Rothko, Mark
Webpages concerning "Rothko, Mark"
|
The contents has been generating using technology developed by scientec.
Wikipedia-Article "Mark Rothko"
Mark Rothko (September 25, 1903 – February 25, 1970) was a Russian-born American Jewish painter who is often classified as an abstract expressionist, although he vociferously denied being an abstract painter.
Contents |
History
He was born Marcus Rothkowitz in Daugavpils (Dvinsk), Russia (now in Latvia) and emigrated to Portland, Oregon in 1913. He attended Lincoln High School in Portland, and then Yale University.
Artwork
Among the founders of the New York School, his work concentrated on basic emotions, often filling the canvas with very few, but intense colours, using little immediately-apparent detail. In this respect, he can also be considered to presage the Color Field painters, such as Helen Frankenthaler. However, "Rothko repeatedly protested, 'I'm not interested in color' and 'I'm not a colorist.' Color, he explained, was nothing more than an 'instrument' for expressing something larger: the all important 'subjects' of his pictures" (Chave 1989).
Although respected by other artists, Rothko remained in relative obscurity until 1960, supporting himself by teaching art.
In 1958, Rothko was commissioned by architect Philip Johnson to paint a series of murals for the Four Seasons restaurant in the Seagram Building in New York. This substantial project was completed in late 1959. Ultimately, Rothko was not happy having his paintings as the backdrop to gourmet dining so he gave a set of nine of the maroon and black works to the Tate Gallery, where they are on permanent display in an installation designed by Rothko.
In 1967, Rothko again collaborated with Johnson on a church in Houston, Texas, contributing 14 related works in an installation setting. The church has subsequently become known as "The Rothko Chapel". Numerous other works are scattered in museums throughout the world.
Rothko, along with other nonrepresentational painters, is alleged to have been favored by the CIA through arts institutions during the 1950s. The support was part of a Cold War campaign to steer global intellectual culture of both left and right away from Communism, on the principle that it would stand little chance of becoming political Agitprop, in contrast to American representational fine art of the time which, descended from arts of the Great Depression, New Deal economic reconstruction, and World War II, frequently had overt social or political agendas. The allegations are controversial in hindsight, but for the implications the campaign has on global intellectual culture [1], rather than for the quality of the research[2].
Suicide and legacy
After a long struggle with depression, Rothko committed suicide by cutting his wrists in his New York studio on February 25, 1970. Additionally the settlement of his estate became the subject of the famous Rothko Case.
In early November, 2005, Rothko's 1953 oil on canvas painting, "Homage to Matisse," broke the record selling price of any post-war painting at US $22.5 million dollars.
A previously unpublished manuscript by Rothko about his philosophies on art, entitled The Artist's Reality, has been edited by his son, Christopher Rothko, and is to be issued by Yale University Press in 2006. [3]
References
- Chave, Anne. "Mark Rothko, 1903-1970: A Retrospective". New Haven: Yale University Press, 1989.
External links
- National Gallery web feature on Mark Rothko includes an overview of Rothko's career, numerous examples of his art, a biography of the artist
- People's history: Mark Rothko biography including information on his radical political views
- Rothko Syracuse, NY based band inspired by Mark Rothko's work