Robert Motherwell - Editions New York Wednesday, June 8, 2011 | Phillips

Editions

8 June 2011 New York

  • Literature

    Siri Engberg and Joan Banach 491

  • Artist Biography

    Robert Motherwell

    American • 1915 - 1991

    One of the youngest proponents of the Abstract Expressionist movement, Robert Motherwell rose to critical acclaim with his first solo exhibition at Peggy Guggenheim's Art of This Century gallery in 1944. Not only was Motherwell one of the major practicing Abstract Expressionist artists, he was, in fact, the main intellectual driving force within the movement—corralling fellow New York painters such as Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning, Hans Hoffman and William Baziotes into his circle. Motherwell later coined the term the "New York School", a designation synonymous to Abstract Expressionism that loosely refers to a wide variety of non-objective work produced in New York between 1940 and 1960.

    During an over five-decade-long career, Motherwell created a large and powerful body of varied work that includes paintings, drawings, prints and collages. Motherwell's work is most generally characterized by simple shapes, broad color contrasts and a dynamic interplay between restrained and gestural brushstrokes. Above all, it demonstrates his approach to art-making as a response to the complexity of lived, and importantly felt, experience.

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20

Robert Motherwell

The Cavern

1989
Carborunum, on German etching paper, with full margins,
I. 17 3/4 x 23 5/8 in. (45.1 x 60 cm);
S. 25 1/4 x 31 in. (64.1 x 78.7 cm)
signed and numbered `PP 2/2' in pencil (a printer's proof, the edition was 23 and 8 artist's proofs), published by the artist (with his copyright blindstamp), a flattened crease in the center right margin, otherwise in very good condition, framed.

Estimate
$2,500 - 3,500 

Editions

8 June 2011 New York