Mark Rothko

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Well, I was browsing through a recent postage stamp catalog published by the US Postal Service (USA Philatelic, 2010 vol. 15, 2nd quarter), and there were some nice stamps in there, including the new Animal Rescue stamps. Then I came upon page 10 in the catalog with the new stamps devoted to the work of the abstract expressionists. I had seen these before but not looked closely. Now, scanning the stamp designs, I saw that one was based on Mark Rothko's painting Orange and Yellow (oil on canvas, 91" x 71", 1956; now in the Albright-Knox Art Gallery). There, on this small stamp, was a miniature version of the giant canvas of yellow and orange, worth millsions and now considered to be one of the many great works from this abstract expressionist.

Strange that this Rothko painting reminded me of seeing the remarkable Jackson Pollock painting (Lavender Mist) in the East Building of the National Gallery of Art years ago, at the east Bulding of the National Gallery of Art, but I do not remember seeing the Rothko canvases there, and the National Gallery holds quite a collection.

That got me to wondering, especially after I had spent some time looking at hundreds of two-tone (or multi-colored) rectangular canvases done by Rothko, just what exactly defines an artist, or who has the power to determine what is art and what is simply some paint on a canvas. Remember art collectors are paying an awful lot of money to purchase a Rothko painting. (72.8 million dollars in 2007) I think that I am willing to extend the definition to great lengths but remain unsure exactly where the boundary lies. I guess it may be how much you are willing to get someone to pony up for something that you created.

That being said, there is something about the size of Rothko's paintings--they are not for the faint of heart--and you had better have a pretty large wall if you purchase one. Rothko painted on large canvases,often measured in feet, not inches. The famous "Seagram Murals," which he began working on in 1958, are each a little larger than 9' x 10'--yes, that is feet not inches. That forces the viewer into a different perspective to understand the art..

In the course, we have a variety of sites devoted to modern (post-1945) artists and art: Jackson Pollock, Jasper Johns, Andy Warhol, Frida Kahlo, Keith Haring, Bauhaus and the Gothic Movement, Art in South Africa and Animé and Manga. Some of these artists were abstract expressionists and some were pop artists, and some were neither; and some fit different categories at different times in their lives, but they all helped to shape the cultural landscape of the last sixty years.

So the assigment question is:

 

Books:

Websites

Image:

No.5

No. 5/No. 22 (1950) that is 9 foot by 8 foot

1953 Untitled

http://www.nga.gov/feature/rothko/classic6.shtm Mark Rothko, Untitled,1953, National Gallery of Art, Gift of The Mark Rothko Foundation, Inc., 1983.43.135

Rothko

National portrait gallery image:http://www.npg.si.edu/img2/rebels/rothko.jpg Same iamge information at Image of Rothko at work 1952 via Smithsonian http://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/searchimages/images/item_2504.htm

Rothko

Rothko at work, 1954 via Smithsonian

1949

Hirshorn has some at http://hirshhorn.si.edu/search.asp?search=rothko See for example, Number 24

1949

Mark Rothko Number 24, 1949 Oil on canvas
88 1/2 X 57 1/2 IN. (224.0 X 146.1 CM.)

Gift of Joseph H. Hirshhorn, 1966

Accession Number: 66.4419

 

 

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