Franco Regime Sought to Censor Robert Motherwell Painting in Spain

Long-standing questions about an incident involving Robert Motherwell’s paintings in Spain have finally been answered: the Franco regime did attempt to censor the Abstract Expressionist painter’s work, proposing to change the title of a work whose title explicitly referred to the Spanish Republic.

The play revolves around Elegy of the Spanish Republic No. 35 (1954-58) is one of more than 150 paintings in a series of abstract paintings that indirectly reference the Spanish Civil War through black ovals and expanses of white.

The painting, now owned by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, was one of several works by Motherwell that appeared in the legendary exhibition “New American Painting” at the Museum of Modern Art. The exhibition, which traveled with assistance from the U.S. government, is credited with bringing Abstract Expressionism outside the United States. (Many claimed the show was American propaganda, artistic curiosity Podcast host Jennifer Dasal writes that it was “a way to solidify alliances between like-minded Cold War warriors and, for the first time in history, advance America’s much-lauded cultural superiority.”)

The Franco regime has long been rumored to be concerned Elegy of the Spanish Republic No. 35 Before the opening of the exhibition in Spain. In 1996, critic Dore Ashton said that the Madrid authorities, who were touring New American Painting in 1958, would only show the painting if Motherwell renamed it. He refused and the painting was never exhibited, leading many to suspect censorship.

Previously unreleased documents from the Museum of Modern Art’s archives corroborate Ashton’s claims. According to these documents, upon review national newspaper For a report published this week, the local authority does want Motherwell to call the work elegy or paintingwith no mention of the Spanish Republic.

“If you find this title unacceptable, the painting must be removed from the exhibition and catalogue, since we have no right to change the title of a painting without the consent of the author,” Rene Danoncourt, then director of the Museum of Modern Art, wrote in a letter to Luis González Robles, curator of the Madrid edition of New American Painting.

When Porter McCray, head of international programs at MoMA, told Motherwell that it would be impossible to show the painting with its original title in Spain, the artist said he was no longer interested in showing his art in the capital. “It would be better not to have my paintings exhibited in Madrid,” he wrote to MacRae. Motherwell subsequently wrote to Alfred H. Barr, the founding director of the Museum of Modern Art, apologizing for embedding the museum in controversy.

national newspaperThe report does not clearly answer an ongoing question Elegy of the Spanish Republic No. 35: Did the painting appear in a Spanish newsreel filmed before the exhibition, as some have suggested over the years. If this had been the case, the painting might have passed censorship.

Still, MoMA documents seem to confirm that it was not just Motherwell who faced resistance from Franco’s regime. this national newspaper The report also cited notes from Catalan artist Antoni Tapiès, whose gritty paintings won international acclaim in the postwar period.

Tàpies decided not to participate in an exhibition that was supported by the Spanish government, telling Macrae: “The only purpose of holding exhibitions across Spain is to show the world that Spain is a free country where painters can make a living from their work and where there is an abundance of paintings due to the favorable environment, which is shameful. For me, the reality is exactly the opposite.”