Robert Motherwell (1915–1991)
Automatism with Splash
Ink and acrylic on paper, framed
Signed by the artist on the back of the frame
1966
67 x 52 cm
82 x 67 cm (overall)
Signed by the artist on the back of the frame
1966
67 x 52 cm
82 x 67 cm (overall)
Further images
Exhibitions
Selected Works from the Collection of Mr. and Mrs. H. Gates Lloyd. Philadelphia: Institute of Contemporary Art, 1967.
I had a real painting block, I simply couldn’t paint. It was a very hot summer and I had a studio on 3rd Avenue that was suffocating. Somehow the old definition of surrealism came back to me, to work without à priori judgement. And I thought why not just make a stack of things? Make it as a rule of the game that I don’t judge them, change them, I just go on and on and on.
I had them all on the floor, in long rows […], a lot of my sweat dropped on the papers. I arrived at
565 on a Saturday afternoon and realized I’ve had broken through, and the next day I didn’t work,
and I got a telephone call that David Smith had been in a terrible automobile accident and he
died. I was never able to continue the series after that. (Robert Motherwell and the New York School:
Storming the Citadel. Directed by Catherine Tatge. Originally shown on PBS as part of the American
Masters series, 1991.)
Known as Lyric Suite, this series was, in a way, the product of a chance encounter with Japanese paper that Motherwell spontaneously purchased in a quantity of one thousand sheets, with the decision to fill them with as many paintings. Automatism with Splash, dated 1966, is stylistically similar to Lyric Suite: it shares the focus on decisive, few bursts of ink, occasionally accompanied with shapes in other colors such as light blue or ochre tones, and is executed on Japanese paper. A main formal difference is that the works of Lyric Suite uniformly measure about 27.9 x 22.9 cm, but Automatism with Splash at 67 x 52 cm is more than twice that size.
The reference to surrealism is no coincidence. Motherwell had entered the art world coming from a rather academic background but in the early 1940s, when seeking to define his own stance as an artist, he closely interacted with newly arriving emigrant European artists, many of whom belonged to the surrealist movement (Motherwell was close to Roberto Matta and Max Ernst). Automatism was a technique central to the surrealists, starting with The Magnetic Fields (1920; Les Champs Magnétiques) by André Breton and Philippe Soupault and Breton’s theoretical writing The Automatic Message (1933; Le Message Automatique), to be further developed into a technique for drawing and painting.
Motherwell was not alone in the New York School with his preference of black and white: a similar fascination with these sorts of harsh contrasts can be seen in Jackson Pollock’s and Franz Kline’s work. About his use of colors, Motherwell stated he uses them as “simply symbolic:” Ochre represents the earth, blue the sky and the sea. On black and white, he said, “Black is technically not a color—non-being, if you like. Then what is more natural than a passionate interest in juxtaposing black and white, being and non-being, life and death?” The reference to being and non-being might carry slight undertones of Buddhist thinking, but considering Motherwell’s progression over the years this may have remained a passing interest. But ultimately, the drama of Motherwell’s automatic painting coalesces into a primal contrast that exemplifies the fundamental forces in existence.
Robert Motherwell (painter; 1915–1991)
American abstract painter. Motherwell was born in Washington State, USA. He originally majored in aesthetics and art history at Columbia University, but at the suggestion of his advisor Meyer Schapiro started to concentrate on painting. He became a central figure in Abstract Expressionism. Motherwell is known for his Elegy to the Spanish Republic series, employing large formats and stark black and white contrasts, and continued over several decades.
I had them all on the floor, in long rows […], a lot of my sweat dropped on the papers. I arrived at
565 on a Saturday afternoon and realized I’ve had broken through, and the next day I didn’t work,
and I got a telephone call that David Smith had been in a terrible automobile accident and he
died. I was never able to continue the series after that. (Robert Motherwell and the New York School:
Storming the Citadel. Directed by Catherine Tatge. Originally shown on PBS as part of the American
Masters series, 1991.)
Known as Lyric Suite, this series was, in a way, the product of a chance encounter with Japanese paper that Motherwell spontaneously purchased in a quantity of one thousand sheets, with the decision to fill them with as many paintings. Automatism with Splash, dated 1966, is stylistically similar to Lyric Suite: it shares the focus on decisive, few bursts of ink, occasionally accompanied with shapes in other colors such as light blue or ochre tones, and is executed on Japanese paper. A main formal difference is that the works of Lyric Suite uniformly measure about 27.9 x 22.9 cm, but Automatism with Splash at 67 x 52 cm is more than twice that size.
The reference to surrealism is no coincidence. Motherwell had entered the art world coming from a rather academic background but in the early 1940s, when seeking to define his own stance as an artist, he closely interacted with newly arriving emigrant European artists, many of whom belonged to the surrealist movement (Motherwell was close to Roberto Matta and Max Ernst). Automatism was a technique central to the surrealists, starting with The Magnetic Fields (1920; Les Champs Magnétiques) by André Breton and Philippe Soupault and Breton’s theoretical writing The Automatic Message (1933; Le Message Automatique), to be further developed into a technique for drawing and painting.
Motherwell was not alone in the New York School with his preference of black and white: a similar fascination with these sorts of harsh contrasts can be seen in Jackson Pollock’s and Franz Kline’s work. About his use of colors, Motherwell stated he uses them as “simply symbolic:” Ochre represents the earth, blue the sky and the sea. On black and white, he said, “Black is technically not a color—non-being, if you like. Then what is more natural than a passionate interest in juxtaposing black and white, being and non-being, life and death?” The reference to being and non-being might carry slight undertones of Buddhist thinking, but considering Motherwell’s progression over the years this may have remained a passing interest. But ultimately, the drama of Motherwell’s automatic painting coalesces into a primal contrast that exemplifies the fundamental forces in existence.
Robert Motherwell (painter; 1915–1991)
American abstract painter. Motherwell was born in Washington State, USA. He originally majored in aesthetics and art history at Columbia University, but at the suggestion of his advisor Meyer Schapiro started to concentrate on painting. He became a central figure in Abstract Expressionism. Motherwell is known for his Elegy to the Spanish Republic series, employing large formats and stark black and white contrasts, and continued over several decades.