Robert Motherwell

In 1944, Robert Motherwell described collage as "the greatest of our [art] discoveries" after a revelatory encounter with the technique. This volume accompanies an exhibition devoted exclusively to Motherwell's papiers colles and the related works on paper that were executed during his first decade of art making (1941-51), while at the same time it explores the origins of his unique style. By cutting, tearing, and layering pasted papers, Motherwell reflected the tumult and violence of the modern world, which established him as an essential and original voice in postwar American art. Throughout the 1940's, he produced both abstracted figural collages and pure abstract collages. By 1952, however, the Surrealist influence prevalent in these first works had given way to his distinctive, mature style that was firmly rooted in Abstract Expressionism. Motherwell's enthusiasm for and dedication to the collage medium for the remainder of his career sets him apart from other artists of his generation. Reproducing fifty-eight artworks, the catalogue's four essays investigate collage in the first half of the twentieth century; Motherwell's early career with patron Peggy Guggenheim; the artists underlying humanitarian themes during World War II; and his materials. Robert Motherwell: Early Collages offers a vital reassessment of Motherwell's work in the collage medium.