Robert Motherwell Paintings and Collages: A Catalogue Raisonné 1941 – 1991 Volume 3 - Flipbook - Page 281
c567
Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh,
1977.
Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1978,
cat. no. 40, illus. p. 22.
group exhibitions
Knoedler & Company, New York,
February 1990, cat. no. 7.
references
Winter 1976b, illus. p. 7; Arnason
1977b, color illus. p. 87 (pl. 53), color
illus. n.p. (pl. 292, in studio, in early
state); Flash Art 1977, illus. p. 48;
Kramer 1977a, color illus. p. 17 (in studio, in early state); Wilson 1977b, illus.
sec. Calendar, p. 86; Catoir 1980, color
illus. p. 287; Centro Cultural de la
Caixa de Pensions exh. cat. 1980, illus.
n.p. (in studio); Serraller 1980, illus.
p. 32 (in studio); Mattison 1981, p. 200;
Arnason 1982, color illus. p. 85 (pl. 86,
in studio, in early state), color illus.
p. 87 (pl. 95); Drudi 1983, color illus.
n.p.
comments
This work incorporates an enlarged
lithographic reproduction of the label
from a package of St. Michel cigarettes,
a Belgian brand. Motherwell used
images of St. Michel cigarette labels in
several of his prints (see the St. Michael
series, Engberg and Banach 2003, nos.
234–37). Though Motherwell anglicized
the name for the prints, he retained the
original French name for the collages.
This collage was originally oriented
upside down, with yellow paint running
vertically on the left side of the canvas,
and it was probably consigned to the
Ace Gallery in that form in September
1975 (Sloman photo no. 25). Motherwell
reoriented the picture the following
year, and added red paint over the yellow. This second version was shown at
Knoedler & Company in January 1976
(Sloman photo no. 343). Sometime
after the work returned from Knoedler,
Motherwell changed this area again,
painting olive green over the red. It was
in its final form when it was sent to
Motherwell’s exhibition in Düsseldorf,
which opened that September.
c568
c568
In Red with Two Ovals
1976
Acrylic, pasted canvas, pasted papers,
and charcoal on canvas mounted on
board
72 x 36 in. (182.9 x 91.4 cm)
comments
The composition of this work, with its
two ovals set between thick vertical
bars, recalls Motherwell’s early Collage
in Black and Green (c9) and his 1973
Untitled (c416). It is also directly related
to a contemporaneous collage, In Forest
Green with Woodwinds (c575).
inscriptions
Recto, lower right: Motherwell
19 March 1976
present owner
The Museum of Contemporary Art,
Los Angeles. Bequest of Marcia Simon
Weisman
provenance
Marcia Simon Weisman, 1976; Museum
of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, 1996
group exhibitions
Gruenebaum Gallery, New York, 1976,
cat. no. 7.
references
Russell 1976a, sec. C, p. 16; Zalkind
1976, illus. p. 9.
co lla ges
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