Blue Gallery

Robert Motherwell

(American, 1915–1991)

Biography

Timeline

1915: Born in Aberdeen, USA
1937 - 1938: Enrolled at Harvard University, Cambridge, USA
1937: Received the Bachelor of Arts degree in philosophy from Stanford University, Standford, USA
1940: Studied in Columbia University, where he was encouraged by Meyer Schapiro to shift fields to art and art history
1941: After a voyage to Mexico with the surrealist painter Matta, decided to make painting his primary vocation
1950 - 1959: Taught painting at Hunter College in New York and in addtion to directing the influential Documents of Modern Art Series, he editied The Dada Painters and Poets: An Anthology, which was published in 1951
1960 - 1979: Exhibited widely in both America and Europe
1965: Was given a major retrospective exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art; this show subsequently traveled to Amsterdam, London, Brussels, Essen, and Turin
1967: Began to work on his Open series
1970: Moved to Greenwich, USA
1977: Was given a major mural commission for the new wing of the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
1983: A major retrospective exhibition of Motherwell’s work was mounted at the Albright-Knox Art Gallery in Buffalo; this exhibition was subsequently shown in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Washington, D.C., and New York, USA
1991: Died in Provincetown, USA

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Exhibitions

2013
A Survey - Jerald Melberg Gallery, Charlotte, USA
Ab-ex / Re-con - Abstract Expressionism Reconsidered - Nassau County Museum of Art, Roslyn Harbor, USA
The Artist and the Poet - The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, USA
Il Guggenheim. L'avanguardia americana 1945–1980 - Palazzo delle Esposizioni, Rome, Italy

2012
Robert Motherwell: Prints from the Artist's Studio (London) - Bernard Jacobson Gallery, London, England
Robert Motherwell: Abstract Expressionist - St. Louis University Museum of Art - SLUMA, St. Louis, USA
The Essential Idea: Robert Motherwell's Graphic Works - Asheville Art Museum, Asheville, USA

2011
Robert Motherwell: Works on Paper - Bernard Jacobson Gallery, London, England
Focus: Robert Motherwell - Denver Art Museum, Denver, USA
Robert Motherwell: Music - Greenfield Sacks Gallery, Santa Monica, USA

2010
Robert Motherwell - Paintings - Locks Gallery, Philadelphia, USA
Robert Motherwell - printmaking impressions - Galerie Weihergut Biberngasse, Salzburg, Austria
Lost in Form, Found in Line: Works by Robert Motherwell - Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts, Montgomery, USA

2009
The Thaw Collection of Master Drawings: Aquisitions since 2002, Morgan Library and Museum, USA
Robert Motherwell: Unique Monotypes, Greenfield Sacks Gallery, Santa Monica, USA
Beyond the Canon: Small Scale American Abstraction 1945-1965, Robert Miller Gallery, USA
Robert Motherwell: Lost in Form, Found in Line, Turchin Center for the Visual Art, Boone, USA
Robert Motherwell, Galleria d'Arte il Gabbiano, Rome, Italy

2008
The Hands of Art, SMAK Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kunst, Ghent, Belgium
Museum Morsbroich, Museum Morsbroich, Leverkusen, Germany
Robert Motherwell: Five Great Opens, Bernard Jacobsen Gallery, London, England
Reflections on Light, Galerie Bernd Kluser, Munich, Germany

2007
Temptations, The Columns, Seoul, Korea

2006
Black, Black & White, White, Leonard Hutton Galleries, New York , USA

2005
Looking at Words, erie, Das MoMA, Berlin, Germany

2004
Robert Motherwell, Rosenbaum Contemporary, Boca Raton, USA
Robert Motherwell, Museum Morsbroich, Leverkusen, Germany
Robert Motherwell from the Collection: 1940–1990, The Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Fort Worth, USA

2003
Robert Motherwell, Bernard Jacobson Gallery, London, England
Robert Motherwell - A la pintura (to painting), The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, USA

2002
Robert Motherwell: Drawings and Related Prints - Greenfield Sacks Gallery, Santa Monica, USA
Robert Motherwell - Galerie Bernd Klüser, Munich, Germany

1999
Robert Motherwell: Unique Works on Paper: Monoprints and Monotypes, Greenfield Sacks Gallery, Santa Monica, USA

1998
Robert Motherwell's Graphics II, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, USA

1996
Robert Motherwell: Reality and Abstraction, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, USA

1994
Robert Motherwell's Graphics I, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, USA

1984
Robert Motherwell, The Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

1983
The Painter and The Printer: Robert Motherwell's Graphics, 1943-1980, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, USA
M. Knowdler, Zurich, Switzerland (solo)
Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, USA (solo)

1982
The New School: Four Decades, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, USA

1981 - 1983
M. Knoedler & Co., Inc. New York, USA (solo)

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Public Collections

Hara Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo, Japan

Kiasma - Museum of Contemporary Art, Helsinki, Finland

Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice, Italy

The Phillips Collection, Washington, DC

Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco, San Francisco, CA

MIT List Visual Arts Center, Cambridge, MA

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA

The High Museum of Art, Atlanta, GA

University of Massachusetts, Amherst Fine Arts Center, Amherst, MA

Literature

1997
Robert Motherwell on Paper: Drawings, Prints, Collages( text by David Rosand): Harry N. Abrams; First Edition edition

Robert Motherwell: A Dialogue with Literature(text by Robert Motherwell and Bernd Kluser), Galerie Bernd Klüser, Munich, Germany(catalogue)

Robert Motherwell: The Complete Prints 1940-1991 Catalogue Raisonné(text by Robert Motherwell and Siri Engberg), Walker Art Center