Robert Motherwell Paintings and Collages: A Catalogue Raisonné 1941 – 1991 Volume 3 - Flipbook - Page 416
w1
w1
Untitled
painting affected me very much in 1942,
but partly against my will or wish” (see
Motherwell 1992, p. 238).
1942
Oil (?), charcoal, and graphite on
paperboard
20 x 15⅛ in. (50.8 x 38.4 cm)
inscriptions
Recto, upper left: R Motherwell 1942
present owner
Private collection
provenance
Walter Pistole, ca. 1945; Estate of
Walter Pistole, 1994; [Sotheby’s, New
York, May 7, 1997, lot 227, illus.];
private collection, 1997
comments
The gridlike geometric structure in
this painting, and in other works by
Motherwell done during the early
1940s (see p4–p10), reflects the impact
of his first encounters with the paintings
of Piet Mondrian, who first showed in
New York at the Valentine Gallery in
January–February 1942. In a 1980 letter to the art historian Yve-Alain Bois,
Motherwell stated, “Mondrian’s
404
paintings on p a p e r an d p a p e r b o a r d
w2
w2
Personage
1945
Oil and tempera on paper
20¼ x 11¼ in. (51.4 x 28.6 cm)
inscriptions
Recto, upper left: R. Motherwell 45
artist’s studio number
p45-5146
present owner
Private collection
provenance
Samuel M. Kootz Gallery, 1945; Mr.
and Mrs. John Murray Cuddihy, 1954;
[Christie’s, New York, May 6, 1982, lot
12, illus.]; Audrey and David Mirvish,
Toronto, 1982; private collection,
ca. 1982
solo exhibitions
Städtische Kunsthalle Düsseldorf, 1976
(traveling), cat. no. 5.
Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo,
1983 (traveling), cat. no. 9, color illus.
p. 59; shown in Buffalo and San
Francisco only.
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum,
New York, 1984, cat. no. 6.
group exhibitions
Brooklyn Museum, 1947, cat. no. 54.
