Exhibited in the MOTHERWELL/BEACON Print Retrospective, Beacon, New York. October 23-December 6, 2004. Literature: Engberg/Banach Catalogue Raisonne # 68. Publisher: The Academic and Professional Action Committee for a Responsible Congress, New York. The letter “P” has always held a special place of significance in the print work of Robert Motherwell. His very first prints at ULAE in 1962 were both variants on the letter “P” and were called “Poet I” and “Poet II”. Motherwell’s strong feelings for the printed word in general and poetry in specific are well documented. He felt the poet “painted” with words and the painter “rhymed’ with images. In 1970 Motherwell returned to the “P” motif but in an entirely different context. At this time the country was bogged down in Vietnam and Motherwell was asked to contribute an image to the anti-war movement. He chose to work within the system and pursue the cause of peace through political action. He donated a print to the lobbying efforts of the Academic and Professional Action Committee for a Responsible Congress to be sold as a fund raiser. The proceeds were distributed to candidates in the 1970 elections committed to ending the war. To many people today the image he contributed appears to be little more than a simple brushstroke but it is much more –- it is a profound anti-war statement with a simplicity that only Robert Motherwell could accomplish. Here the rounded portion of the “P” has been totally blown away and the letter has “fallen”. Motherwell spent over a day trying to decide where to place the image on the sheet and finally decided to place it at the very top of the paper –- to stress the ethereal nature of peace in 1970 and the ethereal wounded nature of peace even in our own time.
