Robert Motherwell Paintings and Collages: A Catalogue Raisonné 1941 – 1991 Volume 3 - Flipbook - Page 463
w99
comments
An early version of this work, signed
and dated 1959 in the upper right, was
photographed around 1959 (Juley
photo no. 99; j0004891). At the time
the photograph was taken, the basic
compositional structure of the piece
had already been set, but a number of
the painted elements had yet to be
added. Motherwell subsequently added
red paint to the rectangular and oval
forms near the center of the picture and
added the vertical strips of red paint
along its left and right edges.
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Capriccio
1959–60
Oil, crayon, and pen on paper
20½ x 15¾ in. (52.1 x 40 cm)
inscriptions
Recto, lower right: RM
Recto, lower right [crossed out]: [59]
Recto, lower right: 60
artist’s studio number
p60-1458
present owner
Private collection
provenance
Dedalus Foundation, 1991; private collection, 2001; private collection, 2001
solo exhibitions
Sidney Janis Gallery, New York, April
1961, cat. no. 17.
Galerie Heinz Berggruen, Paris, 1961,
color illus. n.p.
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comments
Motherwell began this work in 1959; a
photograph of an early state shows that
it was originally signed at the upper
right “RM” and dated 1959 (Juley photo
no. 101; j0004893). He later painted
over the signature and extended the
black area to the upper right corner
and the sides of the picture, and dated
it 1960.
The concept of the capriccio goes
back to Motherwell’s early paintings
and was one of the categories of his
work that he listed in the exhibition
catalogue for his November 1950 exhibition at the Samuel M. Kootz Gallery
(see fig. 197 in volume 1, and the
Comments for p108).
This work was used as the basis
for a collotype and hand-colored
pochoir print done in conjunction with
Motherwell’s 1961 exhibition at Galerie
Heinz Berggruen, Paris (Engberg and
Banach 2003, no. 5).
Galleria Odyssia, Rome, 1962, cat.
no. 24.
Bobbie Greenfield Gallery, Santa
Monica, Calif., 2000.
p a i n tin gs on paper and paperbo ard
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