Published for the museum’s Robert Motherwell Drawing retrospective, this book surveys the artist’s career in 114 works on paper, highlighting superb examples from his most famous series. Motherwell was in love with paper as a surface and found it especially suited to his automatic and calligraphic drawing. His graphic output is justifiably famous. As Fast as the Mind Itself features slashing brushwork in Beside the Sea, spontaneous compositions from his quintessential Lyric Suite, and prime examples of his two longest-running series, the Elegies and the Opens. The wide range of this visual poet of the New York School shines in exquisitely printed reproductions, and an insightful essay by exhibition curator Edouard Kopp and Motherwell’s own “Thoughts on Drawing.”
About the Authors: Edouard Kopp is the John R. Eckel, Jr. Foundation Chief Curator of the Menil Drawing Institute, Menil Collection, Houston.
Robert Motherwell (1915–1991) was a New York–based artist active from 1941 to 1991.
Details: Flexibound 174 pages, 126 color images 7 ½ x 9 ½ inches
