NEW YORK, NY.- Kasmin announced exclusive global representation of the work of Robert Motherwell in partnership with The Dedalus Foundation. Robert Motherwell (1915–1991) was one of the leading American artists of the twentieth century. He worked with a wide range of imagery, which reflected his acute awareness of the richness and complexity of human experience, and he was also the leading spokesperson for the Abstract Expressionists.

The broad expressive range of his paintings includes the passionate and politically fraught Elegy to the Spanish Republic series, the austerely serene imagery of the Opens, and a large body of spontaneously executed works on canvas and paper. He was one of the most important collagists of the twentieth century, and he created a large, innovative, and highly regarded body of prints.

Motherwell was a significant writer and teacher. He edited the influential Documents of Modern Art series, which translated and presented the writings of major European modernists. Throughout his life, Motherwell affirmed the importance of Modernism, which he considered a means of freedom from dogma and the unquestioning acceptance of outdated social and cultural norms. In his view, Modernism required the artist to have the courage to face reality in all its complexity and with all its contradictions—what he called a “gallant attempt at a more adequate and accurate view of things now.”

The Dedalus Foundation, founded by Motherwell in 1981, is dedicated to enhancing the public’s understanding of the principles of Modernism and Modern art, and to honoring his legacy through exhibitions of his work, and by support of institutions and individuals.

“The Dedalus Foundation is pleased to entrust Kasmin with exclusive global representation of the art created by Robert Motherwell,” said Morgan Spangle, Executive Director of the Foundation. “Having collaborated with Kasmin on several exhibitions over the past decade, we look forward to a continued relationship which will further enhance our goal of presenting the work, ideas, and legacy of Robert Motherwell to the global public.”




Eric Gleason, Senior Director at Kasmin, says: “Kasmin’s longstanding relationship with the Dedalus Foundation has been one of the most rewarding in the gallery’s history. Robert Motherwell is an unequivocal titan in the landscape of 20th century American art, and to be further entrusted with the stewardship of his legacy is an immeasurable honor.”

On November 18, 2022, the highly anticipated exhibition Robert Motherwell Drawing: As Fast as the Mind Itself will open at the Menil Drawing Institute in Houston, Texas. This will be the most comprehensive survey of the artist’s drawings ever staged. Also in November 2022, a two-volume catalogue raisonné documenting Motherwell’s 1,413 drawings will be published by Yale University Press. Authored by Katy Rogers, Programs Director and Director of the Catalogue Raisonné Project at the Dedalus Foundation, this thoroughly researched and beautifully produced publication will serve as the definitive resource on Motherwell’s drawings for years to come.

At this year’s ADAA: The Art Show, Kasmin will present works from Motherwell’s Drunk with Turpentine series, along with kinetic sculpture by George Rickey (1907–2002). Since 2015, Kasmin has staged five solo exhibitions of Motherwell’s work:

Robert Motherwell: Works on Paper, 1951 – 1991 (2015)
Robert Motherwell: The Art of Collage (2016)
Robert Motherwell: Early Paintings (2017)
Sheer Presence: Monumental Paintings by Robert Motherwell (2019)
Robert Motherwell: Lyric Suite (2022)

Robert Motherwell graduated from Stanford University in 1937 and later studied philosophy at Harvard University. In 1940, encouraged by Meyer Schapiro, Motherwell decided to pursue painting rather than scholarship. And following a 1941 voyage to Mexico with Surrealist painter Roberto Matta, Motherwell fully committed himself to painting as his primary vocation. In 1944, Motherwell was granted his first one-person show at Peggy Guggenheim’s Art of This Century gallery. Soon after, he became the leading spokesperson for avant-garde art in America. Throughout the 1950s, Motherwell lectured widely on abstract painting and held a professorship at Hunter College in New York. He also taught at Black Mountain College in North Carolina, where his students included Cy Twombly, Robert Rauschenberg, and Kenneth Noland. In 1961, Motherwell represented the United States at the prestigious São Paulo Biennial, and 1965 he was one of the first American artists of his generation to be given a retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art, which was curated by renowned writer and art critic Frank O’Hara.

During the 1970s, Motherwell was the subject of numerous European retrospective exhibitions, in Düsseldorf, Stockholm, Vienna, Paris, Edinburgh and London. In 1983, a major retrospective of Motherwell’s work was mounted at the Albright-Knox Art Gallery in Buffalo, which subsequently traveled to The Los Angeles County Museum of Art; The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; The Seattle Art Museum; the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; and The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York.