{"data":{"id":"923","type":"artist","attributes":{"id":923,"topgoose_id":1524,"tms_id":923,"display_name":"Robert Motherwell","sort_name":"Motherwell Robert","display_date":"1915–1991","begin_date":"1915","end_date":"1991","biography":"\u003cp\u003eRobert Motherwell’s \u003ca href=\"/collection/works/1748\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eAfternoon in\nBarcelona\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/a\u003e epitomizes the bold chromatic contrasts and charged gestures that mark the artist’s signature canvases. Although nonrepresentational, the imagery evokes natural forms, perhaps scenery viewed during Motherwell’s travels in Spain in the late 1950s (the work is part of his \u003cem\u003eIberia\u003c/em\u003e series). Indeed the tripartite configuration—which he called a “dolmen,” in reference to prehistoric stone megaliths— may have associations with the bull ring in Barcelona. Talking about two other paintings in the same series, he stated: “You would have to know that a Spanish bull ring is made of sand of an ocher color, and that Spanish bulls are very small, quick, and coal black. Both of those coal black, ocher pictures have a bull in them, but you cannot really see the bull. They are an equivalence of the ferocity of the whole encounter.” While the angular shapes lend the work a loose structure, the artist’s slashing brushwork suggests that his creative process may have been largely spontaneous, particularly as he was influenced by Surrealist automatism, a free-associative technique of drawing or painting thought to better access the subconscious.\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAlong with \u003ca href=\"/artists/1039\"\u003eJackson Pollock\u003c/a\u003e, \u003ca href=\"/artists/339\"\u003eWillem\nde Kooning\u003c/a\u003e, and \u003ca href=\"/artists/1132\"\u003eMark Rothko\u003c/a\u003e, Motherwell\nwas a leading figure of the New York\nSchool, one whose paintings, drawings,\nprints, and collages imparted the Surrealists’\nbiomorphic forms and intuitive methods\nto the grand scale and allover compositions\nthat distinguished Abstract Expressionism.\nMotherwell was an early theorizer of\nthe movement, promoting its modernist\nideals through his activities as a writer,\neditor, teacher, and lecturer.\u003c/p\u003e","on_view":false,"artport":false,"biennial":true,"collection":true,"ulan_id":"500016415","wikidata_id":"Q165275","created_at":"2017-08-30T16:26:32.000-04:00","updated_at":"2026-03-28T07:04:11.345-04:00","links":{"artworks":"/api/artists/923/artworks","exhibitions":"/api/artists/923/exhibitions"}}}}