Abstract art, pointless painting are not amenable to cold sober analysis. The work of such an artist as Rothko Mark, whose paintings do not contain a hint of objects from the real world - is abstract in its purest form. Logic and the search for familiar analogies can interfere with the viewer in perceiving Rothko’s self-expression method, in the search for which the artist has traveled a long and difficult road.
Finding Your Way
Markus Yakovlevich Rotkovich was born in 1903 in the town of Dvinsk in the Vitebsk province (now the Latvian Daugavpils). After 10 years, his family emigrated to America, and he had to go through many life trials. He did not immediately find his way in life, accidentally falling into the artistic environment. In the 30s and 40s of the last century, it was the United States that became the center for the development of avant-garde art - abstractionists from the totalitarian states of Europe were forced out here.
In 1938, the artist adopted the name Rothko Mark. He created the paintings of that period under the influence of the cubo-futurist Mark Weber (1881-1961) and the surrealist Arshile Gorky (1904-1948). The search for his path took Rothko a long time. He went through periods of hobbies and figurative painting: he painted portraits and city landscapes ("Woman Sewing", 1935, "In the Underground", 1938). Surrealistic motives in his work were strengthened by his enthusiasm for new philosophical ideas: interest in the unconscious, in the inner world of an individual, in the automatism of the expression of emotions and impressions.
First, the era of the Great Depression, then the premonition of a new world war created an atmosphere in society in which traditional landmarks were lost. The artist seeks support in mythological subjects (Antigone, 1941, Hierarchical Birds, 1945), and then comes to absolutely pointless painting.
From the beginning of the 50s, such an artistic phenomenon as Rothko was finally formed. Mark, whose paintings were two or three parallel rectangles, found his way. Color field painting - such a definition was found by critics for the Rothko method.
Simple form for complex ideas
The artist himself did not like to explain his paintings and could not stand it when others did it. He did not try to reveal the idea in words, therefore, in the museum rooms, where Mark Rothko is represented, there are paintings with names in the form of serial numbers and creation dates.
He could not accept when he was called an abstractionist, because he considered his paintings a reflection of real life, living organisms looking for contact with the viewer.
He negatively related to the opinion of himself as an artist - “colorist”, although he always carefully worked with color, even manually rubbed pigments to achieve the desired color and consistency. He considered more important the ratio of masses and volumes of those blocks that made up his composition.
Painting like a theater
In his youth, Rothko wanted to seriously engage in dramatic art and almost enrolled in acting classes. He often called his compositions dramas, and it is easy to imagine them with stage decorations. This can explain another aspect of the influence of Rothko's paintings on the audience.
Many note the extraordinary involvement in the space of painting. To display his works, the artist chose a dim artificial light, almost twilight. And the distance from which he recommended looking at the picture, Rothko determined at 18 inches (45 cm). Given the visual vibration of the border of colored blocks, the heterogeneity of the paint coating (sometimes multi-layer), we can explain the occurrence of movement deep into the space of the picture, giving rise to additional vivid emotions.
Capella Rothko
How important the organization of the space of the picture and the ways of perceiving his painting were for the artist can be understood from the history of his work on the design of the chapel of the church at the Institute of Religion in Houston. Huge murals written for the chapel are located in a room designed according to Rothko's wishes. Mark, whose paintings in this case are almost monochrome, participated in the design and lighting of the hall.
The church, of which the chapel became a part, does not belong to a specific religion and is dedicated to God. A meditative atmosphere detached from the mundane fills the octagonal hall with a light source located in the dome. In this room and placed Mark Rothko paintings. The photo shows how much such an exposure makes.
A long way to recognition
The personal life circumstances of the artist were not easy. Long years of poverty, the disbelief of the closest people in his talent strongly influenced him, so the work of Mark Rothko can hardly be called optimistic. Even compositions of blocks of bright and warm colors evoke strong dramatic emotions. The expression of tragedy in the life of society and each individual is called the main theme of the artist.
Death as the last picture
In the late 60s came fame, money, but diseases, family troubles fell on me. February 25, 1970 the artist committed suicide by opening his veins. Mark Rothko - paintings, photos with him were filled in by all the newspapers and magazines - signed his last work ...
They say that he could not imagine how his paintings were bought just for interior decoration. After working for two years on an order for the most expensive restaurant in New York, Rothko returned the advance payment and refused to work when he introduced the chewing rich men who glanced at his panel.
The world's best collections of contemporary art cannot be imagined without paintings written by Mark Rothko. “Orange, Red, Yellow”, “White Center” - unthinkable millions of dollars were paid for these paintings at auctions. These figures especially excite the townsfolk who see only unevenly painted spots, who do not bother to take a step towards new ideas and emotions. And how much is freedom, how much is the emotional pain of a person and an artist?