Rethinking the Calligraphic Content of Robert Motherwell

"One of the very best of the Abstract Expressionists"

- Clement Greenberg

"You let the brush take over and in a way follow its own head, and in the brush doing what its doing, it will stumble on what one couldn’t by oneself...Its’s essential to fracture influences in the same way that free association in psychoanalysis helps to fracture one’s social deceptions."
- Robert Motherwell

"Though always abstract and painterly, Mr. Motherwell’s work expressed his literary and philosophical c oncerns and his deep involvement with the culture of Mediterranean Europe. A large man who moved and talked slowly, the artist never lost his Abstract Expressionist view of painting as a struggle, a "state of anxiety" as he once put it, "that is obliquely recorded in the inner tensions of the finished canvas"
- Grace Cluneck, New York Times, July 18, 1991

"Robert Motherwell put a Chinese mountain on a stick."
-Janet Kozachek

In preparation for my lecture on East/West influences, I read about Robert Motherwell’s collection of Japanese calligraphy as well as his interest in Zen philosophy. The influence of calligraphy became very clear to me when I revisited Motherwell’s monumental canvases, especially his Elegy series. Many of these were very close to actual Chinese/Japanese characters, and a number of them were identical. Looking at Elegy to the Spanish Republic, number 70, for instance, one can clearly see the relationship to the character for "zhou," or a river basin. Sometimes Motherwell used this dot, line, dot, line, dot sequence in an altered form, with one dot moved over. Other times he kept the sequence identical. For comparison, I have a piece of calligraphy for the character "zhou."

I began to see many more instances of Chinese/Japanese characters in Motherwell’s work. The word for "little" the word for "large" appearing multiple times. In this example, Motherwell’s Gypsy Curse, we can see a clear representation of the character for mountain mounted precariously on a thin pole, or stick. The representation of the character for mountain here, comes from the Shu Fa Da Zi Dian, a compendium of various Chinese character scripts. One could say that Motherwell’s three pronged form is actually a trident, and it could be. But the knowledge that he collected calligraphy does make me wonder if this was actually the influence for his forms. The character for mountain, like the character for river basin, are very common and would have appeared multiple times in his collections of calligraphy.

Interestingly, during my lecture, the audience saw these connections quite clearly. I was asked a question about why Motherwell would not have acknowledged his Asian influences and I was not certain that I gave a thorough answer. In reading more art criticism from the 1950's until the present day, I believe the answer lies in how that criticism shaped and continues to shape, our opinions about art and in how artists were, and still are compelled to describe their work.

A hesitancy to acknowledge and even to hide sources of artistic inspiration may have been encouraged by the writings of the art critic Clement Greenberg, who strongly emphasized originality in the artists who were granted his highest accolades. Greenberg cast a long shadow over the way art was taught, discussed and created for several decades. Art that had historically identifiable influences or incorporated the art of other cultures was  labeled as "derivative." Given this critical environment, Motherwell, even if he had wanted to acknowledge his influences, would not have been able to. Otherwise he would have risked the opprobrium of the harshest critic of his time.

During the Cold War politics of the 1950's, there was a strong emphasis upon the idea of American genius being free, unfettered and spontaneously springing from the mind of the artist - like Athena springing from the head of Zeus - birthed fully formed, fully adult, and ready for a fight. Motherwell’s own words "Its essential to fracture influences," has a destructive quality to it. Like tilting at windmills, it is a feat that is ultimately (and fortunately) humanly impossible. For although we may not acknowledge that what we hear and see, we hear it and see it nevertheless.

The third factor that might cause an artist not to acknowledge sources has to do with race and gender. If someone acknowledges having been tutored or influenced by a person who represents a less powerful minority or any kind of gender or ethnicity that is outside of the accepted cadre of one’s peers, then this might diminish one’s own perception as well as the public perception, of the artist’s prowess. What if Elvis Pressley, for instance, also of the 1950's, had acknowledged, every time he stepped up to the mike, that his famous Hound Dog song was originally written for, and performed by, Big Mama Thornton? It would certainly have been more honest, more fair.

The American obsession with the new, the different, the original, and the powerful, especially in the arts, has cost many an artist several unnecessary trips down consecutive rabbit holes. It is difficult to imagine going to an art museum with eyes closed and hands over ears in order to not be "influenced" by anything, yet that is unfortunately how the heuristic training of artists had largely developed, with some notable exceptions. Ironically, however, this approach oftentimes generated monotony and unoriginality, possibly because the acceptable range of art worth emulating - those deemed most original - would be so narrow.

The Abstract Expressionists of the 1950's, including Robert Motherwell, were bold and innovative artists. Looking at these paintings is sheer joy. They appear exuberant to me - pure expressions of life and optimism for an adventurous future. Knowing the stylistic sources of their inspiration, when and if these can be found, would not diminish, but enrich them, as it would our understanding of the larger world of culture and history.

https://www.gregkucera.com/motherwell_biography.htm



https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/henry-moore/courtney-j-martin-a-sincere-academic-modern-clement-greenberg-on-henry-moore-r1171902