Robert Motherwell is one of the most recognized members of the Abstract Expressionist movement, which was founded by members of the New York School. Like other figures in the New York School, Motherwell investigated the emotional and transcendental potential of abstract painting. Untitled (Black and White) (1949) is an important early painting that includes many of what would become the artist's signature approaches to art making, such as the use of dark, gestural forms squeezed between blocks of black, and a loose, calligraphic line. The semblance of a central elliptical form seen here emerges again in his "Elegy" series.

Source: News, January February March, 2005.