Robert Motherwell Paintings and Collages: A Catalogue Raisonné 1941 – 1991 Volume 3 - Flipbook - Page 311
c637
c637
The Tower
1977–79
Acrylic, pasted papers, and graphite on
canvas mounted on board
48 x 36 in. (121.9 x 91.4 cm)
inscriptions
Recto, lower left: Motherwell
26 Sept 77
artist’s studio number
c77-932; c77-2317; c77-9320; c79-2317
present owner
Private collection
provenance
Dedalus Foundation, 1991; private
collection, 2005
solo exhibitions
Centro Cultural de la Caixa de
Pensions, Barcelona, 1980 (traveling),
cat. no. 20; Madrid, cat. no. 12, color
illus. n.p.
Artcurial Centre d’Art Plastique
Contemporain, Paris, 1990 (traveling),
Paris, color illus. p. 41.
references
Bonet 1980, illus. p. 18; Warnod 1990,
illus. p. 27; Pély-Audan 1991, illus.
p. 101.
comments
An early version of this collage, signed
and dated “26 Sept 77,” was photographed in December 1977 (Sloman
photo no. 700). Motherwell later added
several pasted papers, covering over
most of the original forms, and painted
the lower left part of the canvas gray.
The work was complete by the time it
was photographed again in June 1979
(Sloman photo no. 822). The title
refers to the image of the tower on the
Chateau Latour wine label placed on
the right side of the work.
c638
c638
News from Nowhere
1977–79
Acrylic and pasted papers on canvas
mounted on board
30 x 24 in. (76.2 x 61 cm)
inscriptions
Recto, lower left, incised [painted over]:
[Motherwell 77]
Recto, lower right, incised: RM
Aug 77
artist’s studio number
c77-944
present owner
Collection Bernard Jacobson Gallery,
London
provenance
Private collection; Bernard Jacobson
Gallery, London, 2008
comments
The main collage element in this work
is a page from the Washington Post
near the center, which contains headlines that may have inspired the title
News from Nowhere: “Temperature Rise
Could Be World Catastrophe,” and
“Pentagon Needs More Plutonium.”
An early version of this collage, photographed in October 1977, shows it with
a thick red vertical band along its left
side and a black vertical band along its
right (Sloman photo no. 678). The work
can be seen still in that early state in
studio photos taken in March 1978.
Sometime later, Motherwell repainted
the sides ochre and signed and dated
the work “Aug 77,” which was the date
it was started rather than the date of
completion. The finished work was sent
to Galerie Veith Turske in October 1979.
group exhibitions
Bernard Jacobson Gallery, London,
January 2009, cat. no. 5.
references
Drudi 1983, color illus. n.p.
co lla ges
299
