Tearing Off and Beginning Again

Robert Motherwell, Personage (Autoportrait), Dec. 9, 1943. Gouache, ink, and pasted colored paper and Japanese paper on paperboard, 103.8 x 65.9 cm. The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice 76.2553.155. © Dedalus Foundation, Inc./Licensed by VAGA, New York.Photo: Sergio Martucci © 2013 The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, New York

Robert Motherwell’s involvement with collage in the 1940s paralleled his activities as a writer and editor. He often described his artistic work in editorial terms, referring to changes as acts of revision. His engagement with Dada at this time while editing The Dada Painters and Poets (1951) particularly affected his thoughts about collage, creativity, and the role of destruction in the creation of art. In this lecture, Catherine Craft, Adjunct Assistant Curator for Research and Exhibitions, Nasher Sculpture Center, explores the relationship between artistic and editorial processes through Motherwell’s treatment of paper. An exhibition viewing and reception follows the lecture.