Robert Motherwell

Robert Motherwell, (born Jan. 24, 1915, Aberdeen, Wash., U.S.—died July 16, 1991, Provincetown, Mass.), American painter, one of the founders and principal exponents of Abstract Expressionism (q.v.), who was among the first American artists to cultivate accidental elements in his work.
 

A precocious youth, Motherwell received a scholarship to study art when he was 11 years old. He preferred academic studies, however, and eventually took degrees in aesthetics from Stanford and Harvard universities.

Motherwell decided to become a serious artist only in 1941. Although he was especially influenced by the Surrealist artists Max Ernst, Yves Tanguy, and André Masson, he remained largely self-taught. His early work followed no single style but already contained motifs from which much of his later art grew. He received his first one-man show in 1944 at Peggy Guggenheim’s Art of this Century Gallery in New York City.

From 1958 to 1971 Motherwell was married to the American painter Helen Frankenthaler. He taught art at Hunter College (1951–58, 1971–72), directed the publication of the series “The Documents of Modern Art” (1944–52), and wrote numerous essays on art and aesthetics. He was generally regarded as the most articulate spokesman for Abstract Expressionism.