Robert Motherwell on paper

the long version

The Abstract Expressionist artist Robert Motherwell (1915-1991) was best known as a painter, but he also created a remarkable body of works on paper. The drawings, prints, and collages in this book show a more intimate side of his visual sensibility; they reveal the very personal "handwriting" of the artist as he responded to the subtleties of paper, both as a medium and a material. Motherwell was in fact a most extraordinary draftsman, as this volume testifies. Reproduced in color and in a generous format are more than a hundred of the artist's finest works on paper. The book is published to accompany an exhibition at the Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Art Gallery at Columbia University - an exhibition that was conceived and developed in discussions with the artist during the final year of his life. For this celebration of Motherwell's creative legacy, David Rosand has gathered a distinguished group of contributors. Together, their essays on different aspects of Motherwell's work create a complex picture of a multifaceted artist.