Abstract Expressionism: the second wave

Permanent Collection:Act IV
ABSTRACT EPRESSIONISM: the second wave

M a r c a - R e l l i * M o t h e r w e l l * S t a m o s * G u s t o n * C o h e n

1. 2. 3. Open Series (Windows)A,B,C 1966, lithographs, 54 x 40" each
Cat. # 81.2.32, (A) edition #14/150, (B) edition #123/150, (C) edition #80/150

4. From The African Suite A, 1975, #112/150, lithograph, 54 x 40", Cat. # 81.2.39a	5. From The African Suite B, 1975, #85/150, lithograph, 54 x 40", Cat. # 81.2.39b
6. Open Series (Walls & Windows) A, 1966, lithograph, 54 x 40, Cat. # 81.2.43a	7. Open Series (Walls & Windows) B, 1966, lithograph, 54 x 40, Cat. # 81.2.43b

Robert Motherwell, 1915-1991
American, Born: Aberdeen, Washington

Education:
1926- receives fellowship to the Otis Art Institute, L.A.
1932- studies painting and psychology at the California School of Fine Arts, San Francisco
1935- studies French literature
1937- receives A.B. degree in philosophy from Stanford University
1937- enrolls in Philosophy Department at Harvard; studies aesthetics
1938- studies French Symbolists in Europe
1940- graduate student at Columbia University under Professor Meyer Shapiro; encourages him to devote himself to painting rather than scholarship

Innovations:
A founder and spokesman for Abstract Expressionism

Exhibitions:
Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1965, 1968, 1980
Palais Des Beaux-Arts, Brussels, 1966
Whitney Museum, New York, 1968
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1972
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1973
British Museum, London, 1980
Hirshhorn Museum, Washington D.C., 1980
Tate Gallery, London, 1980
Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, 1983

Permament Collections:
Museum of Modern Art, New York
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Whitney Museum, New York
Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C.
Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam
Tel Aviv Museum, Isreal
Tate Gallery, London

Awards:
Guggenheim Award, 1964
Belgian Art Critics Prize, 1966
La Grande Medaille De Vermeil De La Villa De Paris, France, 1977
Gold Medal, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art, 1979

Robert Motherwell is unique among the New York School of Abstract Expressionists in that he has allowed his world of images to develop naturally from the artistic ideas around him. He was inspired by Cubist collage and Surrealist automatism to produce ambiguously scaled collages in the early 1940's.

Motherwell continued to explore the structural potential of the collages in his paintings of the 1950's, also emphasizing the calligraphic aspects of the painting. During the 1960's, he began to explore the possibilities of acrylic paint and broad expanses of color.

After repeated reassessments of his life's work and his aims, Motherwell painted more consistently, more energetically, and more freely than ever. He took more numerous and greater risks and achieved some of the highest points of his career.

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Permanent Collection:Act IV
ABSTRACT EPRESSIONISM: the second wave

M a r c a - R e l l i * M o t h e r w e l l * S t a m o s * G u s t o n * C o h e n

Plattsburgh State Art Museum
Plattsburgh State University

The Plattsburgh State Art Museum is comprised of over 4,500 works of art, representing numerous regions of the world, from the ancient to the contemporary. Works are displayed within our three main galleries, an outdoor sculpture park and exhibition areas throughout the campus. These facilities produce over twenty-five exhibitions a year of both a national and regional nature. Expanding upon the pluralistic ideal of Andre Malreaux's concept of a "Museum Without Walls," the Plattsburgh State Art Museum has become an open visual art resource for the College and the Champlain Valley/Adirondack Region.