A celebration of Robert Motherwell’s drawings that provides new insight into the thematic continuities and techniques that informed the artist’s working methods

Throughout his long and prolific career, Robert Motherwell (1915–1991) sustained a fascination with making art on paper. His multifaceted drawing practice was an integral part of his search for a personal, spontaneous language of mark-making. Presenting works spanning from The Mexican Sketchbook of the early 1940s to the Joyce Sketchbook of the 1980s, this overview of Motherwell’s work on paper highlights the way the artist embraced the suggestive potential of his materials—blending the accidental and the intentional in the creative gesture. Large-scale reproductions encourage close looking and immerse the reader in details such as a stroke of the brush or a tear of paper, while an essay by Edouard Kopp examines how the artist’s practice of “automatic drawing” dovetailed with his love of paper and ink in the creation of these unique and compelling works. The book closes with Motherwell’s own “Thoughts on Drawing” (1970).

Distributed for the Menil Collection

Exhibition Schedule:

Menil Drawing Institute, Menil Collection, Houston
(November 18, 2022–March 12, 2023)