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Je t'aime with Gauloise Blue
Artist
Robert Motherwell
(American, 1915 - 1991)
Date1976
MediumAcrylic, collage, and charcoal on canvas
DimensionsUnframed: 36 x 24 in. (91.44 x 60.96 cm)
Framed: 39 5/8 x 27 1/2 x 1 1/4 in. (100.65 x 69.85 x 3.18 cm)
Framed: 39 5/8 x 27 1/2 x 1 1/4 in. (100.65 x 69.85 x 3.18 cm)
Credit LineCollection of the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Museum purchase, The Friends of Art Endowment Fund
Object number1993.31
Status
Not on viewInscribedsigned verso top center "'JE TAIME with/GAULOISE BLUE' 1976/ collage & acrylic on/canvas/C76-2204 (C76-2204)"
Signedsigned recto l.l.c. "RM/76"
Copyright© 2020 Dedalus Foundation, Inc. / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Category
Label TextRobert Motherwell, an abstract painter closely identified with Abstract Expressionism, also produced prints and collages. An impressive example of the latter is the Modern’s Je t’aime with Gauloise Blue, 1976. For Motherwell, collage was a modern version of still-life painting as it offered a means of incorporating elements of the everyday world into his art. The French Gauloise-brand cigarette package in Je t’aime with Gauloise Blue, partially obliterated by translucent white paint, is, like other papers pasted in his collages, taken from materials he found in his studio. By appropriating such random bits and pieces, Motherwell engaged in a playfulness not evident in most of his paintings.
Motherwell also considered collage a journal of private associations, akin to Proust’s madeleine. The phrase “je t’aime”—French for “I love you”—is particularly intriguing in regard to the notion of collage as diary. The artist used the French phrase (because the English one seemed too cliché) as a declaration and affirmation of his ability to and capacity for love. Reflecting on his own experiences and relationships, the artist suggested that the object of his love was artistic media, which he found as rich and complicated as human beings. The recurrence of the phrase “je t’aime” in his paintings, prints, and collages qualifies it as the credo of Motherwell’s deep love for artmaking.
Motherwell also considered collage a journal of private associations, akin to Proust’s madeleine. The phrase “je t’aime”—French for “I love you”—is particularly intriguing in regard to the notion of collage as diary. The artist used the French phrase (because the English one seemed too cliché) as a declaration and affirmation of his ability to and capacity for love. Reflecting on his own experiences and relationships, the artist suggested that the object of his love was artistic media, which he found as rich and complicated as human beings. The recurrence of the phrase “je t’aime” in his paintings, prints, and collages qualifies it as the credo of Motherwell’s deep love for artmaking.