Robert Motherwell
The scholar of Abstract Expressionism, who painted a hundred elegies to a war he never fought in.
Robert Motherwell was born in Aberdeen, Washington in 1915, studied philosophy at Stanford and Harvard and art history at Columbia under Meyer Schapiro, and was the most articulate spokesman his generation had — he edited the Documents of Modern Art series and did much to explain what the New York painters were doing. Elegy to the Spanish Republic, begun in 1948 and continued in over a hundred versions, sets heavy black ovoids between vertical bars, a form he never fully explained. He also made the Open series, and a great deal of collage. He died in 1991.
The Elegies lead the market, with scale and date the principal drivers. The Dedalus Foundation maintains the catalogue raisonne and handles authentication, and this matters more than usual here: a significant number of forgeries attributed to Motherwell were sold through the Knoedler gallery and were exposed in the litigation that closed it, so provenance to that source is a specific red flag. Collages are unique and are a strong part of the output. The prints, published largely with Tyler Graphics and Universal Limited Art Editions, are extensive and well documented.
If you own a work by Robert Motherwell
Send photographs and whatever paperwork came with it. The first question is what the work actually is — edition or unique, when, and in what condition — because everything else follows from the answer. A valuation costs nothing and commits you to nothing.
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Whitebank Fine Art is an art advisory and gallery, not an auction house, and is not affiliated with any auction house or with the artist, their estate or their representatives. This page describes the range we advise on. Nothing here is investment advice.