Robert Motherwell

Robert Motherwell
	'
Born	24 January 1915
Birthplace	Aberdeen, Washington, U.S.
Nationality	American
Occupation
Known for	Elegy to the Spanish Republic series · The Dada Painters and Poets anthology
Website	https://www.robertmotherwell.com/

Robert Motherwell (24 January 1915 – 16 July 1991) was a major American abstract expressionist artist whose painting, printmaking, collage and writing helped define post‑war modernism. He was among the most articulate figures of the New York School and editor of The Dada Painters and Poets anthology

Early life and education

Motherwell was born in Aberdeen, Washington, and spent his childhood in Salt Lake City and San Francisco due to health concerns. He was awarded a scholarship to Otis Art Institute at age eleven but chose to pursue philosophical studies instead. He earned a BA in aesthetics from Stanford University in 1936, pursued graduate philosophy at Harvard, and eventually studied art history under Meyer Schapiro at Columbia University before committing fully to art

Artistic development

After moving to New York in 1940, Motherwell immersed himself in the avant‑garde circle of Surrealist‑influenced artists. He adopted methods of automatism and collage inspired by exiled European modernists such as Max Ernst, Yves Tanguy and André Masson. His first solo exhibition took place at Peggy Guggenheim’s Art of This Century Gallery in 1944 and MoMA became the first museum to acquire one of his works

Elegy series and mature work

Beginning in 1949, Motherwell produced his iconic Elegy to the Spanish Republic series—nearly 150 paintings over several decades—in tribute to victims of the Spanish Civil War. These works often feature abstract ovoid forms in deep black set against swaths of color or white, conjuring solemn rhythms suggestive of mourning. In the late 1960s he embarked on the Open Series, reflecting a shift toward color field painting influenced by Matisse

Teaching and publications

During the 1950s and early 60s, Motherwell taught at Hunter College and Black Mountain College, influencing a generation of artists such as Cy Twombly and Rauschenberg. He authored numerous essays on modern art and aesthetics, and directed publication projects including The Documents of Modern Art series

Personal life

Motherwell married fellow painter Helen Frankenthaler in 1958; they divorced in 1971. In 1981 he established the Dedalus Foundation to support scholarship and exhibitions devoted to modern art. The foundation later created the Robert Motherwell Book Award to honor outstanding writing on modernism

Later years and legacy

Motherwell continued to paint and work on theoretical projects until his death in Provincetown in 1991. His work and writings have had a lasting impact on Abstract Expressionism, color field painting, and modern graphic design. Retrospectives of his work have toured globally, and his art appears in major public collections worldwide

Selected works

- Elegy to the Spanish Republic series - Open Series - Africa - Indian Summer No. 2 - Collages combining printed ephemera, stamps and abstract forms

Recognition

Motherwell received numerous honors, including the National Medal of Arts in 1989. Critics and peers regarded him as a central intellectual and aesthetic voice in the Abstract Expressionist movement