MOTHERWELL UNTITLED (LETTER A) LITHOGRAPH
Was the song "Paint it Black" a homage to Robert Motherwell?
Robert Motherwell (1915-1991), alongside Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko, and Willem de Kooning, made up the quartet of American abstract painters that radically defined Modern painting and established New York City as the center of the art world for the second half of the 20th century.
While compared to his peers, Motherwell's works are arguably the most challenging for the uninitiated.
Nevertheless, he was the unofficial spokesman of the New York School, writing and lecturing prolifically on behalf of the movement, his fellow artists, and the merits of abstraction. (Before devoting himself to painting, Motherwell had started a PhD at Harvard in philosophy. In addition to his talents as an artist, he was incredibly articulate.)
While it is nearly impossible to decipher any trace of figuration in Motherwell's oeuvre, he was inspired by and referenced literature, politics and the canon.
Motherwell's aesthetic is instantly recognizable in both paintings and prints: giant black forms that seem to devour their settings. Only in the mid-1960's did Motherwell begin to introduce color to his work.
This print is a paradigm of
Motherwell's oeuvre: aggressive black forms creating a confidant
abstract arrangement, softened by decorative and soothing shades of
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The Basque Suite Ref.85
Signed RM and numbered by the artist.
From an edition of 150.