Artist: Robert Motherwell (American, 1915-1991)
Title: "Untitled (Red)"
Portfolio: London Series I
*Signed by Motherwell in pencil lower right. It is also signed in the plate (printed signature) upper left
Year: 1971
Medium: Original Screenprint on J. B. Green Double Elephant paper
Limited edition: 32/150, (there were also 10 artist's proofs)
Printer: Chris Prater of Kelpra Studio, London, UK
Publisher: Marlborough Graphics, Inc., New York, NY
Reference: Belknap No. 62, page 176-177; Engberg No. 90
Framing: Within its original frame - the artwork is floated, framed in a gold contemporary moulding with black fabric matting and gold filet
Framed size: 51.38" x 38.38"
Sheet size: 41.25" x 28.25"
Image size: 36.25" 24.13"
Condition: In excellent condition
Rare
Notes:
Provenance: one owner ever - private collection - Detroit, MI; acquired from GMB Gallery Inc., Birmingham, MI in 1982 retaining its original receipt and appraisal. Numbered by Motherwell in pencil lower right. Comes from Motherwell's 1970-1971 "London Series" portfolio of five screenprints, (Belknap No. 60-64, page 176-177). The five works include "Untitled (Orange)", "Untitled (Blue)", "Untitled (Red)", "Untitled (Green)", and "Untitled (Black)". Printed in one color: red. The artist's Robert Motherwell chop mark/blind stamp lower right. A blind platemark the exact size of the image is added. J. B. Green watermark lower left. The printer Kelpra Studio's inkstamp and identification number "7626" stamped on verso lower right. Comes with a copy of the 304 page "The Prints of Robert Motherwell: A Catalogue Raisonne 1943-1984" by Stephanie Terenzio and Dorothy Belknap.
In 1970, Robert Motherwell began working with Chris Prater at the fine art printing studio Kelpra in London, producing screenprints that related both to his Basque Suite, and to his Open paintings. Beginning in 1967, and inspired by a chance juxtaposition of a large and small canvas, Motherwell's Open paintings occupied the artist for nearly two decades. Unlike his expressionist works, these compositions were quiet and meditative, the minimalist planes of color interrupted only by thin lines in rectangular configurations. The Kelpra screenprints continued this exploration of line and plane. As with the Open paintings, the composition is minimalist, with a plain field of color, and three slender vertical lines, suspended as it were from the top of the paper, meeting a single horizontal line. The thin lines are barely discernible against the pure intense color of the ink on paper.
