Robert Motherwell Paintings and Collages: A Catalogue Raisonné 1941 – 1991 Volume 3 - Flipbook - Page 322
c666
c666
Vol de Nuit
1975–81
Acrylic and pasted papers on Masonite
36 x 24 in. (91.4 x 61 cm)
inscriptions
Recto, upper left: RM 81
artist’s studio number
c81-1448
present owner
Pinakothek der Moderne. Bayerische
Staatsgemäldesammlungen, inv. nr.
14766
provenance
Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich,
1983
solo exhibitions
Museum Morsbroich, Leverkusen,
Germany, 2004, color illus. p. 97.
references
Thierolf 2002, pp. 328–35, color illus.
p. 329 (cat. no. 30).
comments
This collage was begun in 1975 as a
composition consisting of white papers
310
collages
on a black ground. Motherwell added
the brown paint and the torn wrapping
paper with the “via air mail” sticker
and the label from Berggruen & Cie,
Paris, before it was photographed in its
final form in March 1981 (Sloman
photo no. 1253).
The title refers to Antoine de
Saint-Exupéry’s 1931 novel Vol de nuit
(Night Flight), which was based on the
author’s experiences as a postal pilot in
South America.
Motherwell gave this collage to
the Pinakothek der Moderne in 1983,
in exchange for New York City Collage
(c101), which he had given them the
previous year.
c667
c667
Sea Snail
1981
Acrylic, pasted papers, and charcoal on
paper
29 x 19½ in. (73.7 x 49.5 cm)
inscriptions
Recto, lower right: RM 1981
Verso (on reattached backing board):
“sea snail” R Motherwell 1981
artist’s studio number
c81-2613
present owner
Iris & B. Gerald Cantor Center for
Visual Arts. Gift of Professor Will
Leben, 2003.80
provenance
Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Will Leben,
2002; Iris & B. Gerald Cantor Center
for Visual Arts, Stanford University,
Palo Alto, Calif., 2004
solo exhibitions
Knoedler & Company, New York, 1982,
cat. no. 12.
Long Point Gallery, Provincetown,
Mass., August 1991.
Bobbie Greenfield Gallery, Santa
Monica, Calif., 2002.
Iris & B. Gerald Cantor Center for
Visual Arts, Stanford University, Palo
Alto, Calif., 2009.
group exhibitions
Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford,
Conn., 1983, cat. no. 43.
comments
This collage served as the basis for a
1984 lithograph, Water’s Edge (Engberg
and Banach 2003, no. 339).
