Robert Motherwell Paintings and Collages: A Catalogue Raisonné 1941 – 1991 Volume 3 - Flipbook - Page 293
c598
c598
Delicados
Alternative Title: McCartney in Mexico
1977/1978
Acrylic and pasted papers on paper
30 x 20 in. (76.2 x 50.8 cm)
inscriptions
Recto, upper right: RM June 77
artist’s studio number
c77-1938
present owner
Private collection, Lausanne
provenance
Private collection, 1978; Grindstone
Trust Company; [Christie’s, New York,
November 19, 1998, lot 588, illus.]; private collection, Lausanne, Switzerland,
1998
group exhibitions
Andrew Crispo Gallery, New York,
1977, cat. no. 134, illus. n.p. (shown in
early state), as McCartney in Mexico.
comments
This is the third collage made by
Motherwell incorporating music by
Paul McCartney, as part of a
commission by MPL Communications
(see the Comments for c596). The work
incorporates a lithographically enlarged
version of McCartney’s song “Step
Inside Love,” printed on a gray paper.
That same song was used in the first
collage Motherwell did as part of this
commission, Step Inside Love (c596).
According to 1977 documents from
Motherwell’s studio, this collage was
originally titled Delicados, after the lithographic reproduction of a Mexican
Delicados cigarette package that it contains. Later that same year, Motherwell
changed the title to McCartney in
Mexico, and an early version was
exhibited under this new title at the
Andrew Crispo Gallery, New York,
in November 1977.
After the work was returned to the
artist in February 1978, Motherwell
extended the black-painted areas above
and below the center collage element.
The original title was restored to the
collage when it was consigned to the
John Berggruen Gallery in May 1978.
c599
c599
America Cup II
1977
Acrylic and pasted papers on canvas
board
36 x 24 in. (91.4 x 61 cm)
inscriptions
Recto, upper right: RM July 77
for c150 and also fig. 105 in volume 1).
The America’s Cup races were held
in Newport, Rhode Island, from 1930
to 1983. Motherwell used this collage
as the basis for a limited-edition poster,
Newport Opera (Engberg and Banach
2003, no. 243), made in 1979 to benefit
the Newport Opera Festival.
artist’s studio number
c77-935
present owner
Collection of James O. Coleman
provenance
James O. Coleman, 1978
solo exhibitions
Janie C. Lee Gallery, Houston, 1978.
references
Crossley 1978, sec. E, p. 15; Moser
1978, sec. 3, p. 9, as The America Cup.
comments
This work is related to the 1964 collage
The America Cup (c150). In different
ways, both of these collages have strong
affinities with Matisse’s paper cutout
La Voile (The Sail; see the Comments
co lla ges
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