|
About Us
The Dedalus Foundation was founded by Robert Motherwell during his lifetime, in order to foster the public understanding of modern art and Modernism.
Incorporated in the states of New York and Connecticut, the Dedalus Foundation is a private, operating foundation. Its office houses Motherwell’s archives of original documents and photographs, substantial portions of Motherwell’s extensive library, and virtually all of Motherwell’s art that remained in his possession at the time of his death.
Following Motherwell’s wishes, the Board of Directors of the Foundation is composed of art professionals and educators who oversee the Foundation’s various programs.
Through its grants program, the Dedalus Foundation funds a wide range of programs in art education; research and education in the field of fine art conservation; scholarly publications; exhibition catalogues; lectures and symposia on subjects in the field of modern and contemporary art and art history, some of which are coordinated with museum exhibitions; and workshops for artists, writers, and art historians. The Foundation funds selected programs in art education and art appreciation for children in public schools, including an annual scholarship program in studio art and art history for graduating high school seniors through the New York City Board of Education.
Following Motherwell’s death in 1991, the Foundation, then located in Bedford Hills, New York, spent several years organizing, cataloguing, and conserving its archives and collections of art. Beginning in 1994, in accordance with the artist’s wishes, the Foundation became actively engaged in placing works of art in museum collections through a gift/purchase program which allowed over 60 museums to acquire works of art by Motherwell at significant savings. Among the museums which benefited from the Foundation’s program are:
Albright-Knox Art Museum, Buffalo
Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto
Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh
Denver Art Museum
The Detroit Institute of Arts
Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University, Cambridge
Grand Rapids Art Museum
High Museum of Art, Atlanta
The Israel Museum, Jerusalem
The Jewish Museum, New York
Los Angeles County Museum of Art
Milwaukee Art Museum
Modern Art Museum of Ft. Worth
Museo Guggenheim, Bilbao
Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid
The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
The Museum of Modern Art, New York
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
National Gallery of Australia, Canberra
Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia
Philadelphia Museum of Art
The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C.
Musée National d’Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris
The Saint Louis Art Museum
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
Tate Modern, London
Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford
Walker Art Center, Minneapolis
In 1996, the Dedalus Foundation moved to its present headquarters at 555 West 57th Street in New York City. The Foundation is currently collecting information for the creation of a complete catalogue of paintings, collages and works on paper by Robert Motherwell. The Foundation’s office is closed to the general public; however, the Foundation’s library and archives are open to qualified researchers by appointment.