Robert Motherwell Paintings and Collages: A Catalogue Raisonné 1941 – 1991 Volume 3 - Flipbook - Page 67
c67
Pace Gallery, New York, 1979, illus. n.p.
Sidney Janis Gallery, New York, 1993.
Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, 2005.
references
Arnason 1966b, p. 32, illus. p. 41;
Arnason 1977b, pp. 41–42, 50, illus.
p. 41 (pl. 20); Ashton 1980, p. 6;
Arnason 1982, pp. 11, 41–43, 50, color
illus. p. 41 (pl. 33); Ashton 1989, illus.
p. 12; Pleynet 1989b, color illus. p. 86;
Flam 1991, color illus. n.p. (pl. 37);
Pleynet 1991, p. 19; Polcari 1991, p. 311;
Motherwell 1992, p. 110; Terenzio
1992b, color illus. n.p.; Caws 1996b,
p. 131, illus. p. 133; Chalumeau 1998,
color illus. p. 16 (pl. 9); Pleynet 1998,
p. 93; Caws 2003, p. 58, illus. p. 35
(ill. 25); Engberg and Banach 2003,
illus. p. 45 (fig. 17).
comments
The white pasted paper at the center
of this work is part of a printed page
that includes the phrases “histoire
d’un p[eintre]” (story of a painter)
and “Réalité et abstraction” (Reality
and abstraction), which covers part of a
blue package from Gauloises, a French
brand of cigarettes. Motherwell used
Gauloises packages in several works
from this period, and in the 1970s they
became one of his most frequently used
collage papers. The grayish paper at the
lower left originally had a U.S. Customs
stamp dated August 1, 1956, which was
printed in an ink that has now entirely
faded (it is visible in an early photograph, Juley photo no. 13; j0004810).
The phrase “jour la maison nuit la
rue” (day the house night the street)
written in Motherwell’s hand on the
torn piece of white paper just below the
Gauloises package refers to the first line
of Paul Eluard’s “Par un baiser,” from
his book of poems Le dur désir de durer
(1946): “Jour la maison et nuit la rue.”
Motherwell discussed this phrase,
and his deep interest in Eluard during
the 1950s, in interviews with Paul
Cummings beginning in 1971 (see
“Writings by the Artist,” in the
Bibliography). The same words appear
in another 1956 collage, Yellow Envelope
(c67), and in a 1957 oil painting, Jour
La Maison, Nuit La Rue (p164).
This work was sold shortly after it
was created. Motherwell reacquired
it in 1977.
Yellow Envelope
Museum of Modern Art, New York,
Robert Motherwell:Works on Paper,
September 1965 (circulating).
Alternative Title: Collage
1956/ca. 1965
Oil and pasted papers mounted on
silk mat board
21⅛ x 17⅝ in. (53.7 x 44.8 cm)
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston,
November 1972 (traveling), cat. no. 14,
illus. p. 62.
c67
inscriptions
Recto, upper right: R. Motherwell
Verso not seen [“signed on the reverse
under backing board,” per Fundació
Antoni Tàpies exh. cat. 1996]
artist’s studio number
c56-328; c58-1261
present owner
The Saint Louis Art Museum. Funds
given by the Shoenberg Foundation,
Inc., and gift of the Dedalus
Foundation
provenance
Dedalus Foundation, 1991; Saint Louis
Art Museum, 1995
solo exhibitions
Sidney Janis Gallery, New York, May
1957, cat. no. [11 or 14] (shown in early
state), as Collage.
Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, 1985
(traveling), cat. no. 72.
Fundació Antoni Tàpies, Barcelona,
1996 (traveling), cat. no. 21, color illus.
p. 113.
group exhibitions
Zabriskie Gallery, New York, 1957
(traveling), cat. no. 36 (shown in early
state).
references
Ashton 1957a, illus. p. 4 (in early
state, as Collage); Arnason 1977b, p. 50;
Arnason 1982, p. 50; Taylor 1986, sec.
B, p. 3; Tucker 1987, sec. 2, p. 8; Caws
1996b, pp. 129, 131, 134; Belgrad 1998,
p. 135, color illus. n.p. (pl. 7); Thierolf
2002, p. 281, illus. p. 281 (fig. 1).
comments
The size of this work was originally
16 x 12 inches, but it was subsequently
co lla ges
55
