Artist

Robert Motherwell

born Aberdeen, WA 1915-died Provincetown, MA 1991
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Robert Motherwell, 1961, © Peter A. Juley & Son Collection, Smithsonian American Art Museum J0005260
Also known as
  • Robert Burns Motherwell III
Born
Aberdeen, Washington, United States
Died
Provincetown, Massachusetts, United States
Active in
  • New York, New York, United States
  • Greenwich, Connecticut, United States
Biography

Painter, printer, collage maker and author. A leading Abstract Expressionist, in 1949 he began his most famous series, Elegies to the Spanish Republic, which is comprised of more than 100 oil paintings and numerous sketches and drawings. He was editor of the important book series Documents of Modern Art.

Joan Stahl American Artists in Photographic Portraits from the Peter A. Juley & Son Collection (Washington, D.C. and Mineola, New York: National Museum of American Art and Dover Publications, Inc., 1995)

Works by this artist (2 items)

Andrea Way, Bones, 1987, ink on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Tom and Judy Brody, 2009.38.3, © 1987, Andrea Way
Bones
Date1987
ink on paper
Not on view
Andrea Way, Cicada, 1992, screenprint, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase made possible by Barry and Beverly Pierce, 1992.68, © 1992, Andrea Way
Cicada
Date1992
screenprint
Not on view

Related Books

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Modern Masters: American Abstraction at Midcentury
Modern Masters: American Abstraction at Midcentury features more than thirty artists who transformed American art in the years after World War II. Seventy artworks from the Smithsonian American Art Museum, reproduced in full color, convey the dynamism and raw energy of the period. Photographs and biographical details provide intimate portraits of Richard Diebenkorn, Hans Hofmann, Franz Kline, Joan Mitchell, Robert Motherwell, Louise Nevelson, and others who explored powerful color and the nuance of line.