Robert Motherwell was an American artist and scholar who was influenced by Surrealism and was a pioneer of Abstract Expressionism. He is known for his series of abstract paintings called the Elegies to the Spanish Republic from the late 1940s addressing the Spanish Civil War. Motherwell had a broad-ranging intellect and played a key role in introducing European avant-garde ideas to the US. He married the painter Helen Frankenthaler and their work explored spontaneous gestures and unconscious expression through abstract color fields.

1. Robert Motherwell
Artist,Writer and Intellectual
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2. Early Years
• A local
• Developed a love for big skies and bold
colors
• A philosopher
• Travels
• $50 a week for life
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3. WWII
• Prior, US art based in realism, impressionism
and early abstract movements
• European artists took refuge in the US,
including the Surrealists
• Brought a great renaissance of ideas to US
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4. The Surrealists
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5. What Were They
About?
• Fantastic imagery; elements of surprise,
spontaniety and juxtaposition
• Highly pyschological and dreamlike
• Expressing the subconscious
• Automatism
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6. Robert Motherwell
• Highly educated, innovative and respected
• The New York School
• Youngest member
• WPA connection
• A cultural translator
• 1944 - Art of this Century Solo exhibition
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7. Abstract Impressionism
• Large-scale and explosive gestures; “action
painting”
• Intended to convey feeling and emotion
• Desire to give spontaneous expression to
the unconscious
• Getting at a fundamental, unconscious truth
New York replaced Paris as center of the art world
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8. Elegies to the Spanish
Republic
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9. At Five in the Afternoon
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10. The Voyage
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11. Malaga
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12. Catalonia
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13. Kootz Gallery Show
• 1950
• Common shapes and forms
• Spanish paintings under common name
• Art Digest: one of today’s most thinking
painters
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14. At Five in the
Afternoon 1950
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15. Elegy to the Spanish
Republic No 34
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16. Elegy to the Spanish
Republic 108
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17. Catalan Elegy
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18. An Homage
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19. I’ve made pictures that are failures but few that are lies
Video 10:04 to11:53
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20. Helen Frankenthaler (1928-2011)
Married to
Motherwell
1958-1971
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21. Mountains and Sea
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22. Two Figures No 2
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23. Lyric Suite 1965
• Lifelong love of paper
• 560 ink drawings meant
to be 1000
• Based on Alban Berg’s
string quartet
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24. Saturday, March 23, 13

25. The Open Series
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26. Open No 151
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27. In Ochre with Scarlet Spot
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28. Hollow Men
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29. If you know what it’s going to look like, why bother making it?
Stanley William Hayter
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30. Begins Dies
Robert Open 1991
Motherwell Series
Timeline Marries 1968
Frankenthaler
WWII 1958 1975
Ends Vietnam
Stock
Market 1945 War
Crash
1960s Ends
Emergence
WWI 1929 1948 of Pop Art
Ends Motherwell
Armory 1918 1938 begins
Show Max Elegy series
1913 Ernst
1924 Paints
Surrealist “Bride”
1915 Manifesto
Born Published
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31. Influence of Bold Color
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32. Influence of Collage
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33. At Auction
Sold for $2.1M in 2005
Sold for $3.6M in 2012
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34. SF MOMA
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35. Fine Arts Museums of SF
• Collection search tool unusable
• ~40 works in collection
• Achenbach Foundation for the graphic
arts
• Very few on display
What is a museum’s obligation to exhibit?
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