Robert Motherwell Paintings and Collages: A Catalogue Raisonné 1941 – 1991 Volume 3 - Flipbook - Page 459
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quently added the ochre paint, further
emphasizing the central diamond form,
along with the white lines. The exact
date of this revision is not known, but it
appears to have been done around
1961, while Motherwell was still preoccupied with the View series; the work
was photographed in that intermediate
state in 1972 (studio inventory photo
no. ph 9-4).
Sometime after it was photographed, Motherwell added the blue
form at the center, which is painted in
acrylic over the original oil; he also
painted out some of the white linear
forms with black, and painted over the
two early signatures at the lower left
and right corners, which nonetheless
are still visible as pentimenti.
The diamond shape at the center
of the composition relates it to the artist’s View series, begun in 1958; see the
Comments for A View No. 1 (p182).
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The Spanish Pope
1959
Oil and charcoal on paper
22¼ x 28¼ in. (56.5 x 71.8 cm)
inscriptions
Recto, lower left, incised: RM 1959
Verso not seen [“on reverse title and
date appear in the artist’s hand,” per
studio card]
artist’s studio number
d59-1530
present owner
Collection of Bobbie Geller Fields
provenance
Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Bobbie
Geller Fields, 1998
solo exhibitions
Städtische Kunsthalle Düsseldorf, 1976
(traveling), cat. no. 22, illus. p. 103.
Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de
Paris, 1977.
Manny Silverman Gallery, Los Angeles,
1997, cat. no. 31.
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comments
The title of this painting, which evokes
a papal mitre, may refer to the notoriously corrupt and secular Spanish-born
Pope Alexander VI (1431–1503), who
reigned from 1492 until his death.
Ca. 1959
Alkyd and casein on paper
22 x 28 in. (55.9 x 71.1 cm)
[ Untitled (Brown, White)]
inscriptions
Recto not signed, not dated
artist’s studio number
d58/60-338; p63-338
present owner
Dedalus Foundation
provenance
Dedalus Foundation, 1991
solo exhibitions
Manny Silverman Gallery, Los Angeles,
1997, cat. no. 32.
Galerie Lelong, Paris, 2007.
comments
This small work on paper is related to
the large-scale 1959 painting Monster
(for Charles Ives) (p194).
Museo Rufino Tamayo, Mexico City,
1991 (traveling), cat. no. 6, illus. p. 77.
p a i n tin gs on paper and paperbo ard
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