Mark Rothko’s 105th Birthday Today
Sep 25th, 2008 by Brad
Today is Mark Rothko’s birthday, September 25th. It has been 105 years since he was born.
Rothko’s work must be seen in person. Little jpgs just are blocks of color, but his paintings are really so much more. Rothko painted intimate paintings, that is why there were painted so large. He once said that the ideal viewing distance was 18 inches. I’d suggested seeing work in person and just standing looking at one for half a minute then explore the painting. It can be amazing.
Now that I’m living in both New York and Portland I get both of these connections. Rothko attended Lincoln high school in Portland and had his first solo show at the Portland Art Museum in 1933. He spent the rest of his life in New York. The Portland Art Museum (PAM) should really get a major Rothko. Any big collector willing to step up for a permanent one?
I can spend lots of time looking at his work. I can lose myself in a very good way. Regardless of what is happening or who is talking around me, I can often feel solitary in front of a Rothko.
It was great to see Rothko’s “Homage to Matisse” visit PAM. Matisse’s use of color profoundly influenced Rothko. When Matisse’s “Red Studio” was installed at MoMA in 1949, Rothko visited it every day for months. By the end of that year, Rothko’s work that was started in 1946 became more clearly what we all recognize. At one point Rothko told his 2nd wife that he owed his achievements in art to Matisse and especially “Red Studio”.
A couple of years ago I visited the Rothko Chapel in Houston. There is a writeup in the guardian about a visit to the Rothko Chapel that is worth a read: http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2008/sep/01/art
As I right this I’m listening to Mogwai’s new album “The Hawk is Howling.” The songs somehow fit how I feel sometimes when I’m in front of his paintings. I think I’m going to have to put it on my shuffle and head over to MoMA this week.
I’ll end this with a couple of Rothko’s quotes:
“A picture lives by companionship, expanding and quickening in the eyes of the sensitive observer, it dies by the same token. It is therefore it is a risky act to send it out into the world.” Mark Rothko
“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.” Mark Rothko
“And if you say you are moved only by their color relationships then you miss the point.” Mark Rothko
…on need to demolish the usual identity of things
“in order to destroy the finite associations with which our society increasingly enshrouds every aspect of our environment.” Mark Rothko
