Robert motherwell biography artists

Robert Motherwell (1915—1991) was one of the leading American artists of the twentieth century. He worked with a wide range of imagery, which reflected his acute awareness of the richness and complexity of human experience, and he was also the leading spokesperson for the Abstract-Expressionists.

The broad expressive range of his paintings includes the passionate and politically fraught Elegy to the Spanish Republic series, the serene and otherworldly imagery of the Opens, and a large body of spontaneously executed works. He was also one of the most important collagists of the twentieth century, and he created a large and highly regarded body of prints.

Motherwell was also an influential teacher and writer. He created the influential Documents of Modern Art series, which translated the writings of major European modernists, and throughout his life affirmed the importance of Modernism, which he considered a means of freedom from dogma and unquestioning acceptance of outdated social and cultural norms, and which entailed having the courage to face Reality in all its complexity and with all its contradictions – what he called a “gallant attempt at a more adequate and accurate view of things now.”

Read more about Robert Motherwell on his Biography page.

Summary of Robert Motherwell

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

Accomplishments

• Motherwell was an accomplished writer and editor, as well as an eloquent speaker. Through his teaching, lectures and publications, he became an unofficial spokesman and interpreter for the Abstract Expressionist movement.
• Several key themes define Motherwell's work: the dialogue between repression and rebellion, between European modernism and a new American vision, and between formal and emotional approaches to art making.
• Motherwell was an accomplished printmaker and an avid collagist, and he often used these techniques to engage with and respond to the influences of European modernism.

Important Art by Robert Motherwell

Progression of Art

American abstract expressionist painter, printmaker (1915–1991)

Robert Motherwell (January 24, 1915 – July 16, 1991) was an American abstract expressionistpainter, printmaker, and editor of The Dada Painters and Poets: an Anthology. He was one of the youngest of the New York School, which also included Willem de Kooning, Jackson Pollock, and Mark Rothko.

Trained in philosophy, Motherwell then became an artist regarded as among the most articulate spokesmen and the founders of the abstract expressionist painters. He was known for his series of abstract paintings and prints which touched on political, philosophical and literary themes, such as the Elegies to the Spanish Republic.

Early life and education

Robert Motherwell was born in Aberdeen, Washington on January 24, 1915, the first child of Robert Burns Motherwell II and Margaret Hogan Motherwell. The family later moved to San Francisco, where Motherwell's father served as president of Wells Fargo Bank, but returned to Cohasset Beach, Washington, every summer during his youth. Another Aberdeen native with a home at Cohasset Beach was Lance Wood Hart, painter and art teacher, who became Motherwell's early mentor. Due to the artist's asthmatic condition, Motherwell was reared largely on the Pacific Coast and spent most of his school years in California. There he developed a love for the broad spaces and bright colours that later emerged as essential characteristics of his abstract paintings (ultramarine blue of the sky and yellow ochre of Californian hills). His later

Robert Motherwell was born in Aberdeen, Washington, on 24 January 1915. He spent most of his school years in California, where he graduated from Stanford University with majors in philosophy and literature in 1937. He did graduate work in philosophy at Harvard University and spent the 1939-40 school year in France. In 1940 he moved to New York and studied briefly at Columbia University, where he was encouraged by Meyer Schapiro to devote himself to painting rather than scholarship. After a 1941 voyage to Mexico with the Surrealist painter Matta, Motherwell decided to make painting his primary vocation.  It was at this time that he began to do “automatic” drawings and that he painted his first mature pictures.

The next year, Motherwell began to exhibit his work in New York and in 1944 he had his first one-person show at Peggy Guggenheim’s “Art of this Century” Gallery. Beginning in the mid-1940s, Motherwell became the leading spokesperson for avant-garde art in America. He exhibited regularly at the Samuel M. Kootz Gallery and in group shows at museums throughout the United States. He lectured widely on abstract painting, and he founded and edited the Documents of Modern Art series. In 1948, he began to work with his celebrated Elegy to the Spanish Republic theme, which he continued to develop throughout his life. From 1950 to 1959, Motherwell also taught painting at Hunter College.  At this time, he was a prolific writer and lecturer, and in addition to directing the influential Documents of Modern Art Series, he edited The Dada Painters and Poets: An Anthology, published in 1951.

In 1958, Motherwell was included in the “The New American Painting” exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art. That year he traveled to Spain and France, where he started his Iberia series. During the 1960s, Motherwell exhibited widely in both America and Europe and in 1965 was one of the first artists of his generation to be given a retrospective