Product Description

In the history of art, only a handful of great artists have been able to articulate the nature of the creative process. Robert Motherwell was one such artist. Not only a seminal painter in the movement eventually referred to as abstract expressionism, he was also a primary theorist and spokesperson for the avant-garde art that developed mainly in New York City during the Second World War. Throughout the formative years of abstract expressionism, Motherwell's presence as artist, editor of a series of pioneering books on modern art, lecturer, and teacher was influential in both illuminating and shaping the development of what he termed "The Enterprise" of abstract art. Bringing together a representative selection of Motherwell's writing about art, dating from 1941 to 1988, The Collective Writings of Robert Motherwell offers more than sixteen essays, a number of pieces from exhibition catalogs, over a dozen public lectures, and all the artist's vanguard editorial work. Definitive and illuminating, this collection of nearly eighty pieces brings to light the prominence of Motherwell, whom The New York Times memorialized as the "eloquent and articulate champion of the entire Abstract Expressionist movement."

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1802195 in Books
• Published on: 1994-05-19
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 368 pages

From Publishers Weekly
A chief spokesman for Abstract Expressionism in the 1950s and a voice of New York's artistic avant-garde in the following decades, Robert Motherwell (1915-1991) was an enormously articulate critic and theorist as well as a first-rate painter. This volume is a patchwork of his essays, lectures, interviews, book introductions, letters, epigrams and random jottings, dating from the years 1941 to 1988. Motherwell's verbal collages comprise an ongoing dialogue with the creative process. His writings illumine his formative relationship with Chilean surrealist Roberto Matta, his obsession with death and his friendships with Mark Rothko, David Smith and Joseph Cornell. Motherwell was acutely aware of the modern artist's isolation from society, and his theory of painting, which extolled free association as the artist's means of excavating his own psyche for universal archetypes, stemmed from that sense of apartness. This grab bag of ideas and impressions includes Motherwell's thoughts on Mondrian, Picasso, children's art, Kafka and Baudelaire. Terenzio is a former curator at the University of Connecticut's William Benton Museum of Art. Illustrated.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
As an artist, educator, theorist, and editor, Motherwell (1915-91) was the leading exponent of the Abstract Expressionist art movement. Terenzio ( The Prints of Robert Motherwell , Hudson Hills, 1990), formerly with the William Benton Art Museum, provides clear introductory notes to the chronologically arranged selections of essays, lectures, letters, interviews, prefaces, and exhibition catalog pieces, which date from 1941 to 1988. Educated at Stanford and Harvard, Motherwell soon moved to New York, where emigre Surrealist artists profoundly influenced his modernist views. Included here are several of his editorial prefaces from the "Documents of Modern Art" series, one volume of which ( The Dada Painters and Poets , LJ 7/89. 2d ed.) is considered the finest anthology available on Dadaism. Motherwell is so wonderfully articulate, honest, and passionate that this collection should serve as the definitive source on Abstract Expressionism. Strongly recommended for all collections.
- Joan Levin, MLS, Chicago
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review
"A book that everyone interested in modern painting will want to have." -- Hilton Kramer,New York Times Book Review

"More than any other artist since Vasari, I think, Robert Motherwell undertook to situate the art movement in which he participated in the larger structures of history. He played a triple role, as thinker, as maker and as intermediary, in the transformation of modernism that took place in New York in the 1940s and '50s." -- Arthur Danto, The New Republic

Customer Reviews

BRILLIANCE
Robert Motherwell, is one of the great geniuses of American art. His Paintings are broad and powerful images; more "pure" than many other of the abstract painters of his day. This is a superlative book, which lets you into Motherwells mind. Any reader will see his sharp criticism and poignant observations, those who are open will take them to heart.

Abstract Art's Virgil
Motherwell was a superb writer in addition to being a painter. This anthology spans 1941-1988. It's a great read, not only for it's insights into art but also for capturing the flavour of the time. In a sense it let's you stand behind Motherwell's shoulder and peer into his thoughts and see how he viewed modern art both from a philosophical view point as well as aesthetic.

A lot of it is drawn from his public writings and speeches but a lot is fairly personal in nature, taken from his journals.

It's well annotated and useful if you're interested in the abstract movement.