Robert Motherwell
American, 1915 – 1991
Black Figuration on Blue, 1950
Oil on masonite, 25 1/2 x 47 1/2 inches
Kate P. Wolters Family in memory of Richard Wolters, Museum Purchase and Gift of Dedalus Foundation
2006.1

The year 1950 was the emerging moment for the Abstract Expressionists in New York. At this time, Robert Motherwell, who worked as an artist in the city during the 1940s, had become closely associated with key members of the group, including special ties to Adolph Gottlieb, Willem de Kooning, Mark Rothko, and David Smith. Black Figuration on Blue, a critically important early work, was first shown in a 1950 exhibition at the Kootz Gallery under the title Black Plant and Window. It was one of fourteen paintings that were listed as part of a series called "capriccios". Motherwell described "capriccio" as a word used by musicians to mean a "composition in a more or less free form." The painting compresses its subject in such a fashion that we still see elements of the plant/figure and the window, without them becoming a literal representation of the subject. This kind of equilibrium between real experience and abstraction lies at the heart of Motherwell's achievement.

Though at the center of a new American art movement, Abstract Expressionism, Motherwell remained deeply connected to French writers and artists. He considered Henri Matisse the greatest painter of the twentieth century. Black Figuration on Blue reflects Motherwell's admiration for Matisse and looks toward to his future Open paintings, inspired by the squared image of a window or door of the artist's studio. Motherwell kept Black Figuration on Blue as one of what he called his "seed" works that provided him with ongoing inspiration for the rest of his life. The painting was in Motherwell's estate at the time of his death and acquired by the Grand Rapids Art Museum, its second owner, from his Foundation.