Abstract

Robert Motherwell's commitment to the collage aesthetic has frequently been cited as an index of his separation from theExpressionist movement, as art historians have tended to view his collage works as purist, formal endeavors or as whimsical autobiographical statements which were antithetical to the theoretical and symbolic concerns of the New York School. In contrast, this dissertation analyzes collage as a conceptual device within Motherwell's early oeuvre and argues that he adopted collage as an alternative automatic method, which he used to explore a variety of Abstract Expressionist concerns which were central to the movement. However, my study also proposes that Motherwell utilized a Pragmatist approach to collage as a philosophical and ideological critique of the more mystical and idealist Jungian outlook of his Abstract Expressionist colleagues. In examining the first decade of Motherwell's career in terms of the linked issues of collage and Pragmatism, my dissertation contributes to recent efforts to more fully recognize the heterogeneous aesthetic and philosophical basis of early Abstract Expressionism. ;Chapter One examines the historical factors surrounding Motherwell's adoption of collage and demonstrates that the artist's initial involvement with collage was not an anomalous practice within the early years of Abstract Expressionism, but was partly an outgrowth of collage trends which were prevalent within the New York avant-garde. Chapter Two argues that in contrast to the more mystical Jungian form of psychic individuation which was associated with the automatic gesture painting of the New York School, Motherwell's automatic collages were influenced by Pragmatist notions of subjectivity and psychological development. Chapter Three also considers issues of automatic practice within the New York avant-garde and analyzes how Motherwell's use of collage was related to the Abstract Expressionists' aim to challenge the systematic aesthetic tenets of geometric abstraction. However, instead of the subjectivist basis of gesture painting, Motherwell undermined the theoretical values of geometric abstraction through various collage strategies which were inspired by John Dewey's Pragmatist aesthetics. Chapter Four addresses more contextual concerns by investigating the theme of World War II in Motherwell's early collages from the standpoint of Surrealist collage strategies and Freudian black humor