ROBERT MOTHERWELL: Beside the Sea

Description

On the occasion of Robert Motherwell: Beside the Sea, twenty five works of art selected from the ‘Beside the Sea’ series, ‘The Provincetown Bay’ series, and other Cape Cod-related works celebrate the first major exhibition of Robert Motherwell’s paintings in Provincetown.

The exhibition enforces not only Motherwell’s place in Provincetown — his home — but his direct impact on American art history, positioned within the artistic community that still continues to support Provincetown’s role as a leading art center.

Catalogue essays by Lise Motherwell, Daniel Ranalli, and John Yau.

Artist Statement

“For years my summer studio has been directly on the bay in Provincetown on Cape Cod. There is a 900-foot tidal flat, and, just as one can play ball games at low tide, at high tide the sea in a high wind breaks against the bulkhead in violent spray. In the Beside the Sea series, I made the painted spray with such physical force that the strong rag paper split, and it was only when I found rag paper laminated with glue in five layers that the surface could take the full force of my shoulder, arm, hand, and brush without splitting. One might say that the true way to ‘imitate’ nature is to employ its own processes.”

— Robert Motherwell

PAAM exhibition dates:  July 20-September 30, 2012