Robert Motherwell Paintings and Collages: A Catalogue Raisonné 1941 – 1991 Volume 3 - Flipbook - Page 111
c138
Les Ballets Basques de
Biarritz
solo exhibitions
Art Center in Hargate, St. Paul’s
School, Concord, N.H., 1970, cat.
no. 5, illus. n.p. (in exhibition).
Alternative Title: Blue, with Orange
1963
Oil and pasted paper on paper
34 x 22 in. (86.4 x 55.9 cm)
group exhibitions
Provincetown Art Association, Mass.,
1964, cat. no. 120, illus. p. 32.
c138
inscriptions
Recto, upper right: R. Motherwell 63
Verso: blue, with orange 1963 oil
R. Motherwell
Verso (on backing board): Robert
Motherwell “les ballets basques de
biarritz” 1963 22" x 34" oil +
collage
artist’s studio number
c63-1504
present owner
Sidney and Madeline Forbes
provenance
Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Sidney and
Madeline Forbes, 2004
comments
The work is signed on the verso “blue,
with orange,” which refers to an early
state of it, visible in studio photographs
from June 1963. That version was oriented upside down from its current
presentation, and did not yet include
the collage element or the areas of
green and white at the upper left, which
were originally painted orange.
The present title refers to the
collage element at the upper center,
which is a handbill dated July 26 for a
performance in Saint-Jean-de-Luz of
the Oldarra choral group with Les
Ballets Basques de Biarritz. Motherwell
and Helen Frankenthaler had spent
their honeymoon in Saint-Jean-de-Luz
during the summer of 1958, and this
c139
handbill is a memento from that trip.
See also Les Ballets Basques (w163), a
1963 painting on paper that contains
a similar composition and colors.
c139
La Favorita
1962–63
Oil, pasted paper, and graphite on paper
28⅞ x 22⅞ in. (73.3 x 58.1 cm)
inscriptions
Recto, lower left, incised: 62
Motherwell
artist’s studio number
c62-1198
present owner
Collection Walker Art Center,
Minneapolis. Gift of Margaret and
Angus Wurtele and the Dedalus
Foundation, 1995
provenance
Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Walker Art
Center, Minneapolis, 1995
solo exhibitions
Museum of Modern Art, New York,
Robert Motherwell:Works on Paper,
September 1965 (circulating).
Art Center in Hargate, St. Paul’s School,
Concord, N.H., 1970, cat. no. 2.
Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de
Paris, 1977.
co lla ges
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