Robert Motherwell
Three Personages

Three Personages

© Dedalus Foundation, Inc. / Licensed by VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY

Three Personages
Three Personages
CultureAmerican
Titles
  • Three Personages
  • from the Hollow Men series
Date1988
MediumAcrylic and charcoal on canvas
Dimensions60 × 96 1/4 in. (152.4 × 244.5 cm)
Credit LineGift of Mr. and Mrs. Meredith J. Long
Object number2017.223
Not on view

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Object Type
Description

With Three
Personages
, Robert Motherwell summed up his lifelong commitment to the
tragic and timeless in art, and its ability to chart the complexities of the
human condition. The composition is dominated by three loosely defined figures
drawn in charcoal and filled with semitransparent washes of sienna and
brilliant yellow. The painting has its origins in Motherwell’s Elegy to the Spanish Republic series
that he launched in the late 1940s. Four decades later, Motherwell returned
once again to this compositional theme, with ghostly outlines taking the place
of his earlier solid color forms.




ProvenanceThe artist; [M. Knoedler & Company, New York]; [Meredith Long & Company, Houston]; Mr. and Mrs. Meredith J. Long, Houston, 1989; given to MFAH, 2017.
Exhibition History"The Painter and the Printmaker," Associated American Artists, New York, May 2–June 2, 1989
Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks
Recto: Initialed in black, top right corner: RM [underlined]
Recto: Initialed in orange, bottom right corner: RM [underlined]
Verso: Inscribed in black ink, top left corner of stretcher: INV #P88-3441
Recto: Initialed in black, top right corner: RM [underlined]
Recto: Initialed in orange, bottom right corner: RM [underlined]

[none]

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

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