Robert Motherwell
Top: Personage (1943), Oil on canvas with other elements
Bottom: Elegy to the Spanish Republic No. 35 (1957-60), Oil on canvas
Robert Motherwell was born on January 24, 1915 in Aberdeen, Washington. He was raised to embrace his rapidly emerging artistic talent. After receiving a Bachelor’s degree in philosophy from Stanford University, Motherwell began graduate studies at Harvard. This would not last long, for it was a trip to Europe in 1938 that encouraged him to do what he loved – art. In 1941, he moved to Greenwich Village to paint amongst the visionaries of that day who were beginning to explore abstract art. For the next fifteen years, Motherwell developed a signature style using mixed media to create large shapes that spoke to the viewer of life, death, struggle, and victory. His work epitomized his personal and political voice in abstraction. Motherwell usually worked in collage, the first of which were first shown at Jackson Pollock’s own studio. Motherwell was the youngest and most prolific of the Abstract Expressionists.
However, it seemed that for many of these visionaries, the newly found appreciation for artistic innovation could not counteract the turbulence of those early years—many dying young or taking their own lives. Though somewhat alone, Motherwell committed himself to producing highly experimental work of emotional depth for the rest of his life. On July 16, 1991, at the age of 76 he died: the last of the great Abstract Expressionists.
December 21st, 2007 at 12:43 am
Angelo, I think I especially like the works of Motherwell. Thank you for explaining his works to me while we were at the exhibit. After you told me about his emphasis on life and death, the color choices in his works started to make more sense to me.