Robert Motherwell

Prints

November 3 - December 23, 2022)

Opening Reception: “First Thursday,” November 3, 6-8pm

This is Greg Kucera Gallery's ninth one-person exhibition of work by Robert Motherwell. This end of year show will present 22 prints created from 1962 through 1989. Though best known as a painter, Robert Motherwell produced a total of 536 print editions throughout his artistic career.

Motherwell made his first prints in 1943 near the beginning of his career. He returned to printmaking in the early 1960’s at the invitation of Universal Limited Art Editions, then a new printmaking studio which provided the technical assistance the artist needed to make great editions. His ULAE prints, and his later work at Gemini G.E.L. in LA, created an impressive body of work which allowed him to explore his Gestures and Collage series in print forms.

In addition to several sugarlift aquatint etchings, a curious etching process (involving tree resin, molasses, shellac, and acid) which allowed the artist to create gestural or linear imagery over fields of color, we are also showing fifteen of the artist’s lithographs. He regarded the lithograph as the most natural of the printmaking forms which allowed for tremendous freedom as an artist.

Motherwell created several artist books illustrating the works of poets and writers such as Stephen Mallarme, James Joyce and Rafael Alberti. This exhibition will include the book THREE POEMS by Octavio Paz with whom he was close.

Work in exhibition