Robert Motherwell Paintings and Collages: A Catalogue Raisonné 1941 – 1991 Volume 3 - Flipbook - Page 59
c52
Guild Hall, East Hampton, N.Y., 1952.
Collage in Yellow and White,
with Torn Elements
Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston,
1954, cat. no. 31, as Collage in Yellow
and White.
Alternative Titles: Yellow Collage;
In Yellow and White; Collage; Collage
(Yellow and White with Torn Elements);
Collage in Yellow and White; Collage (In
Yellow and White with Torn Fragments)
1949
Casein and pasted papers on board
47⅜ x 35½ in. (120.3 x 90.2 cm)
inscriptions
Recto, lower center (on collage element): 49 R Motherwell
Verso: R. Motherwell
Verso: “collage in yellow and
white, with torn elements” 1949
Verso: casein + various papers
artist’s studio number
c49-5025
present owner
Jacqueline and Eugene Williams
provenance
Ben Heller, 1956; Acquavella
Contemporary Art, Inc., 1983; [Sotheby
Parke Bernet, Inc., New York, May 4,
1987, lot 13, illus. (not sold)]; private
collection, 2001; Jacqueline and Eugene
Williams, 2005
solo exhibitions
Samuel M. Kootz Gallery, New York,
October 1949.
Samuel M. Kootz Gallery, New York,
November 1950, sec. C, cat. no. 5, as
Yellow Collage.
Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin
College, Ohio, 1952, cat. no. 12, as
In Yellow and White.
Museum of Modern Art, New York,
Robert Motherwell, September 1965
(traveling), New York, cat. no. 22, illus.
p. 21, as Collage (In Yellow and White
with Torn Elements); shown in New York
only.
Städtische Kunsthalle Düsseldorf, 1976
(traveling), cat. no. 12, illus. p. 101.
Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de
Paris, 1977, as Collage (In Yellow and
White with Torn Elements).
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum,
New York, 1984, cat. no. 12, as Collage
(in Yellow and White with Torn Elements).
group exhibitions
Rathaus Schöneberg, Berlin, 1951
(traveling), cat. no. 47, as Gelb-Weiß
Studie (Yellow-White Study).
Edwin Watts Chubb Library Art
Gallery, Ohio University, Athens, 1954,
cat. no. 49, as Collage in Yellow and
White with Torn Elements and as Collage
in Yellow and White.
Museum of Modern Art, New York,
September 1961 (circulating), illus. n.p.,
as Collage.
Stephen Mazoh & Company, New York,
1983, cat. no. 13, p. 28, color illus. p. 29.
Acquavella Galleries, New York, 1984,
cat. no. 32, color illus. p. 71, as Collage
(In Yellow and White with Torn
Fragments).
references
East Hampton Star 1952; Seitz 1955,
p. 79, illus. n.p. (fig. 163); Weller 1963,
p. 290, illus. p. 290, referred to in
text and in illus. as In Yellow Ochre
and White; Kozloff 1965b, p. 258, as
In Yellow and White; Tillim 1965, illus.
p. 36; Kozloff 1968, p. 171, as In Yellow
and White; Arnason 1977b, pp. 29–30,
illus. n.p. (pl. 71), referred to in text
and in illus. as Collage (in Yellow and
White with Torn Elements); Motherwell
in Arnason 1977b, n.p.; Arnason 1982,
pp. 29–30, color illus. p. 110 (pl. 121);
Seitz 1983, p. 29, illus. n.p. (fig. 176);
Mattison 1985b, illus. n.p. (fig. 206);
Pleynet 1989b, p. 32, as In Yellow and
White with Torn Element, color illus.
p. 76; Flam 1991, color illus. n.p.
(pl. 20); Polcari 1991, p. 311, illus.
p. 311 (fig. 248), referred to in text and
in illus. as Collage (In Yellow and White
with Torn Elements).
comments
This is the first collage by Motherwell
in which the torn quality of the collage
elements is referred to in the title; see
the Comments for The Tearingness of
Collaging (c69). Motherwell was familiar with Jean (Hans) Arp’s automatist
torn-paper collages, one of which he
chose for inclusion in the journal
Possibilities in 1947, and he was deeply
immersed in Arp’s work while editing
Arp’s book of essays and poetry On My
Way (1948) for the Documents of
Modern Art series.
Motherwell’s use of his signature as
part of the composition here anticipates
his use of this device in later works.
c53
c53
In Ashes with Collage
Alternative Title: Grey Collage
1949
Casein and pasted papers on
paperboard
26 x 19 in. (66 x 48.3 cm)
inscriptions
Recto, lower right: Motherwell 49
private collection, 1990; Salvatore
Centola, Rome
solo exhibitions
Samuel M. Kootz Gallery, New York,
October 1949.
Samuel M. Kootz Gallery, New York,
November 1950, sec. C, cat. no. 3, as
Grey Collage.
Verso: In Ashes with collage Robert
Motherwell 1949
group exhibitions
Whitney Museum of American Art,
New York, April 1949, cat. no. 127.
artist’s studio number
c49-5164
references
S[harp] 1949, p. 22.
present owner
Salvatore Centola, Rome
comments
The collage elements in this work
have a good deal in common with the
compositional structure of works such
as In Yellow and Black (p46), Montauk
Montage (c41), Dirge (w9), and a 1948
ink drawing called Sailor’s Cemetery
(see fig. 43 in volume 1).
provenance
Private collection, ca. 1949; [Sotheby’s,
New York, November 9, 1989, lot 91,
illus. (not sold)]; [Finarte, Rome,
October 30, 1990, lot 276, illus.];
co lla ges
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