Robert Motherwell Paintings and Collages: A Catalogue Raisonné 1941 – 1991 Volume 3 - Flipbook - Page 648
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Untitled
Je t’aime in Black and Pink
Te Quiero
1979
Oil on monotype
30 x 22½ in. (76.2 x 57.2 cm)
1979
Acrylic and charcoal on paperboard
26 x 29¾ in. (66 x 75.6 cm)
1979–80
Acrylic on paper
32¾ x 15¾ in. (83.2 x 40 cm)
inscriptions
Recto, upper left: RM 31 Oct 79
inscriptions
Recto, upper left: RM
inscriptions
Recto, upper right: RM 79
artist’s studio number
d79-2906
artist’s studio number
p79-2420; p91-3590
artist’s studio number
d79-2417
present owner
Dedalus Foundation
present owner
Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Kirk
Douglas
present owner
Private collection
provenance
Dedalus Foundation, 1991
solo exhibitions
Galleria d’Arte il Gabbiano, Rome,
2008, cat. no. 6, color illus. p. 17.
provenance
Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Mr. and
Mrs. Kirk Douglas, 1997
solo exhibitions
Manny Silverman Gallery, Los Angeles,
1997, cat. no. 1, color illus. n.p.
comments
This work is Motherwell’s last known
Je t’aime painting (though he continued
to rework some of the earlier canvases
in the Je t’aime series during the 1980s).
Regarding the Je t’aime series as a
whole, see the Comments for Je t’aime
No. II (p157).
636
paintings on p a p e r an d p a p e r b o a r d
provenance
Dedalus Foundation, 1991; private
collection, 2007
solo exhibitions
Museo Rufino Tamayo, Mexico City,
1991 (traveling), cat. no. 20, illus. p. 80.
references
Kutner 1992a, sec. C, p. 4; Kutner
1992b, sec. G, p. 2, illus. sec. G, p. 2
(image reversed); Tyson 1992, sec. D,
p. 5; Windrow 1992, color illus. p. 8.
comments
Motherwell’s use of the phrase te quiero
(“I love you” in Spanish) in this work
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is related to his use of the French term
je t’aime in his extended series by that
name (see the Comments for p157).
An early version of this work, without
the Spanish phrase, was photographed
in November 1979 (Sloman photo
no. 936); Motherwell reworked the
colors and added the phrase by
February 1980, when the work was
photographed again (Sloman photo
no. 982). Some minor adjustments to
the white areas and the black circular
form were made after that, but we do
not know exactly when.
