Artist: Robert Motherwell (American, 1915-1991)

Title: Africa Suite Number 7

Audio:

Date: 1970

Dimensions: 40 3/4″ x 28 1/4″

Location in Library: Fourth floor

Media: Screenprint

works on paper

Owner: The Brooklyn College Library Collection. © Dedalus Foundation and VAGA (Visual Artists and Galleries Association, Inc.)

Description:

Motherwell’s goal was to depict not a physical experience but rather his reaction to it. He was strongly influenced by the Surrealist technique of automatism, in which an artist allows his hand to move freely, thereby revealing forms that arise from the thoughts and feelings of the unconscious mind. Motherwell successfully used this technique to develop his own visual vocabulary.

Related Websites
– Robert Motherwell at PBS
– Robert Motherwell at Guggenheim Collection
– Robert Motherwell at MoMA

Suggested Readings
– Engberg, Siri. Robert Motherwell: The Complete Prints 1940-1991: Catalogue Raisonné, 2003.
Call Number: NE539 .M67 A4 2003
– Motherwell, Robert. The Collected Writings of Robert Motherwell, 1999.
Call Number: ND237.M852 A35 1999