Robert Motherwell American Abstract Oil on Canvas – Sept 26, 2019
Oil on canvas, framed. Featuring abstract expressionist composition. Signed in the lower right hand corner. Inscribed with 11/69 below signature. Attributed to Robert Motherwell (1915-1991, American). 33.5 x 49.5 cm (13.25 x 19.25 in), Frame: 43 x 59 cm (17 x 23 in). PROVENANCE: Southern Ontario estate
Click Here to view Lot # 112 – Robert Motherwell American Abstract Oil on Canvas – Sept 26, 2019
Robert Motherwell
Robert Motherwell (1915-1991) was an American artist and seminal Abstract Expressionist painter. Influenced by the automatic writing and drawing prescribed by the Surrealists, Motherwell’s practice was characterized by an intuitive approach to painting. He is best known for his iconic Elegy to the Spanish Republic series, which consists of 150 variants of black forms on white backgrounds.
“Painting is a medium in which the mind can actualize itself; it is a medium of thought,” he once reflected. “Thus painting, like music, tends to become its own content.” Born on January 24, 1915 in Aberdeen, WA, he moved to New York to study at Columbia University with the art historian Meyer Schapiro. It was Schapiro’s encouragement that initially led Motherwell to start painting.
During the early 1940s, he entered a milieu of young artists that included William Baziotes, Jackson Pollock, and Willem de Kooning. Motherwell later taught Cy Twombly and Robert Rauschenberg at the famed Black Mountain College. After returning to New York, he met the painter Helen Frankenthaler in 1957, whom he married three years later. During their 13 year marriage, the two artists’ mutual interest in the poetry of abstraction fueled one another’s work. Motherwell died on July 16, 1991 in Cape Cod, MA. Today, his works are held in the collections of the Art Institute of Chicago, the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., The Museum of Modern Art in New York, and the Tate Modern in London, among others.
Auction Overview
Richmond Hill, ON – 417 fresh to market items will be available to the discerning buyers and collectors in 888 Auctions’ September 12 auction featuring the finest in MODERN ART, GEMSTONES & ASIAN ANTIQUES 2019-09-26. Taking place in the afternoon at 2 PM (EST), bidders will be competing against one another over a variety of items on display.
Visit the auction at 888 Auctions during the public viewing period:
Monday, September 23: 10AM-5PM
Tuesday, September 24: 10AM-5PM
Wednesday, September 25: 10AM-5PM
Thursday, September 26: 10:30AM-1PM
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