008 Solo Exhibitions William Shearburn Gallery, Santa Fe, N.Mex., 2008, cat. no. 2. Group Exhibitions Hackett-Freedman Gallery, San Francisco, 2009.

References Sardar 2009, color illus. (in exhibition).

P1119

Comments Motherwell began this painting in 1980, as an Open-like composition with black vertical lines on a loosely painted blue ground. Early working titles for it included The Garden Window II and Blue Window, neither of which was used publicly. Although Motherwell dated this painting to 1980 on the recto and later dated it to “Summer 1980–1985” on the verso, a photograph taken in March 1986 shows it still in an early state. Not long after that photograph was taken, Motherwell added the gestural black forms, which are related to an untitled painting on paper done around 1986 (W690), which in turn was based on Untitled (Drunk with Turpentine) (W584). The painting had been given its final form and its present title by the time it was consigned to Knoedler & Company in October 1986.

[ Untitled (with Green, Yellow and Red)] 1976–ca. 1986 Acrylic on canvas 5¼ x 3 in. (13.3 x 7.6 cm) Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated Verso: R.M. \ June 76 \ Motherwell Artist’s Studio Number P76-2374 Present Owner Private collection, Los Angeles Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; private collection, Los Angeles, 2007 Comments Motherwell first painted a composition on this canvas, and signed and dated it on the verso, in 1976. We do not know what that early version looked like, but it was probably quite different from the present painting, since the central forms of the present state are similar to

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P1121

P1119

vertical works from the Drunk with Turpentine series, which was not begun until 1979 (see the Comments for W542). The first known image of this work appears in a studio photograph taken around 1986; the basic composition was set by that time, though the colors would later undergo substantial changes. Studio photographs taken in 1988 show that Motherwell later based the earliest version of Automatic Oracle (P1168) on this work.

P1120

P1121

P1122

Family of 4

Elegy to the Spanish Republic No. 165

Elegy Mural Study

1986 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 16 x 12 in. (40.6 x 30.5 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper left: RM

Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated

Artist’s Studio Number P86-3246

Verso: R. Motherwell \ 86

Provenance Roxane and José Guerrero, 1986; Tony and Lisa Guerrero, ca. 2000 Comments Motherwell dedicated this work to the painter José Guerrero (1914–1991) and his wife, Roxie (Roxane Pollock Guerrero, 1913–2000). The title refers to the Guerreros and their two children.

p ain tin gs on ca n v a s a n d pan el

1986 Acrylic on canvas mounted on Masonite 10 x 13⅞ in. (25.4 x 35.2 cm)

Verso: for Roxie + José \ Guerrero \ Happy 48 anniversary \ 5 April 1986 \ Renate + Robert Motherwell

Present Owner Collection of Tony and Lisa Guerrero

538

P1122

Verso [painted over]: [illegible]

Artist’s Studio Number P86-3255

1976/1986 Acrylic and graphite on canvas board 5⅝ x 15⅞ in. (14.3 x 40.3 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper left: RM \ 86 Verso: R. Motherwell \ 1986 Artist’s Studio Number P76/86-1328 Present Owner Private collection

Present Owner Private collection, Minneapolis

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; private collection, 2001

Provenance Private collection, 1986; private collection, Minneapolis, 1998

Solo Exhibitions William Ehrlich Gallery, New York, May 1979 (shown in early state). Comments An early version of this work, painted in 1976, was shown at the William Ehrlich Gallery in 1979. Motherwell later turned the work upside down, repainted the Elegy forms, and signed it as a 1986 painting.

P1124

P1123

Incline Alternative Title: In Black with Ochre Chevron 1965/ca. 1986 Acrylic on canvas 45 x 35 in. (114.3 x 88.9 cm) Inscriptions Recto, lower right: RM Verso: Robert Motherwell \ 1965 \ acrylic on linen Verso: “in black with \ ochre chevron” Artist’s Studio Number P65-703 Present Owner Dedalus Foundation Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991 Solo Exhibitions Galería Joan Prats, Barcelona, 1986 (traveling), Barcelona, cat. no. 39, color illus. n.p.; Palma de Mallorca, cat. no. 39, color illus. n.p.; Bilbao, color illus. p. 7; Madrid, cat. no. 39, color illus. n.p.

Group Exhibitions Cincinnati Art Museum, 1966, cat. no. 59 (shown in early state), as Black with Ochre Chevron. References Wasserman 1965, illus. p. 16 (in early state, as In Black with Ochre Chevron). Comments This work began in 1965 as a horizontal painting titled In Black with Ochre Chevron (Studly photo no. FA-89). Sometime around 1986, prior to its exhibition at Galería Joan Prats, Motherwell reoriented it as a vertical work and repainted it, extending the black ground over portions of the ochre chevron shape, the remaining part of which is now near the bottom of the canvas. The painting was then retitled Incline.

P1125

P1124

P1125

Near the Edge

Untitled

1986 Acrylic on canvas 24 x 36 in. (61 x 91.4 cm)

1986 Acrylic and graphite on canvas 16 x 20 in. (40.6 x 50.8 cm)

Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated

Verso not signed, not dated

Artist’s Studio Number P86-3271

Artist’s Studio Number P86-3327

Present Owner Spanish private collection

Present Owner Dedalus Foundation

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Spanish private collection, 2007

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991

Solo Exhibitions Artcurial Centre d’Art Plastique Contemporain, Paris, 1990 (traveling), Paris, color illus. p. 30. Comments The composition of this painting was based on a 1984 print, At the Edge (Engberg and Banach 2003, no. 345).

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P1127

P1126

Apparition Alternative Title: Cave in India 1986–87 Oil, oil crayon, and graphite on canvas 8 x 10 in. (20.3 x 25.4 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper right: RM Verso not seen Artist’s Studio Number P86-3263

Motherwell had not yet added the touches of yellow, blue, and white. It was originally given the studio title Cave in India, but Motherwell changed it to Apparition by the time it was exhibited at the Basel Art Fair by Galería Joan Prats in 1991. It was sold in 2004 as Cave in India, probably because “cave in india” is inscribed on the backing board, though not in Motherwell’s hand.

Present Owner Private collection Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; private collection, 2004 Solo Exhibitions Galería Joan Prats, Basel Art Fair, Switzerland, 1991, cat. no. 11 (sec. “Paintings”), color illus. n.p. Comments This painting was begun in 1986, and a color slide of it dated April 1987 shows that the basic composition had already been set by then, but that

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P1128

P1127

P1128

Hollow Men IV

Hollow Men V

1986 Acrylic and graphite on canvas 18 x 24 in. (45.7 x 61 cm)

Inscriptions Recto, upper right: RM \ 86

Inscriptions Recto, upper left, incised: RM

Verso not signed, not dated

Recto, lower right: RM \ 86

Artist’s Studio Number P86-3256

Verso not signed, not dated

Present Owner Private collection Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; private collection, 2006

Artist’s Studio Number P86-3257 Present Owner Mr. and Mrs. Victor P. Bared Collection Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Mr. and Mrs. Victor P. Bared, 2009 Solo Exhibitions William Shearburn Gallery, Santa Fe, N.Mex., 2008, cat. no. 4.

P1129

P1131

P1130

P1132

P1129

P1130

P1131

P1132

Hollow Men Study

Hollow Men Frieze

Hollow Men Night

At Dusk

1986 Acrylic and graphite on canvas 24 x 36 in. (61 x 91.4 cm)

1987 Acrylic and china marker on canvas 24 x 36 in. (61 x 91.4 cm)

1987 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 16 x 20 in. (40.6 x 50.8 cm)

1987 Acrylic and graphite on canvas 38¼ x 78¼ in. (97.2 x 198.8 cm)

Inscriptions Recto, upper right: RM \ 86

Inscriptions Recto, upper left, incised: RM

Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated

Inscriptions Recto, upper right: RM \ 87

Verso not signed, not dated

Verso: R. Motherwell \ 1987

Verso: R. Motherwell \ 6 March 1987

Artist’s Studio Number P86-3265

Artist’s Studio Number P87-3261

Artist’s Studio Number P86-3277; P87-3277

Artist’s Studio Number P87-3262

Present Owner Dedalus Foundation

Present Owner Collection of Jaime and Cheryl Peisach

Present Owner Collection of John Daly, Dublin

Present Owner Mr. and Mrs. Richard Lubin, Boston

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Jaime and Cheryl Peisach, 2007

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; John Daly, Dublin, 2007

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; private collection, 2004; Mr. and Mrs. Richard Lubin, Boston, 2008

Group Exhibitions Hillsboro Fine Art, Dublin, 2008.

Solo Exhibitions Knoedler & Company, New York, May 1987, cat. no. 2. References Art in Embassies 2001, color illus. p. 24.

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P1133

Elegy Study

Smith College Museum of Art, Northampton, Mass., 1996.

1959/1986–87 Oil on canvas board 10 x 13¾ in. (25.4 x 34.9 cm)

Group Exhibitions Mount Holyoke College Art Museum, South Hadley, Mass., 2003.

Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated

References Glenn 1984, color illus. p. 86 (instal lation view, in early state); Smith College Museum of Art Newsletter and Calendar 1996, n.p., color illus. n.p.; Muehlig and Jones 1999, p. 198.

Verso (on paper glued to canvas board backing): R. Motherwell \ 1959 Artist’s Studio Number P59-1300 Present Owner Smith College Museum of Art, Northampton, Mass. Purchased with the gift of Enid Silver Winslow (Enid Silver, class of 1954) and the Madeleine H. Russell, class of 1937, Fund, and the Dedalus Foundation Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Smith College Museum of Art, Northampton, Mass., 1995 Solo Exhibitions William Ehrlich Gallery, New York, May 1979 (shown in early state).

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p ain tin gs on c an v as an d pa n el

Comments This painting was begun in 1959, and an early version was exhibited at the William Ehrlich Gallery in the summer of 1979. In 1986 Motherwell began an extensive reworking of the forms, and the painting was finished by April 1987, when it was photographed in its final state.

P1134

P1135

P1134

P1135

Untitled

Study for Big A

1987 Acrylic, Conté crayon, and oil stick on canvas 48 x 36 in. (121.9 x 91.4 cm)

1987 Acrylic on canvas 10 x 8 in. (25.4 x 20.3 cm)

Inscriptions Recto, upper left: RM \ 87 Verso not signed, not dated Artist’s Studio Number P80-3480; P87-3480 Present Owner Dedalus Foundation Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991

Inscriptions Recto, upper left: RM Verso not seen [“signed ‘R. Motherwell/ and dated 1987’ in pencil, also ‘Study for Big A’ and acrylic on canvas in artist’s hand,” per studio card; “signed, titled, and dated ’87,” per Sotheby Parke Bernet 1987] Artist’s Studio Number P87-3281 Present Owner Lauro Accorsi Collection Provenance [Sotheby Parke Bernet, Inc., London, July 1, 1987, lot 763, illus.]; Waddington Galleries, London, 1987; [Sotheby’s, New York, May 1, 1991, lot 236, illus.]; Lauro Accorsi, 1991

P1137

The Mexican Skull P1136

Comments Motherwell painted this work in 1987 as a study for The Big A (P1136), which he was revising at the time. Shortly after the work was completed, he donated it to an auction to benefit the Whitechapel Art Gallery Foundation, London. Our reproduction comes from a color photograph.

P1136

The Big A 1986–87 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 96 x 60 in. (243.8 x 152.4 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper right: Motherwell \ 86 Verso not seen [“R.M.–1987,” per document in the Dedalus Foundation Archives] Artist’s Studio Number P86/87-3260 Present Owner Private collection Provenance Private collection, New York, 1987; private collection, 2001

Solo Exhibitions Knoedler & Company, New York, May 1987, cat. no. 1. Lawrence Rubin/Greenberg Van Doren Fine Art, New York, 2001, cat. no. 10, cover color illus. References Ruhe 1987, p. 6. Comments This painting is based on two smaller works: Ascension (C725); and Study for Big A (P1135). It has the same title as a 1976 work (P889).

1987 Acrylic on canvas 72 x 36 in. (182.9 x 91.4 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper right [painted over]: [RM \ 87] Verso not seen [“R. Motherwell,” per studio card] Artist’s Studio Number P87-3278 Present Owner Private collection Provenance Private collection, 1988 Solo Exhibitions Knoedler & Company, New York, May 1987, cat. no. 4. References Pleynet 1989b, p. 58, color illus. p. 167; Manthorne 1990, p. 69, color illus. p. 67.

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P1138

The Big 4 Alternative Title: Primal Sign on Sand 1985–86/1987/1988 Acrylic and chalk on canvas 84 x 168 in. (213.4 x 426.7 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper left: R. Motherwell \ 1986 Verso not signed, not dated Artist’s Studio Number P86-3241 Present Owner Collection of Palm Springs Art Museum. Gift of the Dedalus Foundation and museum purchase with funds provided by the Contemporary Art Council, Robert E. Armstrong, Donna and Cargill MacMillan Jr., Edith and Edward F. Anixter, Leisa and David Austin, Helene Berman, Marian and Stanley Brown, Judy and Rogue Hemley, Fay and Frank Katlin, Annette and Theodore Lerner, Trudy and Alvin Levine, Muriel and Bernard Myerson, Edith and George Nadler, Shirley and Irwin Randolph, Irma and Irvine

544

Robbins, Gladys and Sam Rubinstein, Neal Schenet, Thelma and Gilbert Schnitzer, Munzi and Henry Shweid, Hortense Singer, and Sidney and Erik Williams in memory of Mari Williams, 3-1998 Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Palm Springs Art Museum, Calif., 1998 Solo Exhibitions Knoedler & Company, New York, April 1986, cat. no. 18 (shown in early state), as Primal Sign on Sand. Knoedler & Company, New York, May 1987, cat. no. 8 (shown in early state). Padiglione d’Arte Contemporanea, Milan, 1989, cat. no. 24, color illus. p. 48. Artcurial Centre d’Art Plastique Contemporain, Paris, 1990 (traveling), Stockholm and Göteborg, color illus. n.p.; shown in Sweden only. Fundació Antoni Tàpies, Barcelona, 1996 (traveling), cat. no. 77, color illus. pp. 242–43, as The Big Four.

p ain tin gs on c a n v a s a n d pan el

References Raynor 1986, sec. C, p. 30, as Primal Sign on Sand; Pleynet 1989b, p. 58, color illus. p. 213 (foldout, in studio); Zanetti 1990, p. 91; Flam 1991, color illus. n.p. (pl. 141); Banach 1996, p. 35, illus. p. 34 (in studio, in early state); Chalumeau 1998, color illus. pp. 46–47 (pl. 48). Comments Studio photographs from December 1985 show that the first version of this work was modeled on Primal Mark (P1086). That early version, which had a predominantly yellow ochre ground, was first exhibited at Knoedler & Company in April 1986 as Primal Sign on Sand (see fig. 265 in volume 1). After it was returned to Motherwell in February 1987, he repainted most of the ground red. The painting was consigned to Knoedler for a second time that April, and was exhibited there in May under its new title, The Big 4. Shortly after it was returned to Motherwell again in January 1988, he made one more minor revision, adding the white paint on the left side of the black figure 4.

P1139

Elegy to the Spanish Republic No. 169 1987 Acrylic, Conté crayon, and charcoal on Masonite 24 x 36 in. (61 x 91.4 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper right: RM \ 87 Verso not signed, not dated Artist’s Studio Number P87-3330 Present Owner Lise Motherwell Provenance Lise Motherwell, 1992 Solo Exhibitions Artcurial Centre d’Art Plastique Contemporain, Paris, 1990 (traveling), Paris, color illus. p. 30. Group Exhibitions Long Point Gallery, Provincetown, Mass., July 1988.

P1141

P1140

P1139

P1140

Comments Although this work was consigned to Knoedler & Company in November 1989, and exhibited in Mexico City in 1991 as a 1989 work, studio photographs dated October 1987 show it already in its completed form. Its composition recalls that of Je t’aime No. IV (P161).

P1141

P1142

Untitled

Broken Open

1988 Acrylic on canvas 12 x 9 in. (30.5 x 22.9 cm)

1981–88 Acrylic on canvas 72 x 84 in. (182.9 x 213.4 cm)

Inscriptions Recto, lower left: RM \ 24 Jan 88

Inscriptions Recto, upper left: Motherwell

Verso not seen

Verso: R. Motherwell \ 24 Jan 88

Verso: R. Motherwell \ 1981–87

Artist’s Studio Number P89-1158

Artist’s Studio Number P88-3699

Artist’s Studio Number P81/87-2963

Present Owner Private collection

Present Owner Dedalus Foundation

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Roberta Mann, 2002; private collection, 2003

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991

Present Owner Private collection. Courtesy of Kim Heirston Art Advisory

The Studio 1987 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 60 x 72 in. (152.4 x 182.9 cm) Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated

Solo Exhibitions Museo Rufino Tamayo, Mexico City, 1991 (traveling), cat. no. 31, color illus. p. 74. References Windrow 1992, color illus. n.p.

Provenance Private collection, 1988; Peter Findlay Gallery; private collection, 2007 Solo Exhibitions Knoedler & Company, New York, April 1988, cat. no. 11. References Pleynet 1989b, color illus. p. 166; Flam 1991, color illus. n.p. (pl. 135); Caws 1996b, p. 96, illus. p. 97, color illus. n.p.; Chalumeau 1998, color illus. p. 58

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P1142

(pl. 66, erroneously as Open Rouge); Caws 2003, p. 165, color illus. p. 164 (ill. 110). Comments Early versions of this work featured black gestural forms at the center, similar to those in Drunk with Turpentine (W619). In 1981, Motherwell painted its ground blue and white. Some reds were added around 1982. Early in 1988, Motherwell repainted the entire ground red and also revised the linear elements. The jagged diagonal line at the upper center is a remnant of the oblique thrust of the main linear element in the Drunk with Turpentine composition on which it was originally based.

P1143

P1144

Three Personages

Study for The Grand Inquisitor

1988 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 60 x 96 in. (152.4 x 243.8 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper right: RM Recto, lower left: RM

Alternative Title: {Study for The Grand Inquisitor No. 1} 1986–88 Acrylic and graphite on canvas board 9⅞ x 23⅞ in. (25.1 x 60.6 cm)

Verso not signed, not dated

Inscriptions Recto, lower right, incised: RM

Artist’s Studio Number P88-3441

Verso not signed, not dated

Present Owner Mr. and Mrs. Meredith J. Long, Houston Provenance Meredith Long & Company, New York, 1989; Mr. and Mrs. Meredith J. Long, Houston Group Exhibitions Associated American Artists, New York, 1989, cat. no. 33, color illus. n.p.

Artist’s Studio Number P86-3264; P88-3489 Present Owner Private collection Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; private collection, 2009 Solo Exhibitions Museum Morsbroich, Leverkusen, Germany, 2004, color illus. pp. 162–63. Galerie Bernd Klüser, Munich, May 2005, cat. no. 1, as Study for The Grand Inquisitor #1.

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References Appella 1989, illus. p. 3 (in studio, in progress); Knoedler & Company exh. cat. 1989, color illus. n.p. (in studio); Pleynet 1989b, color illus. p. 182 (in studio); Museo Rufino Tamayo exh. cat. 1991, color illus. pp. 78–79 (cat. no. 29); Locks Gallery exh. cat. 1992, color illus. frontispiece (in studio); Windrow 1992, back cover color illus.; Müller 2004, sec. A, p. 8. Comments This small work was used as the basis for the large-scale painting The Grand Inquisitor (P1182), the title of which refers to a religious and philosophical parable in Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s novel The Brothers Karamazov. The composition was set in 1986, but the colors of the ground went through a number of changes before the picture was completed in 1988. The phrase “study for catalonia #i,” which is inscribed on the verso of this work (but not in Motherwell’s hand), refers to an early title that Motherwell had considered using for the large Grand Inquisitor.

P1144

P1145

Mural Study I 1987–88 Acrylic and charcoal on Masonite 10 x 30 in. (25.4 x 76.2 cm) Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated Verso: R. Motherwell \ 1987 Artist’s Studio Number P87-3332 Present Owner Private collection Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; private collection, 2002 Solo Exhibitions Knoedler & Company, New York, April 1989, cat. no. 13, color illus. n.p. (in studio). References Pleynet 1989a, color illus. p. 70 (in studio); Pleynet 1989b, color illus. p. 182 (in studio, in progress); Locks Gallery exh. cat. 1992, color illus. frontispiece (in studio).

Comments This work was begun in 1987 and later served as a source for the large painting The Grand Inquisitor (P1182). An early version of this small study, painted on a red ground, was sent to Knoedler & Company and photographed in April 1988. After it was returned to Motherwell that May, he adjusted the central forms and repainted the ground yellow, completing it by the time it was photographed again in December 1988.

P1146

Manny Silverman Gallery, Los Angeles, 2000, cat. no. 1 (back cover color illus. in brochure).

P1146

Untitled (Elegy) Alternative Title: Dance of the Widows 1984/1985–88 Acrylic, oil crayon, and graphite on canvas 18 x 36 in. (45.7 x 91.4 cm)

References Pleynet 1989b, color illus. p. 180 (in studio).

Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated Verso not seen [“ ‘R. Motherwell / 1984’ with title,” per studio card] Artist’s Studio Number P83/84-3037; P84/88-3037 Present Owner Private collection Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; private collection, 2001

Comments An early version of this work was shown as Dance of the Widows at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum from December 1984 to February 1985. After it was returned to him, Motherwell continued to rework the Elegy-like forms and the colors of the ground, completing it in 1988 and retitling it Untitled (Elegy). This painting was used as a model for an early version of the large Elegy to the Spanish Republic No. 171 (P1176), and for one of the last paintings Motherwell worked on (P1209).

Solo Exhibitions Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, 1984, cat. no. 109 (shown in early state), as Dance of the Widows. Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, 1992, cat. no. 20.

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P1148

P1147

Untitled (Elegy) 1988 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas mounted on paperboard 12 x 16 in. (30.5 x 40.6 cm) Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated Verso not signed, not dated Artist’s Studio Number P88-3478 Present Owner Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, N.H. Partial purchase through gifts from Melville Straus, class of 1960, and the Lathrop Fellows and partial gift of the Dedalus Foundation, Inc.

References Pleynet 1989b, color illus. p. 182 (in studio), color illus. p. 184.

P1149

P1148

Untitled (Elegy) 1988 Acrylic on canvas board 12 x 16 in. (30.5 x 40.6 cm) Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated Verso not signed, not dated Artist’s Studio Number P89-3549 Present Owner Private collection Provenance Dore Ashton, 1991; private collection, 2006

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, N.H., 1996

References Pleynet 1989b, color illus. p. 209 (in studio); Miriam & Ira D. Wallach Art Gallery, Columbia University, exh. cat. 1997, color illus. p. 192 (pl. 135, in studio); Caws 2003, color illus. p. 18 (ill. 10, in studio).

Solo Exhibitions Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, 1992, cat. no. 26.

Comments This painting can been seen in its final state in a studio photograph taken

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during the summer of 1988. It served as a study for Elegy to the Spanish Republic No. 172 (with Blood) (P1177) and Elegy to the Spanish Republic No. 173 (p1178).

P1150

P1149

P1150

Untitled (Elegy)

Elegy to the Spanish Republic No. 168 (Sevilla Elegy)

1988 Acrylic on canvas mounted on Masonite 12 x 16 in. (30.5 x 40.6 cm)

1985–88 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas board 30½ x 40½ in. (77.5 x 102.9 cm)

Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated

Inscriptions Recto, upper right: RM \ 85

Verso not signed, not dated

Verso [partially crossed out]: [illegible] \ March, 1985 \ R. Motherwell

Artist’s Studio Number P88-3479 Present Owner Collection of Mary and Howard Lester Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Mary and Howard Lester, 2004 Solo Exhibitions Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, 1992, cat. no. 27. References Pleynet 1989b, color illus. p. 182 (in studio), color illus. p. 184.

Artist’s Studio Number P85-3125 Present Owner Private collection Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; private collection, 2001; private collection; private collection, 2004 Solo Exhibitions Artcurial Centre d’Art Plastique Contemporain, Paris, 1990 (traveling), Paris, illus. p. 29; Stockholm and Göteborg, color illus. n.p., as Sevilla Elegy.

Group Exhibitions Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo, 1997 (traveling), cat. no. 62, color illus. p. 126. References Sweeney 1986, illus. sec. A, p. 1 (in studio, in progress); Pleynet 1989b, color illus. p. 176 (in studio, in progress), color illus. p. 180 (in studio, in progress). Comments This work was begun in 1985 as a composition similar to Elegy to the Spanish Republic No. 166 (All Souls’ Day Elegy) (P1111). Motherwell continued to revise the Elegy forms and the colors of the ground until the work was completed in 1988.

P1151

Catalan Elegy 1987–88 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 24 x 36 in. (61 x 91.4 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper left: RM Verso: R. Motherwell \ 1987 Artist’s Studio Number P87-3266; P87-3434 Present Owner Private collection Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Maria Allwin, 2000; [Christie’s, New York, May 14, 2008, lot 206, illus.]; private collection, 2008 Solo Exhibitions Galería Joan Prats, Basel Art Fair, Switzerland, 1991, cat. no. 12 (sec. “Paintings”), color illus. n.p. References Pleynet 1989b, color illus. p. 180 (in studio).

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P1152

Comments Although Motherwell dated this as a 1987 painting, it was still being revised in February 1988, as per studio photographs. It was consigned to Knoedler & Company in April 1988.

P1152

The Feminine I 1988 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 17¾ x 23¾ in. (45.1 x 60.3 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper left: RM \ 88 Verso: R. Motherwell \ Summer, 1988 Artist’s Studio Number P88-3503

P1153

Group Exhibitions Long Point Gallery, Provincetown, Mass., July 1991. References Forman 1991d, sec. C, p. 1. Comments This small picture, a highly stylized but recognizable rendering of a woman’s lower torso and legs painted in fleshtone pinks, is one of Motherwell’s most overtly sensuous and figurative images.

P1153

The Feminine II 1988 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 88 x 120 in. (223.5 x 304.8 cm) Inscriptions Recto, lower left: RM \ 88 Verso not signed, not dated Artist’s Studio Number P88/89-3474

Present Owner Florence Packman

Present Owner Dedalus Foundation

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; private collection, 2008; Florence Packman, 2008

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991

Solo Exhibitions Long Point Gallery, Provincetown, Mass., August 1991. Manny Silverman Gallery, Los Angeles, November 2002, cat. no. 50.

Solo Exhibitions Padiglione d’Arte Contemporanea, Milan, 1989, cat. no. 28, color illus. p. 50. Artcurial Centre d’Art Plastique Contemporain, Paris, 1990 (traveling), Paris, color illus. p. 35; Stockholm and Göteborg, color illus. n.p. Fundació Antoni Tàpies, Barcelona, 1996 (traveling), cat. no. 78, color illus. p. 245.

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P1154

References Ashton 1989, p. 19, color illus. p. 50 (cat. no. 28); Pleynet 1989a, color illus. p. 72 (in studio); Pleynet 1989b, color illus. p. 193; Francou 1990, color illus. p. 28; Pythoud 1990, illus. p. 97; Zanetti 1990, p. 91, erroneously as The Feminine No. 12; Pély-Audan 1991, p. 102, illus. p. 99; Pleynet 1991, pp. 24, 26, illus. p. 25; Lynton 1997, p. 41; Pleynet 1998, p. 100; Lynton 2001, p. 181. Comments This large painting was based on The Feminine I (p1152). The subject and the simplified curvilinear forms recall the imagery of the murals Matisse painted for the Barnes Foundation in 1932–33. This is the only large picture that Motherwell painted during the summer of 1988, when problems with his shoulder made it difficult for him to work on a large scale.

P1154

P1155

{ Unfinished painting}

A Rose for James Joyce

Ca. 1988 Acrylic on canvas 60¼ x 96¼ in. (153 x 244.5 cm)

1988 Acrylic on canvas 78 x 38 in. (198.1 x 96.5 cm)

Inscriptions Recto, upper left, incised: RM

Inscriptions Recto, upper left, incised: RM \ 88

Verso not signed, not dated Artist’s Studio Number P91-3717

Verso not seen [“A Rose for James Joyce—R. Motherwell / Oct 88,” per studio card]

Present Owner Dedalus Foundation

Artist’s Studio Number P88-3445

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991

Present Owner Collection of Robin and George Dalsheimer

Comments The signature on this work was incised in the black ground fairly early in the painting process, but the work was abandoned before it was fully realized.

Provenance Robin and George Dalsheimer, 1989 Solo Exhibitions Arthur A. Houghton Jr. Gallery, Cooper Union, New York, 1988, cat. no. 44.

P1155

exh. cat. 1989, color illus. n.p. (in progress); Pleynet 1989a, color illus. p. 72 (in studio); Pleynet 1989b, color illus. p. 192 (in progress); Pleynet 1991, p. 24, illus. p. 25; Caws 1996b, p. xvii, illus. p. xviii (in progress); Fundació Antoni Tàpies exh. cat. 1996, illus. p. 23 (in progress); Pleynet 1998, p. 100; Kultur Szene 2004, illus. Comments The title of this painting refers to a passage from James Joyce: “Perhaps a wild rose might be like those colours and he remembered the song about the wild rose blossoms on the little green place. But you could not have a green rose. But perhaps somewhere in the world you could” (Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man [New York: Viking Press, 1964], p. 12). This painting has often been reproduced in an early state.

References Ashton 1989, illus. p. 27 (in progress); Enright 1989, color illus. p. 13, illus. p. 16 (in studio); Knoedler & Company

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551

P1156

P1157

P1156

P1157

Untitled

The Sirens

Ca. 1988 Acrylic, oil pastel, Conté crayon, graphite, and colored pencil on Masonite 12 x 16 in. (30.5 x 40.6 cm)

1985–88 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 50 x 80 in. (127 x 203.2 cm)

Inscriptions Recto, upper left: RM Verso not signed, not dated Artist’s Studio Number P88/89-3691 Present Owner Dedalus Foundation Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991

Inscriptions Recto, upper left, incised [painted over]: [RM \ 88] Verso: R. Motherwell \ 1985–1988 Artist’s Studio Number P85/88-3440 Present Owner Private collection Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; private collection, 2006 References Enright 1989, illus. p. 16 (in studio); Pleynet 1989a, color illus. p. 72 (in studio); Pleynet 1989b, color illus. p. 191; Pleynet 1991, p. 24. Comments The three figurative forms in this painting evoke the three Sirens of Greek mythology. The picture was begun in

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P1158

1985; an early version, with an ochre ground, was sent to Knoedler & Company from April to June 1988 and photographed while at the gallery. After it was returned to Motherwell, he altered the central forms and reworked the ground with red and black paint. The painting was in its final state when it was photographed again in October 1988.

P1159

P1158

Fetish 1988 Acrylic on canvas board 24 x 8 in. (61 x 20.3 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper left: RM \ 88 Verso not signed, not dated Artist’s Studio Number P88-3501 Present Owner Dedalus Foundation Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991 Solo Exhibitions Galería Joan Prats, Basel Art Fair, Switzerland, 1991, cat. no. 16 (sec. “Paintings”), color illus. n.p. Comments This small painting was used as the basis for Untitled (P1159).

P1160

P1159

P1160

Untitled

Primal Image

Ca. 1988 Acrylic on canvas 78 x 26⅛ in. (198.1 x 66.4 cm)

1977–88 Acrylic on canvas 84 x 168 in. (213.4 x 426.7 cm)

Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated

Verso not signed, not dated Artist’s Studio Number P85-4000; P91-3652

Verso not seen [“signed, titled, and dated on reverse,” per Locks Gallery records]

Present Owner Dedalus Foundation

Artist’s Studio Number P88-1303

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991

Present Owner Private collection. Courtesy Locks Gallery, Philadelphia

Comments The composition of this painting was based on Fetish (P1158).

Provenance Private collection, 1989 Solo Exhibitions Knoedler & Company, New York, April 1989, cat. no. 6, color illus. n.p. (in studio), color illus. n.p. Marian Locks Gallery, Philadelphia, 1989, color illus. n.p.

Locks Gallery, Philadelphia, 1992, color illus. frontispiece (in studio), color illus. p. 17. Group Exhibitions Locks Gallery, Philadelphia, 1991. References Enright 1989, illus. p. 16 (in studio); Pleynet 1989b, color illus. p. 186 (in studio), color illus. pp. 188–89; Scarpetta 1989–90, p. 118; Tyler 1993, illus. (in studio). Comments An early state of this work appears in a 1977 studio photograph, where it is seen beside an early version of Face of the Night (for Octavio Paz) (P1024). The basic shape of the large black form, which is based on a small 1975 painting, Primordial Sketch No. 12 (P868), was set around that time, but Motherwell later experimented with modifications of it and of the colors of the ground. Eventually, he repainted the ground in yellow.

P1161

Primal Image II 1988 Acrylic on canvas 55 x 74 in. (139.7 x 188 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper left [painted over]: [RM \ 88] Verso not seen Artist’s Studio Number P88-3485 Present Owner Collection of Marcella S. Kahn Provenance Private collection, 1989; Marcella S. Kahn, 1992 Group Exhibitions Neuberger Museum of Art, State University of New York at Purchase, 1995, cat. no. 55, color illus. p. 27. References Knoedler & Company exh. cat. 1989, color illus. n.p.; Pleynet 1989b, color illus. p. 183; Raynor 1995, sec. 13, p. 14, illus. sec. 13, p. 14.

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P1161

Comments The first version of this work was based on a small painting on paper, Drunk with Turpentine (W621). Motherwell subsequently revised the black forms and the ground, which was painted in red and white before it was reworked in yellow and white.

P1162

Untitled (Black and Yellow) 1988 Acrylic on canvas mounted on Masonite 24 x 36 in. (61 x 91.4 cm)

Untitled Alternative Title: The Bathers 1986–88 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 36 x 48 in. (91.4 x 121.9 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper left: RM

Verso not signed, not dated

Verso: R. Motherwell \ 1986

Artist’s Studio Number P88-3484

Artist’s Studio Number P86-3239

Present Owner Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Morrie K. Abramson

Present Owner Dedalus Foundation

Solo Exhibitions Knoedler & Company, New York, April 1989, cat. no. 3, color illus. n.p.; referred to on checklist as Untitled (Black and Yellow), and in catalogue as Untitled.

p ain tin gs on ca n v a s a n d pan el

P1163

Inscriptions Recto, upper left, incised: RM

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Mr. and Mrs. Morrie K. Abramson, 2005

554

References Enright 1989, illus. p. 16 (in studio); Pleynet 1989a, color illus. p. 72 (in studio); Pleynet 1989b, color illus. p. 182 (in studio), color illus. p. 183, as Untitled.

P1162

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991 Comments An early version of this work was titled The Bathers, and contained forms drawn in charcoal that were similar to the figurative forms in the Hollow Men series. That version of the work was photographed when it was briefly consigned

P1163

to Knoedler & Company in February 1986. It was repainted into its final form and renamed Untitled by the time it was photographed again in December 1988.

P1164

The Little A Ca. 1980–89 Acrylic on canvas 20 x 16 in. (50.8 x 40.6 cm) Inscriptions Recto, lower right, incised: RM Verso: R. Motherwell \ 1987 Verso (oriented horizontally) [crossed out]: [illegible] Artist’s Studio Number P80-2545; P81-2545; P87-2545 Present Owner Unknown Provenance Lawrence Rubin, ca. 1989; private collection, before 2005; [Sotheby’s, New York, May 13, 2009, lot 250, illus.]; unknown owner, 2009 Solo Exhibitions Knoedler & Company, New York, April 1989, cat. no. 14, color illus. n.p.

P1164

P1165

References Pleynet 1989b, color illus. p. 190.

P1165

Comments This painting began as a horizontal work, composed of charcoal drawing on an ochre ground, very much in the spirit of Motherwell’s Shem the Penman motif. Motherwell subsequently painted over much of the canvas in brown (as per a photograph dated 1980–81 in the Dedalus Foundation Archives). He later reoriented the canvas as a vertical work and repainted it with a black “A” form on a blue and brown ground. That version was consigned to Knoedler & Company from November 1987 to April 1988. After the work was returned to him, Motherwell repainted the ground in yellow and white, with a small section of green at the lower right. It was consigned to Knoedler in its final form in February 1989 and exhibited there in April of that year.

1989 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas mounted on board 20 x 16 in. (50.8 x 40.6 cm)

Mirror

Inscriptions Recto, upper right: RM Verso not seen Artist’s Studio Number P89-3542 Present Owner Fayez Sarofim Collection Provenance Meredith Long & Company, New York, 1990; Fayez Sarofim, 1995

Group Exhibitions Gana Art New York, 2008.

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P1166

Hollow Men II 1985–87/1988–89 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 72 x 84 in. (182.9 x 213.4 cm) Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated Verso: R. Motherwell Artist’s Studio Number P85/87-3258 Present Owner Mark Schnuck Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Mark Schnuck, 2002 Solo Exhibitions Knoedler & Company, New York, April 1988, cat. no. 13 (shown in early state).

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References Pleynet 1989a, color illus. p. 72 (in studio, in progress); Pleynet 1989b, color illus. p. 212 (in studio, in progress); Tyler 1991a, color illus. sec. D, p. 1; Tyler 1991b, color illus. sec. D, p. 1. Comments An early version of this work, painted between 1985 and 1987, was exhibited at Knoedler & Company in April 1988. After it was returned to Motherwell, he added blocks of solid color, including reds and blues, but by 1989 he had repainted the ground back to ochre and brown. Motherwell also designated another work in the Hollow Men series as number II (P1064).

P1167

Hollow Men Series 1989 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 60 x 96 in. (152.4 x 243.8 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper left, incised: RM Verso: R. Motherwell \ “Hollow Men Series” \ 1989 Artist’s Studio Number P89-3651 Present Owner Dedalus Foundation Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991

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557

P1169

The Barbarians P1168

P1168

Automatic Oracle 1988–89 Acrylic on canvas 96 x 60 in. (243.8 x 152.4 cm) Inscriptions Recto, lower right: R. Motherwell \ 1989 Verso: R. Motherwell \ 1989 Verso [painted over]: [illegible] Artist’s Studio Number P89-3508 Present Owner Mr. and Mrs. Martin and Mimi Lipton Provenance Mr. and Mrs. Martin and Mimi Lipton, 1990; [Tajan, Paris, April 29, 2008, lot 11, illus. (not sold)]

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Solo Exhibitions Knoedler & Company, New York, April 1989, cat. no. 1. Comments Motherwell began this painting as an enlargement of the composition of an earlier small canvas, Untitled (with Green,Yellow and Red) (P1119), as is evident in studio photographs taken in November 1988. The final composition of this work is related to that of Two Figures (P207), which was still in Motherwell’s possession at the time. The title may refer to a book of poetry by Peter Porter titled The Automatic Oracle, which was published in 1987 by Oxford University Press.

Alternative Title: Barbaric Rhythms 1987–89 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 50 x 80 in. (127 x 203.2 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper right: RM \ 89 Verso not signed, not dated Artist’s Studio Number P89-3488 Present Owner Private collection Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; private collection, 2001 Solo Exhibitions Knoedler & Company, New York, April 1989, cat. no. 4, color illus. n.p. (in studio, in early state), color illus. n.p. (shown in early state); as Barbaric Rhythms. Artcurial Centre d’Art Plastique Contemporain, Paris, 1990 (traveling), Paris, color illus. p. 33.

Group Exhibitions Knoedler & Company, New York, August 2000, cat. no. 2. References Pleynet 1989b, color illus. p. 187 (in early state, erroneously as Barbaric Rythms); P[ierrard] 1990, illus. p. 23; Stern 1990, color illus. p. 138 (flipped, as Barbarian); Locks Gallery exh. cat. 1992, color illus. frontispiece (in studio, in progress); Franzke 1994, p. 11, color illus. p. 16 (fig. 16, in early state, erroneously as Barbaryc Rhythms). Comments This painting was originally signed and dated “87” at the upper right, as shown in photographs of the work in progress. After a number of revisions, Motherwell changed the date on the recto to “89,” and it was exhibited at Knoedler & Company in April 1989 under the title Barbaric Rhythms. Sometime after it was returned to him that October, he made further revisions to the yellow and brown areas on the left side of the work and gave it its present title.

P1170

Barbaric Figures 1985/1988–89 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 24 x 36 in. (61 x 91.4 cm) Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated Verso: R Motherwell \ May, 1985

Comments An early version of this work, begun in 1985 and titled Elegy Study, was consigned to Knoedler & Company twice between February 1986 and April 1988. Motherwell reworked the forms and colors of the composition later that year and in 1989.

P1171

Mediterranean Door

Artist’s Studio Number P85-3234

1989 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 80 x 50 in. (203.2 x 127 cm)

Present Owner Mato Family Collection, Coral Gables, Fla.

Inscriptions Recto, upper right: RM \ 89

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Mato Family Collection, Coral Gables, Fla., 2007

Artist’s Studio Number P89-3510

Solo Exhibitions Artcurial Centre d’Art Plastique Contemporain, Paris, 1990 (traveling), Paris, illus. p. 28. References Pleynet 1989b, color illus. p. 186 (in studio, in progress).

Verso not seen

Present Owner Private collection Provenance Private collection, 1989 group Exhibitions Long Point Gallery, Provincetown, Mass., August 1989. References Nickerson 1991, p. 5. paint ing s on canvas and pane l

559

P1172

Arabesque 1989–90 Acrylic on canvas 72 x 216 in. (182.9 x 548.6 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper right: Motherwell \ 89 Verso not signed, not dated Artist’s Studio Number P89-3550 Present Owner Galerie Gmurzynska Provenance General Electric Corporation, 1989; Galerie Gmurzynska References Haenlein 1990a, color illus. sec. D, p. 1 (in studio, in progress).

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Comments This work was commissioned as a mural for the lobby of the General Electric Corporation headquarters in Fairfield, Connecticut. Motherwell undertook the commission in the fall of 1989. There are three small studies for this work (see P1173, P1174, and W719).

P1173

P1175

P1174

P1173

P1174

P1175

Arabesque Mural Study No. 2

Mural Study III

1989 Acrylic and graphite on canvas 17 x 50 in. (43.2 x 127 cm)

1989 Acrylic and Conté crayon on canvas 36 x 108 in. (91.4 x 274.3 cm)

Elegy to the Spanish Republic No. 170

Inscriptions Recto, upper right: RM \ 89

Inscriptions Recto, upper right, incised: RM

1987–90 Acrylic, Conté crayon, and charcoal on canvas 36 x 48 in. (91.4 x 121.9 cm)

Verso not signed, not dated

Verso: R. Motherwell 1989 \ “mural study iii”

Inscriptions Recto, upper left, incised: RM

Artist’s Studio Number P85-3561; P89-3561

Verso not seen [“R. Motherwell / 1987,” per studio card]

Present Owner Dedalus Foundation

Artist’s Studio Number P87/90-3286

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991

Present Owner Mark Ptashne and Lucy Gordon, New York

Artist’s Studio Number P89-3544 Present Owner Dedalus Foundation Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991 Comments This is a study for the mural painting Arabesque (P1172); another study for the mural, titled Arabesque (W719), was known as Mural Study No. 1.

Comments This is the largest of the three studies that Motherwell did for his mural painting Arabesque (P1172).

Provenance Jeannie Motherwell, 1992; Mark Ptashne and Lucy Gordon, New York, 2000 Solo Exhibitions Artcurial Centre d’Art Plastique Contemporain, Paris, 1990 (traveling), Paris, illus. p. 37.

Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, 1992, cat. no. 25. Group Exhibitions Leslie Feely Fine Art, New York, 2007, cat. no. 23, color illus. n.p. References Pleynet 1989b, color illus. p. 180 (in studio, in progress), color illus. p. 181 (in progress, as Untitled [Elegy]); La Gazette de L’Hôtel Drouot 1990, illus. p. 128; Pély-Audan 1991, illus. p. 100. Comments This painting was begun in 1987. Two earlier versions of it were consigned to Knoedler & Company in 1988 and 1989, but Motherwell continued to revise the work until it was sent to his Artcurial exhibition in September 1990. Motherwell worked on this painting concurrently with Elegy to the Spanish Republic No. 171 (P1176), which was started after it but finished slightly before it.

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P1176

Elegy to the Spanish Republic No. 171 1988–89 Acrylic on canvas 84 x 168 in. (213.4 x 426.7 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper left, incised: RM \ 88 Verso not signed, not dated Artist’s Studio Number P88/90-3509 Present Owner Collection of the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth. Museum purchase, the Friends of Art Endowment Fund Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, 1999

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Solo Exhibitions Artcurial Centre d’Art Plastique Contemporain, Paris, 1990 (traveling), Paris, cover color illus., color illus. pp. 38–39.

illus. p. 1; Tyson 1993b, sec. E, p. 3; Tyson 1993c, sec. A, p. 13; Vogel 1993, sec. C, p. 29; Banach 1996, p. 37; Chalumeau 1998, color illus. pp. 30–31 (pl. 28).

Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, 1992, cat. no. 28.

Comments This painting was initially based on Untitled (Elegy) (P1146), but Motherwell soon transformed it into a more monumental composition. He worked on this painting concurrently with Elegy to the Spanish Republic No. 170 (P1175), which was finished slightly after it, as per October 1989 photographs of Motherwell’s studio that show this painting in its final state. We nonetheless place this painting after Elegy to the Spanish Republic No. 170, since it was started slightly later, and with regard to their respective numbers within the Elegy series.

Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, 1993. Group Exhibitions Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, 2002, color illus. pp. 118–19, illus. p. 266. References Pleynet 1989b, color illus. p. 185 (in progress, as Elegy to the Spanish Republic With Little Window); Flam 1991, color illus. n.p. (pl. 142); Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth Calendar 1993, p. 1, color illus. p. 3; Tyson 1993a, color

P1177

Elegy to the Spanish Republic No. 172 (with Blood) 1989–90 Acrylic and oil stick on canvas 84 x 120 in. (213.4 x 304.8 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper left: RM \ 90 Recto, upper left [painted over]: [RM] Verso not signed, not dated

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Denver Art Museum, 1994 Solo Exhibitions Knoedler & Company, New York, April 1991, cat. no. 32. Museo Rufino Tamayo, Mexico City, 1991 (traveling), cat. no. 30, color illus. p. 82. Denver Art Museum, 1995, illus. n.p.

Artist’s Studio Number P89/90-3511; P90-3560

Fundació Antoni Tàpies, Barcelona, 1996 (traveling), cat. no. 79, color illus. p. 247.

Present Owner Denver Art Museum Collection. Acquired in memory of Lewis W. Story. For a full list of donors, see the entry for P22.

Group Exhibitions Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig Wien, Vienna, 1997, illus. p. 17, color illus. p. 313.

References Pleynet 1989b, color illus. p. 182 (in studio); Brunet-Weinmann 1991, sec. B, p. 2; Flam 1991, cover color illus., color illus. n.p. (pl. 143); Glueck 1991, sec. B, p. 9, illus. sec. B, p. 9; Tyler 1991a, illus. sec. D, p. 4; Tyler 1991b, illus. sec. D, p. 4; Kutner 1992a, illus. sec. C, p. 1 (upside down); Windrow 1992, pp. 17, 19, color illus. frontispiece; On & Off the Wall 1995, p. 12, cover color illus., color illus. p. 12; Banach 1996, p. 37, illus. p. 36 (in studio, in progress); Caws 1996b, pp. 57, 65, illus. p. 56, color illus. n.p.; Paglia 1996, p. 56, illus. p. 55, as Elegy to the Spanish Republic with Blood (#172); Lynton 1997, color illus. p. 38; Paglia 1997, p. 57; Chalumeau 1998, color illus. p. 30 (pl. 27); Tieken 2000, illus. n.p.; Lynton 2001, color illus. p. 178; Wentrup 2001, pp. 56–57, 75, illus. (fig. 27); Caws

2003, pp. 66, 150, illus. p. 150 (ill. 98); Danto 2003, p. 110, illus. p. 109 (fig. 16); Museum Morsbroich exh. cat. 2004, color illus. p. 148. Comments This painting is the last large-scale Elegy that Motherwell completed. It is based upon a small 1988 painting, Untitled (Elegy) (P1148).

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P1178

Elegy to the Spanish Republic No. 173 1990 Acrylic on canvas 50 x 60 in. (127 x 152.4 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper right, incised: RM Verso not signed, not dated Artist’s Studio Number P90-3586 Present Owner Collection of the Flint Institute of Arts. Museum purchase and gift of the Dedalus Foundation, 1997.103 Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Flint Institute of Arts, Mich., 1997

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Solo Exhibitions Galería Joan Prats, Basel Art Fair, Switzerland, 1991, cat. no. 13 (sec. “Paintings”), color illus. n.p. References Baum et al. 2003, pp. 16, 180, color illus. p. 181 (pl. 88); Gerdts 2003, color illus. p. 181. Comments This painting is the last numbered work in the Elegy to the Spanish Republic series. The composition was based on Untitled (Elegy) (p1148).

P1179

Elegy with Black Bar 1990 Acrylic on panel 15¾ x 20 in. (40 x 50.8 cm)

Solo Exhibitions Artcurial Centre d’Art Plastique Contemporain, Paris, 1990 (traveling), Paris, illus. p. 36.

Verso not seen

Group Exhibitions Marsh Art Gallery, George M. Modlin Center for the Arts, University of Richmond, Va., 1996, cat. no. 26, illus. n.p.

Artist’s Studio Number P90-3563

References Le Monde 1990, illus. sec. 3, p. 32.

Inscriptions Recto, upper right: Motherwell \ 1990

Present Owner Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond. Gift of the Dedalus Foundation, Inc., and museum purchase, the John Parton Payne Fund Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, 1994

P1180

P1179

P1180

Elegy with Rice Paper and Blue 1990 Acrylic and oil crayon on paper mounted on panel 15⅞ x 19⅝ in. (40.3 x 49.9 cm) Inscriptions Recto, lower left: RM Verso not seen Artist’s Studio Number C90-3564; P90-3564 Present Owner Collection of the Contemporary Museum, Honolulu. Purchased with funds given by the Shidler Family Foundation and gift of the Dedalus Foundation, 1998 Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Contemporary Museum, Honolulu, 1998 Solo Exhibitions Museo Rufino Tamayo, Mexico City, 1991 (traveling), cat. no. 54, color illus. p. 83.

P1181

Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, 1992, cat. no. 29.

P1181

References Fundació Antoni Tàpies exh. cat. 1996, illus. n.p. (in studio); Caws 2003, color illus. p. 18 (ill. 10, in studio, in progress).

1990 Acrylic and graphite on canvas board 16 x 19¾ in. (40.6 x 50.2 cm)

Comments Before he began to paint this picture, Motherwell glued a sheet of rice paper onto a panel with a black ground. The long fibers of the paper and the uneven gluing created the complex gray ground in the painting.

Untitled (Elegy)

Inscriptions Recto, upper right: RM \ 90

Group Exhibitions Iris & B. Gerald Cantor Center for Visual Arts, Stanford University, Palo Alto, Calif., 2004, color illus. p. 50. References Terenzio 1992a, illus. p. 31 (in studio); Terenzio 1992b, illus. n.p. (in studio).

Verso not signed, not dated Artist’s Studio Number P90-3625 Present Owner Iris & B. Gerald Cantor Center for Visual Arts. Gift of Professor Will Leben, 2003.81 Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Will Leben, 2000; Iris & B. Gerald Cantor Center for Visual Arts, Stanford University, Palo Alto, Calif., 2003 Solo Exhibitions Museo Rufino Tamayo, Mexico City, 1991 (traveling), cat. no. 34, illus. n.p. Iris & B. Gerald Cantor Center for Visual Arts, Stanford University, Palo Alto, Calif., 2009.

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P1182

The Grand Inquisitor Alternative Title: Catalonia 1989–90 Acrylic and graphite on canvas 72 x 171⅛ in. (182.9 x 434.7 cm) Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated Verso not signed, not dated Artist’s Studio Number P89-3287; P89-3487 Present Owner Private collection, Chicago. Courtesy Richard Gray Gallery Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; private collection, 2004; [Christie’s, New York, May 10, 2006, lot 167, illus.]; Richard Gray Gallery, 2006; private collection, Chicago, 2006 Solo Exhibitions Galería Joan Prats, Basel Art Fair, Switzerland, 1991, cat. no. 15 (sec. “Paintings”), color illus. n.p.

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Group Exhibitions Knoedler & Company, New York, July 1990, cat. no. 6. References Padiglione d’Arte Contemporanea exh. cat. 1989, illus. p. 54 (in studio, in progress, as Catalonia); Pleynet 1989a, color illus. p. 71 (in studio, in progress, as Catalonia), illus. p. 73 (in studio, in progress, as Catalonia); Flam 1991, color illus. n.p. (pl. 144); Falgàs 1995, p. 53; Banach 1996, p. 37, illus. p. 36 (in studio, in progress). Comments This work was begun in 1989, based on an early state of Study for The Grand Inquisitor (W716). It was originally painted in ochre, yellow, and black, and titled Catalonia. Motherwell subsequently extended the lower sections of the central forms, added the red areas, painted the black horizontal strip along the bottom edge, and gave the work its present title. The painting appears in its completed form in an April 1990 studio photograph.

The title refers to a religious and philosophical parable in Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s novel The Brothers Karamazov. Motherwell painted several small studies during the process of making this work, including Study for The Grand Inquisitor (P1144) and Mural Study I (P1145).

P1183

Hollow Men’s Cave Alternative Title: Hollow Men with Yellow 1986–89/ca. 1990 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 72 x 84 in. (182.9 x 213.4 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper right: RM Verso: R. Motherwell \ 1986 Verso (on horizontal crossbar) [painted over]: [illegible] Artist’s Studio Number P86/87-3259 Present Owner Private collection, Minneapolis Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; private collection, Minneapolis, 2005 Solo Exhibitions Knoedler & Company, New York, April 1989, cat. no. 16, color illus. n.p. (in studio, in progress); shown in early state, as Hollow Men with Yellow.

P1183

Galería Joan Prats, Basel Art Fair, Switzerland, 1991, cat. no. 14 (sec. “Paintings”), color illus. n.p. References Pleynet 1989a, color illus. p. 71 (in studio, in progress); Locks Gallery exh. cat. 1992, color illus. frontispiece (in studio, in progress). Comments An early version of this work, with a black and yellow ground, was exhibited at Knoedler & Company in April 1989 under the title Hollow Men with Yellow. The blue and red areas, along with more yellows, were added between the time the work was returned to the artist in June 1989 and February 1991, when the work was consigned to Galería Joan Prats. The early version of this work served as the source of the print Hollow Man’s Cave (Engberg and Banach 2003, no. 523). Although the print was not published until 1991, Motherwell had executed the composition on the lithographic stone in 1988. See also P1184, which has the same title as this work.

P1184

Hollow Men’s Cave 1990 Acrylic and graphite on canvas mounted on board 34 x 34 in. (86.4 x 86.4 cm)

P1184

Nassau County Museum of Art, Roslyn Harbor, N.Y., 2009.

P1185

Comments This work has the same title as P1183.

Alternative Title: Untitled 1988/ca. 1990 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 59¾ x 119½ in. (151.8 x 303.5 cm)

Hollow Men No. VI

Inscriptions Recto, upper right: RM \ 90

Inscriptions Recto, upper right: RM \ 88

Verso: R. Motherwell \ 1990

Verso [painted over]: [illegible]”

Artist’s Studio Number P90-3589

Verso: R. Motherwell \ April 1988

Present Owner The Private Collection of Todd and Jill Cohen Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Todd and Jill Cohen, 2005

Artist’s Studio Number P88-3439 Present Owner Dedalus Foundation Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991

Solo Exhibitions William Shearburn Gallery, Saint Louis, 2004, cat. no. 7.

Solo Exhibitions Knoedler & Company, New York, April 1988, cat. no. 21 (shown in early state), as Untitled.

Group Exhibitions Long Point Gallery, Provincetown, Mass., 1990.

Artcurial Centre d’Art Plastique Contemporain, Paris, 1990 (traveling), Paris, color illus. p. 31.

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P1185

Comments An early version of this painting, in which the central ovoid forms were drawn in charcoal over the yellow and ochre ground, was exhibited at Knoedler & Company in April 1988, as Untitled. After it was returned to the artist in October 1989, he revised it extensively by painting the ovoid forms in dense black. It was exhibited in its final state at Motherwell’s Artcurial exhibition in Paris. A small study for this work, Hollow Men Study (P1186), also begun in 1988, underwent similar revisions around 1990.

P1186

Hollow Men Study 1988/ca. 1990 Acrylic and graphite on canvas mounted on Masonite 15½ x 19⅜ in. (39.4 x 49.2 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper left: RM Verso not signed, not dated Artist’s Studio Number P88-3442 Present Owner Private collection Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; private collection, 2000 Solo Exhibitions Knoedler & Company, New York, April 1988, cat. no. 19 (shown in early state). Manny Silverman Gallery, Los Angeles, 2000, cat. no. 28. References Pleynet 1989b, color illus. p. 182 (in studio, in progress).

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Comments This work was a study for Hollow Men No. VI (P1185). In both works, the central forms were originally drawn in charcoal over the yellow and ochre ground; both were altered around 1990, when Motherwell painted those forms black.

P1186

P1187

The Homely Protestant No. II (40 Years Later) Alternative Title: Ihr Könnt Unbesorgt Sterben 1980/1988/1989–90 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 84 x 42 in. (213.4 x 106.7 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper right: RM Verso [crossed out]: [illegible] \ R. Motherwell \ January, 1980 \ April, 1988 \ Homely Protestant #II \ (40 years later) Artist’s Studio Number P80/88-2428 Present Owner Lise Motherwell Provenance Lise Motherwell, 1992 Solo Exhibitions Knoedler & Company, New York, April 1988, cat. no. 5 (shown in early state).

P1187

Group Exhibitions Acme Fine Art, Boston, 2003. References Kingsley 1988, p. 563, illus. p. 562 (fig. 96, in early state). Comments The title of this work refers to Motherwell’s 1948 painting The Homely Protestant (P85), which is slightly larger but has the same 2:1 proportions. An early version of this work was consigned in 1980 to Knoedler & Company under the title Ihr Könnt Unbesorgt Sterben (loosely translated, “You may die without fear”), which refers to a line from Bertolt Brecht’s 1920 poem “Grosser Dankchoral.” That early version of the work contained an ochre ground and a form drawn in charcoal that was similar to the line drawing in Cathedral III (C660); the words ihr unbesor[gt] were written in white chalk across the canvas. In 1988 Motherwell reworked that version of the painting, filling in one area with black paint, adding lavender paint to the upper left half, and

changing the central forms. The work was exhibited in that state and with the present title at Knoedler & Company from April to May 1988. After it was returned to Motherwell in November 1989, he continued to make revisions. The final version, with red paint added over the lavender section, was completed in 1990.

P1188

P1189

P1188

P1189

Untitled

Ca. 1990 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas mounted on wood panel 47 x 35 in. (119.4 x 88.9 cm)

Ca. 1990 Acrylic and Conté crayon on canvas mounted on Masonite 24 x 36 in. (61 x 91.4 cm)

Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated

Verso not signed, not dated

Artist’s Studio Number P90-3653

Artist’s Studio Number P90-3718

Present Owner Dedalus Foundation

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991

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P1190

P1191

P1192

P1190

P1191

P1192

P1193

Calligraphy

Untitled

The Inverted Heart

1990 Acrylic on wood panel 20 x 16 in. (50.8 x 40.6 cm)

1990 Acrylic and graphite on Masonite 3½ x 4½ in. (8.9 x 11.4 cm)

[ Untitled (Automatic Drawing) ]

Inscriptions Recto, upper left: RM \ 90

Inscriptions Recto, upper right: RM

Verso not signed, not dated

Artist’s Studio Number P90-3623

Artist’s Studio Number P90-3629

Present Owner Dedalus Foundation

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991

Solo Exhibitions Galería Joan Prats, Basel Art Fair, Switzerland, 1991, cat. no. 6 (sec. “Works on Paper”), color illus. n.p.

1990 Acrylic on canvas board 16 x 20 in. (40.6 x 50.8 cm)

Alternative Title: Untitled (Figure 4) 1980/1990 Acrylic on canvas 20 x 16 in. (50.8 x 40.6 cm)

Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated

Inscriptions Recto, lower right: RM \ 80

Verso not signed, not dated

Artist’s Studio Number P90-3581

Artist’s Studio Number P80/90-2511

Present Owner Dedalus Foundation

Present Owner Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Richard T. Fisher

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Mr. and Mrs. Richard T. Fisher, 2006 Solo Exhibitions William Shearburn Gallery, Saint Louis, 2006, cat. no. 23. Group Exhibitions James Goodman Gallery, New York, 1987 (shown in early state), as Untitled (Figure 4).

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P1193

Comments A 1980 version of this work, which contained a figure 4 as its central motif, was exhibited in 1987 at the James Goodman Gallery. Motherwell revised the work and gave it its present title in 1990.

P1194

P1195

Knoedler & Company, New York, April 1991, cat. no. 4.

P1195

Alternative Title: Arid Window 1970/1990 Acrylic on canvas board 30 x 15 in. (76.2 x 38.1 cm)

Museo Rufino Tamayo, Mexico City, 1991 (traveling), cat. no. 32, illus. p. 86.

1990 Acrylic and colored pencil on panel 16 x 20 in. (40.6 x 50.8 cm)

Inscriptions Recto, upper right, incised: RM

Comments A 1970 version of this work contained a long vertical Open form on an ochre and brown ground; it was exhibited in St. Gall and in Freiburg in 1971, with the title Arid Window. In 1990, Motherwell repainted the work and retitled it Dark Window. Motherwell had originally signed, titled, and dated the work “1970” on the verso; in 1990, he changed the 7 to a 9 in order to acknowledge the 1990 revisions.

Dark Window

Recto, lower left, incised: Motherwell Verso [crossed out]: [illegible] Verso: “dark \ window” \ 1990 \ Robert Motherwell Artist’s Studio Number P70-1488; P90-1448; P90-1488 Present Owner American Masters Collection I. Managed by the Collectors Fund, Kansas City, Mo. Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; American Masters Collection I, Kansas City, Mo., 2008 Solo Exhibitions Galerie im Erker, St. Gall, Switzerland, 1971 (traveling), cat. no. 11, illus. p. 49 (shown in early state), as Arid Window.

References Kutner 1992a, sec. C, p. 4.

Untitled

Inscriptions Recto, lower left: RM \ 90 Verso not seen Artist’s Studio Number P90-3633 Present Owner Private collection Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; private collection, 2004 Solo Exhibitions Knoedler & Company, New York, April 1991, cat. no. 27. Museo Rufino Tamayo, Mexico City, 1991 (traveling), cat. no. 35, color illus. p. 83. Comments The composition of this painting is based on the left side of Africa No. 6 (p832).

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P1196

P1197

P1198

P1197

P1198

Untitled

Red A I

1991 Acrylic on wood panel 24 x 18 in. (61 x 45.7 cm)

1987–91 Acrylic on canvas board 24 x 11¾ in. (61 x 29.9 cm)

Inscriptions Recto, lower left: RM \ 90

Inscriptions Recto, upper right: RM \ 91

Inscriptions Recto, upper left: RM \ 91

Verso not signed, not dated

Verso: R Motherwell

Artist’s Studio Number P90-1360

Artist’s Studio Number P91-3649; P91-3949

Artist’s Studio Number P87-3280

Present Owner Provincetown Art Association and Museum, Provincetown Bay. Gift of the Dedalus Foundation in honor of Lise and Jeannie Motherwell

Present Owner Dedalus Foundation

Present Owner Collection of Peter and Deborah Smith

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Peter and Deborah Smith, 2005

Provincetown Bay 1987–90 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas board 16 x 20 in. (40.6 x 50.8 cm)

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Provincetown Art Association and Museum, Mass., 2005 Solo Exhibitions Museo Rufino Tamayo, Mexico City, 1991 (traveling), cat. no. 33.

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Comments A 1987 version of this painting had a red and ochre ground, still visible below the blues and the black linear shape at the center, which were added in 1990.

Solo Exhibitions Galerie Lelong, Paris, 2007.

Comments The title of this painting refers to how it looked in 1987, when the image was a black gestural form on a predominantly red ground. Although by 1991 this painting had been extensively revised and the reds were mostly overpainted with blue, there are no studio records of any intended title change. Another painting done during the same period of time as this one was formerly called Red A II (see Untitled, P1199).

P1199

Untitled Alternative Title: Red A II 1987/ca. 1991 Acrylic on canvas board 24 x 11¾ in. (61 x 29.9 cm) Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated Verso: R. Motherwell \ R. Motherwell

P1200

1987 to April 1988. Motherwell subsequently revised the color of this painting, probably in 1991, when he also changed from black to ochre the central form of a related work, Red A I (P1198). Although this painting had originally been given the title Red A II, it appeared on a July 3, 1991, list of works at the Long Point Gallery, Provincetown, as Untitled.

P1201

P1200

P1201

Untitled

Improvisation

1991 Acrylic and Conté crayon on wood panel 10 x 8 in. (25.4 x 20.3 cm)

1991 Acrylic and graphite on canvas 37½ x 61½ in. (95.3 x 156.2 cm)

Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated Verso: R. Motherwell \ 1991

Artist’s Studio Number P87-3331

Artist’s Studio Number P91-3646

Present Owner Private collection, New York

Present Owner Private collection

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; private collection, New York, 2007

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; private collection, 2005

References Art & Antiques 1988, p. 37, color illus. p. 37 (in early state, as Red A II).

Solo Exhibitions Manny Silverman Gallery, Los Angeles, November 2002, cat. no. 31.

Comments Motherwell began this painting in Provincetown during the summer of 1987. An early state, which contained a black “A” form, was consigned to Knoedler & Company from November

Group Exhibitions Manny Silverman Gallery, Los Angeles, 2003, cat. no. 24.

Inscriptions Recto, upper left: RM \ 91 Verso not signed, not dated Artist’s Studio Number P91-3638 Present Owner Dedalus Foundation Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991 Solo Exhibitions Knoedler & Company, New York, April 1991, cat. no. 8. Comments The composition of this painting was based on a smaller 1976 work, Untitled (Elegy) (P878).

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P1202

P1203

Untitled (Elegy)

Mourning Elegy

1991 Acrylic and graphite on canvas mounted on wood panel 24 x 29½ in. (61 x 74.9 cm)

Alternative Title: {Spanish Mourning (Mourning Elegy)} 1991 Acrylic, charcoal, and china marker on canvas 60 x 72 in. (152.4 x 182.9 cm)

Inscriptions Recto, lower left, incised: RM \ 91 Verso not signed, not dated Artist’s Studio Number P91-3632

Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated Verso not signed, not dated

Present Owner Dedalus Foundation

Artist’s Studio Number P91-3624

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991

Present Owner Private collection

Solo Exhibitions Knoedler & Company, New York, April 1991, cat. no. 30.

Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; private collection, 2005

Museo Rufino Tamayo, Mexico City, 1991 (traveling), cat. no. 40.

References Decter 1991, color illus. p. 97; Terenzio 1992a, illus. p. 31 (in studio, in progress); Terenzio 1992b, illus. n.p. (in studio, in progress).

Galerie Lelong, Paris, 2007.

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P1203

Comments The work was consigned to Knoedler & Company in April 1991 as Mourning Elegy. It was, however, listed as Spanish Mourning on an insurance appraisal list dated June 17, 1991, and that title was written on the stretcher bar, though not in Motherwell’s hand. In 2005, this painting was sold under the title Spanish Mourning (Mourning Elegy). This painting and p1202 were based on an untitled 1976 Elegy (p879).

P1204

Mexican Past 1990–91 Acrylic on canvas 72 x 144 in. (182.9 x 365.8 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper right: RM \ 90 Verso not seen Artist’s Studio Number P90/91-3634 Present Owner Collection of the Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown, Ohio. Museum purchase and gift of the Dedalus Foundation 1994 Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown, Ohio, 1994 Solo Exhibitions Knoedler & Company, New York, April 1991, cat. no. 21.

Group Exhibitions Butler Trumbull County Branch Museum, Howland, Ohio, 1996. References Tyson 1992, sec. D, p. 5; Windrow 1992, cover color illus. (detail), color illus. p. 11; Banach 1996, p. 39; Caws 1996b, p. 47, illus. p. 48; Sweetkind 1997, color illus. p. x, illus. p. 125; Caws 2003, illus. p. 36 (ill. 26). Comments The initial state of this work was based on the left side of Africa No. 6 (p832). The composition of this painting was based on a small 1975 picture, Primordial Sketch No. 13 (P869). It originally contained a black form painted on a white ground, similar to the small 1975 picture. Motherwell continued to work on this painting through the spring of 1991, modifying the blacks and adding the ochres to the ground. It was exhibited in its final form at Knoedler & Company in April 1991.

Museo Rufino Tamayo, Mexico City, 1991 (traveling), cat. no. 38, cover color illus.

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P1205

Either/Or (for Kierkegaard) 1990–91 Acrylic on canvas 60 x 96 in. (152.4 x 243.8 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper left, incised: RM \ 90 Verso not signed, not dated Artist’s Studio Number P91-3626 Present Owner Private collection Provenance Private collection, 1991; private collection, 2000 Solo Exhibitions Knoedler & Company, New York, April 1991, cat. no. 26. Museo Rufino Tamayo, Mexico City, 1991 (traveling), cat. no. 39. References Tyler 1991a, illus. sec. D, p. 3; Banach 1996, p. 39, illus. p. 38 (in studio, in progress); Caws 1996b, pp. 3, 7, 47, 71, illus. p. 4; Fundació Antoni Tàpies

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exh. cat. 1996, illus. n.p. (in studio, in progress); Caws 2003, pp. 48, 172, color illus. p. 173 (ill. 124). Comments The initial state of this work was based on the left side of Africa No. 6 (p832). The title refers to Søren Kierkegaard’s Either/Or. A previous working title for this piece, Diary of a Seducer, had been taken from the title of a section in the first volume of Kierkegaard’s book, but Motherwell retitled the painting during the planning of his 1991 exhibition at the Museo Rufino Tamayo and showed the painting as Either/Or (for Kierkegaard) at Knoedler & Company in April 1991. (Motherwell was probably aware that Diary of a Seducer is also the title of a 1945 work by Arshile Gorky in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art, New York.)

P1206

Massive Image Alternative Title: Le Massif 1990–91 Acrylic on canvas 60 x 120 in. (152.4 x 304.8 cm) Inscriptions Recto, upper left, incised: RM Verso not signed, not dated Artist’s Studio Number P91-3622 Present Owner The Columbus Museum, Ga. Museum purchase made possible by Doris E. Black; Donald F. Broda Jr. in honor of Kathleen L. Broda; Natalie Harris; Sally Foley Hughston; Pat Hurst Jordan in memory of her parents, Dr. A. E. and Ruth Hurst; Jan J. Miller; Babette M. Rothschild; Sandy Bartlett Scarborough; Marge Tilley in memory of Mr. and Mrs. L. A. Platt; Rebecca K. Yarborough in honor of Dr. Sidney H. Yarborough III; special assistance from the Ella E.

Kirven Charitable Lead Trust for Acquisitions; and a gift of the Dedalus Foundation, New York, 2003.13.5 Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Columbus Museum, Ga., 2000 Solo Exhibitions Knoedler & Company, New York, April 1991, cat. no. 20, as Le Massif.

Comments The initial composition on this canvas was based on an earlier painting, Africa No. 5 (P831). Although it was first shown as Le Massif, Motherwell changed the title before it was shown at the Museo Rufino Tamayo.

Museo Rufino Tamayo, Mexico City, 1991 (traveling), cat. no. 37. Columbus Museum, Ga., 2000, cover color illus. Group Exhibitions Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo, 1997 (traveling), cat. no. 63, color illus. p. 127. References Tyler 1991a, illus. sec. D, p. 3; Banach 1996, p. 39; Caws 1996b, p. 47, as Le Massif, illus. p. 50; Caws 2003, p. 112, illus. p. 112 (ill. 74); Columbus Museum 2003, p. 186, color illus. pp. 186–87 (cat. no. 87).

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P1207

{ Unfinished painting} 1991 Acrylic on canvas 72 x 84 in. (182.9 x 213.4 cm) Inscriptions Recto not signed, not dated Verso not signed, not dated Artist’s Studio Number P91-3650 Present Owner Dedalus Foundation Provenance Dedalus Foundation, 1991 Comments The general composition of this painting was filled in for Motherwell by his studio assistant, and the artist died before he could do substantial work on the canvas (as per Mel Paskell, Motherwell’s studio assistant, in conversation with Jack Flam, August 16, 2008).

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P1208

P1209

{ Unfinished painting}

1991 Acrylic on canvas (?) 50 x 80 in. (127 x 203.2 cm), approx.

1991 Acrylic on canvas (?) 36 x 72 in. (91.4 x 182.9 cm), approx.

Inscriptions Unknown

Present Owner Present whereabouts unknown

Provenance The artist

Comments This work is known only from its appearance on Motherwell’s paintings storage racks in a video of his Greenwich studio made two days after his death. The central image is based on the form in the Delos collages of 1990 (c866–c868; see also w722).

Comments This work is known only from its appearance on Motherwell’s paintings storage racks in a video of his Greenwich studio made two days after his death. The composition is based on an untitled Elegy (p1146).

P1209

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