ID 1303795 
Lot 139  | ROBERT MOTHERWELL (1915-1991)
Estimate value
$ 400 000 – 600 000 
An Ungainly Figure
signed with the artist's initials 'RM' (lower left); partially titled and dated 'UNGAINLY FIGURE 1959' (on the stretcher)
oil on canvas
69 x 85 in. (175.3 x 215.9 cm.)
Painted in 1959.
Provenance
Galerie Beyeler, Basel, 1959
Private collection, Switzerland, 1968
Richard Gray Gallery, New York
Acquired from the above by the present owner, 2003
Literature
D. Cateforis, “Robert Motherwell’s ‘Figure Before Blackness,’” Spencer Museum of Art Register, vol. 7, no. 3, July 2000-June 2001, p. 8 (incorrectly titled Awkward Figure).
J. Flam, K. Rogers and T. Clifford, eds., Robert Motherwell Paintings and Collages: A Catalogue Raisonné, 1941-1991, Volume Two: Paintings on Canvas and Panel, New Haven and London, 2012, p. 121, no. P191 (illustrated).
Exhibited
New York, Sidney Janis Gallery, Robert Motherwell, March-April 1959, no. 7.
Basel, Galerie Beyeler, Panorama, October-November 1959, n.p., no. 23 (illustrated upside down).
Kunsthaus Zurich; Kunstmuseum Düsseldorf; The Hague, Gemeentemuseum and Turin, Galleria Civica d’Arte Moderna Torino, Thompson Pittsburgh: Aus einer amerikanischen Privatsammlung, October 1960-November 1961 (Zurich, n.p., no. 156, illustrated; Düsseldorf, n.p., no. 156, illustrated; Hague, n.p., no. 150, illustrated; Turin, n.p., no. 104, illustrated).
Kunstverein Hannover, Frühjahrsausstellung, March-April 1966, n.p., no. 141 (illustrated).
Kunstmuseum St. Gallen, Amerikanische Kunst aus Schweizer Besitz, October-November 1966, n.p., no. 89, fig. 9 (illustrated).
Kunstmuseum St. Gallen, Ostschweizer Privatbesitz, October-December 1977, no. 26.
Kunstmuseum St. Gallen, Sammlung T, August-October 1988, n.p., no. 44 (illustrated).
Kunstmuseum St. Gallen, Gesten der Freiheit, July-September 2000.
| Artist: | Robert Motherwell (1915 - 1991) | 
|---|---|
| Art style: | Post War Art | 
| Auction house category: | Paintings, Watercolors, Drawings, Paintings | 
| Artist: | Robert Motherwell (1915 - 1991) | 
|---|---|
| Art style: | Post War Art | 
| Auction house category: | Paintings, Watercolors, Drawings, Paintings | 
| Address of auction | 
CHRISTIE'S 20 Rockefeller Plaza 10020 New York USA  | ||||||||||||||
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