Robert Motherwell Paintings and Collages: A Catalogue Raisonné 1941 – 1991 Volume 3 - Flipbook - Page 63
c59
c59
East Hampton Beach
1953
Casein, pasted papers, and charcoal on
paperboard
30 x 20 in. (76.2 x 50.8 cm)
inscriptions
Recto, upper left [partially obscured by
framing mat]: [R]M 53
present owner
Private collection
provenance
Private collection, 1955; unknown
owner; private collection, 1989
solo exhibitions
Samuel M. Kootz Gallery, New York,
April 1953.
Kootz Gallery, Provincetown, Mass.,
July 1953.
references
F[itzsimmons] 1953b, p. 17.
comments
In a review of Motherwell’s April 1953
exhibition at the Kootz Gallery, James
Fitzsimmons referred to this collage as
“[one of] a few collages in greys and
ochers. . . . Its shapes like the patterns
left by a receding tide—is the most successful” (F[itzsimmons] 1953b, p. 17).
c60
c60
Untitled
Ca. 1954
Oil, pasted paper, and charcoal on
paper
14¾ x 20¼ in. (37.5 x 51.4 cm)
inscriptions
Recto, upper left: RM
present owner
Private collection
provenance
Clinton Hill; [Christie’s, New York,
July 12, 2005, lot 10, illus.]; unknown
owner, 2005; private collection, 2007
that was laid out for use on the top of
the palette, which was turned facedown
when it was incorporated into this
work, so that the paint is visible through
the surface of the translucent palette.
A photograph of this work was
shown to Motherwell around 1970,
when the owner, Clinton Hill, wrote
to him about it. Motherwell authenticated the work, and a photograph
of it remains among his papers, signed
and dated by him as “ca. 1951” on the
back. Our 1954 date is based on its
relationship to the 1954 paintings on
palette paper.
comments
This work is related to Motherwell’s
1954 paintings on palette paper (see
w20–w23), in which the painted forms
were confined to the palette paper
itself. Here, by contrast, the paper is
used as an element in a larger composition, in which the horizontal linear
form extends across both the pasted
paper palette and the ground.
The yellow ochre form at the lower
right of the palette paper is oil paint
co lla ges
51
