Robert Motherwell - Editions & Works on Paper New York Tuesday, October 17, 2017 | Phillips

Editions & Works on Paper

New York Auction 17 October 2017

  • Literature

    Siri Engberg and Joan Banach 194

  • Artist Biography

    Robert Motherwell

    American • 1915 - 1991

    One of the youngest proponents of the Abstract Expressionist movement, Robert Motherwell rose to critical acclaim with his first solo exhibition at Peggy Guggenheim's Art of This Century gallery in 1944. Not only was Motherwell one of the major practicing Abstract Expressionist artists, he was, in fact, the main intellectual driving force within the movement—corralling fellow New York painters such as Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning, Hans Hoffman and William Baziotes into his circle. Motherwell later coined the term the "New York School", a designation synonymous to Abstract Expressionism that loosely refers to a wide variety of non-objective work produced in New York between 1940 and 1960.

    During an over five-decade-long career, Motherwell created a large and powerful body of varied work that includes paintings, drawings, prints and collages. Motherwell's work is most generally characterized by simple shapes, broad color contrasts and a dynamic interplay between restrained and gestural brushstrokes. Above all, it demonstrates his approach to art-making as a response to the complexity of lived, and importantly felt, experience.

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Property from a Private Collection, Atlanta

244

Robert Motherwell

Calligraphic Study I

1976
Etching and aquatint, on HMP handmade paper, with full margins.
I. 5 7/8 x 7 7/8 in. (14.9 x 20 cm)
S. 21 3/4 x 18 in. (55.2 x 45.7 cm)
Signed and numbered 25/30 in black ink (there were also 10 artist's proofs in 2 groups of 5 numbered I/V-V/V each), published by the artist (with his blindstamp), framed.

Estimate
$2,000 - 3,000 

Sold for $2,750

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Editions & Works on Paper

New York Auction 17 October 2017