Robert Motherwell Paintings and Collages: A Catalogue Raisonné 1941 – 1991 Volume 3 - Flipbook - Page 456
w83
an early black-and-white photograph
of the work (Juley photo no. 162;
j0004953). We do not know whether
this work still exists in the form illustrated here.
w83
w84
Untitled
A View No. 3
1958
Shellac and ink on paper
23 x 29 in. (58.4 x 73.7 cm)
Alternative Title: Painting
Ca. 1958
Oil and ink on paperboard
14 x 11 in. (35.6 x 27.9 cm)
InscrIptIons
Recto, lower right: RM 58
Verso (on backing board): For Dr.
Fontana with great esteem Robert
Motherwell 1958
Verso (on backing board) [circled ]:
[India ink + shellac on rag paper]
present owner
Collection of Gene E. Mundie
provenance
Vincent J. Fontana, M.D., 1958;
Gene E. Mundie, 2005
comments
This work was probably painted in
Saint-Jean-de-Luz during the summer
of 1958. The dedication on the verso is
to Dr. Vincent Fontana, the allergist
who treated Motherwell’s daughters.
444
paintings on p a p e r an d p a p e r b o a r d
InscrIptIons
Recto, upper right: RM
present owner
Unknown
provenance
David Gibbs & Co., Ltd., London,
1959; Mr. and Mrs. Eugene V. Thaw;
[Sotheby Parke Bernet, Inc., New York,
April 12, 1965, lot 27, illus.]; unknown
owner, 1965; [Sotheby Parke Bernet,
Inc., New York, March 30, 1978, lot 12,
illus.]; James Goodman Gallery, New
York, and André Emmerich Gallery,
1978; private collection, 1978; unknown
owner
references
Goossen 1959, illus. p. 35, as Painting;
Arnason 1977b, illus. n.p. (pl. 97, in
studio).
w84
comments
Our reproduction comes from an early
black-and-white photograph of this
work (Juley photo no. 171; j0004961).
The diamond-shaped form that
appears in the View paintings developed
out of works Motherwell created in
Saint-Jean-de-Luz, such as The Spanish
Night (w80), Untitled (w83), and the
early states of The Mystery of the Night
(w89) and Cock Looking Backwards
(w90).
The numbering of the View
series is irregular and includes paintings on both paperboard and canvas.
Speaking of the View paintings in 1961,
Motherwell told Rudi Blesh in an interview, “about that title I meant it as a
view, a point of view, one way of looking at painting” (see “Writings by the
Artist,” in the Bibliography). For more
on the View series, see the Comments
for A View No. 1 (p182).
