Robert Motherwell Paintings and Collages: A Catalogue Raisonné 1941 – 1991 Volume 3 - Flipbook - Page 270
c540
c540
From Below
1975
Acrylic, pasted canvas, and pasted
papers on canvas mounted on board
72 x 36 in. (182.9 x 91.4 cm)
inscriptions
Recto, upper right: R Motherwell 75
Verso (on backing board):
“from below” 1975 (de bas)
artist’s studio number
c75present owner
Private collection
provenance
Private collection, 1976; private
collection, 1978
solo exhibitions
Knoedler & Company, New York, 1976,
cat. no. 4.
comments
The title of this collage is derived from
a label pasted in its upper portion on
which the words “de bas” (from below,
in French) are printed. This collage
element is actually part of a wrapping
paper used for Richard de Bas’s Blanc
Narcisse handmade papers.
c541
c541
Nicht Werfen with Yellow
Stripes
1975
Acrylic, pasted canvas, pasted papers,
and graphite on canvas mounted on
board
72 x 36 in. (182.9 x 91.4 cm)
inscriptions
Recto, upper left: R. Motherwell
26 Dec 75
Recto, lower left [painted over]:
[RM 75]
artist’s studio number
c75-1212
present owner
Private collection
provenance
Knoedler & Company; [Sotheby’s, New
York, May 4, 1987, lot 34, illus.]; R.
Kaller-Kimche, Inc., 1987; [Christie’s,
New York, November 14, 2001, lot 167,
illus.]; private collection, 2001
solo exhibitions
Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de
Paris, 1977.
258
collages
Knoedler & Company, New York, 1978,
cat. no. 9, color illus. p. 13 (in exhibition), illus. p. 23.
references
Ashton 1980, color illus. p. 5, as With
Yellow Stripes; Drudi 1983, color illus.
n.p., as With Yellow Stripes.
comments
The title of this work comes from a
sticker affixed to the brown paper
collage element, a mailing wrapper
sent from Germany. The sticker reads
“Vorsicht Bücher Nicht werfen”
(Caution books Do not drop).
Motherwell created the striped sheet of
paper in this work (also used in other
collages made during the late 1970s) by
painting yellow stripes on white paper;
these yellow and white stripes contain
an implicit allusion to The Little Spanish
Prison (p3).
