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Rebecca Michelman of New York art dealership Michelman Fine Art reveals a brilliant abstract expressionist painting by revolutionary modern artist Robert Motherwell
Bold, distinctive strokes of ivory, beige and maroon frame a brazen and vivacious starburst motif in sunshine yellow. As one considers the amalgamation of these charismatic elements, a light and spirited sense of joie de vivre takes over.
This is Untitled (Figure in Doorway), a painting by renowned American abstract expressionist artist Robert Motherwell, who was part of the famed New York School collective of avant-garde creatives in the ‘50s and ‘60s. Representing this rare painting is Rebecca Michelman of Michelman Fine Art, a New York-based private art dealer who has the work from a collector.
“Although Motherwell’s initial recognition came from his series called The Elegies—which utilised an austere palette of black and white and conveyed an unabashed honesty, brutality and elegance—he ultimately was a brilliant colourist. This painting, which we are offering for sale, was created during a powerful moment of introspection and reappraisal over the course of several months between 1982 and 1983,” she says.
Michelman adds that Untitled (Figure in Doorway) is an uncommon example of his work as it is a reprise of Mural Study, a small painting he created in 1950, which he displayed in his studio in the months leading up to his 1983 retrospective exhibition at the Albright-Knox in Buffalo, New York.
At least two other paintings from the '50s that feature the same starburst motif are in museum collections, notably the Smithsonian and the Fogg Art Museum at Harvard. The motif undoubtedly derives from what Motherwell called l'art moderne, meaning the art of French Modernists such as Henri Matisse and Joan Miró; Motherwell experienced their work firsthand while living in Paris in the 1930s.
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