Robert Motherwell Paintings and Collages: A Catalogue Raisonné 1941 – 1991 Volume 3 - Flipbook - Page 355
c739
comments
An early version of this collage,
signed and dated 1981, was composed
of black, white, and yellow forms on a
blue ground. Motherwell consigned
that version to Knoedler & Company
from May 1981 to April 1982, under
the title Black Separation. After it was
returned to him, he repainted the
ground, added the ochre and blue
areas, and attached part of a proof of
his 1985 lithograph Burning Sun
(Engberg and Banach 2003, no. 357),
printed without the red ground. The
revised version of this collage, newly
signed and dated “86,” was consigned
to Knoedler in February 1986, as Circe.
After it was returned to Motherwell in
June, he added a small spot of blue
paint over the date before consigning
it to Knoedler for a third time that
October.
c741
{ Totem}
Alternative Titles: Zig-Zag; American
Totem; American Indian Totem
1974–86
Acrylic, pasted papers, and crayon on
Upson board
26 x 20 in. (66 x 50.8 cm)
InscrIptIons
Recto, upper right: RM
Verso (on top horizontal strainer):
“zIG zAG”
ArtIst’s studIo number
c74-500; c74-3438
present owner
Private collection
provenAnce
Dedalus Foundation, 1991; private
collection, 2007
solo exhIbItIons
Thomas McCormick Gallery, Chicago,
December 2005 (traveling).
Group exhIbItIons
National Museum of Contemporary
Art, Seoul, 1988, as American Indian
Totem.
c740
comments
An early version of this collage, signed
and dated “10 Sept 1974” and photographed in November 1974 (Sloman
photo no. 21), was titled Zig-Zag, referring to a Zig-Zag Little Cigars label
that was used as a collage element;
see also Zig-Zag (c490). Between 1982
and 1986, Motherwell made a number
of revisions and title changes, repainting the original orange ground in ochre
and pink, and adding the blue paint
and crayon lines.
The various alternative titles
may have been the result of confusion
between Motherwell and the National
Museum of Contemporary Art in
Seoul.
c741
c742
The Figure “4” No. 2
Alternative Title: Guardian No. 2
1966/1986
Acrylic, pasted papers, and sepia ink on
board
22 x 13⅞ in. (55.9 x 35.2 cm)
InscrIptIons
Recto, lower center: Motherwell 1966
ArtIst’s studIo number
c66-383
present owner
Leonard Hutton Galleries, New York
provenAnce
Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Leonard
Hutton Galleries, New York, 2005
solo exhIbItIons
John Berggruen Gallery, San Francisco,
1975 (shown in early state), as
Guardian #2.
Group exhIbItIons
Sala Pelaires, Palma de Mallorca,
Spain, 1986 (traveling), cat. no. 7, color
illus. n.p., erroneously as Figura 4, n. 12
(Figure 4 No. 12).
co lla ges
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