The Rothko Chapel Paintings

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.

The paintings executed in 1964-1967 by American artist Mark Rothko for the Rothko Chapel in Houston represent the fulfillment of the artist's lifelong ambition and a breakthrough in twentieth-century art. Unlike previous sets of paintings commissioned for the Seagram Building and Harvard University, the Chapel commission allowed Rothko to determine the architectural setting and lighting in which the paintings would appear. This proved to be the catalyst for a new mode of pictorial dynamics based on a kind of interaction of paintings, architecture, and light previously unknown. No painting in the set could be understood in isolation from the rest or apart from its place in the architectural setting. The Rothko Chapel Paintingsexplores this interdependence of paintings and place. As viewers move about the Chapel's octagonal enclosure, over whose walls the fourteen panels are continuously distributed, they discover systems of pictorial interactions which become the terms or characters of a cosmological drama in which the viewer is a necessary participant. In the act of vision, the embodied viewer is prompted not merely to witness but also to reenact that questioning of human destiny which has preoccupied the Western spiritual tradition.

A celebration of Houston's Rothko Chapel on its fiftieth anniversary, featuring work by contemporary artists responding to its continuing impact​ Artists and the Rothko Chapel celebrates the legacy of the Rothko Chapel in Houston and globally since its founding in 1971. It features recent work by four contemporary artists who have drawn inspiration from the Chapel--Sam Gilliam, Sheila Hicks, Shirazeh Houshiary, and Byron Kim--and illustrates the 1975 exhibition Marden, Novros, Rothko: Painting in the Age of Actuality shown at Rice University. The volume includes interviews with Brice Marden and David Novros, statements from the artists about their work's relationship to the Chapel, and reflections from local figures on spirituality, identity, and equality. With new photography of the installations and of the recently restored Chapel, this book is a testament to the enduring impact of the non-denominational space Rothko created.

This deeply personal account of emotion and vulnerability draws upon anecdotes related to individual works of art to present a chronicle of how people have shown emotion before works of art in the past.

This elegant collection commemorates the timeless words and inspired thoughts of Dominique de Menil, a woman whose life's task was to inspire a better world. With her husband John, Dominique founded the inter-religious Rothko Chapel in Houston in 1971. The de Menils' dream was for the Chapel to promote interfaith dialogue, human rights, and the arts. They famously commissioned the artist Mark Rothko to create a suite of paintings specifically for the Chapel. Gathered here is a selection of de Menil's thought-provoking speeches, interviews, letters, and other commentaries, beginning with her inaugural address for the Rothko Chapel and concluding with remarks she offered at a human rights award ceremony in 1997. The writings testify to de Menil's profound belief in the transcendent dimension of life and in the motivating power of the principles of truth and justice. More relevant today than ever, her visionary ideas seem both prescient and deeply important in the strife-ridden world of the 21st century.

Mark Rothko, one of the greatest painters of the twentieth century, was born in the Jewish Pale of Settlement in 1903. He immigrated to the United States at age ten, taking with him his Talmudic education and his memories of pogroms and persecutions in Russia. His integration into American society began with a series of painful experiences, especially as a student at Yale, where he felt marginalized for his origins and ultimately left the school. The decision to become an artist led him to a new phase in his life. Early in his career, Annie Cohen-Solal writes, “he became a major player in the social struggle of American artists, and his own metamorphosis benefited from the unique transformation of the U.S. art world during this time.” Within a few decades, he had forged his definitive artistic signature, and most critics hailed him as a pioneer. The numerous museum shows that followed in major U.S. and European institutions ensured his celebrity. But this was not enough for Rothko, who continued to innovate. Ever faithful to his habit of confronting the establishment, he devoted the last decade of his life to cultivating his new conception of art as an experience, thanks to the commission of a radical project, the Rothko Chapel in Houston, Texas. Cohen-Solal’s fascinating biography, based on considerable archival research, tells the unlikely story of how a young immigrant from Dvinsk became a crucial transforming agent of the art world—one whose legacy prevails to this day.

“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.