Born 1915 in Aberdeen, Washington, USA

Died 1991 in Provincetown, Massachusetts, USA

 

American Abstract Expressionist renowned for his paintings, collages and prints, as well as his work as a writer, editor and leading spokesperson for avant-garde art in America.

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Robert Motherwell was one of the youngest member of the New York School which included Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko, Philip Guston and Willem de Kooning.

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Motherwell is best-known for his gestural, abstract paintings that engage with political, philosophical and literary themes, such as his Elegies series of paintings which are related to the Spanish Civil War. 

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"I take an elegy to be a funeral lamentation or funeral song for something one cared about. The Spanish Elegies are not 'political' but my private insistence that a terrible death happened that should not be forgot. They are as eloquent as I could make them. But the pictures are also general metaphors of the contrast between life and death and their interrelation."

Robert Motherwell

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