Robert Motherwell

born Aberdeen, Washington, 1915; died Cape Cod, Massachusetts, 1991

BiographyBorn in Aberdeen, Washington but raised in San Francisco, Robert Motherwell studied philosophy at Stanford and Harvard before beginning his study of art and art history at Columbia University in New York. He arrived in New York City in 1940 and quickly associated with a group of young artists who would become known as “The New York School” or the abstract expressionists. Motherwell’s training as a philosopher served him well throughout his career. He served as an eloquent spokesman for his generation, defending the new style of abstraction and carefully articulating in his speeches and writings the inseparable connections between contemporary life and art. He became an internationally respected painter, writer, lecturer, and teacher. In 1965 his work was the subject of a major retrospective exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art followed by numerous retrospectives in Europe and the United States over the next few decades. His works can be found in the collections of major museums throughout the world.

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