Robert Motherwell Drawing: As Fast as the Mind Itself

From the Menil Drawing Institute:

“The youngest and most erudite of the Abstract Expressionists, Robert Motherwell (1915–1991) created a remarkable body of drawings in a wide range of techniques and styles over the course of his career. His interest in drawing stemmed from a fascination with paper as a support and from a continuous search for a personal, spontaneous language of mark-making. Inspired by Surrealism and the practice of automatic drawing, Motherwell embraced the suggestive potential of his materials, blending the accidental and the intentional in the creative gesture, whether a stroke of the pen or the brush or a tear of paper. This exhibition, the most comprehensive on the topic in decades, traces the full arc of Motherwell’s activity as a draftsman. His multifaceted practice was geared towards invention and variation, and while it evolved stylistically, it remained united by thematic continuities and his desire to draw “as fast as the mind itself.”

A fully illustrated catalogue published by the Menil will accompany the exhibition. The show is organized with the support of the Dedalus Foundation on the occasion of the forthcoming publication of the catalogue raisonné devoted to Motherwell’s drawings.

Robert Motherwell Drawing: As Fast as the Mind Itself is curated by Edouard Kopp, John R. Eckel, Jr. Foundation Chief Curator, Menil Drawing Institute.

This exhibition is generously underwritten by Kathy and George Britton.

Additional support comes from Angela and William Cannady; Diane and Michael Cannon; Julie and John Cogan, Jr.; Cindy and David Fitch; Barbara and Michael Gamson; Linda and George Kelly; Dillon Kyle and Sam Lasseter; Janie C. Lee; Mary Hale Lovett McLean; Carol and David Neuberger; Susanne and William E. Pritchard III; Leslie and Shannon Sasser; Mark Wawro and Melanie Gray; Ann and Mathew Wolf Drawing Exhibition Fund; and the City of Houston through Houston Arts Alliance.