Mark+Rothko

**Mark Rothko** was a Russian-American man who was one of the most well respected, abstract-expressionist painters of his time, and is still considered such today; "If people want sacred experiences they will find them here. If they want profane experiences they'll find them too. I take no sides ."-Rothko

=‍B ‍iography=

Mark Rothko was born in what is now Daugavpils, Latvia, formerly Russia, as Mark Rothkowitz, but did not adopt his professional name until 1940. His family immigrated to Portland, Oregon, in 1913, and he attended Yale University from 1921 to 1923, leaving before he received a degree. In the mid-1920s, he joined the Art Student League, learning technique from Max Weber an American painter known for starting the modernism movement, and whose contemporaries included Gertrude Stein and Pablo Picasso. Rothko's artistic technique changed dramatically over the course of his career, moving from clearly defined subjects, heavily influenced by mythology and symbols, in which he titled and explained the thought behind his work, to abstraction and surrealism. The paintings he is best known for came afterwards, when he no longer titled nor explained the meaning of his works. "The late 1940s and early 1950s saw the emergence of Rothko’s mature style, in which frontal, luminous rectangles seem to hover on the canvas surface."

In the late 1960's, Rothko had a myriad of health issues including aortic aneurysm, liver issues, depression, and emphysema. Rothko's marriage issues also escalated, leading to a divorce. Rothko moved into his studio in 1969 after the divorce. On February 25th, 1970, Mark Rothko committed suicide in his studio by cutting his wrists with razor blades. His assistant, Oliver Steinbeck discovered his body and alerted the authorities. It was also found out afterwards that he had also overdosed on chloral hydrate, a sedative. Mark Rothko was 66 years old when he died.

=Abstract Expressionism=

Mark Rothko is respected as one of the most talented abstract-expressionist artists, although he did not appreciate being titled as such. In 1943, Rothko wrote, “I insist upon the equal existence of the world engendered in the mind and the world engendered by God outside of it. If I have faltered in the use of familiar objects, it is because I refuse to mutilate their appearance for the sake of an action which they are too old to serve, or for which perhaps they had never been intended. I quarrel with surrealists and abstract art only as one quarrels with his father and mother; recognizing the inevitability and function of my roots, but insistent upon my dissent; I, being both they, and an integral completely independent of them" . During the late 1940's, Rothko's paintings became less mythological and more abstract. This style became Rothko's signature work and was appreciated by critics.

The birth of Abstract Impressionism as an art form is generally attributed to the artists Clyfford Still, Robert Motherwell, Jackson Pollock, Willem De Kooning and Mark Rothko, though other artists such as Adolph Gottlieb, Franz Kline and Barnett Newman are included in the movement, which began in the 1930s and coalesced in the post World War II era. Perhaps the best way to describe the art form is as such: "These lyrical abstract pictures could never be as purely abstracted formally and as universally expressive thematically as Rothko's and Pollock's dramatically abstract expressionist paintings. Initially, subject matter for the abstract impressionists came from mythology and primitive cultures, and later progressed to an emphasis on technique, such as the paint splatter of Pollock or the luminous, rectangular color blocks of Rothko". Both Rothko and Pollock produced large paintings, yet another hallmark of the art form. While their paintings may appear to be free of subject matter, the abstract expressionists insisted that it was present. "In a famous letter to the //New York Times// (June 1943), Gottlieb and Rothko, with the assistance of Newman, wrote: 'To us, art is an adventure into an unknown world of the imagination which is fancy-free and violently opposed to common sense. There is no such thing as a good painting about nothing. We assert that the subject is critical. Textures in the surface of the painting were experimented with as well, although Rothko shied from this, relying on the smudging of color to convey conceptual movement. Rothko's use of color is perhaps the most indicative of the abstract impressionist philosophy to produce art "far more elemental and arcane, and to begin again from first principles.- endquote?

=‍A ‍rtistic Development =

In his earlier works, Rothko's use of mythology and symbolism is evident. The defined subject matter, discrete lines, and titling are also apparent. About his work Rothko said, "There is no such thing as a good painting about nothing," he said. "The subject is crucial and only that subject matter is valid which is tragic and timeless ." During the beginning of his career, Rothko used mythological themes to make his paintings relate to something he felt was important. His use of rather neutral coloring is also noted, as this changed dramatically in his later pieces.

As his work progressed, the blurring of subject matter and lines became apparent. The use of mythology and symbols in Rothko's work fades. Although, he is still titling and explaining the meaning of his work. About this Rothko says, "We favor the simple expression of the complex thought. We are for the large shape because it has the impact of the unequivocal. We wish to reassert the picture plane. We are for flat forms because they destroy illusion and reveal truth ." Here, Rothko began using the blurred technique that he perfected in his later work. Yet again, it may be noticed that he uses neutral, light colors within this painting. However, he is still using direct objects here. Abstraction begins to appear in his subject matter, which becomes less defined and no longer is defined by his earlier influences of mythology and symbology. His works are no longer titled. All referential meaning is lost as Rothko turns towards abstraction in his art. To differentiate this middle era of Rothko's paintings, these pieces were called "multiforms" The multiforms retain some of the linearity of lines that Rothko played with before, but start to shift towards Rothko's later asymmetric blocks of color style; "Since my pictures are large, colorful, and unframed, and since museum walls are usually immense and formidable, there is the danger that the pictures relate themselves as decorative areas to the walls ." "Despite their large size, however, his paintings derived a remarkable sense of intimacy from the play of nuances within local colour ." Rothko has begun experimenting with the blurred style for which he is later known. He begins using abstraction as a technique to engage viewers, but in this painting, he still retains some of the lines and near-objects that are seen in earlier paintings.

By the 1950s, Rothko starts defining his trademark artist style of high abstraction and square-rectangular shapes. He restricts his paintings to a few blocks of color, and starts arranging these blocks vertically against a colored background. Rothko now no longer interprets his work, refusing to explain the meaning behind his paintings and leaves the inspiration and meaning to the viewer. "Silence is so accurate," he said, fearing that words would only paralyze the viewer's mind and imagination. This painting uses the style of blurred color blocks that Rothko is best known for. He intentionally makes this his style, because he feels that the viewer is able to better understand his painting for its obscurity. He continues to use light, bright colors within this piece.

His use of colors begins to darken, and the luminous panels so accurately described by the Guggenheim Museum are classically attributed to his work. With some exceptions, the darkened palette continued to dominate Rothko's work well into the 1960s. He developed a painstaking technique of overlaying colors until, in the words of art historian Dore Ashton, "his surfaces were velvety as poems of the night. Rothko says, "The fact that people break down and cry when confronted with my pictures shows that I can communicate those basic human emotions.. The people who weep before my pictures are having the same religious experience I had when painting them. And if you say you are moved only by their color relationships then you miss the point ." During this point in his life, Rothko began wrestling with depression. He finds himself attempting to express these dark emotions by painting, and as such he uses a darker color scheme than seen in many of his original works. In so doing, he is able to capture the agony of pain within his paintings.

By the end of his career, most of his works are formed with dark colors, attributed to the before mentioned depression. Yet supporters and even Rothko himself refutes this. "Until the end of his life Rothko continued to maintain that his work was not a form of self-expression but a means of communicating his ideas about the condition of mankind." The "Black on Grey" series, the last works he painted, featured some techniques not seen in his previous works. He used white gesso as a base layer, forming an outline to the black and gray acrylic paint and underlying it as well, creating a dark luminosity that set the series distinctly apart from his brighter colored series. In addition, his later works tended to be themed color series, rather than single paintings; "If you are only moved by color relationships [in my paintings], you are missing the point. I am interested in expressing the big emotions - tragedy, ecstasy, doom ." This is a further example of Rothko using the darker colors to express his internal pain. In addition to this, Rothko felt that he was capturing the pain and existence of mankind within his paintings. Rothko's final painting is bleak- but all the more tragic for it. This painting expresses the pain within humanity.

=Videos=

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=References=

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