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Jan 24, 2005

Mallarme's Swan

1944

Robert Motherwell

(American, 1915–1991)

America, 20th century

Collage using gouache, crayon and paper on cardboard

Unframed: 110.5 x 90.2 cm (43 1/2 x 35 1/2 in.)

Contemporary Collection of The Cleveland Museum of Art 1961.229

Location

not on view

Did you know?

Robert Motherwell originally titled this work Mallarme's Dream, but artist Joseph Cornell suggested changing it to its present version.

Description

This drawing is one of several works that Robert Motherwell made in tribute to the French Symbolist poet Stéphane Mallarmé (1842–1898). A member of the New York School, Motherwell stood out among his contemporaries for his literary references within a movement that otherwise favored pure abstraction. He worked in collage, the process used here, for much of his career, expressively tearing and layering paper and everyday materials.

Inscriptions

Inscription

signed upper left: Motherwell-1944

Provenance

Mrs. Robert Motherwell

?-1961

(Robert Elkon Gallery, New York, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)

1961-

Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH

Citations

The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966. Reproduced: p. 200 archive.org

The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969. Reproduced: p. 200 archive.org

The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. Reproduced: p. 250 archive.org

Henning, Edward B. The Spirit of Surrealism. Cleveland: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1979. Mentioned: p. 150, 175; Reproduced: p. 150, no. 90

Henning, Edward B. Creativity in Art and Science, 1860-1960. [Cleveland, Ohio]: Published by the Cleveland Museum of Art in cooperation with Indiana University Press, 1987. Mentioned and reproduced: P. 133, no. 43

Flam, Jack D., Katy Rogers, and Tim Clifford. Motherwell: 100 Years. Milano, Italy: Skira; New York: Dedalus Foundation, 2015. Reproduction: p. 26

Kishi, Mizuki. "Jackson Pollock's Painting Process and Viewr Participation: With Reference to Dewey's Art as Experience." NACT Review 3 (2016): 42-60. Reproduced: p. 55, fig. 19

Exhibition history

Northampton, MA, Smith College Museum of Art, Works of Robert Motherwell, January 10-January 28, 1963, cat. no. 2, repr.
also to: Boston, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, February 11-March 3, 1963.

New York, The Museum of Modern Art, Robert Motherwell, September 29-November 30, 1965, cat. no. 12, repr. p. 13.
also to: Amsterdam, The Stedelijk Museum, January 8-January 20, 1966; London, Whitechapel Gallery; Basel, Kunsthalle; Essen, Museum Folkwang.
New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Painting and Sculpture: 1940-1970, October 18, 1969-February 1, 1970, cat. no. 254, repr. pl. p. 93.

Houston, The Museum of Fine Arts, The Collages of Robert Motherwell, November 15, 1972-January 15, 1973, cat. no. 54, repr. p. 55 and p. 19.
also to: Cleveland, The Cleveland Museum of Art, February 6-February 25, 1973; Hartford, CT, The Wadsworth Atheneum, March 14-April 22, 1973; Boston, The Museum of Fine Arts, May 10-June 24, 1973.

Mexico City, Museo de Arte Moderno, Retrospectiva del gran pinter nortamericano, April-May, 1975, cat. no. 2, repr. p. 10.

Buffalo, NY, The Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Robert Motherwell Retrospective Exhibition, September 15-November 27, 1983, cat. no. 13, repr. p. 125.
also to: Los Angeles, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, January 4-March 4, 1984; San Francisco, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, April 7-May 28, 1984; Seattle, Seattle Art Museum, June 22-August 5, 1984; Washington, DC, Corcoran Gallery of Art, September 8-October 28, 1984; New York, The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, December 1, 1984-January 31, 1985.

Year in Review - 1962. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 24-November 25, 1962).

Works of Robert Motherwell. Smith College Museum of Art, Northampton, MA (organizer) (January 10-28, 1963).

Robert Motherwell. The Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY (organizer) (September 29-November 1, 1965); Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, 1070 AB Amsterdam, Netherlands (January 8-20, 1966); Whitechapel Art Gallery, London (January 31-February 28, 1966); Kunsthalle Basel, Basel, Switzerland (March 1-April 1, 1966); Museum Folkwang, 45128 Essen, Germany (July 2-August 14, 1966).

The Collages of Robert Motherwell. Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Houston, TX (organizer) (November 15, 1972-January 14, 1973); The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (February 6-25, 1973); Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford, CT (March 14-April 22, 1973); Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Boston, MA (May 10-June 24, 1973).

Creativity in Art and Science, 1860-1960. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 16-November 8, 1987).

Object Lessons: Cleveland Creates an Art Museum. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 7-September 8, 1991).

In the Beginning was Merz - From Kurt Schwitters to the Present Day. Sprengel Museum Hannover (August 16-November 5, 2000).

Robert Motherwell: Early Collages. Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY (organizer) (September 27, 2013-January 5, 2014).

Cite this page

{{cite web|title=Mallarme's Swan|url=https://clevelandart.org/art/1961.229|author=Robert Motherwell|year=1944|access-date=22 March 2023|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

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Mallarme's Swan

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