Robert Motherwell (1915-1991), alongside Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko, and Willem de Kooning, made up the quartet of abstract painters that radically defined Modern painting in America and established New York City as the new center of the art world.
A central figure in American Abstract Expressionism, his work combined spontaneous gesture with a deep engagement with European modernism, literature, and history. Motherwell was the unofficial spokesman of the New York School, writing, editing a journal and lecturing on behalf of the movement, his fellow artists, and the merits of abstraction. He continually experimented with printmaking, using the medium to extend the vocabulary of his paintings and drawings.
Motherwell is one of the most experimental and courageous printmakers of the 20th century, always searching for new techniques to express or expand his ideas and aesthetic. The "Basque Suite" is one of his earliest forays into screenprinting, and the results are iconic and moving.
The works combine bold black forms with vivid fields of colour, allowing dense areas of ink to interact with open passages of paper. The title refers to the distinctive Basque language, whose compound structure provided a conceptual parallel for Motherwell’s layered compositions. The images were created by printing over a base image Motherwell had made in 1967, resulting in complex compositions built through successive layers of colour and gesture.
Motherwell’s full "Basque Suite" is represented in major public collections, including the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., and the Tate, London, among others.
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The Basque Suite: Untitled
USA, 1971
Screenprint on J.B. Green paper
Signed "RM" in pencil lower right; signed "Motherwell" in screen upper left
Numbered "20/150" in pencil lower right; workshop stamp reverse
From an edition of 150
Published by Marlborough Graphics, Inc.
Printed by Chris Prater, Kelpra Studio, London
41"H 28.25"W (sheet)
Very good condition
Provenance: The Dedalus Foundation
Catalogue Raisonné: CR 88 (Concordance B 59)
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