Writings on Art

by Mark Rothko, Miguel López-Remiro (Editor)

While the collected writings of many major 20th-century artists, including Barnett Newman, Robert Motherwell, and Ad Reinhardt, have been published, Mark Rothko’s writings have only recently come to light, beginning with the critically acclaimed The Artist’s Reality: Philosophies of Art. Rothko’s other written works have yet to be brought together into a major publication. Writings on Art fills this significant void; it includes some 90 documents—including short essays, letters, statements, and lectures—written by Rothko over the course of his career. The texts are fully annotated, and a chronology of the artist’s life and work is also included.

This provocative compilation of both published and unpublished writings from 1934--69 reveals a number of things about Rothko: the importance of writing for an artist who many believed had renounced the written word; the meaning of transmission and transition that he experienced as an art teacher at the Brooklyn Jewish Center Academy; his deep concern for meditation and spirituality; and his private relationships with contemporary artists (including Newman, Motherwell, and Clyfford Still) as well as journalists and curators.

As was revealed in Rothko’s The Artist’s Reality, what emerges from this collection is a more detailed picture of a sophisticated, deeply knowledgeable, and philosophical artist who was also a passionate and articulate writer.

Genres: Art, Nonfiction, Essays, Philosophy, Biography

172 pages, Hardcover

First published December 1, 2002

About the author

American painter of Latvian Jewish descent. He immigrated with his family from Dvinsk (now part of Latvia, then part of the Russian Empire) to the United States in 1913 when he was 10 years old.

Reviews

[Οδυσσέας Μουζίλης · Rating 4 out of 5]

Μεγάλος καλλιτέχνης!

https://pepperlines.blogspot.gr/2018/...

[Stevie Howell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rothko was so disinclined to write about his work that there is some necessary filler/ephemera in here. I glossed over many letters about weather, construction, buying cars, etc., even if they were to Barnett Newman. That said, the good stuff in here is great & worth its weight in saffron.

His early notes about teaching art to children, which he did from 1929-1952, reveal enormous insights into his influences & his process. Another highlight is his speech to Yale in earning an honorary degree, a presentation that outlined his 7 points for what art should be. Rothko is always depicted as hostile but this lecture is an enormous act of generosity.

An essay by a writer from Harpers, who was befriended by Rothko on a boat specifically b/c he had to relationship w/the art world--this is a wonderful portrait. Unlike critics, the author cones to know Rothko's work as an extension of the man. For someone so adverse to describing himself, Rothko was infinitely quotable. A line like "I've been painting Greek temples all my life & never knew it" is as provocative as it is haunting.

[Simone · Rating 3 out of 5]

as an anthology, it is repetitive, baffling, and poorly cobbled together. who wants to read every letter rothko sent to a gallery owner in his life about the logistics of shipping a painting? however, rothko’s words themselves are indispensable and so it sort of evens out at the end.

[Katherine · Rating 1 out of 5]

Rothko's art is captivating and I wanted to get more insight into the way he thought. This book should do that, but I found it very dense. It's a challenging book, I didn't like reading it and I didn't feel I got a lot out of it for the effort. Sometimes those are the books you have to turn around in your mind a bit, go back, reread, and eventually synthesize. I hope that happens with that book. I wouldn't recommend it to someone trying to understand Rothko yet, but perhaps in a few months.

[Simone Subliminalpop · Rating 3 out of 5]

Le stelle sarebbero quattro, se solo non fosse così breve.

"Oggi l'artista non è più condizionato dal presupposto che l'intera esistenza di una persona sia espressa dal suo aspetto esteriore. Libero dalla necessità di rappresentare esteriormente un particolare individuo, l'artista vede aprirsi davanti a sé infinite possibilità. Il suo modello viene così a coincidere con la totalità dell'esperienza umana. In questo senso si può affermare che l'arte intera altro non è che il ritratto di un'idea." - Mark Rothko

[Milla Gutierrez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Quedé emocionalmente unida a este compilado

[Andrea Samorini · Rating 4 out of 5]

…
Una nuova accademia sta ripetendo un vecchio gioco: cercar di creare qualcosa inventandosene il nome.
…
_______________________________

Alcuni artisti vogliono dire tutto. Ma io credo che sia più profondo dire poco. I mier dipinti vengono a volte chiamati «facciate», e in effetti lo sono.
[Rothko elenca alcuni «ingredienti» che ritiene necessari alla pittura.]
Una chiara consapevolezza della morte. Tutta l'arte è in rapporto con la morte.
Sensualità, indispensabile per rappresentare il mondo in modo concreto.
Tensione, ossia conflitti o desideri che nell'arte sono dominati nel momento stesso in cui si manifestano.
Ironia, un ingrediente moderno (i greci non ne avevano bisogno). Una forma di cancellazione di sé, e al tempo stesso di autoanalisi, con cui l'uomo può, almeno per un istante, sfuggire al proprio destino.
Arguzia, umorismo.
Qualche grammo di effimero e qualche grammo di casuale.
Un dieci per cento di speranza... Solo se ne avete bisogno; i greci non ne avevano.
Dipingo quadri di grandi dimensioni perché desidero creare una situazione di intimità. Un quadro di grandi dimensioni provoca una transazione immediata che ingloba l'osservatore al suo interno.
Frammenti tratti dagli appunti presi da Dore Ashton alla conferenza tenuta da Rothko al Pratt Institute di Brooklyn il 27 ottobre 1958. Pubblicati in un articolo di Dore Ashton in «Cimaise», dicembre 1958.

[pher · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rothko, when I first felt you I was in Boston six years ago. I was running away from all the noise I heard inside the museum. I was tired of feeling alone. I hid in a black room where I could see your black, purple canvas. I sat down and for the first time in my life I felt scale was consuming me into the space and I felt I was drowning but couldn’t move from where I was. For the first time after 4 months of not feeling nothing I felt alive, I felt human again in front of you. Your gigantic canvas drowning me and make me want to breathe! God I felt I could scream, could cry, could feel!

I ran away from your canvas the moment I felt tears touching my cheeks. I looked around and I was alone. I never understood what happened that day until I’m reading your letters. I can finally name what I lived that day, and Mr. Rothko, your canvas made me feel human again. Thank , thank you.

[blancasanchxz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Serás despreciado por pintar series de planos de color fáciles y rápidos de ejecutar sin ningún tipo de esfuerzo, que cualquiera podría hacer, pero que nadie sabría argumentarlo, ignorando que no solo pintase colores, ni que tampoco eres abstracto ni expresionista, ni que confiabas tus cuadros como joyas preciadas.

Cada vez durante meses que iba a la librería veía esta unidad de libro, esperándome. Se ve que es poco demandado.

He leído mucho sobre ti, pero es aquí donde he encontrado respuestas.

[Kathleen Quaintance · Rating 1 out of 5]

so shitty: chock-full of racism, sexism, and classism. if you like pretentiousness, really tired cartesian dualism and an incorrect mansplanation of literally all the art of antiquity, read this...

[aaaaaaayse · Rating 4 out of 5]

cant use the figure without mutilating it, dont use the figure, wall sized rectangles, kill yourself
genius

some personal letters were uninteresting to me appreciate it nonetheless

[Rom1noteleslivres · Rating 3 out of 5]

Oui bon les lettres oú il dit à son meilleur ami qu'il sirote une bière au bord d’un lac je suis pas sûr de l’intérêt

[Loki · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some insightful and interesting writing about art in this book -- however, it is interspersed with correspondences that would have been better put in a different book.. because they're not about art.

[Misty · Rating 4 out of 5]

very inspirational stuff. every pre-school teacher should read this.

[Catherine Corman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nor could the solitude be overcome. It could gather on beaches and streets and in parks only through coincidence

-Rothko

[rambavambs · Rating 3 out of 5]

gaidīju, ko vairāk.
bet tas varbūt tas over-hype iespaids šaizemē.

[Antonio Margal · Rating 5 out of 5]

Inspiración para cualquier artista.

[Ffiamma · Rating 4 out of 5]

"preferisco essere prodigo piuttosto che avaro, al punto che preferirei conferire attributi antropomorfi a una pietra piuttosto che disumanizzare la più esigua possibilità di coscienza"

[Rafa · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a tedious book, and a very interesting book. Boredom will be the price for you to pay in order to enter the fascinating world of Rothko. I would read it again, but ... 3 stars.