Robert Motherwell Paintings and Collages: A Catalogue Raisonné 1941 – 1991 Volume 3 - Flipbook - Page 326
c676
group exhibitions
Knoedler & Company, New York, June
1993, cat. no. 9.
references
Albright-Knox Art Gallery Calendar
1983, illus. p. 5; Brenson 1983b, sec. 2,
p. 35; Danieli 1984, cover illus.;
Drudi 1984, p. 34, color illus. p. 78;
Duffy 1984, pp. 60, 92; Guggenheim
Calendar of Events 1984, illus. n.p.;
Los Angeles County Museum of Art
Members’ Calendar 1984, illus. n.p.;
Shere 1984, illus. sec. Calendar, p. 4;
Sozanski 1984, illus. sec. H, p. 16;
Wallach 1984a, illus. sec. F, p. 1;
Wallach 1984b, illus. pt. 2, p. 4; Wolff
1984b, illus. p. 26; Drudi 1988b, p. 33,
color illus. p. 78; Flam 1991, color illus.
n.p. (pl. 133); Ràfols-Casamada 1996,
p. 20.
comments
The title of this work refers both to the
Spanish king Juan Carlos I (b. 1938)
and to recent events in Spain. In
February 1981, there had been a serious
coup attempt, led by Lt. Col. Antonio
Tejero, a supporter of Franco, who
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collages
took over the parliament building and
held legislators hostage. The king’s
opposition to the coup helped preserve
Spain’s fragile five-year-old democracy.
On October 13, 1981, Motherwell
attended a luncheon at the Spanish
Embassy in Washington, D.C., hosted
by the king and queen of Spain during
Juan Carlos’s first state visit to the
United States.
c676
Esta Vida
Alternative Title: The Apple of Venus
1977–82/1985
Acrylic, pasted papers and canvas, and
charcoal on canvas mounted on
Masonite
72 x 36 in. (182.9 x 91.4 cm)
inscriptions
Recto, upper left: RM 78–82
Verso: “esta vida . . .”
Verso [painted over]: [“the apple of
venus”]
Verso: 1977 R. Motherwell
artist’s studio number
c76-974
present owner
Collection of the Modern Art Museum
of Fort Worth. Museum purchase, the
Friends of Art Endowment Fund
provenance
Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Modern Art
Museum of Fort Worth, 1993
solo exhibitions
Padiglione d’Arte Contemporanea,
Milan, 1989, cat. no. 20.
Museo Rufino Tamayo, Mexico City,
1991 (traveling), cat. no. 49, color illus.
p. 59.
Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth,
1993.
Fundació Antoni Tàpies, Barcelona,
1996 (traveling), cat. no. 54, color illus.
p. 189.
group exhibitions
Whitney Museum of American Art,
Fairfield County, Stamford, Conn.,
1983 (shown in early state).
Art Galleries, American Academy and
Institute of Arts and Letters, New York,
1987, cat. no. 58.
Centro Cultural Arte Contemporáneo,
Mexico City, 1990, cat. no. 278, color
illus. p. 420.
references
Sill 1983, p. 16; Pleynet 1989b, illus.
p. 194 (in studio).
comments
The earliest known version of this collage was photographed in March 1977
