Web Quotableonline.com Frasescelebres.org Greatbookscollection.org

Robert Motherwell (January 24, 1915 – July
16, 1991) was an Abstract Expressionist painter.
Born in Aberdeen, Washington, he was the youngest
of "the New York School" (he coined the term),
which also included Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko,
Willem de Kooning, and Philip Guston.

As an abstract expressionist, his greatest goal
was to use the staging of his work to convey to
the viewer, the mental and physical engagement of
the artist with the canvas. He preferred using the
starkness of black acrylic paint as one of the
basic elements of his paintings. One of his more
well-known techniques involved diluting his paint
with turpentine to create a shadow effect. 

With the advent of Pop Art and its concentration
on popular culture themes, the art public began to
long for the idealism of the Abstract
Expressionists. In relation to Andy Warhol’s
soup cans, Motherwell's large abstract paintings
began to achieve a majesty in the public eye.
Motherwell’s politics and spirituality were
welcome reminders of a time when one could make
art that did not engage the cynicism of a
post-modern era. No longer the black sheep of the
art world, Motherwell began to enjoy the fruits of
years of dedicated work. It seemed, however, for
many of the Abstract Expressionists that the newly
found appreciation could not counteract the
turbulence of those early years—many dying young
or taking their own lives. Though somewhat alone,
Motherwell committed himself to producing highly
experimental work of emotional depth for the rest
of his life. On July 16, 1991, at the age of 76 he
died: the last of the great Abstract
Expressionists. From the 1949 painting, At Five in
the Afternoon, until the end of his life,
Motherwell continued his search for a personal and
political voice in abstraction. This search
produced a body of work that remains a testament
to the human soul and its persistence, and to the
genre of abstract painting out of which it came.

The Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth houses the
largest collection of Motherwell's works.

artist-stub