Royal Fireworks Music

Artist Robert Motherwell American, 1915–1991

Date1974

MediumAcrylic, pasted canvas, pasted papers, and china marker on Upson board

Dimensions72 x 36 in. (182.9 x 91.4 cm)
Frame: 78 1/8 x 42 1/4 x 2 1/4 in. (198.4 x 107.3 x 5.7 cm)

ClassificationsPaintings

Credit LineGift of Mary and Jim Patton

Object number2014.20.35

On View

Not on view

ProvenanceCreated Greenwich, CT, 1974; collection of the artist, Greenwich; [Paul Haim et Cie, Paris, 1974]; sold to [Margo Leavin Gallery, Los Angeles, December 1977]; David Geffen, Los Angeles, February 1978; [Andre Emmerich Gallery, New York, by 1980]; Mary and James R. Patton Jr., Great Falls, VA, September 1980; given to NCMA, 2014.
Published ReferencesM. B. [Megan Bahr], entry for Royal Fireworks Music in Space, Abstraction and Freedom: Twentieth-Century Art from the Collection of Mary and Jim Patton (Chapel Hill: Ackland Art Museum, 2001), no. 13, illus. (color) 55.

Craig Jarvis, “Museum of Art snags trove of modern works,” News and Observer (Raleigh, NC), May 22, 2008, 1A, 16A, illus. (color) 1A.

Jack Flam, Katy Rogers, and Tim Clifford, Robert Motherwell Paintings and Collages: A Catalogue Raisonné, 1941–1991, Vol. 3 (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2012), no. C426 (as Royal Fireworks Music), illus. (color) 205.
Exhibition HistoryLos Angeles, CA, Margo Leavin Gallery, “Three Generations: Studies in Collage,” January 26–March 4, 1978.

Chapel Hill, NC, Ackland Art Museum, “Space, Abstraction and Freedom: Twentieth-Century Art from the Collection of Mary and Jim Patton,” September 9–November 11, 2001, no. 13, illus. (color), 55.

Raleigh, NC, North Carolina Museum of Art, “The Patton Collection: A Gift to North Carolina,” March 28–August 23, 2015.
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