Robert Motherwell
United States
1915- 1991

"The Wadsworth Antheneum: Ten Works
by Ten Artists," 1964
Silkscreen collage
24 x 20 in.
Sweeney Art Gallery Permanent Collection
64.1.4

Robert Motherwell is regarded as both as an outstanding painter and also printmaker of his generation. He was a part of the New York School, a group of young American artists who prior to WWII strove to develop a style unique from their European counterparts. These artists would define the dominant styles of American modernism. Motherwell came from an affluent family and studied philosophy at Stanford and then Harvard before deciding to become a painter. His heavy philosophical grounding and his acquaintance with the Surrealists and Cubists led him to pursue the themes of life, death, violence and revolution through abstracted forms and the technique of collage. He related collage to the surrealists use of automatism as a means of expressing the artists native impulses and distinguishing himself as an individual artist. In this print he collages together silkscreened pieces of paper. The torn edges and rough shapes suggest the expressive brushwork of his paintings.



© UC Regents and the artist.