Robert Motherwell Paintings and Collages: A Catalogue Raisonné 1941 – 1991 Volume 2 - Flipbook - Page 41
p45
solo exhibitions
Samuel M. Kootz Gallery, New York,
April 1947, cat. no. 1.
p46
In Yellow and Black
group exhibitions
University of Iowa, Iowa City, 1948,
cat. no. 76.
Alternative Title: Large Personage
1945–47
Oil on canvas
54 x 44 in. (137.2 x 111.8 cm)
references
Greenberg 1947, p. 665.
inscriptions
Recto, upper left, incised: RM 45/47
comments
The alternative title given in the
Sotheby’s 1994 auction catalogue,
French Ochre with Sky and Personal
Objects, may be inscribed on the
verso, but we have not been able to
verify this.
Recto, lower left: RM 45/47
Verso [painted over]: [illegible]
Verso: R. Motherwell 21 Oct 45–
March 47
Verso [painted over]: “[illegible]”
[illegible]
p46
present owner
Collection of the Tel Aviv Museum
of Art. Gift of Samuel M. Kootz,
New York, through the Norman
Foundation, 1957
provenance
Samuel M. Kootz Gallery, 1947;
Tel Aviv Museum of Art, 1957
solo exhibitions
Samuel M. Kootz Gallery, New York,
January 1946, cat. no. 2 (shown in early
state), as Large Personage.
Samuel M. Kootz Gallery, New York,
April 1947, cat. no. 14.
Verso (upside down) [painted over]:
[illegible]
group exhibitions
University of Iowa, Iowa City, 1947,
cat. no. 80, as Yellow and Black.
Verso (upside down): 45/46 Robert
Motherwell
Jewish Museum, New York, 1948,
cat. no. 77.
artist’s studio number
p45/47-5154
Tel Aviv Museum of Art, 2005.
comments
The first version of this work, titled
Large Personage, was painted in 1945.
In an undated letter (ca. January 1947),
Jane Kootz (the wife of Motherwell’s
dealer) refers to this canvas as having
been repainted during the winter
of 1946–47 (Dedalus Foundation
Archives). Pentimenti indicate that the
earlier composition was similar to that
of Small Personage (p32).
In Yellow and Black is the earliest
instance of a compositional structure
that Motherwell would revisit in a
number of works during the next few
years, such as Montauk Montage (c41),
Dirge (w9), and a 1948 ink drawing
called Sailor’s Cemetery (see fig. 43 in
volume 1).
references
Wolf 1946a, p. 17; W[olf] 1947, illus.
p. 21; Celentano 1957, p. 36, as Yellow
and Black; Mattison 1985b, illus. n.p.
(fig. 192); Greenberg 1986b, p. 152.
pai ntin gs on c anvas and panel
29
