Robert Motherwell

Samuel M. Kootz Gallery, New York
Private Collection
Archives and Special Collections Department, Northeastern University Libraries, Boston
Skinner Auctioneers, Boston, May 19, 2006, lot 438
Acquired by the present owner from the above sale

New York, Samuel M. Kootz Gallery, Robert Motherwell, April - May 1947, cat. no. 12
London, Opera Gallery, Goldenart: London Art Highlight: 60 Masterpieces from the Opera Gallery Collection, February 2008, p. 95, illustrated in color

Jack Flam, Katy Rogers and Tim Clifford, eds., Robert Motherwell Paintings and Collages: A Catalogue Raisonné, 1941-1991, Vol. 2: Paintings on Canvas and Panel, New Haven, 2012, cat. no. P48, p. 30, illustrated in color

This work is in fair condition overall. There is evidence of wear and handling along the edges and scattered networks of hairline craquelure throughout, all of which appear to be stable. Some of the radial cracks particularly toward the center of the canvas appear to be cupping slightly. There are 3 repaired tears to the canvas, which are ½ inch or less in length: the first is 24 ½ inches from the top and 13 ½ inches from the right edge; the second is 16 ½ from the bottom and 16 inches from right edge; the third is 10 inches from the bottom and 15 inches from the right edge. These tears are not visible upon inspection under normal light conditions. Under Ultraviolet light inspection, there is evidence of inpainting throughout the canvas with numerous areas that fluoresce darkly. Framed.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Reflecting the revolutionary spirit of the time, Robert Motherwell, as early as 1943, had initiated some of the most important and prevalent themes of his career.  Works from this period are of principal significance as they introduce with a raw power and quick brush the artist's employment of ovoid and rectangular forms as a means of channeling emotion and expression through painting. Initiating a formal opposition between the intensely felt emotional elements such as the eccentrically drawn ovals, painterly passages and touches of color and the controlled structure of the vertical and horizontal shapes, Motherwell prefigures his most famous series the Elegies, which he began the year after In Blue with Crosses and which virtually define the future of the artist's work. 

In In Blue with Crosses, the graphic elements evoke feelings and emotions in an unspecified yet orchestrated manner. Impressed by the purity of Matisse’s art and the vibrancy of his paintings despite the apparent rigidity of their fields of color, Motherwell’s debt to Matisse is apparent. These compositional elements in Matisse’s Still Life with Pomegranates from the same year run parallels to the gestural In Blue with Crosses, which pulsates with a jazz-like energy that exhibits Motherwell’s joie de vivre.