The Art Gallery of Ontario Shows Robert Motherwell Drawings

Written by Herbert Reacher Friday, 30 March 2012 21:39

Toronto.- The Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) continues to celebrate the Abstract Expressionist movement with an exhibition of drawings by Robert Motherwell. "Painting on Paper: The Drawings of Robert Motherwell", on view through December 11th, showcases 55 works from the AGO collection, which houses one of the largest public holdings of drawings by Motherwell. “This exhibition gives visitors the opportunity to explore the mind and works of Motherwell, an eloquent and passionate Abstract Expressionist,” says Matthew Teitelbaum, the AGO’s Michael and Sonja Koerner Director and CEO. “Painting on Paper enriches the Abstract Expressionist New York experience at the AGO, giving visitors an in-depth look at the artistic process and evolution of one of the movement’s major figures.”

"Painting on Paper" demonstrates how Motherwell’s motifs were imagined, refined and revisited over the span of his career by organizing the collection into several major chronological themes, ranging from the 1940s to the 1970s. The works on display were selected primarily from 74 drawings and paintings by Motherwell acquired by the AGO in 1998. ”Painting on Paper" augments Abstract Expressionist New York: Masterpieces from The Museum of Modern Art, the AGO’s major summer exhibition, which features three paintings and one drawing by Motherwell, exhibited alongside era-defining works by Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko and Willem de Kooning, among others. Robert Motherwell (1915-1991) was a central figure in the development of Abstract Expressionism, a radical art movement originating in New York in the 1940s. He believed that ideas, feelings and the subconscious were best communicated through the bold forms and gestural lines of abstract art. An articulate speaker, scholar and prolific writer, he became a passionate spokesperson for the Abstract Expressionists. Drawings played an essential role in the gestation and evolution of his central themes and core visual ideas.

Founded in 1900 by a group of private citizens as the Art Museum of Toronto, the Art Gallery of Ontario is one of the largest art museums in North America, with a physical facility of 583,000 square feet. The AGO expanded it facility in 2008 with an innovative architectural design by world-renowned architect Frank Gehry. The AGO holds more than 80,000 works in its collection, which spans from 100 A.D. to the present. The Canadian collection vividly documents the development of the nation's art heritage since pre-Confederation, including one of the largest and finest Inuit art collections in the world. The collection includes pivotal works by Cornelius Krieghoff, Lucius O'Brien, James Wilson Morrice, Tom Thomson, the Group of Seven, David Milne, Emily Carr, Paul-Emile Borduas, Joyce Wieland, and Kenojuak Ashevak. Masterpieces of European art include works by renowned artists such as Anthony van Dyck, Thomas Gainsborough, Auguste Rodin, Claude Monet, Edgar Degas, Paul Cézanne, Vincent van Gogh, Pablo Picasso and René Magritte. The AGO maintains a comprehensive collection of Contemporary art spanning from 1960 to the present, reflecting global developments in artistic practice across all media, including painting, sculpture, works on paper, photography, projection art, and installation art. The collection is defined by strong holdings of leading Canadian artists such as David Altmejd, Brian Jungen, Francoise Sullivan, Jeff Wall, Shirley Wiitasalo, and inflected by major works by international artists such as Mona Hatoum, Gerhard Richter, Doris Salcedo, Tino Sehgal, Cindy Sherman, Richard Serra, Kara Walker, and Andy Warhol. Artists represented in career-spanning depth include Iain Baxter& / N.E. Thing Co, Jack Bush, Betty Goodwin, General Idea, Robert Motherwell, Kazuo Nakamura, Greg Curnoe, and Michael Snow.

The AGO houses the world's largest public collection of works by internationally renowned British sculptor Henry Moore. A collection of more than 40,000 photographs represents the emergence of the medium in all its artistic, cultural and social diversity. Works by 19th-century British, French, American and Canadian photographers, and 20th-century modernists, including a significant group of 1850s prints by British photographer Linnaeus Tripe, one of the foremost collections of works by Czech photographer Josef Sudek, and more than 18,000 press photographs from the Klinsky Press Agency taken in the 1930s and 40s. The Thomson Collection at the AGO includes a broad range of works, from European to Canadian art, ship models and decorative arts. Its European collection includes 900 works from the 12th to the 19th century, featuring Peter Paul Rubens' 17th-century masterpiece, The Massacre of the Innocents. The Canadian collection includes signature works by Cornelius Krieghoff, Paul Kane, Lawren Harris, and Paul-Emile Borduas. Visit the museum's website at ... http://www.ago.net

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