Robert Motherwell | Abstract Expressionism, Painter, Printmaker (2024)

FAQs

What was Robert Motherwell known for? ›

Robert Motherwell (January 24, 1915 – July 16, 1991) was an American abstract expressionist painter, printmaker, and editor of The Dada Painters and Poets: an Anthology. He was one of the youngest of the New York School, which also included Willem de Kooning, Jackson Pollock, and Mark Rothko.

Abstract expressionism is the term applied to new forms of abstract art developed by American painters such as Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko and Willem de Kooning in the 1940s and 1950s. It is often characterised by gestural brush-strokes or mark-making, and the impression of spontaneity.

The late 1960s saw Motherwell using Gauloises packets and cartons in many collages, including an extensive series with the packets surrounded by bright red acrylic paint, often with incised lines in the painted areas.

At the center of the New York School were artists like Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning, and Mark Rothko, who were associated with Abstract Expressionism and helped establish a uniquely American avant-garde and propel New York City to eclipse Paris as the center of the art world.

Motherwell is legendary for his enormous intellect and his command of numerous academic disciplines. Having studied at Stanford, Harvard, and Columbia universities, he was deeply read in art history, modern literature, especially French Symbolism, psychology, and philosophy.

Motherwell began its life as a small textile hamlet, but it was not until the area's rich natural resources of coal and iron ore were mined, along with the arrival of the railway in the 1830s (opening links to Glasgow and Edinburgh) that it began to grow into the town it is today.

The Abstract Expressionist movement itself is generally regarded as having begun with the paintings done by Jackson Pollock and Willem de Kooning in the late 1940s and early '50s.

Expressionism, artistic style in which the artist seeks to depict not objective reality but rather the subjective emotions and responses that objects and events arouse within a person.

Characteristics and Style of Abstract Expressionism

Valuing freedom, spontaneity and personal expression, the movement naturally produced a variety of technical and aesthetic innovations. In general, however, Abstract Expressionism can be clustered around two major tendencies: action painting and color field painting.

Van Gogh worked with oil paint. He used both paint with (natural) pigments, made the same way for centuries, as well as paint with new synthetic colourings. In Van Gogh's time, an age of revolutionary scientific advancement, these colourings were being developed for the textile industry.

What paint did old artists use? ›

In Britain tempera paints were used up until the 12^th century where they were then occasionally supplemented with oils. Nevertheless, oil paint wasn't commonplace until the 15^th century. Mainly used for its slow dry time, oils allowed the artist to work wet in wet and left for more time for alterations to occur.

Famous Painters

Both oil and acrylic paints have been used to create some of the most memorable artistic works in the world. Some famous artists who have worked with oil paint include Rembrandt, Vincent van Gogh and Claude Monet.

Hilma af Klint (Swedish pronunciation: [ˈhɪ̂lːma ˈɑːv ˈklɪnːt]; 26 October 1862 – 21 October 1944) was a Swedish artist and mystic whose paintings are considered among the first abstract works known in Western art history.

Answer and Explanation:

While abstract art involves using visuals such as colors and shapes to achieve its objective and does not represent reality, expressionism refers to a subjective approach to art aimed at evoking emotions.

Often, when people think of Abstract Expressionism, images of Jackson Pollock's action painting or Mark Rothko's large scale colour field canvases come to mind. And indeed, these two figures, along with the likes of Willem de Kooning, Joan Mitchell and Clyfford, pioneered this revolutionary art movement.

John Heartfield (1891–1968) was one of the most innovative artists of the 20th century. With his polarizing photomontages, the artist denounced war, social injustice and National Socialism. Heartfield was a Communist and passionately opposed to war.

What is one way that action painting influenced the work of David Smith? He scoured the surfaces of his sculptures to create reflective exteriors.

Founded in 1881 by the workers in George Russell's Alpha Steam Crane and Engineering Works, which was based in Park Street, they developed by playing against a host of other amateur teams that had sprung up in Motherwell, Wishaw and Bellshill.

Pop Art is distinguished from assemblages by its use of bright and bold colors, simplistic forms, and mass media-derived imagery that make the artworks easily recognizable and representative of their cultural context.