Robert Motherwell: The Box

28 Apr-3 Jun 2017

Overview

Pippy Houldsworth Gallery is delighted to present a significant painting in The Box by Robert Motherwell, a major proponent in the development of Abstract Expressionism. Iberia N o. 30 (1969), an unusually small painting from Motherwell’s iconic Iberia series, encapsulates the indelible impression that the Spanish Civil War left upon the artist. Motherwell's description of the bullfight in the quote above can be read as being analogous to the struggle of war. This is manifested in the painting by the encroachment of an impenetrable mass of thick, black brushstrokes upon a small flourish of white paint in the lower right-hand corner. Other Iberia paintings completed at the same time were later revised but this work retained its original form. Similar works from this series can be found in the collections of the Guggenheim Museum, New York; Tate, London; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis and Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.