Rothko
Mark Rothko in his West 53rd Street studio, c. 1953, photograph by Henry Elkan, courtesy Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, Rudi Blesh Papers
One of the preeminent artists of his generation, Mark Rothko is closely identified with the New York School, a circle of painters that emerged during the 1940s as a new collective voice in American art. During a career that spanned five decades, he created a new and impassioned form of abstract painting. Rothko's work is characterized by rigorous attention to formal elements such as colour, shape, balance, depth, composition, and scale; yet, he refused to consider his paintings solely in these terms. He explained: It is a widely accepted notion among painters that it does not matter what one paints as long as it is well painted. This is the essence of academicism. There is no such thing as good painting about nothing.
THE SIMPLE EXPRESSION OF THE COMPLEX THOUGHT.'
Mark Rothko, whose name is possibly most famous outside the art world for legal scandal, what the New York Times dubbed 'the art worlds Watergate,' (regarding his paintings and their 'disposition' after his death) was one of the major exponents of the Abstract Expressionist movement; along side de Kooning and Pollock, as well as Guston, Kline, Newman and Clyfford Still. Evolving from the 'New York School' of artists, Abstract Expressionism embraced not any one particular style, but rather a general attitude; not all work was abstract, nor was it all expressive. They dealt in "morally loaded themes," of the "heavyweight and tragic, on a grand scale," 1 whilst retaining a measure of individuality and spontaneity.
Rothko's most celebrated works, those of his 'classic' era, employing his 'signature format,' evolved from the late 1940's, after which he painted in no other style, always revising and refining the process, right up to the time of his death. My decision to study Rothko was initially the prompt of a BBC 2 programme, (as is elaborated upon later) which developed into an empathy with his works, leading me to the research this study is based on.
Born Marcus Rothkowitz, in Dvinsk, Russia (now Daugavpils, Latvia) September 26, 1903, Rothko and his family were Jews, among a hostile population.
At the age of ten, along with his mother and sister, Rothko immigrated to America to join his father and brothers, who had previously settled in Portland, Oregon. He studied the 'Liberal Arts' at Yale, 1921-3 and in 1925, moved to New York, enrolling in the Art Students League, under Max Weber, but later working under his own steam. He came to teach at the Center Academy of the Brooklyn Jewish Center, 1929-52, and put on his first one-man exhibition at the Portland Art Museum, 1933.
By 1947, Rothko had discontinued his use of mythology, at least directly, and all "Figurative associations and references to the natural world disappeared." What emerged were his so-called 'multi-forms, dabbling in abstraction. Rothko started to talk of his art as actors, performing drama as well as the notion of tragedy and the transcendental.
Linear elements were progressively eliminated, as asymmetrically arranged patches of colour became the basis of his compositions. At this point Rothko began to paint the edges of his stretched canvases, which he displayed without confining frames.
Having abolished the use of frames, Rothko in addition abandoned the entitling of his work, his paintings now unencumbered by any imposed interpretations, pure in the eyes of the viewer. "Silence is so accurate," 10 he said, fearing that words would only paralyse the viewer's mind and imagination.
Rothko sought to embrace the viewer, even intimidate them to avoid his works becoming background pieces [presumably the equivalent of music vs. 'musak'], which explains why he pulled out of the Seagram Commission; where his works would have been background to a restaurants main function; that of eating!
Mark Rothko
