Robert Motherwell Paintings and Collages: A Catalogue Raisonné 1941 – 1991 Volume 3 - Flipbook - Page 268
c535
c535
Bust of Stravinsky
1975–81
Acrylic and pasted papers on canvas
mounted on Masonite
48 x 36 in. (121.9 x 91.4 cm)
inscriptions
Recto, upper left, incised and inscribed:
RM 75
artist’s studio number
c75-1446
present owner
Private collection
provenance
Private collection, New York, 1991;
[Sotheby’s, New York, November 13,
2003, lot 246, illus.]; private collection,
2003
solo exhibitions
Montclair Art Museum, N.J.,
November 1989.
references
Arnason 1977b, p. 86, color illus. n.p.
(pl. 298, in early state); Arnason 1982,
p. 87, illus. p. 84 (pl. 84, in early state);
256
collages
Navarra 1989, sec. F, p. 12; Caws 2003,
p. 166, illus. p. 167 (ill. 114); Museum
Morsbroich exh. cat. 2004, illus. p. 90;
Haxall 2009, p. 128.
comments
The composition of this collage was set
in 1975, but Motherwell subsequently
made a number of revisions.
The blown-up fragment of a musical score is from Igor Stravinsky’s Le
sacre du printemps; it was lithographically reproduced for Motherwell by
Tyler Graphics Ltd.
Motherwell used this collage as
the basis for a limited-edition poster to
benefit the 1982 Ojai Music Festival,
held in Ojai, California, June 4–6, 1982
(Engberg and Banach 2003, no. 287).
This annual festival, begun in 1947,
highlighted contemporary music;
Stravinsky had conducted his own
works there in 1955 and 1956.
c536
c536
Pas de Deux No. 1
1975
Acrylic and pasted papers on canvas
mounted on Masonite
48 x 36 in. (121.9 x 91.4 cm)
inscriptions
Recto, upper right: Motherwell/
11 Nov 75
present owner
Private collection
provenance
Private collection, 1977; private
collection, 1979
group exhibitions
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art,
1977, cat. no. 40.
references
Arnason 1977b, p. 86, color illus. n.p.
(pls. 292, in studio, 295); Centro
Cultural de la Caixa de Pensions exh.
cat. 1980, illus. n.p. (in studio);
Serraller 1980, illus. p. 32 (in studio);
Arnason 1982, p. 87, color illus. p. 85
(pl. 86, in studio); Raynor 1994, illus.
sec. 13, p. 18 (in studio).
comments
The two vertical forms in this collage,
which are like two dancers, appear to
embody the pas de deux of the title.
The printed sheet music on the left side
of the work is a lithographic reproduction from Igor Stravinsky’s ballet Le
sacre du printemps. This collage would
later become the basis for Motherwell’s
1987–88 Red and Black collage series
(see c760–c815).
