Robert Motherwell Paintings and Collages: A Catalogue Raisonné 1941 – 1991 Volume 2 - Flipbook - Page 35
p30
(the wife of George Wittenborn, the
publisher of the Documents of Modern
Art series) lists this work with the title
Flight (Dedalus Foundation Archives).
The title Figuration, however, is
recorded on multiple black-and-white
photographs (Dedalus Foundation
Archives).
p31
p30
p31
Figure
Personnage
1945
Oil on canvas mounted on board
30 x 21¾ in. (76.2 x 55.3 cm)
1945
Oil and charcoal on canvas board
23½ x 17½ in. (59.7 x 44.5 cm)
inscriptions
Recto: [“signed,” per Sotheby Parke
Bernet 1971]
inscriptions
Recto, upper right: Motherwell 45
Verso not seen [“signed, titled, and
dated 1945,” per Sotheby Parke
Bernet 1971]
present owner
National Gallery of Art, Washington,
D.C. Gift of Aaron I. Fleischman, in
honor of the 50th anniversary of the
National Gallery of Art
present owner
Unknown
provenance
Samuel M. Kootz Gallery, 1945;
unknown owner; [Sotheby Parke Bernet,
Inc., New York, November 24, 1971,
lot 117, illus.]; unknown owner, 1971
comments
Our reproduction of this work comes
from the 1971 Sotheby Parke Bernet
auction catalogue; the signature is not
visible in the reproduction.
Verso not signed, not dated
Kunstmuseum St. Gallen, Switzerland,
1966, cat. no. 88.
Galerie Beyeler, Basel Art Fair,
Switzerland, 1971.
National Gallery of Art, Washington,
D.C., 1991, color illus. p. 363.
comments
During the 1940s Motherwell used
both the English and French spellings
of the word “personage” in his titles.
provenance
G. David Thompson; Galerie Beyeler,
1960; private collection, 1983; private
collection, 1984; Forum Gallery,
ca. 1988; André Emmerich Gallery,
1989; Aaron I. Fleischman, 1990;
National Gallery of Art, Washington,
D.C., 1991
group exhiBitions
Kunsthaus Zürich, 1960 (traveling),
Zurich, cat. no. 155; Düsseldorf,
cat. no. 155; The Hague, cat. no. 149;
Turin, cat. no. 103.
pai ntin gs on c anvas and panel
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