Robert Motherwell Paintings and Collages: A Catalogue Raisonné 1941 – 1991 Volume 3 - Flipbook - Page 60
c54
c54
c55
Joy of Living
Ninth Street Collage
1951
Gouache, pasted papers, and ink
on paper
14 x 11 in. (35.6 x 27.9 cm)
Alternative Title: Ninth Street Exhibition
1951
Gouache, pasted papers, and ink on
paper
10¾ x 14 in. (27.3 x 35.6 cm)
inscriptions
Recto, lower center (on collage element): RM 51
present owner
Collection of M. Woodside
provenance
Private collection, 1955; private collection; M. Woodside, 1985
solo exhibitions
Samuel M. Kootz Gallery, New York,
April 1952, cat. no. 25.
comments
Motherwell used the title Joy of Living
for two earlier collages (see c3 and c51).
collages
Washington University Gallery of Art,
Saint Louis, 1995, cat. no. 4, as 9th
Street Collage.
group exhibitions
60 East Ninth Street, New York, 1951 (?).
Nelson Gallery-Atkins Museum,
Kansas City, Mo., 1966.
inscriptions
Recto, upper left (on collage element):
RM
Steinberg Hall, Washington University
Gallery of Art, Saint Louis, 1975,
cat. no. 51.
present owner
Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum,
Washington University in Saint Louis.
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph L. Tucker,
1963
references
Washington University Gallery of Art
Calendar of Events 1982, illus. n.p.;
Washington University Gallery of Art
Bulletin 1995, p. 3, illus. p. 3.
provenance
Harriet and Donald Peters, 1951;
private collection, 1962; Mr. and Mrs.
Joseph L. Tucker, 1962; Mildred Lane
Kemper Art Museum, Washington
University, Saint Louis, 1963
comments
This collage may have been shown at
the Ninth Street Show, held in the
ground floor and basement of a vacant
building at 60 East Ninth Street,
New York, from May 21 to June 10,
1951. One of the collage elements is
a fragment from the poster for that
exhibition, which was designed by
Franz Kline: “[m]ay 21st, 9 p.m.” The
densely printed text that serves as the
ground in this work appears to be part
solo exhibitions
Samuel M. Kootz Gallery, New York,
April 1952, cat. no. 24, as Ninth Street
Exhibition.
48
c55
of a contract for a loan agreement, but
it is not directly related to the Ninth
Street Show.
At the time that Motherwell created
this collage he maintained a studio at
61 Fourth Avenue, between Ninth and
Tenth streets.
