ASHEVILLE, NC.- The Asheville Art Museum is presenting The Essential Idea: Robert Motherwell’s Graphic Works from March 31 – August 26, 2012. This exhibition highlights the groundbreaking work of master printmaker and Abstract Expressionist Robert Motherwell. In conjunction with the exhibition, the Museum will host a reception and guest lecture by esteemed Motherwell scholar Mary Ann Caws on Thursday, May 10, 2012 at 7:00 p.m.

Robert Motherwell was the youngest of the first-generation Abstract Expressionists and was known as an innovator among his peers for his ability to produce stunning imagery. Early in his career Motherwell explored a range of media, from painting to collage, often using dramatic and bright brush strokes that gave his work a sense of energy and underlying emotion, identifiable characteristics of the Abstract Expressionist movement. The works chosen for this exhibition follow the full trajectory of Motherwell’s career as a printmaker and in many cases parallel problems he was working on in his painting projects.

Motherwell produced his first prints in 1943, and in 1948 began to work with his celebrated Elegy to the Spanish Republic theme, which he continued to develop throughout his life. In the early 1960s he expanded his print work at the invitation of the Universal Limited Art Editions (ULAE) print studio. His later work with Tyler Graphics, Gemini Graphics Edition Limited (G.E.L.) and others evolved into an impressive body of almost 500 prints. Motherwell exhibited widely in both the United States and Europe until his death in 1991, and continues to be widely celebrated with countless exhibitions at well-regarded visual arts institutions such as the Museum of Modern Art, NY and the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, among many others.

The Essential Idea: Robert Motherwell’s Graphic Works was organized and curated by the Asheville Art Museum with assistance from the Dedalus Foundation, Inc. The exhibition features more than 60 prints by the artist, many of which were generously loaned to the Museum from the Foundation.