Mark Rothko: A Retrospective

by Diane Waldman

The pioneer of abstract colour painting is documented here. Rothko's childhood, his student days at Yale, his early career, and his crucial role in the development of the New York School of Abstract Expressionism are described, and the progression of his work analyzed.

Genres: Art, Nonfiction

304 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 1978

Reviews

[Aaron · Rating 3 out of 5]

The commentary is informative and interesting and is well-written throughout. The reproductions of the paintings are mostly great, but why in the world did they not go ahead and get color reproductions of all of them? The color prints looked amazing but the ones printed in grayscale seemed pointless. I got this from the library so I'm not too disappointed but I wouldn't own this book because of that.

[Ed Smiley · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a general note, I am very pleased with the care Taschen puts into their art books.

The book gave a very good precis of Rothko's life in a small volume. This is a slim and affordable book, but the illustrations are incredibly well chosen, and the color printing is just fabulous. The version I bought was a trade paperback.

With Rothko's work, much relies on subtle flutterings of hue and value and luminous variations of nearly monochrome fields, and merely good illustrations would lose so much. The selections give a good representation of Rothko's work, especially his signature style, and enough of his earlier work to give a good flavor of his development.

If I were rating just the color reproductions I would give it 5 stars.

[Tim Earp · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you’re looking for a bio on Mark Rothko, I would recommend this over the Breslin bio. Breslin bio will put you to sleep. This one is much more concise and less psychoanalytical.
Plus - lots of color plates!!