Rothko

“Sumptuously illustrated with reproductions of 50 paintings, this book celebrates the rich artistic legacy of American artist Mark Rothko” (Publishers Weekly). Mark Rothko’s iconic paintings are some of the most profound works of twentieth-century Abstract Expressionism. This collection presents fifty large-scale artworks from the American master’s color field period (1949–1970) alongside essays by Rothko’s son, Christopher Rothko, and San Francisco Museum of Modern Art curator of painting and sculpture, Janet Bishop. Featuring illuminating details about Rothko’s life, influences, and legacy, and brimming with the emotional power and expressive color of his groundbreaking canvases, this essential volume brings the renowned artist’s luminous work to light for both longtime Rothko fans and those discovering his work for the first time.

I am interested only in expressing basic human emotions - tragedy, ecstasy, doom, - Mark Rothko (1903 - 1970) said of his paintings. If you are moved only by their colour relationships, then you miss the point. Throughout his career, Rothko was concerned with what other people experienced when they looked at his canvases. As his work shifted from figurative imagery to luminous fields of colour, his concern expanded to the setting in which his paintings were exhibited.

"Mark Rothko (1903-1970), world-renowned icon of Abstract Expressionism, is rediscovered in this wholly original examination of his art and life written by his son. Synthesizing rigorous critique with personal anecdotes, Christopher, the younger of the artist's two children, offers a unique perspective on this modern master. Christopher Rothko draws on an intimate knowledge of the artworks to present eighteen essays that look closely at the paintings and explore the ways in which they foster a profound connection between viewer and artist through form, color, and scale. The prominent commissions for the Rothko Chapel in Houston and the Seagram Building murals in New York receive extended treatment, as do many of the lesser-known and underappreciated aspects of Rothko's oeuvre, including reassessments of his late dark canvases and his formidable body of works on paper. The author also discusses the artist's writings of the 1930s and 1940s, the significance of music to the artist, and our enduring struggles with visual abstraction in the contemporary era. Finally, Christopher Rothko writes movingly about his role as the artist's son, his commonalities with his father, and the terms of the relationship they forged during the writer's childhood." -- Publisher's description.

An overview of the life and work of artist Mark Rothko, this volume exhibits his mythological content, simple flat shapes, and imagery inspired by primitive art.

Mark Rothko’s classic book on artistic practice, ideals, and philosophy, now with an expanded introduction and an afterword by Makoto Fujimura Stored in a New York City warehouse for many years after the artist’s death, this extraordinary manuscript by Mark Rothko (1903–1970) was published to great acclaim in 2004. Probably written in 1940 or 1941, it contains Rothko’s ideas on the modern art world, art history, myth, beauty, the challenges of being an artist in society, the true nature of “American art,” and much more. In his introduction, illustrated with examples of Rothko’s work and pages from the manuscript, the artist’s son, Christopher Rothko, describes the discovery of the manuscript and the fascinating process of its initial publication. This edition includes discussion of Rothko’s “Scribble Book” (1932), his notes on teaching art to children, which has received renewed scholarly attention in recent years and provides clues to the genesis of Rothko’s thinking on pedagogy. In an afterword written for this edition, artist and author Makoto Fujimura reflects on how Rothko’s writings offer a “lifeboat” for “art world refugees” and a model for upholding artistic ideals. He considers the transcendent capacity of Rothko’s paintings to express pure ideas and the significance of the decade-long gap between The Artist’s Reality and Rothko’s mature paintings, during which the horrors of the Holocaust and the atomic bomb were unleashed upon the world.

A book of heroic dimensions, this is the first full-length biography of one of the greatest artists of the twentieth century—a man as fascinating, difficult, and compelling as the paintings he produced. Drawing on exclusive access to Mark Rothko's personal papers and over one hundred interviews with artists, patrons, and dealers, James Breslin tells the story of a life in art—the personal costs and professional triumphs, the convergence of genius and ego, the clash of culture and commerce. Breslin offers us not only an enticing look at Rothko as a person, but delivers a lush, in-depth portrait of the New York art scene of the 1930s, ’40s, and ’50s—the world of Abstract Expressionism, of Pollock, Rothko, de Kooning, and Klein, which would influence artists for generations to come. "In Breslin, Rothko has the ideal biographer—thorough but never tedious, a good storyteller with an ear for the spoken word, fond but not fawning, and possessed of a most rare ability to comment on non-representational art without sounding preposterous."—Robert Kiely, Boston Book Review "Breslin impressively recreates Mark Rothko's troubled nature, his tormented life, and his disturbing canvases. . . . The artist's paintings become almost tangible within Breslin's pages, and Rothko himself emerges as an alarming physical force."—Robert Warde, Hungry Mind Review "This remains beyond question the finest biography so far devoted to an artist of the New York School."-Arthur C. Danto, Boston Sunday Globe "Clearly written, full of intelligent insights, and thorough."—Hayden Herrera, Art in America "Breslin spent seven years working on this book, and he has definitely done his homework."-Nancy M. Barnes, Boston Phoenix "He's made the tragedy of his subject's life the more poignant."—Eric Gibson, The New Criterion "Mr. Breslin's book is, in my opinion, the best life of an American painter that has yet been written . . . a biographical classic. It is painstakingly researched, fluently written and unfailingly intelligent in tracing the tragic course of its subject's tormented character."—Hilton Kramer, New York Times Book Review, front page review James E. B. Breslin (1936-1996) was professor of English at the University of California, Berkeley, and author of From Modern to Contemporary: American Poetry, 1945-1965 and William Carlos Williams: An American Artist.

This is the first volume of the catalogue raisonne of the work of Mark Rothko, the abstract artist. It documents Rothko's entire output of paintings on canvas and panel, reproducing all the works in colour. An introductory text investigates the essential features of Rothko's art.

A first look at the recently restored Rothko Chapel, a world-renowned destination for spiritual renewal, with all-new photography and scholarship of the renovated building and campus, published on the occasion of its 50th anniversary. The Rothko Chapel--home to 14 monumental modernist paintings by the pioneer Abstract Expressionist Mark Rothko--is an interfaith sacred space dedicated to global human rights, art, and spirituality, located in Houston. The Chapel was founded in 1971 by arts patrons and philanthropists Dominique and John de Menil, who placed their utmost faith in Rothko's vision to express the profound, the miraculous, and regard for the sanctity of the human spirit in this oasis for the intellect and the spirit. Through photographic testimony and the insights of scholars, this large-format volume gives an intimate look at this sacred space, where visitors seek solace and inspiration within this truly ecumenical sanctuary featuring Rothko's iconic paintings. Pamela Smart discusses the spiritual side and Stephen Fox puts the architecture in the context of Houston. The Chapel has been reworked within an expanded campus to enhance the experience for its many visitors. As viewers sit in stillness or move about the Chapel's serene octagonal enclosure, the reinstalled skylight better reveals the nuances of Rothko's powerful panels and allows for better connection to the outdoors as conditions shift, such as when clouds pass above.