Robert Motherwell Paintings and Collages: A Catalogue Raisonné 1941 – 1991 Volume 3 - Flipbook - Page 98
c117
group exhibitions
Long Point Gallery, Provincetown,
Mass., June 1986.
New York Studio School, 2003, cat.
no. 31.
references
Sidney Janis Gallery exh. cat. April
1961, illus. n.p. (in studio, in progress);
Museum of Modern Art, Robert
Motherwell, exh. cat. September 1965,
cover illus. (in studio, in progress);
Galerie im Erker exh. cat. 1971, illus.
p. 11 (in studio, in progress); Schmidt
1976, illus. p. 77 (in studio, in progress); Arnason 1982, illus. p. 138
(pl. 156, in studio, in progress).
comments
The basic composition of this collage
was set in 1960 (the form at the center
was torn from a 1959 collage that was
subsequently destroyed; Juley photo
no. 273; j0005057). An early version
of this work was exhibited as In White
and Orange in 1962. That early state, or
perhaps a slightly reworked version of
it, was photographed in 1972 (studio
inventory photo no. ph 12-2); in it, the
86
collages
collage element is white, and a single
area of cadmium orange or yellow abuts
the collage element along the left
diagonal.
Motherwell extended the yellow
painted area to the right of the collage
element and retitled the work Midday
Sun sometime before April 1985, when
it was sent to Knoedler & Company
to be photographed. The work was
returned to Motherwell that May, after
which he extended the yellow to the
top of the paper. This collage was first
shown in its present form at the Long
Point Gallery in 1986.
c118
c117
Little Greek Collage
solo exhibitions
Galerie Heinz Berggruen, Paris, 1961,
illus. n.p.
1960
Oil, pasted papers, and graphite on
paper
22½ x 17½ in. (57.2 x 44.5 cm)
Galleria Odyssia, Rome, 1962, cat.
no. 10, illus. n.p.
inscriptions
Recto, lower right: RM 60
Verso (on backing board): “little
greek collage” 1960 oil + collage
Robert Motherwell for Hans
Kleinschmidt 1965
present owner
Private collection
provenance
Hans Kleinschmidt, 1965; [Kornfeld
und Klipstein, Bern, Switzerland,
June 15, 1972, lot 821]; [Sotheby Parke
Bernet, Inc., New York, November 11,
1986, lot 127, illus.]; private collection,
1986; [Christie’s, New York, May 8, 1996,
lot 265, illus. (not sold)]; [Sotheby’s,
New York, May 18, 2000, lot 413, illus.
(not sold)]; private collection, 2008
Galerie der Spiegel, Cologne, Germany,
1962, cat. no. [8].
Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C.,
1965, cat. no. 13.
Museum of Modern Art, New York,
1967 (circulating), Buenos Aires, cat.
no. 15; Caracas, cat. no. 70; Bogotá,
cat. no. 70; Mexico City, cat. no. 15.
references
Vallier 1967, p. 304, illus. p. 306
(pl. 207, as Little Greek); Vallier 1970,
illus. p. 279 (pl. 205, as Little Greek);
Pleynet 1975, p. 9.
comments
This collage resembles Greek Collage
(c89) in its palette and its use of paper
torn vertically to produce overlapping
but attached strips. The dedication on
the verso is to Hans Kleinschmidt,
Motherwell’s psychoanalyst.
