What did unite them was a rebellious feeling of raw emotion, the perception of immediacy of expression and the fact that each of them was an artistic free spirit.
Born from an appreciation and subsequent rejection of the modern techniques of early 20th century Europe such as surrealism, cubism and Bauhaus, the term "abstract expressionism" was first used in the late 's to describe the work of Russian painter Wassily Kandinsky. Subsequently it was used to encapsulate any non-objective artistic style of the time which evoked emotion and feeling using colour and movement.
Many of these artists, including Rothko, preferred not to name their art for fear of influencing the viewer, instead they numbered their canvases and trusted that they could speak for themselves. In Mark's case he wanted to inspire the viewer to greater feeling and spiritual enlightenment without the guidance of labels. By the 's Rothko had matured into his signature style; colourfield paintings.
Unlike some of his fellow abstract expressionist artists of the day, he had rejected the physical, sometimes violent methods of paint application in favour of a more spiritual and contemplative form of colour appreciation. These new paintings were composed of several large rectangular blocks of colour place mostly horizontally on the canvas. Sometimes vivid and latterly quite subdued, these paintings conveyed human emotion in all its splendour; from joy and ecstasy to grief and depression.
Rothko's works were so much more than colour, they were luminescent and organic, and their soft, blurred edges exuded life force in the emotions they described. This genius work had transcended the need for figures or scenes of nature, it had moved through convention and struck right at the living heart of the viewer. Mark had found his medium and he would continue to express himself through this method until his death in Indeed, this completely abstract form of painting is synonymous with the name Rothko and his colourfield canvases are the works which fetch exorbitant prices at auction today.
Rothko's Color Field works are certainly the most recognisable of his canvases, but to truly appreciate the evolution and skill of the artist it is important to examine his most influential creations.
Firstly, a review of Rothko's most important works would be incomplete without the aforementioned Scenes in the Subway series, which were his most accomplished realist paintings. The series depicts faceless commuters traveling about their business in a very impressionistic way.
The details that are available to the viewer are rhythmic and repetitive all of which promotes the sense of soulless monotony commonly perceived about life in New York City. Probably the most famous of the series is, Entrance to Subway and it is a great example of how, by using very limited details and bold colour in the perfect combination, the artist can still convey a clear narrative. Perhaps some of the most infamous of Rothko's works are The Seagram's Murals.
Commissioned by the famous drinks manufacturer to provide murals for their new restaurant in New York, The Four Seasons, Mark set about creating forty works in dark red and brown to adorn the walls on the prestigious room.
He had chosen to orientate his blocks of colour in an uncharacteristic vertical plane for these murals, in an effort, he claimed, to make the dinners more uncomfortable as they ate their over-priced meals. However, before the opening he took a change of heart, and overcome by his socialist sensibilities, he returned his advance and claimed he could not continue to work where so many disgusting capitalists would be eating and spending money.
He removed his works and hid them away in his studio. Finally, it is necessary to mention one of Rothko's last projects, The Rothko Chapel. He finally presented the series to the Tate Gallery, expressing his deep affection for England and for British artists. This installation includes all nine of the paintings owned by Tate. Perceived, as the artist intended, in reduced light and in a compact space, the subtlety of the layered surfaces slowly emerges, revealing their solemn and meditative character.
Read more. Timothy D. He is best known for his color field paintings that depicted irregular and painterly rectangular regions of color, which he produced from to Although Rothko did not personally subscribe to any one school, he is associated with the American Abstract Expressionist movement of modern art. Originally emigrating to Portland, Oregon from Russia with his family, Rothko later moved to New York City where his youthful period of artistic production dealt primarily with urban scenery.
In response to World War II, Rothko's art entered a transitional phase during the s, where he experimented with mythological themes and Surrealism to express tragedy. Toward the end of the decade Rothko painted canvases with regions of pure color which he further abstracted into rectangular color forms, the idiom he would use for the rest of his life. In his later career, Rothko executed several canvases for three different mural projects.
The Seagram murals were to have decorated the Four Seasons Restaurant in the Seagram Building, but Rothko eventually grew disgusted with the idea that his paintings would be decorative objects for wealthy diners and refunded the lucrative commission, donating the paintings to museums including the Tate Modern. The Harvard Mural series was gifted to a dining room in Harvard's Holyoke Center now Smith Campus Center ; their colors faded badly over time due to Rothko's use of the pigment Lithol Red together with regular sunlight exposure.
The Harvard series has since been restored using a special lighting technique. Rothko contributed 14 canvases to a permanent installation at the Rothko Chapel, a non-denominational chapel in Houston, Texas. Although Rothko lived modestly for much of his life, the resale value of his paintings grew tremendously in the decades following his suicide in Spotted a problem?
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