MARK ROTHKO

A RETROSPECTIVE

MARK ROTHKO,1903-1970
A Retrospective

wl

DIANE WALDMAN

MARK ROTHKO, 1903-1970

A Retrospective

This project

is

supported by grants from

Atlantic Richfield Foundation and the National

for the Arts in

Washington, D.C.

a Federal

Endowment

Agency

The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York

in association

with

The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston

Walker Art Center, Minneapolis
Los Angeles County

Museum

of Art

frontispiece

Mark Rothko on

his birthday' in

1960, 222 Bowery,

Photo by

New

York.

Regma Bogat

The American Sublime

Copyright 1936 by Wallace Stevens and renewed

1964 by Holly Stevens. Reprinted from The

Collected

Poems of Wallace Stevens, by permission of Alfred A.

Knopf,

Inc.

Published by Harry N. Abrams, Inc.

in collaboration

Foundation,

Book

New York,

with The Solomon R. Guggenheim

New

York, 1978

design: Nai Y.

Chang

Editor: Carol Fuerstein

ISBN 0-89207-014-5
Library of Congress Card Catalogue
All Rights Reserved.

of this book

No part

Number 78-584

of the contents

may be reproduced without

permission of the publisher

Printed and bound in Japan

the written

The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation

PRESIDENT

TRUSTEES

Peter O. Lawson-Johnston

The Right Honorable Earl Castle Stewart, Joseph W. Donner, John

Hilson, Eugene W. Leake, Frank R. Milliken, A. Chauncey Newlin,
Mrs. Henry Obre, Albert E. Thiele, Michael F. Wettach

HONORARY TRUSTEES
IN PERPETUITY

Solomon R. Guggenheim, Justin K. Thannhauser, Peggy Guggenheim

The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum

DIRECTOR
STAFF

Thomas M. Messer
Henry Berg, Deputy Director
Susan Halper, Executive Assistant; Vanessa Jalet, Secretary to the
Director
Louise Averill Svendsen, Senior Curator; Diane

Waldman, Curator

of

Exhibitions; Margit Rowell, Curator; Angelica Zander Rudenstine,

Research Curator; Linda Konheim, Curatorial Administrator (on leave);

Linda Shearer, Assistant Curator; Carol Fuerstein, Editor; Vivian

Endicott Barnett, Curatorial Associate; Mary Joan Hall, Librarian;

Ward

Jackson, Archivist; Susan Ferleger, Philip Verre, Clair Zamoiski,

Curatorial Coordinators; Susan Hirschfeld, Curatorial Assistant

Mimi

Miriam Emden, Membership

Poser, Public Affairs Officer;

Department Head
Jane E. Heffner, Development Officer; Carolyn Porcelli, Development
Associate

Agnes R. Connolly, Auditor; Duncan Ralph, Administrative

Assistant;

Philip Almeida, Restaurant Manager; Charles Hovland, Sales Supervisor;

Darrie

Hammer, Katherine W.

Briggs, Information

David Roger Anthony, Technical

Dana

L.

Officer; Orrin

H. Riley, Conservator;

Cranmer, Conservation Assistant; Elizabeth M. Funghini,

Cherie A. Summers, Associate Registrars; Jack Coyle, Registrars'

Assistant; Saul Fuerstein, Preparator; Scott A.

Wixon, Operations

Coordinator; David Mortensen, Carpenter; Robert E. Mates,

Photographer; Mary Donlon, Associate Photographer

David A. Sutter, Building Superintendent; Guy Fletcher,

Building Superintendent; Charles

ADVISORY BOARD
LIFE

MEMBERS

Jr., Assistant

Banach, Head Guard

Aye Simon
Mr. and Mrs. William C. Edwards,
Mrs. Bernard
Mrs. Samuel

CORPORATE PATRONS

F.

F.
I.

Jr.,

Mr. and Mrs. Andrew P. Fuller,

Gimbel, Mr. and Mrs. Peter O. Lawson-Johnston,

Rosenman, Mr. and Mrs.

S.

H. Scheuer

Alcoa Foundation, Atlantic Richfield Foundation, Exxon Corporation,

Mobil Corporation

GOVERNMENT PATRONS

National

Endowment

for the Arts,

New York

State Council

on the Arts

Lenders to the exhibition

Mr. and Mrs. Donald Blinken

Albright-rCndx Art Gallery, Buffalo,

Leonard and Ruth Bocour

New York

Honorable and Mrs. Irwin D. Davidson

Gerald

S. Elliott,

Chicago

Arnold and Milly Glimcher,

New York

Graham Gund
Mr. and Mrs. Ben Heller,

MH

Holdings

Inc.

New York

courtesy

Mr.&

Diisseldorf

Mrs. Donald B. Marron)

Milwaukee Art Center

Barbara and Donald Jonas

Munson- Williams-Proctor
Utica, New York

Mr. and Mrs. Robert Kardon

Mr. and Mrs. Michael Klebanoff,

New York
Mr. and Mrs. Oscar Kolin

Mr. and Mrs. Richard

Medina, Washington

E.

Todd Makler

New York
Newman
Parsons, New York

McCrory Corporation,
Mrs. Barnett
Betty

Mr. and Mrs. Gifford

New York

Phillips,

Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Pulitzer,

Tiziana de R.
Estate of
Estate of

E.

Jr.

Geneva

Mark Rothko
Mary Alice Rothko
Seagram

&

Sons, Inc.

New York
Mr. and Mrs. Burton Tremaine,
Meriden, Connecticut
Frederick

Weisman Family

of Art, Carnegie Institute,

Pittsburgh

Collection

Mr. and Mrs. Bagley Wright

of Art,

Rhode

Island School of

Design, Providence

The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston

The Museum of Modern Art,
New York
The Phillips Collection, Washington, D. C.
The St. Louis Art Museum
Tehran

Museum

of Contemporary Art

The Toledo Museum of Art

University Art Museum, University of

Mrs. Hannelore Schulhof

Joseph

Institute,

Museum

Museum

Lang,

Steingrim Laursen, Copenhagen

Dr. Paul

Art Gallery of Ontario

The Brooklyn Museum

Dartmouth College Museum and
Galleries, Hanover, New Hampshire
The Fort Worth Art Museum
Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen,

California, Berkeley

Vassar College Art Gallery,

Poughkeepsie, New York

Whitney Museum of American Art,

New York
Galerie Beyeler, Basel

Gimpel & Hanover Galerie, Zurich

The Pace Gallery

Table of Contents

Lenders to the Exhibition

Thomas M. Messer,

Acknowledgements

Mark

p. 9

Thomas M. Messer,

p.

12

Memory of Roth ko Bernard Malamud,

p.

13

Diane Waldman,

p.

16

p.

73

Preface

The Aquamarine Sunrise:

p.

Rothko: The Farther Shore of Art

Plates

Clair Zamoiski, p.

265

Exhibitions and Selected Reviews

p.

280

Bibliography

p.

292

Photographic Credits

p.

296

Chronology

Digitized by the Internet Archive

in

Solomon

R.

2012 with funding from

Guggenheim Museum

Library

and Archives

http://www.archive.org/details/markrothko19031900roth

Acknowledgements

retrospective of

Mark Rothko's painting would be an event of signifiThe current presentation, however, is unique in

cance in any circumstances.

two

respects: first,

it is

held and, second, the

the most comprehensive survey of Rothko's

death in 1970 bestows upon

artist's tragic

which obviously would not obtain

lifetime. Furthermore, this

the

is

in

first

made

impossible until

it

access to a representative
selection could be

show of Rothko's painting

after

an

court proceed-

to realize an exhibition or even to gain

sampling of the

artist's

lifework from which a

made.

Foremost among
Guggenheim Museum
Prizel.

now

a finality

an exhibition mounted during his

almost decade-long hiatus caused by extensive litigation

ings that

it

work ever

those

who

have extended their confidence to the

are the artist's daughter, Kate,

Together with Edward

representative for the Estate of

and her husband,

J. Ross, of Breed, Abbott

Mark Rothko, and

Sally

&

Morgan,

Ilya

legal

and William Scharf,

the Prizels continued to extend their help and support in every aspect of the
project. In addition, Herbert Ferber, Executor, Estate of

Mary

and Stanley Geller, of Butler, Jablow and Geller, attorney

Mary Alice Rothko, have helped

estate of the artist's wife.

recommended by

We

us with the extensive

also

Alice Rothko,

for the Estate of

work

relating to the

wish to acknowledge favorable action

the newly-appointed Board of the

Mark Rothko Foundation

comprised of Donald Blinken, Chairman, Dorothy C. Miller, Gifford Phillips,

David Prager, Emily Rauh

Pulitzer,

William Scharf and Jack Tworkov.

Financing subsequently assumed great importance because of the exhibition's

comprehensive

scale

and the high values of the works involved. The

shown by leading American museums from coast to coast

resulted in a welcome pattern of collaboration. The Museum of Fine Arts,
Houston, William C. Agee, Director; the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis,
Martin Friedman, Director; and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art,
Kenneth Donahue, Director, agreed to cosponsor the presentation with the
Guggenheim, thereby assuming for all participants a double advantage:
broadened national impact for the show and increased financial resources, as
each of the four museums assumed basic costs during the retrospective's
year-long circulation. But even with this collaboration, expenses would have
enormous

interest

outrun available finances had the enterprise not benefited from corporate
well as governmental support

as

the two principal sources of funding that

have become increasingly important for cultural institutions in recent years.

We therefore underline the appreciation of all the participating museums for

the equivalent sponsorship of the exhibition by the Atlantic Richfield

Foundation and the National Endowment

for

Both may take credit

for the Arts.

helping to launch this significant event.

The

selection, organization

and staging of the exhibition,

authorship of the catalogue which accompanies

as well as the

were the responsibility of

it

Diane Waldman, the Guggenheim's Curator of Exhibitions. Mrs.

Waldman

approached her task with exemplary thoroughness, seeking out primary

sources of information and thus adding substantially to the existing fund of

knowledge about the

artist,

his life

and

much new and

researches, she obtained

work. In the process of her

his

valuable information, often in the

form of previously unpublished documentary material, from the following

friends

and colleagues of Mark Rothko: Mrs. Milton Avery,

Mrs. Adolph Gottlieb, H.

Mildred and Joseph

Liss,

R.

Jimmy

Ernst,

Hays, Buffie Johnson, Katharine Kuh,

Dorothy C. Miller, Dr. Max Naimark, Mrs.

Newman; Wallace Putnam, Jon Schueler; Lee Sievan, Joseph Solman, Oliver Steindecker, Pat Ttivigno, Jack Tworkov and Edward WeinBarnett

The following have helped

stein.

tion about Rothko's work:

Museum of Modern Art, New

Mayor Gallery; David McKee Gallery; Pace

York; Sidney Janis Gallery;

Gallery; Betty Parsons Gallery.

Waldman's

enriched by Mrs.
tions of Bernard

us obtain photographs and gather informa-

Ronnie Baer, The

The catalogue obviously

has been greatly

extensive essay and by the personal recollec-

Malamud which shed new

light

upon the subject of

this

study.

An

undertaking

involves

all

Guggenheim's

as far-reaching as the current exhibition

of the

levels

whole should be thanked

staff as a

The following

and catalogue

Museum's organization. Therefore, the

for their diligence

and

members were most

directly concerned with

the preparation of the exhibition and the catalogue:

Clair Zamoiski, Cura-

devotion.

torial

Coordinator,

staff

who

contributed to

publication; Carol Fuerstein, Editor,

all

who

aspects of the exhibition and

edited the catalogue and saw

it

through the presses; Susan Hirschfeld, Curatorial Assistant, who helped with
the publication's preparation and production;
tern,

who

Maud

Lavin, Curatorial In-

did research; Linda Shearer, Assistant Curator,

who

aided in the

exhibition's preliminary stages.

Our

some ways most important acknowledgement is adin a most tangible sense, have made this
retrospective possible. Unless they wished to remain anonymous, their
names are cited elsewhere in this catalogue, but our indebtedness to them
and our gratitude for the confidence that their loans imply go far beyond such
last

and

in

dressed to the lenders who,

a perfunctory gesture.

Mark Rothko, 19031970: A Retrospective represents a mighty commitment by the participating museums one that was realized only with the

fullest aid

behalf of

and support of every kind. In Diane Waldman's name and on

my

colleagues,

generously, our deeply

felt

therefore extend to

gratitude.

Thomas M. Messer, Director

The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum

all

those

who have

helped so

11

Ca.

1925

Preface

12

J_VXark Rothko

shares with composers of music an absence of explicit

imagery and a correspondingly developed capacity to evoke content by

association; an ability to engage the responding organ (in his case, the eye) in
a process that

is

akin to listening because

it

involves attention to consecutive

passages; an interest in rhythmic structures (in his case, spatially articulated);

and the use of color to achieve modulations that can be subtly

chromatic or dramatically contrasted. Beyond

would seem

to evoke the era of

this,

German Romanricism

Rothko's sensibility
arid

with

names from Schubert through Brahms. Like them, Rothko

melodic surfaces rendered

which

are, for rhe

most

vital

is

it

the great

a creator of

and sonorous by means of formal structures

part, hidden. Also, like

creates for himself restricted formats

many

of them,

which he then explores

Rothko often

in a

seemingly

endless succession of rich variants. Finally, Rothko's orchestral propensities

are, like those of the great

mood but

often lyrical in

But music comes

to

Romantics, simultaneously ponderous and heroic,

never sentimental.

mind

here not only because

Rothko

uses devices

analogous to those of the composers nor because he shares with them a

broadly romantic sensibility.

We think of music because Rothko's painting,

so firmly structured, so rhythmically articulated

and so subtly colored, has

achieved a directness and force of expression rightly attributed to the tonal

language more than to any other.

This comprehensive retrospective of Mark Rothko's lifework at the

Guggenheim Museum and

fore,

sensuous

an

American

sister institutions should, there-

experience which reaches through eyes, deepened in rheir

capacity, to the

T.

three

envelop the visitor in an experience simultaneously intellectual and

M. M.

mind, the heart and the

total being.

The Aquamarine

M.

Sunrise: a memory of Roth ko

-ark had been to

John Kennedy's inaugural blast in 1961 and here he

at Lyndon Johnson's, where my wife Ann and I met him

was, four years later,

and Mell. That night we were riding with two busloads of

artists

and

performers from one pleasant entertainment to another. The company was

exciting, the

mood hilarious

Happy New Year

bus, or at one party or another,

still

remember seeing

going on. Either on our

or talking with people like

Samuel Barber, Jasper Johns, Richard Wilbur, Anna Moffo, William Goyen
and Edward Steichen. The buses were marked "Cultural Leaders" and led by
sirening police cars at a fast clip through the streets of Washington. Mell

Rothko, twenty years younger than her husband, was chatting from the

seat

behind us with Ann. Then Mark leaned forward and introduced himself. For

moment because of my associations with the Northwest I thought he had

Mark Tobey but he set me straight. We enjoyed being cultural leaders.
Mark was beamish. Mell, in a happy mood, told my wife she had got him to
a

said

propose by sitting in his lap and asking him

At dinner
and

I,

and,

in the

to.

New State Department

building,

Mark and Mell, Ann

Henry

think, Bill and Doris Goyen, sat together at a table with

Cabot Lodge, who was then Ambassador to South Vietnam, and

his wife

Emily. The Ambassador piled his plate and ate away: he said he hadn't eaten
lunch. Mark, after cocktails, was high.

"And what do you do?" Lodge

asked,

him, got up on his

shook hands. Mark
After that

home

turned to Lodge and owlishly

Mark, taking another look

at

and apologized. Lodge nodded courteously. They

later told

Ann

occasionally

the incident had embarrassed him.

met Mark

in

New York

City, usually at the

They were
way from the Rothkos on East

of Use and Karl Schrag, the painter and printmaker.

neighbors
95th.

we

feet

He

told him.

who

One day

lived diagonally across the

I

gone across the

was

in

street

town and coming

to dinner at the Schrags. Use

and lent Mark one of my books.

much but would have a go

at it.

He

She invited him to join us

had

said he didn't read

at dinner.

He told

her he liked being invited out at short notice, but he didn't think his wife

would want

to

come.

kind of people

I'd

immigrant family

When he came over he told me he was familiar with the

my book. He spoke of his Jewish

written about in

in Portland,

Oregon, when he was

a boy.

was very much

Oregon connection because I had lived for a dozen years in

town south of Portland. Mark liked to reminisce: One night he

interested in the
Corvallis, a

told us

how he had

during World

left his first wife.

War II and they had

He

had gone off

turned him down.

for

an army physical

When he arrived home

13

At the

"Icehouse,''

Heights,

New

14

U
o
-C
a.

Ca.

and told

his wife he

was 4-F he didn't

The next day he went

Once, early

to see his lawyet

in the

Street.

about a divorce.

winter of 1969, when

ment on Gramercy Park South,

69th

like the look that flitted across het face.

He wasn't working

we were

stopped by to see Mark

and seemed glad

subletting an apartin his

had come.

studio on East

We spent most

of the afternoon in the huge studio listening to Mozart and talking casually.

On

the coffee table was an open book on Shakespeare.

Mell and talked about his depression.

Mark

seemed content with himself. He had had

beginning but good
after a difficult

after a while.

He

He

told

me

he had

left

recited his various troubles yet

a

good summer, not

at

the

had beaten out a severe depression and

time was able to work well

in

Provincetown. At

first

he'd

1964-66

Yorktown

York,

ca.

1949

been given an antidepressant that tasted "brassy" and hadn't entirely relieved

him

went

so he

to another doctor,

thereafter he felt relief

who had added

and could work. He'd had a

painting a flood of acrylics on paper.

summer and

paintings that
productivity.

When

It

was

asked

prolific several

said they had

He was

afterwards.

come

to

months

hundreds of
wonderful

in a period of

could see some of the summer's work he said he had

if I

could select from

two

rectangle, about

He

a fine afternoon.

He dropped

already sold the best paintings.

and said

or subtracted a pill, and

feet

all

about ten or a dozen on the floor

but one,

if

wanted. That was a black

by three, the black broken by a three or four inch

jagged section in bright aquamarine. The aquamarine looked like light

breaking through night.

anything
because

I'd seen in his

it

was a unique form

which

significance,

black mood.

for

wondered
him; and

if

he was unwilling to part with

felt

the picture held

much

it

special

interpreted to be symbolic of the dissolution of his

it.

taken by the one-tone

blacks on the floor but offered to

flat maroons and almost solid

show two of them to my wife. Mark said I

could have the two for six-thousand dollars.

cardboard cylinder which

He

rolled the paintings into a

brought home to Bennington.

examined them and decided they didn't represent Rothko

them

some

asked about that painting but he said he wouldn't part with

wasn't

was an uneven form, perhaps zigzag, unlike

It

work.

to us.

Ann and

She returned

Mark had requested, for twelve thousand

note saying that when he did some more acrylics on

in the cylinder, insured, as

dollars apiece.

sent a

we hoped he would let us see them. There was no reply.

When we talked on the phone in December, when I was again spending
the winter at Gramercy Park, I invited him to a party at our apartment and he
said he would come and could he bring a friend. The night of the party he
called to say he couldn't make it and would like to have a rain check. I said
paper

that for

me where

there was rain there were rain checks.

Shortly before he died in February, 1970, the Schrags saw

their

window,

across the street.

His long hair was lank.

He

Mark from

looked haggard,

pale, joyless.

That cold winter's night, one day

suicide, there

after

Mark Rothko had committed

at the funeral home on

was a small talky subdued crowd

Madison Avenue. Mark lay in his coffin with a pair of horn-rimmed glasses
on his nose. He had been shaved and barbered and dressed in a dark suit.
Standing there,

made my peace with him.

Karl Schrag thought he would not have taken his

seriously

life if

he hadn't been

ill.

Stanley Kunitz said that his death meant the end of an era in painting.

Mell, as
I

said

was glad
I

could come.

would be going

remembered the night

and everything was fine.

She asked
leaders

left,

didn't think
if

to the funeral

in the

tomorrow.

bus when we were cultural

Bernard

Malamud

15

The American Sublime

How

does one stand

To behold the sublime,

To confront the mockers,
The mickey mockers
And plated pairs?

When

General Jackson

Posed

for his statue

He knew how one feels.

man go barefoot

Shall a

Blinking and blank?

But how does one

One grows

feel?

used to the weather,

The landscape and

that;

And the sublime comes down

To the spirit itself,
The spirit and space,
The empty spirit
In vacant space.

What wine does one drink?

What bread does one eat?
Wallace Stevens, 1935

MARK ROTHKO

17

The Farther Shore of Art

At the

"Icehouse,''

Yorktown Heights,

New

York,

ca.

1949

The death of Mark Rothko on February 25, 1970, at the age of 67, brought
to a close an era in which the myth of the artist as hero seemed as important as
the period's now legendary paintings. Arshile Gorky, Jackson Pollock,
David Smith, Franz Kline and others of the New York School had also met
untimely ends, but

it

is

Rothko's suicide that

symbolically, of all these deaths. For

hero nor the antihero and

it

it

came

demonstrated

in the central role of the self in

painting

in an age that values neither the

clearly, not a disbelief in art,

a concept vital to

contemporaries but antithetical to the ideas of

which views detachment on the part of the

the most disturbing,

is

Rothko and

his

subsequent generation

artist as essential.

Rothko's ambition was to rank with the greatest figures

art.

but

of

Western

This painter of genius wanted to achieve the grandeur of tradition and

at the

same time

to rebel against tradition.

The struggle to attain this

The tragedy of Roth-

paradoxical goal ultimately destroyed his confidence.

ko's death, then, lies not only in

that

it

itself.

its

termination of a brilliant career, but in

marked the end of an attitude towards the

role of the artist

and

art

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August 5, 1913, the ten year old Marcus Rothkowitz sailed to

America aboard the S.S. Czar from the Russian port of Libau with his
mother, Anna, and his older sister, Sonia. His father, Jacob, a fairly
'n

well-to-do pharmacist in Russia, had emigrated to the United States in

1910.
stein,

He

traveled to Portland, Oregon, where his brother, Samuel

had established himself some years

men's clothing business, the

New York

earlier

Outfitting Company. 1 Shortly after

Rothkowitz found employment as

the senior

two

a pharmacist, he sent for his

Moise and Albert, and two years

eldest sons,

Wein-

and founded a flourishing

later for his wife,

daughter and

Marcus, the youngest child.

The

latter three, listed in the

Manifest of Alien Passengers

"Markus," "Scheine" and "Chaje Rotkowicz," arrived

August

17

As second-cabin passengers they did not have

disembarked

States through Ellis Island. Instead, they

then proceeded to

New Haven,

Then they

ten days.

(fig.

1) as

New York

in

to enter the

New

in

on

United

York and

where they stayed with Weinstein cousins

for

traveled by train to Portland, wearing badges indicating

they did not speak English. In Portland, they settled in the Jewish section of
the southwest part of town. Seven
Life in Czarist Russia

months

was very

after they arrived,

extreme repression, they were unable to

stricted to living in certain quarters.

denied to

all

Jacob died.

most Jews. Subject

move about freely and were

difficult for

Advanced education was

to
re-

a privilege

but a tiny minority. There was a quota system, with few Jews

allowed into high school and even fewer into college. Nonetheless, Jacob

Rothkowitz was able to provide

schooling for his

children. Born on September 25, 1903,

was considerably younger than

birth,

and

his

and

a comfortable existence for his family

his sister,

in

Dvinsk, Marcus

who was fourteen at the time of his

who were eleven and eight

brothers Moise and Albert,

respectively. Like

many Jewish boys

in Eastern

Europe

in this era,

Marcus

was sent to Hebrew school and studied the scriptures and the Talmud.
Despite these educational advantages, the family faced an uncertain future in
Russia, and Jacob decided that they

When

would

fare better in

America.

Jacob died, the children were forced to go to work. Sonia,

been trained

as a dentist in Russia,

became

bookkeeper and clerk

York Outfitting Company, while Moise and Albert

Weinstein family until they learned English well enough
exams required

to

become pharmacists. Marcus worked

took on a newspaper route.

also

who had

at the

worked

New

for

the

to pass the qualifying

as a delivery

boy and

19

fig.

Shattuck School, Portland, Oregon

20

fig

Old Lincoln High School

Portland,

Oregon

iLINCOLN HIGH GRADUATES LEAVE PORTLAND TO ENTER YALE.

ass

fig.

Newspaper clipping showing Naimark,

Director and Rothkowitz, September 18,
1921. Courtesy

Dr

Max Naimark

/&jrjfa//77&s~sir.
,

Bos*- S

vsvtsfJ&S/f&hvjfjr.

jMM>vn^

Three graduates of the Lincoln high school In the June '21 class left
Portland last week to enter Yale.
They are Marcus Rothkowitz, Max
.Valmark and Harry Director, three Russian boys, none of whom has been In
,thls country longer than seven years.
All three made brilliant records In scholarship during the time they were
In Lincoln high and passed their college entrance examinations soon after
graduation.
They will stay at Yale four years. They Intend to become
professional men, but have not yet decided upon their life work.
Max Naimark has been In the United States only four years. He spent
1
Ine year In the elementary schools and three years In high school. All threoj
nk pip college preparatory course In high school.

Marcus attended Shattuck Grade School and Lincoln High School,

completing high school with an extraordinary record

in only three years (figs.

While attending Lincoln, he worked in the shipping department of the

family store. At this time, Marcus took drawing and painting classes at a
local art school with two of his cousins and often sketched on the store
wrapping paper. 2 His feeling for music emerged now, encouraged by his
uncle, Samuel Weinstein, whose two daughters studied at Juilliard. Al2,3)-

though Marcus had no formal music training, he taught himself to play the
mandolin and

later the piano. In

social studies

and literature and, despite his recent emigration, was fluent

enough

high school, he was especially interested

English to be a proficient debater. Concerned with the labor

in

movement and

hoped

radical causes, he

of their situation.

While

was

Many

of the harsh

years later, the artist related:

grade school

still in

ambition

to be a labor organizer, an

many Russian Jews, born

consistent with the liberal politics of

realities

in

Emma Goldman and to

I listened to

IWW orators who were plentiful on the West Coast in those days. I was

the

and

enchanted by their naive

Twenties I guess

my

and helpless during

2
anarchist. What else?

Rothkowitz

1,

and Hoover era. But I am

the Coolidge

left

Portland for

Weinstein family tradition

we were disillusioned because everything seemed

frozen

In September 192

and reform So did all

all faith in the idea ofprogress

1 lost

friends. Perhaps

Yale University

child-like vision. Later, sometime in the

New Haven

with

so

an

still

to attend

two former high

school classmates and fellow Russian emigrants, Aaron Harry Director and

Max Naimark(fig.

The dean

4).

of Yale, sent to Portland to recruit students,

and Lincoln High School's chemistry teacher,

Yale graduate, had encour-

aged them to apply to the University. The three traveled across country by
train.

Marcus and Max shared a Pullman berth.

Naimark recounts

their stay at the University as follows:

During our freshman year at Yale, Marcus and

thirdfloor room
didn't see

Weinsteins

As far as

was

concerned.

study much, didn't pay

much

Yale

and

Marc was

Marc and I

much studying and

need

amount of time with his relatives

who also lived on Howard Avenue

sons, architects, graduates of

time.

to

when we returned to

other except late in the evenings

.Marcus didn't seem

considerable

roomed together in a

840 Howard Avenue NewHaven.

much of each

our room.

two

at

spent

New Haven

in

the

The Weinsteins had

living in Neiv
brilliant.

Haven at

the

He did not have

to

attention to some of the subjects or the

professors he didn't particularly like.

For

the second year at Yale

with Harry Director

At

no time have

I seen

sketching which to

Marc moved to the

and another

Marc paint. He did much

me looked quite good but

Although Marcus and

his

Yale dorms

and roomed

student.

informal drawing

that's about all.

two friends had received

full

scholarships to the

University, these were cancelled after one year. Nevertheless,

on.

Marcus remained

until

1923,

and

all

three stayed

studying English, French,

history,

mathematics, physics, biology, economics and philosophy. During his sec-

ond year he took

all

his meals

with the Weinsteins to save money and worked


at

odd

jobs in the Yale student Iaundty

He

campus.

math and

excelled in

sophomote

gineer. In his

and

at

two

different cleanets neat the

setiously consideted

becoming an en-

Rothkowitz, Ditectot and Simon Whitney,

yeat,

another student, published a short-lived weekly, the progressive The Yale

Saturday Evening
articles,

students.

Pest.

More

pamphlet than

newspaper,

comments, editotials and criticism on subjects of

The sheet's decidedly liberal point of view as well

dist nature

were quite unusual

Marcus

left

Yale

possibly also due

for

probably because he became bored with

1923, without
bum

idea of what he wanted to do, he

Street.

interest to Yale
as its

He

his studies,

receiving his

in

about, starve a bit." 5 Without any cleat

moved

to

New York and

seems to have become an

happened to wander into an

propagan-

in the twenties.

to financial difficulties

degree, to "wander around,

West 102nd

Yale

contained

it

meet

art class, to

rented a

who was

a friend

room

at 19

by chance.

artist

"I

taking the

course," he explained. "All the students were sketching the nude model

22

and right away

decided that was the

life fot

courses at the Art Students League with

me." 6

He began

taking anatomy

George Bndgman. At

this time,

he

suppotted himself by taking odd jobs, including work in the garment

district.

Rothkowitz worked

relative,

Samuel Nichtberger,

Broadway. Naimark
Not
in

for a

and tax attorney with

Yale

saw him

a one room apartment and I got

in the

though

did hear that he hitchhiked

know anything

to the

I lost

on

[sic]

where he lived

was earning a few

track of him after that,

West Coast once or twice but

definite for some years.

read about his accomplishments as a painter

He

Bronx

the impression that he

drawing patterns for some materials.

dollars

offices

tells us:

too long after he left

didn't

while as a bookkeeper for a Weinstein

CPA

Then

began

to

hear

and

and artist. 7

returned for a short period in 1924 to Portland and joined an acting

company run by Clark Gable's first wife, Josephine Dillon. Gable was also in
the company then and it is likely that they became acquainted befote Gable
left for Hollywood with Miss Dillon. In fact, the artist was to claim that
Gable had been

his

understudy. Despite the brief duration of this experience,

his fascination for theater continued.

To some

extent

of dramatic themes in his painting of the early 1940's.

he

it

influenced his choice

And as late as 1947-48

said:

think of

performers.

are able

my

pictures as dramas; the shapes in the pictures are the

They have been created from the need for a group of actors who
move dramatically without embarrassment and execute gestures

to

without shame.

make frequent visits to Portland

New York for good in 1925. He had reached

Although Rothkowitz continued

during the 1920's, he returned to
a decision

to

about his future dictated not by his love of math, music, literature,

philosophy, engineering, radical causes or the theater, but by a compelling

Mozart, Schubert, Beethoven, Shakespeare, Nietzsche and

interest in art.

Kierkegaard continued to sustain and nutture him throughout his

fascinated by

literature

painter because

and poetry."

wanted

He was

and had apparently once considered becoming a

professional writer. But his

on he devoted himself to

life.

commitment

it.

to painting prevailed,

and from now

Years afterward, he was to remark: "I became a

to raise painting to the level of

poignancy of music

known as Marcus
however, he began to use the name Mark Rothko, first

At the beginning of
Rothkowitz. In 1940,

minor

sporadically and with

his career,

he was

variations, such as

still

Marcus Rothko, then consis-

and without modifications. Although he became a United States

tently

citizen in 1938, he did not legally

he chose to shorten his name

is

that he was asked to change his

change in his

change his name until 1959- Exactly

unknown. Friends have variously explained

name by a dealer, that it signalled a dramatic

style, or that the artist

too foreign and that a simpler one

painter Arshile

Gorky

His works of the

why

himself decided

would be better

it

was too cumbersome,

for his career, citing the

as a precedent.
late twenties, conventional

spontaneous landscapes and studies of nudes

but sensitive urban scenes,

(cat. nos. 2, 6), are

the products

of a young and talented student. They reflect a realist trend dominant in

American
in

art in the 1920's that

had

little to

do with the ongoing revolution

painting and sculpture taking place in Europe.

Cubism, Futurism,

Suprematism, Constructivism, Dadaism and Surrealism were alien to the

experience of most artists in the United States at this time. As Rothko later

was what we inherited." 10

said of realism, "that

Artists like

Thomas Hart Benton

ing during the 1920's and

embraced avant-garde

War

I.

1930's.

set the

standard for American paint-

turned violently against abstraction after World

art,

His reaction was symptomatic of the country's

aesthetic conservatism,

who had

Benton, like many others

its

political, social

isolationism and chauvinism,

its

mood

and

of pro-

found despair, born of the war and deepened by the Depression. Provincialism in the form of the Regionalism favored by Benton, Grant

Wood

and

John Steuart Curry and the American Scene Painting of Reginald Marsh,
Isabel Bishop, the Soyer brothers, the Social Realism of Ben Shahn and
Philip Evergood and others, prevailed in the American artistic climate until

World War

II.

Even

artists like

Stanton MacDonald- Wright,

Georgia O'Keeffe, Marsden Hartley and

who had been

in the

crowded vanguard of

experimental abstraction, returned at least for a time to representation.

number of Americans, Arthur Dove, Morgan Russell and

Stuart Davis among them, and Europeans, like Josef Albers and Hans Hofmann, who came to the United States in the early 1930's, continued to work
Although

in

a small

advanced

styles,

the majority of painters concerned themselves with

depicting the poverty and disillusionment of the downtrodden urban masses or

celebrated rural

life.

Everyday

reality

was the subject of artistic comment,

as

painting often became topical, journalistic, illustrational.

The Regionalism
was to

or "realism" that

a certain extent offset

Rothko and

by the teaching of

his generation inherited

Max Weber,

in

whose

he re-enrolled in the Art Students League

class

upon

his
Rothko worked when
permanent return to New York. Although Rothko studied with Weber for
only a short time, from October through December of 1925 and again from
March through May of 1926, his influence on the young painter was
considerable. It is obvious that Weber's sophisticated knowledge of painting, his ardent admiration for Cezanne and his introduction of the more
modern painters made a strong impression on his students. At an early stage

of his career,

Weber had

rapidly absorbed the lessons of both Fauvism and

Cubism. He had produced

them

Chinese Restaurant of

trompe

l'oeil as

among
Weber employed

several superb Cubist paintings, foremost

1915

(fig. 5).

Like the Cubists,

an integral part of his work. The Cubists used these elements

as decorative, additive accents, incorporating

fragments of

real or

simulated

23

24

materials into their collages in order to question the nature of illusion and
reality.

Weber, however,

upon painting

insisted

literal facsimile

versions of

textures and patterns with an attention to detail that often took precedence

Weber

This characteristic directly relates

over formal order.

to such

fig.

Max Weber,
Collection

nineteenth-century American masters of trompe

nett and

John

F. Peto. Later

William M. Har-

l'oeil as

Chinese Restaurant

Whitney Museum

New York
fig.

Rothko's indebtedness to Weber's

Marsden Hartley,

more meaningful

is

mood

late style

readily apparent in both the

is

of his paintings of the 1920's. Less

the imprint Weber's Cubist

work was

obvious but

to leave

on his

example, contain emblematic forms juxtaposed upon a

manner

Weber's combination of trompe

that recalls

flat

l'oeil

collage-like images. Weber's spatial illusionism and play

minished

in

backdrop

in a

however, di-

Rothko's canvases. Rothko's paintings are more frontal and

two-dimensional, perhaps because they are in part inspired by Hartley's very

flat,

heraldic paintings of military symbols of 19 14 (fig. 6).

But the play has

not altogether disappeared: remnants of the curiously shifting planes of

Chinese Restaurant find their

way into Rothko's

spatially

Portrait of a

German

The Metropolitan Museum of

1914.

The

technique and

is,

Alfred Stieglitz Collection.

Officer,

Art,

1949

later

painting. Gethsemane and Primeval Landscape, both 1945 (cat. nos. 65, 66),
for

1915.

American Art,

he adopted a form of Expressionism, derived

from Soutine and Chagall, that he conveyed with enthusiasm to his students.
choice of subjects and

ot

ambiguous works of

fig.

Pablo Picasso, Two Nudes,

Collection

New

1906.

York. Gift of G. David Thompson

Honor

fig.

late

The Museum of Modern Art,

of Alfred

in

Barr, Jr.

Henri Matisse, The Blue Nude (Souvenir

Biskra).

1907

of

The Baltimore Museum of

Art:

Cone Collection

the mid-1940's onward.

9
Henri Matisse, Bathers with a Turtle.
fig

During the

late 1920's,

book on popularized
from Portland

moved

to

Rothko supported himself by drawing maps

biblical history written

who was

for a

by Lewis Browne, a retired rabbi

a relative of Rothko's schoolmate,

231 East 25th Street and took a job

in

Harry Director.

He

1929 teaching children

part-time at the Center Academy, Brooklyn Jewish Center, a position he

retained until

1952.

Teaching,

in

fact,

was to be

his

primary means of

supporting himself until he became financially successful as an

At the age of twenty-five,

group exhibition

at the

in

artist.

1928, Rothko was included in his

Opportunity Galleries

in

New

first

York. Bernard Karfiol

chose several of his paintings for the show, together with works by Milton

Avery, Louis Harris and others. His

first

one-man show

in

take place until 1933 at the Contemporary Arts Gallery.

exhibition reads as follows:

New York did not

The review of the

Collection

The

St

Louis Art

1908

Museum,

Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Pulitzer, Jr

Gift of

Our Odyssey
fresh

ends with the Contemporary

and unusual

which

is

projects

such as the "Painting of the

Month"

club

achieving great success this gallery's repeated presentations of new

,

artists are very exhilarating.

aid from the catalog

is

The newcomer

is

Maurice Rothkowitz.

"Nude" harks back

Weber. In other works, here

Pigment modeling apparent in

is

to the

No
The

necessary to inform us of his art education.

ponderous structure of the

Max

Art Gallery. Always engaged in

"Eight Figures" of

the full-fledged influence of Cezanne.

"Man Smoking" is

not confined to

"Portland" in watercolor shows the same tendencies.

Of

oil.

since

and

the black

white, "Riverside Drive" appears to be the most outstanding sketch}

'

is the bulky nude of 1930 (cat. no.

some evidence of Weber's influence on Rothko in the
scumbled, heavily ladened brushwork of this painting, the apparent sources
for the figure of the nude are Picasso's Two Nudes, late 1906, and Matisses
such as The Blue Nude (Souvenir of Biskra), 1907, and Bathers with a Turtle,

In

all

10).

1908

probability, the canvas referred to

While

there

is

(figs. 7-9).

Many

of Rothko's watercolors of the period refer specifically to Marin

25

and through him

Cezanne. The triangular organization of

to

number of

Rothko's paintings of this time recalls not only Cezanne but the art of the

much admired. To be

Renaissance, which the young artist very

rational,

harmonious order imposed by the

entirely at odds with Rothko's turbulent technique

Stylistic consistency

As

was something he had yet

and expressionist

is

color.

to achieve.

Rothko's experience broadened, he seized upon subjects other than

the typical classroom

street

sure, the

classical device of the triangle

He began

landscapes and nudes.

still lifes,

to depict

and waterfront views, bathers, horses, portraits, the theater, religious

themes and domestic subjects such

what seems

world about him.

He variously tried

women

music lessons and

as

nos. 9,11, 12), in

to have been an attempt to

his

hand

make

sewing

(cat.

a diary of the

at oils, watercolors

and pen and

ink or pencil drawings. His drawings and watercolors are extremely assured
if

not highly original.

work of
26

these years.

The oils are the most promising albeit least

They are somber, ruggedly expressionist,

resolved

heavily

painted works in which figures with twisted heads alternate with contorted

nudes and dark landscapes. Their brooding introspection and romantic

was

feeling already reflect the sensibility that

inform his dark paintings of

to

the late 1950's and 1960's.

the evolution of Rothko's style and themes with

It is difficult to trace

exactitude because, for

many

through the mid-forties

paintings at this time
his

reasons, the dating of the period of the twenties

problematic. For one, Rothko rarely dated his

only many

work, did he do

memory. Thus,

is

years later,

when he made an inventory

of

without records and relying entirely upon his

so,

his Avery-like figures

on a beach, which are presently dated

about 1925-27, could conceivably have been painted

after

1928, the year

Rothko and Avery first exhibited together. And the subway paintings, some
of which are currently assigned to 1930, might more sensibly, on the basis of
stylistic evidence, be reattributed to the mid or late 1930's. The work cannot
precisely be dated

Rothko seems

on the

basis of its appearance in particular exhibitions, as

to have included paintings executed over a

number

of years in

each show, well into the 1940's. (The idea of conceiving paintings especially
for

an exhibition or of showing only recent work did not gain currency until

much

later.)

Moreover, many canvases have more than one

title,

more than one

date and were oriented in more than one direction. Further confusion in dating
arises

as

because Rothko's thinking was often in advance of his painting. As early

1936, for example, while working on the subway paintings, he began to

write in his notebooks on the meaning of myth: he did not, however, start to
paint mythic subjects until 1938,

when he

started Antigone (cat. no. 23), nor

did he publish his fully articulated position on such themes until 1943. In the

same year Rothko painted Antigone, he continued

to

work

produced the definitive subway canvas, Subway Scene

often continued to

work

in

one

style while

in a realist vein

misconceptions about his

example, he was known

style:

when

as an Expressionist,

expressive as they are, have little in

Despite the strong effect

them

he

experimenting with another, more

advanced formulation. The way Rothko's work was characterized by

also contributes to

and

(cat. no. 22). In fact,

that

is

critics

during the 1930s,

his

for

subway paintings,

Expressionist.

Weber had on

his

work, Rothko was to

maintain that he was largely self-taught and had "... learned painting from
his contemporaries in their studios."
tion, for in the late 1920's, as a

own, he discovered

12

young

that there were

There was some truth

artist just

numerous

in this asser-

beginning to come into his

alternatives to

Weber's

style.

The single most viable alternative was presented by Avery. In all probability,
Avery and Rothko met in 1928, when both showed at the Opportunity
Galleries. Later, it seems that the violinist Louis Kaufman, who, like
Rothko, came from Portland, brought the young artist to Avery's home.
Their friendship was immediate.

Rothko and

number of his

colleagues looked to Avery for inspiration,

even though he was only about ten years older than they. (Paradoxically,

Avery did not arrive

developed his

at his

own mature

most successful statements

style.

by the early 1950's.) Avery's studio was open

manner,

accessibility, his gentle

until after

Rothko

Indeed, Rothko was an influence upon Avery

many younger

to

engage

his willingness to

artists.

in dialogue,

His

were a

refreshing change from the student-teacher relationships that artists of Rothko's generation

had previously experienced. As Avery's wife,

Sally, has re-

marked:

[Rotbko] dropped in almost every day

to see

27

what Milton was painting.

We spent summers together on Cape Ann where everyday we met at the beach
and

for swimming
Gottlieb

was

every evening

we looked

number of water colors using

Adolph

joined us. Milton did a

these friends as models.

Among

the portraits Avery painted of his

Rothko

(fig.

10).

over the day's work.

and Barnett Newman

there too

young friends
Rothko indicated Avery's importance

is

in

1933
the

oil

of

moving

eulogy he delivered upon his death in 1965:

This conviction of greatness, the feeling that one was in the presence of great

was immediate on encountering his work.

events,

who were younger,

I

cannot

tell

questioning

you what

it

It

was true for many of us

and looking for an anchor

meant for us during

We

12nd

made

Street,

were, there, both the subjects of his paintings

his idolatrous audience.

and changing array

those early years to be

welcome in those memorable studios on Broadway,

Columbus Avenue.

The walls were always

of poetry

an

covered with

and
and

endless

and light.

There have been several others in our generation who have celebrated the

world around them, but none with that

penetrated every pore of the canvas

inevitability where the poetry

to the very last

touch of the brush. For

Avery was a great poet-inventor who had invented sonorities never seen nor
heard

before.

From

these

we have learned much and will learn more for a

long time to come.

But from
casual

these there

have been fashioned great canvases, that far from the

and transitory

lyricism,

implications of the subjects, have always

and often achieve the permanence and'monumentally

a gripping

of Egypt.

14

Avery's pastoral subject matter was, to be sure, alien to Rothko's urban

sensibility.

Rothko

and seaside scenes

did, however, paint

in a

some

figures in interiors, domestic

manner reminiscent of Avery

was not Avery's themes

which were

his refreshing style that

opened doors

(cat.

nos. 4, 7).

typical thirties genre subjects

for

It

but

Rothko. His precisely delineated,

Matisse-derived flattened form and soft, lyrical color

became

integral parts of

Rothko's work and acted as antidotes to Weber's heavily painted, greyed

hues and expressionistic manner. Avery's ability to minimize the numbers of
shapes and colors he used and maximize their importance was of significance
to

younger

figures.

artists like

Avery was,

Rothko's Subway

Rothko,

Scene,

1938

was the simplicity and directness of

as

his

the bridge between Matisse and Rothko.

in effect,

(cat. no. 22), reveals a

number of parallels with

Avery's work.

Its

scrubbed surface may be compared to Avery's painterly

technique, and

its

figures are clearly derived from Avery's

there

is

forms.

While

an affinity between the stratified composition of Subway Scene and a

canvas such as Avery's Coney Island,

much more

1936

(fig.

compositions Avery favored

as a

Rothko's structure

1),

rarely

and

is

in paintings

did Rothko employ the diagonal

artist's

means of reconciling the

with the two-dimensional picture plane

mature preference

Only

overtly architectonic and geometric.

modeled upon the older

closely

own

(fig.

illusion of

depth

notable that Rothko's

12). It is

for an inherently flat, frontal structure

is

already strik-

ingly apparent in this painting.

28

Equally noteworthy here

specific

theme

in a

is

Rothko's use

group of works,

for the first

Subway

for

Scene

is

time of a single

one of a number of

subway canvases (cat. nos. 16, 18, 20) he executed in the 1930's. While
these subway paintings are perhaps not sufficiently unified to constitute a
true series, they
fig.

10

Milton Avery, Portrait of Mark Rolbko, 1933.

Museum

of Art,

Rhode

Island School of

Design, Providence, The Albert Pilavin

Collection; 20th Century

American Art

do

on Rothko's part to

attest to an effort

clarify his ideas in a

number of related works and thus prefigure his mature series, the Seagram,
Harvard and Houston chapel murals.
Rothko was attracted to the subject of the subway during the period of
the

WPA:

its

distinctly urban flavor and the opportunity

it

afforded to depict

the dispirited masses dear to the artists of the Depression had obvious

was

common enough theme

during the

appeal at the time.

It

number of

Marsh, Bishop, Joseph Solman, Francis Criss among

artists,

them, painted subway scenes

to

endow

thirties.

Rothko, however, was the only one

in this era.

the image with dignity, remoteness and a sense of dream-like

suspension of motion, qualities more appropriate, perhaps, to the timeless

formal order of Renaissance paintings than the contemporary, timely character of the subject.

The subway paintings

like frescoes

are chalky, executed in ".

from Herculaneum.

," 15
.

Human

form

wan, whitened color

is

attenuated until

it

almost ceases to exist; the bulky figures of the 1920's are pared down, as
density

is

replaced by transparency. Formerly monolithic presences

become

shadowy, apparitional. Ghostly and unreal, these personages appear and

disappear

among

together, there
that

is

the

is

subway

pillars.

Even where

extremely disorientating and

recalls

several people are

grouped

and lack of communication

a sense of silence, of distance

Edward Hopper

or Giorgio de

Other paintings of the period are similarly

in a room with neither
windows nor doors, an otherwise ordinary couple imbued with an impenetrable air of mystery or isolation confronts the viewer, a young boy is lost in
Chirico (figs.

disquieting

contemplation

13,14).

nude seems hermetically sealed

(cat. nos.

13,

15, 21). In all instances, there

Rothko's need to compress space,

if

not flatten

subways have symbolic meaning

is

open

it.

Whether

to conjecture,

is

evidence of

or not Rothko's

but certainly these

paintings suggest a strange, nether region that re-emerges in his Surrealistinspired subterranean fantasies of the mid-1940's.
fully resolved paintings are the efforts of a

young

Although these

artist

far

from

struggling for clarity

and identity, the otherworldly mood that infuses them

is

predictive of

29

fig

11

Milton Avery, Cone) Island.

fig.

1936. Private Collection

12

Milton Avery, Baby Avery,

1932. Collection Mrs. Milton

Avery

fig.

13

Edward Hopper, Early Sunday Morning, 1930. Collection

Whitney Museum of American Art,

fig.

New York

14

Giorgio de Chirico, The Nostalgia

Collection

oj the Infinite.

The Museum of Modern

Art,

191314

New York

Rothko's mature expression. This

Breton's words: "This

The

earth

wrapped

and ceasing to
There

Later, of course,

the emanation of a fragile,

is

that

is

makes

made

is

of glass.

me as a ghost.

Existence

works an element of calm and

Rothko was

wood

on

as little effect

imaginary solutions

Andre

perfectly evoked by

the roses are blue; the

in its foliage

live are

in these

is

summer

mood

mind

precarious and sensitive state of

Living

elsewhere." 16

is

a quality of palpable light.

to elevate these characteristics into transcen-

dent spirituality.

The 1930's was

a period of denial

and stagnation rather than affirmative

The government sought

personal expression or social progressivism.

to sup-

port art and artists during the Depression, but succeeded primarily in fostering

two

provincial and conservative styles. There were

ministered by the Treasury Department in the early

Works Art
30

programs ad-

federal art

1930's

the Public

Project and the Section of Painting and Sculpture.

Both organiza-

tions favored the representational styles generally associated

with American

Scene painting or Regionalism.

Painters could have fulfilled a vital and

forward-looking social role, but neither they nor the federal government

understood this

were

at the time.

conflict.

in

Like

The

forces of bureaucracy

minor

all

artists,

and individualism in

art

the painters encouraged by the

government did not reach out towards the new but were

satisfied to

concern

themselves with what was already known. Their attitude and the government's
policy did not, however, satisfy the expectations of a young, politically active,

primarily immigrant group of artists, Rothko

among them,

as

is

evident from

the political and artistic events that took place during the decade of the

The more

thirties.

progressive and militant artists formed a

number of

organizations which agitated for the creation of art projects for the unemployed

and protested the conservative bias of the government's existing programs.

In 1934, one such group, the Artists' Union, was organized in

York, with

demand

local chapters elsewhere, to

the establishment of

programs. Rothko was one of approximately two-hundred

in the

who

New
new

participated

inauguration of the Union. The Artists' Union did not confine itself to

the problems of artists but was involved in different areas of labor as well;
there was solidarity

among

the artists and other groups.

As Solman has

pointed out:

At

this time the Artists'

Union and

the

National Maritime Union

(NMU) were two of the most active participants in aiding striking picket
lines

anywhere in

May's department

New

unions was bound

demonstrations
dismissal slips

York City. If the

store in
to

swell the picket line.

sides.

went out on strike at

had been given

recall some of our

own

back on the job after a number of pink

to get artists

out.

At such

Suddenly from nowhere a truckload of

jump

salesgirls

Brooklyn a grouping from the above-mentioned

times everyone

NMU

was in jeopardy

workers would appear

and

out onto the sidewalk to join our procession. Cheers welled up from all

Those were spirited times indeed.

'

August 1935, the Works Progress Administration, Federal Art

with Holger Cahill as its director. It was the
most extensive and most effective of all the New Deal art relief programs and
engaged artists without bias in regard to style. Rothko, together with
In

Project

(WPA/FAP) was formed

Tworkov, Ad Reinhardt, William Baziotes and many

was employed in the WPA's easel project. He was with the project

Harris, Solman, Jack

others,

from 1936 to 1937, earning $95.44 per month. Small as this stipend was,
was the chief support for many of the artists of Rothko's generation.

it

him to radical
him to join the militant
members, protest the economic

Just as Rothko's rebellious nature had earlier drawn

politics

and an

Artists'

Union and, along with

and

interest in trade unions, so

now

his fellow

led

it

social conditions of the Depression, as well as the established order in

both politics and

Hays,

who was

art.

However,

it

should be noted that, as the writer H. R.

Rothko "had no

the artist's friend from 1935, has said,

objection to picketing for the immediate preservation of jobs but he strenu-

ously opposed the injection of politics into art which he

in

bad art." 18 The revolutionary attitudes that gave

felt

simply resulted

rise to these

when Rothko,

tions continued to exist even into the fifties,

organiza-

Gottlieb,

Willem de Kooning, Jackson Pollock, Newman, Clyfford Still and others

Museum's prejudice against advanced art.
In 1934, Rothko joined the newly established Gallery Secession in New

protested the Metropolitan

York, but,

and

in 1935, he

several other artists left

it

to

form a group called

The Ten. This circle rarely consisted of more than nine painters and was

commonly
original

Who

"The Ten

referred to as

are

Nine."

counted among

It

members, besides Rothko, Gottlieb, Solman, Harris, Ben-Zion,

Bolotowsky, Yankel Kufeld, Louis Schanker and

additions were Lee Gatch, John

Nahum

its

Ilya

Tschacbasov. Later

Gtaham, Karl Knaths, Ralph Rosenborg and

David Burliuk. They exhibited

for five years, primarily at galleries in

New

York. Though The Ten was a group of independents with no declared program,
the majority of

its

members painted

but were sympathetic to abstract

and Gottlieb "were both

tions."

19

The Ten were

and interested

in

Solman

manner

time Rothko

relates that at this

the spontaneous expressionist or fauve tradi-

much opposed

such Europeans

in

representationally in a loose flat

art.

to the conservative styles then

as Picasso,

dominant

Matisse and Soutine as well as the

Americans Avery and Albert Pinkham Ryder. In Solman's words:

The modern

concept of flat space, as in early Matisse,

still-life period

force in the

later at

and the German

work of most of The Ten.

Rouault, Klee
first became

of Picasso

and

the

German

Rosenberg's

the

was

1922-26

also

clear

all admired Picasso, Matisse,

expressionists

acquainted with at J

Paul

We

Briicke group

many

B. Neumann's

and of course at The Museum

The Ten were rebellious and progressive and

of whose works we

New

in

Art Circle and

20
of Modern Art.

November 1938

they

held an exhibition called Whitney Dissenters at the Mercury Galleries to

Whitney Museum of American Art. As Bernard

Braddon of Mercury and Rothko wrote in the catalogue of the exhibition,
"The title of this exhibition is designed to call attention to a significant

protest the policies of the

section of art being produced in America. Its implications are intended to

beyond one museum and beyond one particular group of

go

dissenters. It is a

American painting and liberal

They repudiated both buckeye American painting and obsolete

protest against the reputed equivalence of

painting. ..."

European traditions, expressing their intention

though

for the first time, free

to "see objects

the conventions of a thousand years of painting."

The Ten met monthly

and events

as

from the accretions of habit and divorced from

21

at each other's studios.

was an extremely articulate participant

Solman

says that

in their discussions. "In

Rothko

argument he

31

was brighter than

Talmudist."
outlived

its

22

lawyer and could almost wind out dialogues like a

The group broke up

usefulness, as

lished and were

now

in

1940, primarily because

it

had

most of the members were becoming more estab-

joining galleries on their own. The Ten parted

company

on friendly terms.

fig.

fig.

15

Mark Rothko,

Crucifixion,

Whereabouts unknown

before 1936.

16

Mark Rothko, Woman Sewing,

Estate of Mark Rothko

before 1936.

32

fig-

17

Mark Rothko,
Estate of

Street Scene,

Mark Rothko

before 193<:

II

In

1940, Rothko and Solman were given an unparalleled opporruniry to

Gromaire

participate in a three-man exhibition with Marcel

Neumann-Willard Gallery

New

in

at

the

York. Both Rothko and Solman were

delighted with the offer to exhibit on equal terms with a noted French

Although Rothko's work did not

painter.

prior to his

one-man show

New York in

receive

much

critical attention

Peggy Guggenheim's Art of This Century

at

in

1945, a discerning review of the Neumann-Willard exhibition

appeared

Beside his depth of color, the light

palette seem like

the peace

and

artist's translation

quiet of

It is

is

spirits

Rothko's
introduc-

arrived at because of the

ofa mood to canvas. This artist has taught

and high

structural beauty.

its

scene usually seen in its gloomy aspects,

Contemplation

with their own simplicity

the gaiety

Mark

many years, and one feels that they

feel

singing hues of

tion of a green railing lightens

and

and

a soprano part Entrance to Subway with

in turn have helped to

children for

make him see and

and instinct for truth. The Party

condenses

of a children's celebration into a design of real

23

striking that the writer has noted the importance of both structural form

and mood, the appearance of

lyrical color

and the coexistence of feelings of

gaiety and contemplation, and thus has perceived salient features of Rothko's

mature

style in these paintings of the late thirties.

This three-man exhibition notwithstanding,

unknown

ally
".

as a painter at the

Mark Rothko was

outbreak of World

.very few paintings, mostly to friends and other

first

wife, Edith,

whom

War

virtu-

He had sold
24
artists."
He and his
II.

he had married in 1932, lived on meager earnings

from her jewelry designs and

his teaching. Their

apartment

at

313 East 6th

Street was both his studio and her shop. Despite Rothko's straitened cir-

cumstances, the late thirties and early forties were years of tremendous
significance for his career, an era in

which

and

his thinking

his style

underwent a dramatic evolution.

In Rothko's works of the thirties such as Crucifixion,
Street Scene (figs.

15-17) and the subway paintings there

striving, a confrontation

is

Woman

tension,

Sewing,

doubt and

between the subjects and the demands of the

architectonic structuring of the compositions. This conflict

is

most

fully

resolved in the Subway Scene of 1938, but here, as in the earlier canvases,

33

Rothko

clings to figuration, unwilling as yet to express the theoretical

still

positions he had already

begun

struggle in which he was

now engaged was

ultimately to

relatively conventional paintings to his infinitely

the

mid and

late forties.

As

more sophisticated

our homes.

much
.

group of

These meetings involved philosophical discussion

Gottlieb,

met at
.

there

Newman, Bolotowsky and

25

camaraderie developed

spirit of

He and a

and these people

concerned about subject matter

were about four or five artists

Tschacbasov.

style of

former wife notes:

his

His work changed dramatically in the early 40's.

painters were

The intellectual
take him from these

to crystallize in his notes.

among

painters during this period,

WPA. The easel and

brought
together
people
of very different
mural painting projects
backgrounds and temperaments who might otherwise never have become
Gottlieb,
friends. Most of the artists whom Rothko knew around this time
de Kooning, Pollock, Gorky, Newman, David Smith
were, like him, at
fostered to a large extent by their participation in the

34

unresolved stages in their development. Their limited resources, their need for

community,

their desire for change, led to friendship.

went

gether,

to

They exhibited

to-

shows together, drank together, shared studios, fought with

each other, picketed, protested and struggled for greatness. They admired the

work of Miro and Klee well before these artists were accepted in Paris, went to
see early Kandinsky at the Museum of Non-Objective Painting and were
especially impressed with the Picassos reproduced in Cahiers d'Art.

became intensely aware of the

Surrealist

And

they

movement, which was gaining

increasing exposure in the United States in the thirties.

As

early as 1931, the first important exhibition of Surrealism in the

United States, Newer Super-Realism, had been staged by Arthur Everett

Wadsworth Atheneum in Hartford. This show traveled to the

New York the following year. Levy proselytized for
movement, showing Surrealist painters throughout the thirties and

Austin

at the

Julien Levy Gallery in

the

publishing an important anthology, Surrealism,

in

1936. This same year,

Alfred Barr presented the crucial Fantastic Art, Dada, Surrealism at

Museum

of

they

The

Art.

of their past experience, none of the one-man or group exhibi-

None
tions they

Modern

saw had prepared them

for the

revolution in aesthetics to which

now found themselves exposed. These young

core of the

New

Expressionists,

painters,

who formed

the

York School and were later to be identified as Abstract

now became

conscious that American painting of the 1930s,

whether the routine academicism of the regional scene painters or the NeoPlasticist

dogma

of the American Abstract Artists, a group of adherents of

geometric abstraction which had been established in

New York

in

1936, was

extremely limited. Most of this pioneer generation of Abstract Expressionists

had painted representationally during the Depression years, often under the
auspices of the

WPA.

It

was thus

efforts as well as the prevailing

new means of expression. The

in a spirit

American

The

Surrealists

Max

the poet laureate of the

Duchamp, of

own early

they began the search for a

New York of many major contemporWorld War II was the catalyst for their

arrival in

ary European painters at the time of

revolt.

of rebellion, against their

art, that

Ernst, Yves Tanguy, Matta,

movement, Andre Breton

Andre Masson and

came en

masse. Marcel

course, was already active here; Piet Mondrian, too, lived and

"

worked

in

New York

who had

during the War, as did Fernand Leger,

already

spent time in America. These expatriates brought with them an enormous

vitality, a

wealth of new ideas and a sense of the entire history of European

painting.

A new

awareness of European innovation on the part of Americans

is

indicated in the press release that accompanied the Third Annual Exhibition of
the Federation of Modern Painters

Rothko

The

participated.

At

and

1943, a show in which

Sculptors of June

release reads in part:

"We

our inception three years ago we stated,

condemn

artistic

nationalism which negates the world tradition of art at the base of modern
,

art movements.

Today America

is

faced with the

and
may

responsibility either to salvage

develop, or to frustrate Western creative capacity. This responsibility

be largely ours for a

good part of the century

to come.

This country has been

35

greatly enriched, both by the recent influx of many great European artists,

some of whom we are proud to have as members of the Federation

growing

vitality of our native talent.

In years

to

Did it

come the world will ask

how

this nation

met

and by the

opportunity.

its

nourish or starve this concentration of talent?

Since no one can remain untouched by the impact of the present world

upheaval,
be affected.

it is

inevitable that values in every field of human endeavor will

As a

nation we are being forced to outgrow our narrow political

Now that America

isolationism.

artists of all the

world meet,

is

recognized as the center where art

and

time for us to accept cultural values on

it is

truly global plane.

Of all
influential.

the artists in exile in

New

York, the Surrealists were the most

Personal contact with the Surrealists, although limited, pro-

vided the Americans direct access to their work and assured the fledgling

human. For all of

gave them the
freedom and challenge they needed to cut the cord that tied them to a
provincial American art. From this alliance with European art and thought
they created, in a monumental effort, a brilliant new American art.
painters that the legendary Europeans were, after

them,

it

was an exhilarating time,

moment

all,

in history that

Surrealism had been born in Paris in 1924, out of the ashes of Dada.

According to the Surrealists, the function of the poet or

artist

was to

select

appropriate symbols, which corresponded in their power and magic to the

myths, parables and metaphors of the past. These symbols stimulated or

irritated the senses to arouse multiple associations

and emotions, differing

according to the sensibility of each viewer. Surrealism, like

was antirational

in character.

formal and rational order of

accidental, the illogical.

its

The
Cubism was replaced by the

parent, Dada,

Surrealists developed an art in

The unconscious was proclaimed

which the

fantastic,

the

as the essential

source of art; the inner universe of the imagination, rather than the external

world, became the wellspring of

were not opposed to the

all

inspiration.

reality of the external

However, the

world

as

Surrealists

such, but only to

reason and logic. In fact, they proposed that elements from the external

world be retained

form one

in their

work

but

that they be unified with the

dream

to

reality, "surreality."

In the researches of Freud and his exploration of the subconscious, the

36

f'g.

18

Andre Masson,
Collection

Battle of Fishes,

1926.

The Museum of Modern Art,

New York
fig-

19

Max

Ernst, Blue

Collection

fig.

Max

and Pink

Dotes,

1926.

Kunstmuseum Dusseldorf

20
Ernst, The Horde,

Stedeli|k

1927. Collection

Museum, Amsterdam

21

fig.

Max

Collection

found some ideal tools

Surrealists

Ernst, The Bewildered Planet, 1942.

for their

own

experiments. The Surrealists

dream images

differed with Freud in their acceptance of

as significant

The Tel Aviv Museum, Gift

realities in

of the artist

themselves, rather than as mere symbols of conscious

His

life.

observations on the role of language in dream and dream interpretation were

fig.

Jackson Pollock, Autumn Rhythm,

Metropolitan

Museum

of Art,

George A. Hearn Fund, 1957

1950. The

New

York,

own

They found Freud's explorations of the mind and

the investigations of dream imagery inspiration for their own experiments,
and out of his theories they developed the technique of automatism, which
applied to their

22

ends.

they applied to both poetry and painting. In 1924, Breton

Surrealism as "Pure psychic automatism, by which
verbally,

in

writing or by other means,

Thought's dictation,
outside

all

esthetic

tomatism was to
tion.

it is

it

crucial importance to the

gallery,

its

way

into

American

was the technique of automatism that was of most

development of a revolutionary

Ernst was an enigmatic and elusive figure

But

New York.
New York only

art in

who stayed

in

his charismatic personality, his reputation as a

Surrealism, his marriage to Peggy

founder of both

Guggenheim and

his link to her

Art of This Century, attracted the attention of the impressionable

Americans.

He and Masson were among

the

most

influential of the Surrealist

emigres. Both practiced a form of automatism characterized by

meandering

which

in

(fig. 18),

lines

1942,

all-over

and experimented with a number of unusual materials

themselves suggested images. In Masson's Battle of Fishes,

and Ernst's Blue and Pink Doves, 1926, or The Horde, 1927

20), for example, images arise

in

au-

conscious control, and to liberate the imagina-

Although much of Surrealism's imagery found

Dada and

by reason and

The purpose of

and moral preoccupations."

free art of

described

the real process of thought.

in the absence of all control exercised

26

painting in the 1940's,

briefly.

first

intended to express,

when he was

1926

(figs. 19,

from the chance procedures employed. In

already in the United States, Ernst began two paintings

which he employed

a drip technique,

Young

Non-Euclidean Fly and The Bewildered Planet

Man

Intrigued by the Flight of a

(fig. 21).

comparison among

these Surrealist works and later paintings by Abstract Expressionists, such as

Pollock's

Autumn Rhythm, 1950

(fig. .22), reveals clear similarities.

Ernst, of

work was not

example, but more probably upon the

course, did not invent the drip technique, and Pollock's

upon

necessarily based directly

his

graceful arabesques of Masson's imagery. In any case, the inspirational force of

the Surrealists

upon the emergent

New York School at this time is undeniable.

Ernst was important to artists like Pollock and Rothko, not only for his
revolutionary procedures, but for his totemic figuration and relentless de-

velopment of a

series

of related images. His example of stylistic consistency

was extremely significant

embryonic Abstract Expressionists. And

for the

Rothko and

Ernst had another, equally vital message for

his contemporaries:

he reinforced the young painters' belief in the power of myth and the art of the
primitive. Rothko's profound interest in archaic cultures, in the art of the

Aegean and ancient Near

vinced that

38

East, had originated in the thirties.

myth could be

a source

and inspiration, not

He was

con-

for a literary style

of

painting as might be expected, but for abstraction. And, although Rothko was
in

no sense a

and philosophy were among the funda-

literary painter, poetry

mental sources of his thinking. Books such as Nietzsche's Birth of Tragedy both
stimulated and reinforced his interest in
figurative

as

myth while he was

still

painting

and socially-conscious canvases.

The form and mythic content of archaic art appeared in Rothko's work
early as 1938, when, as we have seen, he started Antigone. By 194 1 he and

Gottlieb were working closely together to develop and define an art based

upon myth. Rothko's

1920's.

The two

close friendship

held a

loved primitive art

with Gottlieb had begun

number of interests and

Gottlieb

collected,

attitudes in

in the late

common. Both

but Rothko did not, probably

because he preferred not to acquire objects. Gottlieb, like Rothko, was active
as

an organizer of or participant in radical

artists'

groups.

And

each was

intensely concerned with myth. For over a decade, from the mid-thirties to

the mid-forties, they shared

changed from

form of

many

aesthetic goals; the painting of each artist

relatively

realistic representation

common

fig.

24

Adolph Gottlieb,
to the

Eyes of Oedipus,

Collection Mrs. Adolph Gottlieb,

1941.

New

*;

Yoi

W
I
fig.

23

Adolph Gottlieb, Sundeck, 1936. Collection

University of Maryland Art Gallery, College

Park

..

new language of archetypes. This

thirties to a fully'developed

evolution

Subway

Scene of

1938 and Gottlieb's Sundeck of 1936

Antigone and The Omen of the Eagle

1942

often laborious

from paintings such

reflected in the transition

is

Rothko's

as

23) to Rothko's

(fig.

and Gottlieb's Eyes

(cat. no. 26),

of Oedipus, 1941, or Pictograph, 1942 (figs. 24, 25).

commented

Gottlieb's wife, Esther, has

with what they considered stagnant

provincial

American

around

European tradition and with the

in

who were

Still,

John Graham, whose

this time.

and

so that they could break

Their ideas were reinforced by other

past.

Gorky, Newman, Pollock and

at

their artistic direction

myth

deliberately chose to concern themselves with

Rothko and her

that both

husband were extremely programmatic about

also

artists like

experimenting with myth

and

System

Art was

Dialectics of

published in 1937, stated:

The purpose of art in particular

unconscious

is to

re-establish

with the primordial racial past

this contact in order to bring to the conscious

Rothko and Gottlieb

now- famous
Jewell.

It

mind the

to The

Modern

an adventure

is

throbbing events of

myth

in a

New

York Times

critic

Edward Alden

in response to Jewell's largely negative review of the

Painters and Sculptors exhibition, re-

ferred to above. Published in the Times of June 13,

To us art

39

develop

1943, written, with the then unacknowledged

Newman,

third annual Federation of

and

to keep

articulated their positions on art and

letter of June 7,

was written

with the

lost contact

27

the unconscious mind.

assistance of Barnett

and

into

it

reads in part:

an unknown world, which can

be

explored only by those willing to take the risks.

.

25

lolph Gottlieb, Pictograph,

1942. Collection

2. This

lolph and Esther Gottlieb Foundation, Inc.

world of the imagination

common
3

4.

It is

fancy-free

to

make

the spectator see the

reassert the picture plane.

It is

and reveal

We

a widely accepted

academicism. There

is

tragic

is

kinship with primitive

Rothko and Gottlieb

are for flat forms because they destroy

notion

among painters

it is

that

it

well painted. This

does not matter

is

the essence of

no such thing as good painting about nothing.

assert that the subject is crucial

valid which

We are for the

unequivocal We wish to

truth.

what one paints as long as

We

world our

expression of the complex thought.

large shape because it has the impact of the

violently opposed to

not his way.

We favor the simple

illusion

and

sense.

our function as artists

way

is

and

timeless.

and

That

only that subject matter

is

why we profess

is

spiritual

and archaic art.

specifically referred to

two of their paintings

that had

been included in the Federation annual, explaining Gottlieb's Rape of Persephone, 1943 (fig- 26), was "a poetic expression of the essence of the myth,"

and Rothko's The Syrian

of an archaic image.

matter

how

Bull,

."

1943

(cat. no. 28),

was "a new interpretation

and that "significant rendition of

archaic, has as full validity today as the archaic

symbol, no

symbol had

then."

28

From 1941
tion,

until 1943, Rothko's paintings are stratified in composi-

sometimes divided into sharply differentiated

registers.

Images are

disposed in an orderly, geometric manner and at times are segregated into

zones. Bird and animal forms, zigzags, disembodied facial features, anatom-

imagery drawn from archaic sculpture and from architectural

ical parts,

motifs appear. Paintings such as The Omen of the Eagle, 1942 point directly to
,

Rothko

the art of Nineveh and Mesopotamia.

fills

his zones or registers

the part-men, part-beasts, part-gods of ancient legend.

The ghostly

with

figures

of the subway paintings have taken on the relief-like qualities of Near Eastern
friezes.

The

work of the

architectonic structure of these canvases derives from his

thirties,

but here

clarified,

it is

compartmentalized and under-

scored by the registers, reinforced by the fragmented forms that

zone.

40

Rothko wrote of The Omen

The theme

own

fill

each

of the Eagle as follows:

here is derived from the

Agamemnon

Trilogy of Aeschylus. The

picture deals not with the particular anecdote, but rather with the Spirit of

Myth, which
which man,

is

generic to all myths at all times. It involves

bird, beast

and tree

merge into a single tragic idea.

the

known as

it is

in

29

Although Rothko's symbol-laden imagery of the

ponderous,

a pantheism

well as the knowable

early 1940's

was often

sometimes lightened by an element of surprise that derives

from Surrealist automatism and exploration of chance. In addition, the

seemingly random composition of paintings such
no. 24), in

may have been

corpses).

1939-40

as Untitled,

which disparate kinds of images are incorporated

in

(cat.

each register,

inspired by the Surrealists' Cadavres Exquises (exquisite

These Cadavres Exquises were collaborative drawings, usually pro-

duced by three or four

artists,

his separate zone of paper.

each contributing a different kind of image to

The heavy symbolism and

sculptural forms of the

canvases of the period are mitigated also by Rothko's predominantly pastel

palette and flat application of color,

which continue to

reflect

Avery's

sun-drenched hues.
Rothko's use of the eagle

in his paintings of the period,

such as The Omen

humorous and ironic

Loplop. The specific symbolism of

of the Eagle, was probably inspired by Ernst's in part

identification of himself with the bird,

Ernst's birds as representations of power (the eagle

is

the national

emblem

of

both Germany and the United States), of the intellect and freedom of the

mind may also have influenced Rothko's choice of imagery. Jung, whom
Rothko was very much interested in, points out that the totem of the bird is
much used by artists to symbolize transcendence, release, liberation. But the
painting derives from other sources as well, including motifs from his own
earlier interiors. Solman mentions, in addition, that Rothko incorporated
elements from the cornices of buildings and windows in his work at
30
this time.
Indeed, there seem to be many echoes of thirties ornamentation in
these paintings. It may also be that the structure of New York buildings reinforced Rothko's decision to divide many of his compositions into registers.
Furthermore, the zones
refer to

as well as the eyes, beaks,

Northwest Coast Indian

Although there

is

claws and wings clearly

art

a close kinship

among

concepts and paintings of

Rothko and Gottlieb, there are profound differences which are clear even in
their relatively unresolved work of the 1930's. Despite important shared

goals,

Rothko and Gottlieb. Painting

as he came increasingly to
terms and meaning. Gottlieb remained more concerned with the
and intent separate

sensibility

dilemma

presented a philosophical

question

its

to

Rothko,

hedonistic qualities of his painting and decoration of surface than with

problems of underlying significance.

The questioning and

thirties are absent
Still Life

Dry

conflict that characterize Rothko's

from Gottlieb's oeuvre

Cactus,

1938

ca..

desert near Tucson. This canvas

(fig.
is

work of the

late

except in rare paintings such as

27), painted while he was living in the

atypical in that

it is

infused with a

mood of

enigma and foreboding arising from the attenuated shadows which seem to
entrap theplant forms, and a sense of disorientation resulting from the presentation of a landscape as a
qualities of animal

life.

and the endowing of plant forms with

still life

The Tanguy-

or Dali-like forms that snake across the

picture are flattened and quite abstract; they are, nevertheless, based on

observed natural phenomena

as well as

on Surrealist prototypes.

Gottlieb has chosen a

Significantly,

title

that

naturalistic desert scene for his Surreal configurations.

would have given

images, a

title

his painting a

such

as

name

Enigma of a Day,

might describe

An

that enhanced the mystery of

for

artist like Dali

its

example. Gottlieb's choice of a

descriptive title underscores his interest in both the natural and supernatural. This

1942

Chest,

dichotomy
(fig.

28).

even more apparent in his later painting, The Sea

is

Despite the seemingly straightforward and more

naturalistic presentation of specimens of

marine

life

there

is

a pervasive,

However, the Gloucester, Massachusetts,

sinister, threatening spirit.

coast

inspired this canvas, just as the arid desert landscape had been the source of
Still

LifeDry Cactus. Gottlieb was at this time, and remained, a naturalistic

painter: his late, abstract burst canvases retain the sense of physical forces

phenomena. Gottlieb's

him

to

basically Impressionist

pursue his experiments with myth

the forties.

He

and

temperament did not allow

as relentlessly as

Rothko did into

continued to be interested in the external world; Rothko by

the forties was already primarily concerned with inner states of existence.

Whereas Rothko sometimes segregated

registers or zones, Gottlieb

much more

his

images of

this period into

systematically compartmentalized

which he called pictographs, by drawing rather free-form

his paintings,

grids across his surfaces. In each section of this grid he placed, seemingly at

random, an image isolated

to

enhance

its

emotive powers, adding shape

shape until he was satisfied his painting had achieved

his

images

anatomy

eyes,

faces,

teeth,

its final

genitalia or other parts

are the residual data of his earlier interest in the

They are part of a repertory of image-symbols

masks, eggs

after

Some of
of the human
human figure.
form.

others include snakes, birds,

that he discovered in past art forms

which appeared

to

him

to

have a universal significance or, in Jungian terms, to form part of a "collective unconscious." Gottlieb

continued to produce pictographs, however,

as

abstract forms devoid of mythic content, into the mid-1950's.

But myths

as interpreted

by Rothko, Gottlieb and other Americans in

the forties did not convey universal meaning; the Americans failed to express

through myth the truths of the collective unconscious or the brutalities of their
own time. The master Picasso, alone among twentieth-century artists, was able
to make mythology profoundly relevant in his monumental Guernica, 1937
(fig.

29).

Here he draws upon both

Surrealist

and mythological prototypes,

but endows them with genuinely modern form and content. Guernica
once shocking in

its

contemporaneity and timeless

is

at

in its references to the past

41

and thus stands not only

for the

Spanish Civil

War

but for

all

war. Past and

present have been dramatically synthesized on a level of epic grandeur.

Picasso's

achievement was unparalleled, however, and

Rothko and Gottlieb were unable

to

endow

vance they insisted was inherent in myth.

culture, the
to their

symbols

artists

like

their paintings

with the

rele-

Removed from

their original

lose their context, the connective tissue

meaning and

use; they

become

which

is

crucial

abstract signs without significant

mythic content. Their entirely intellectual and programmatic approach was

42

fig.

26

Adolph Gottlieb, Rape

Collection Mrs. Barnett

fig.

1943.

Newman

27

Adolph Gottlieb,
ca

of Persephone,

Still Lije

Dry

Cactus.

1938. Collection Adolph and Esther

Gottlieb Foundation, Inc.

fig

28

Adolph Gottlieb, The Sea

The Solomon R
Museum, New York

Collection

Chest,

1942.

Guggenheim

fundamentally different from Picasso's deeply

centtal focus of a

new

European tradition

American

new

art.

fotm

aft

in theit

synthesis of emotion and

attempt to

make myth

assett theit linkage

coming of age and,

as well as the

finally, the

the

with

ptimacy of

Their search for the "timeless" in art was in part a search for a

vocabulary. This

pendent

felt

Nevettheless, Rothko and Gottlieb sought to

intellect.

new vocabulary was rooted in, but ultimately indeit drew its main inspiration. That the

Surrealism, from which

of,

archaism of the

art

of the ancient Near East had

bearing on the

little direct

new did not seem to disturb Rothko at this time. Avant-garde

working in New York in the forties were presented with an enorm-

search for the

painters

ous range of possibilities and, in keeping with the catholic attitudes of

twentieth-century artists, were able to use the primitive to break with the

There was, however,

past.

saw

artists

new,

as a "spiritual

as well as a conflict

The

Surrealists

a very real contradiction

between what these

kinship" with primitive and archaic

with what they achieved

in their

art

and the

mature painting.

had combined ancient myth and Freudian symbolism,

43

thus justifying their imagery in literary and scientific tetms. For Rothko and
his colleagues such subject matter

upon

it

in

an interim period, creating paintings that were poetic in their

metaphors and transitional

The

was ultimately inhibiting. They drew

in form, as they progressed

Surrealists sought archetypal

towards a new

art.

images to represent the highly charged

world of their subconscious minds. But the future Abstract Expressionists

developed a vocabulary of signs, not to symbolize the super-reality of the

world merged with dreams and the unconscious but to express the
a revolutionary abstract art.

abandoned

their

They

commitment

released themselves

to the primitive

and the

real

teality of

from the past when they

literary

and consecrated

themselves to the realm of pure painting.

fig.

29

Pablo Picasso, Guernica,

loan to

1937.

On

extended

The Museum of Modern Art,

New York, from

the artist's estate

^ J

LZ^I
^v2lJ|

tMut

W^^^
-^l

'

mm

T*

Bj^"-- /

gg

m
jT

\~H

''

kmwr^W.

91

""

^^^^m Mm

r 1H Li
M
"

^^

BM

BL/ ~-wL
i^^^B

m\

'

id.

y-

'

'

ML

\BpLj
m ml
Ij^Bp

WUkm.

II\iJ

Ill

44

J. he

last years

of

his colleagues.

In

World War

II

were

time of great activity

for

Rothko and

1944, Gottlieb was elected head of the Federation of

Modern Painters and Sculptors, a position he retained until 1945. In

December df 1944, the 67 Gallery, which Howard Putzel had opened in
New York that fall, mounted an exhibition of Forty American Moderns, in
which Rothko participated, showing an untitled Surrealist drawing. Putzel,
Peggy Guggenheim's assistant from 1942-44, had advised her to represent
Rothko, and in January of 1945 she gave him a one-man show at her gallery.
Art of This Century. The catalogue preface reads:
Rothko 's painting
between abstraction

is

not easily classified. It occupies

and surrealism.

a middle ground

In these paintings the abstract idea

is

incarnated in the image. Rothko 's style has a latent archaic quality which
the pale
reverse

and uninsistent

colours enforce.

This particular archaization. the

of the primitive, suggests the long savouring of human

and

tradi-

tional experience as incorporated in the myth. Rothko 's symbols, fragments

of myth, are held together by a free, almost automatic calligraphy that

gives

a peculiar unity

symbol acquires
adjustment

its

to his

paintings

and

unity in which the individual

meaning, not in isolation, but rather in

to the other elements in the picture. It is this feeling

fusion, of the historical conscious

far beyond

and

But

Rothko

work

its

force

this is not to say that the images created by

Rothko are the thin evocations of the speculative

intellect; they

are rather

the concrete, the tactual expression of the intuitions of an artist to

whom the

subconscious represents not the farther, but the nearer shore of art.

Among

melodic

of internal

subconscious capable of expanding

the limits of the picture space that gives

essential character.

its

31

the fifteen paintings in this exhibition were Sacrifice of Iphigenia.

1942 The Syrian Bull, 1943 Birth of Cephalopods Slow Swirl at the Edge of the
Sea and Poised Elements, all of 1944 (cat. nos. 29,28, 37,63, 3 1). The titles of
,

these works clearly indicate that Rothko's concern with

myth and

ritual,

prehistoric forces, biological life in general, marine organisms in particular,

was

still

very strong at this time.

There

and

is,

however, no consistent relationship between Rothko's

his imagery.

Thus, the forms

in paintings as variously

named

as

titles

Slow

Swirl at the Edge of the Sea, Birth of Cephalopods and Tiresias are extremely
similar to one another. Poised Elements, on the other hand,

is

much more

structured;

its

geometrically disposed forms seem to be derived from late

Kandinsky and have

little to

do with the liquid grace and curvilinear shapes

of the three other canvases, in which natural phenomena, mythic content,

Surrealist automatic technique

and subconscious imagery are successfully

The Ernst-like Hierarchical Birds (fig. 30) represents yet another

Rothko was now exploring. In fact, he was still absorbing a

synthesized.
direction

multitude of influences

him

Ernst attracted

he himself

at this time.

recalls Picasso's studies for Crucifixion,

1927

gouaches resemble Ernst's Shell Flowers, 1929

mind

work of

the

(fig. 33).

Miro and

said that Dali, de Chirico,

Thus, Entombment
(for

I,

1946

example,

(fig- 32),

(cat. no. 42),

fig. 31),

many

and others bring to

his contemporaries, such as Motherwell's Indians,

Therefore,

it is

incorrect to classify, as

phase of his oeuvre as biomorphic

although

many

his best

critics

1944

have done, this

work of the period may

be so categorized.
Just as the Subway Scene of 1938 represents the climax of Rothko's

mature work of the

thirties, so

Cephalopods and Rites of Lilith,

Slow Swirl at

1945

(cat.

the

first

Edge of the Sea, Birth of

no. 39), are the culmination of

Rothko's search for the "middle ground between surrealism and abstraction." In these and related paintings of the mid-forties,
series of ritualistic or

birds, animals, aquatic

sensitivity to

Rothko

totemic images which vaguely suggest

life.

The animation of

creates a

human

figures,

twirling or revolving forms,

nuance of color, shape and detail and careful balance of large

and small areas

in these lyrical

works

are unexcelled.

Rothko now achieves a

synthesis of form, line and color which rivals that of the best Surrealist

painting of the period.

Slow Swirl at

the

for

him

may,

it

Edge of the Sea was painted during the

Mary

of his second wife,

in fact, be a

to

Rothko in 1961 and remained

The paintings of 1944-45

make important advances

Lilith,

84 by 108 inches.

in a

the

in his

it

Museum of Art it was traded back

home until his wife's death in 1970.)

one time belonged to the San Francisco

Slow Swirl at

courtship

symbolic portrait of the couple. (Although

at

paintings

artist's

Alice Beistle (Mell), and thus had special meaning

now Rothko had begun to

He starts now to enlarge his

reveal that by

new

direction.

Edge of the Sea

is

75 by SAV2 inches and

Rites of

A comparison between SlowSwirl and the earlier The

Omen of the Eagle (cat. no. 26) is illuminating and shows the extent to which
Rothko's style had by now evolved. The forms of The Omen of the Eagle are
divided into four clearly defined registers; the later work, however, contains
semitransparent images that appear to float and merge with the
cent ground like aquatic organisms in a liquid

soft, translu-

medium. Rothko

has

banished the bulging, bulky figures of The Omen of the Eagle, throwbacks to
his expressionist

work of the twenties and

thirties,

and employed instead

weightless forms and a soft, light palette reminiscent of the subway paintings of the thirties.

Rothko's interest in myth lessened

in Surrealism increasingly intrigued

Slow Swirl at

the

more markedly

as the abstract possibilities

inherent

him. The Miro- and Masson-influenced

Edge of the Sea and Rites of Lilith are gracefully calligraphic,

linear than the paintings that preceded

who was working

them. Like Gorky,

in a similar direction at this time, as revealed in his

The

Rothko cultivated anthropomorphic

forms within a generally diffused field. But Rothko, unlike Gorky, or for
that matter, most of the Surrealists, uses little sexual imagery. The two
painters undoubtedly were drawing upon common sources, but did not

Liver

is the Cock's

Comb, \9AA

(fig. 34),

45

fig.

30

Mark Rothko,
Estate of

Hierarchical Birds, before 1945.

Mark Rothko

31

fig-

Pablo Picasso, Study for Crucifixion,

1927.

Whereabouts unknown

32

fig.

Max

46

Ernst, Shell Flowers.

1929. Collection

Museum Ludwig, Cologne

fig.

33

Robert Motherwell, Indians.

1944.

Whereabouts unknown

fig-

34

Arshile Gorky, The Liver

is

the Cock's

1944. Collection Albright-Knox

MS

Buffalo,

New

Comb,

Art Gallery,

York, Gift of Seymour H. Knox

47

markedly influence one another. In most of his canvases of 1944

Rothko

creamy color with a few

uses an all-over ground, usually of a pale

bright accents. His images are generally

flat

1946

to

and without

physical

real

Only rarely, as in the very Gorky-like Aquatic Drama, 1946 (cat.

do these shapes become overtly organic or three-dimensional. Nor is

presence.
no. 59),

there any concession to the deep illusionistic space of Matta and Tanguy.

Rothko wished

His

to establish light as an integral part of his painting.

use of oils, however, tended to

dim

the luminosity he sought, even in the

otherwise masterful Slow Swirl. So disposed was he to effects of luminosity

that he began to prefer watercolor

1945 to 1947, such

as

and gouache

Entombment

to oil paints.

and Entombment

And,

in

both 1946

II,

works of

(cat. nos.

42, 43), Rothko returned to the smaller scale of his paintings prior to the
1940's and restricted his color range to the greys and earth colors typical of
his canvases of the early forties.

No doubt he found

easier to concentrate

it

on

developing effects of luminosity and loosening his imagery when working

48

with

this restricted scale

and palette. The luminosity,

flatness, frontality

and

close-value colors ascribed to the period of Rothko's great breakthrough in

1949-50

mid-1940's.

Many

the opinion of

even of the

them

of

some

them

critics,

artist himself,

perhaps for the

humor,

and pastels of the

are already characteristic of these watercolors

among his most beautiful works. Contrary to

who maintain that Rothko could not draw, and
the calligraphy of this period is brilliant. Now,
are

time, he allows a Miroesque element of play,

first

There

to enter his heretofore solemn, even stern paintings.

a decided air of confidence,

forms, almost liberated from

if

is

not

about

accomplishment and quiet pleasure. Their

myth and

referential imagery, border as never

before on the totally abstract and are brought into perfect

harmony with the

formal requirements of the picture plane. Although Rothko's imagery of this

period has often been characterized as aquatic,

complicated to be so defined. His forms are

Baziotes,

who,

also influenced

it

ambiguous and

too

is

far less explicit

than those of

by Miro, truly did invent a vocabulary of

aquatic, biomorphic imagery (fig. 35). Rothko's foreground and

the picture plane remains stable and

are in a state of flux; nevertheless,

constant.

Rothko

background

asserted this stability as well as the flatness of the picture

plane by working with strictly horizontal-vertical axes, crossing his vertical

canvases with horizontal bands upon which he placed vertically oriented
shapes.

Rothko no longer allows concern with symbolic

way of abstract considerations, but he does not
fealty to myth or representational imagery. Rothko had

In these watercolors,

meaning

to stand in the

entirely renounce his

now only
remained

to eliminate the last barrier,

in his

however, not yet prepared to take this

/

adhere

the vestiges of figuration that

work, to create a revolutionary new

to the

final step.

As he

with experiences in our more familiar environment

God

He

material reality of the world and the substance of things.

merely enlarge the extent of this reality, extending to

existence of the

art form.

said in 1945:

world engendered in

outside of

it.

If

the

it

coequal attributes

I insist

upon the equal

mind and the world engendered by

have faltered in the use of familiar

objects, it is

because I refuse to mutilate their appearance for the sake of an action which
they are too old to serve; or for which, perhaps,

they

had

never been

intended.
I

quarrel with surrealist

and abstract

art only as one quarrels with his

was,

father

and mother;

but insistent upon

recognizing the inevitability

my

dissension:

I,

and function

being both they,

of my

and an

roots,

integral

completely independent of them.

The surrealist has uncovered the glossary of the myth and has
congruity between the phantasmagoria of the unconscious

everyday

the

dream far

the only source book for art.

is

too

much

to

of

many unseen

But

I love both the object

and

have them effervesced into the insubstantiality of

memory and hallucination. The abstract

tence to

objects

This congruity constitutes the exhilarated tragic experience

life.

which for me

established a

and the

worlds

and

tempi.

artist

But

has given material exis-

repudiate his denial of the

anecdote just as I repudiate the denial of the material existence of the whole

of reality. For art

making
Rather

to

me

is

an anecdote of the

be prodigal

attributes

upon a

consciousness

than niggardly
stone,

would sooner

than dehumanize the

of

confer anthropomorphic
slightest possibility

of

to formulate his mature style.

broke with Surrealism and purged the remnants of this style from his

work.

Many of his

members of the
tic

and the only means

and stillness

32

By 1947, however, Rothko had begun

He

spirit,

concrete the purpose of its varied quickness

colleagues did the same, and by 1950 most of the leading

New York

School had forged their

own

highly individualis-

art forms. Nevertheless, Rothko continued to experiment with a variety

of possibilities and

still

exhibited, even in 1948, earlier works characterized

by biomorphic imagery. Thus Archaic Fantasy and

Rites of Lilith,

both of

one-man show at Betty Parsons in 1947 and Poised

Elements, 1944, Phalanx of the Mind, 1945, Dream Imagery, Beginnings, Companionship and Solitude were included in his 1948 show at this same gallery.
However, as critics of the 1948 presentation noted, Rothko's newer works
indicated a striking departure into pure abstraction. The writer in Art News
1945 were seen in his
,

fig.

35

William Baziotes, Aquatic, 1961. Collection

The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum,

New York

first

tyji,.*

'}*-:$

49

fig.

36

Mark Rothko, Number 24. 1948. Collectioi

The Museum of Modern Arr, New York.
Gifc of the artist

50

"Loose clouds of color appear to float on the surface; a palette opposing

says,

one intense hue with pastel modulations creates a spacious

effect.

Vaguely

evoking the colot patterns of Bonnard, Rothko achieves lovely textures and

moods." 33 The New York Times reviewer notes that the paintings
size,

are mural-

divested of content and identified with numbers rather than associative

titles.

He

remarks that one

Rothko

is

flow of

its

is

Redon-like in

color harmonies and that

its

attempting "to avoid arresting the raw

movement by any kind

life in

," 34

of definition.

the

pigment

Both

or the

critics consi-

dered the paintings unresolved, and the Times writer said Rothko had
reached an "impasse of

empty formlessness, an

art solely of transitions

without beginning, middle or end." 35

Rothko experimented during 1947 with horizontal supports instead of

using the near-square or pronouncedly vertical formats with which he had
formerly seemed most at ease.

Once

again, oil replaces watercolor. Large

color forms of diffuse but generally rectangular shape supplant the overtly

biomorphic imagery of the ptevious years,

work of all

associative elements.

The

as the artist

Surrealist

attempts to purify his

morphology of the 1944-46

paintings, which had displaced the mythic imagery of the preceding period,
is

now

itself eliminated. In its stead is color, color as abstract shape, color in

large and small units juxtaposed with one anothet Despite Rothko's deliber.

ate

movement towards

total abstraction, these are still clearly transitional

works. In several canvases, the horizontal compositional orientation as well

as the configurations of the color-shapes

themselves are

referential

still

and

convey the distinct impression of landscape.

This

is

especially apparent in

Number 24. 1948

(fig. 36),

edge of the middle block of color suggests a horizon

line,

where the top

and the gentle

curves or sloping contours of the beach or countryside are alluded to, but not
specifically depicted.

While they may not be

particularly successful or

resolved, paintings of this kind reveal the confluence of a

forces

In

and thus

offer a

Number 24 the residue of the past remains

,

him, Cezanne

number of ideas and

most interesting insight into Rothko's development.

in echoes of Marin and,

through

the encircling border-within-the-frame, the use of oil in the

manner of watercolor and the general,

if

ambiguous, reference to landscape.

There are reminders of Avery, too,

in the pastoral

form. Yet another, more contemporary artist has

ambience and flattening of

left his

imprint on Rothko's

work of this time: Number 24 and other paintings of the period clearly call to
mind Clyfford Still.
Rothko had expressed his admiration for Still in an introduction he
wrote for the catalogue of this painter's one-man exhibition at Peggy
Guggenheim's Art of This Century in 1946. Rothko's text reads in part:
// is significant that Still,

working out West and alone, has arrived at

pictorial conclusions so allied to those of the small

who have emerged here during

new facet of this

the war.

idea, using unprecedented forms

methods, attests further

to

band of Myth Makers

The fact that

and

his

is

completely

completely personal

the vitality of this movement. Bypassing the

current preoccupation with genre

and the nuances offormal arrangements,

drama which is generic to all Myths at

Still expresses the tragic-religious

all times, no matter where they occur.

He

is

creating

who have

replace the old mythological hybrids

new

51

counterparts to

lost their pertinence

in the

intervening centuries.

For me,

dramas are an extension of the Greek Persephone

Still's pictorial

Myth. As he himself has

37
fford Still,
;gy

expressed

Damned and of the Recreated.

Jamais,

Guggenheim

it,

his paintings are "of the Earth, the

36

1944.

Collection
Still,

like

Rothko, was interested

in ritualistic subject

matter and

archaic forms as early as 1938, as evidenced, for example, by his Totemic

him

Fantasy of that year. And, although Rothko included

"Myth Makers" with which he himself was

independent of any group or movement and

in the

band of

aligned, Still wished to remain

later repudiated this statement.

'

In fact, Still was to maintain that the paintings in the show, which had titles
like Nemesis of Esther HI Buried Sun

and Theopathic Entities had been named by

someone other than himself.

was an isolated figure, very much

Still

in the

manner of Gauguin;

the example he provided of an individual

competing on the fringe of a peer group, without

important to Rothko

as the inspiration

working alone,

direct peer pressure,

was

as

of his form, color and concept of

painting. Certain of Still's works of the early 1940's, such as Jamais, 1944
37), reflect Surrealist influence, particularly that of Miro.

(fig.

Later in the forties

he rejected European influence, a renunciation that was extremely significant

to Rothko.

As

Still said, "I

have not 'worked over' the imagery or gimmicks of

the past, whether Realist, Surrealist, Expressionist, Bauhaus, Impressionist,

or

what you choose.

thought through.

went back

And

to

my own

idioms, envisioned, created and

the insight gained and the

altered the character of the

momentum

established

whole concept of the practice of painting." 37

whose individualistic temperament was

ill-suited to the

New York art

Still,

world,

returned after a brief stay during 1945-46 in this city to his teaching job at the
California School of Fine Arts in San Francisco.

was

in

New

significant role in Rothko's liberation

It

was

However,

in the short

time he

York, he was undeniably an important catalyst and played a

to Still that

from Surrealism.

Rothko looked

The imprint of Still's

in 1946.

style

is

apparent in the horizontal disposition of shapes with hooked and jagged

contours in a

number of Rothkos of 1946 and

shortly thereafter, including the

aforementioned Number 24 and Untitled, 1946

may be

traced to paintings such as

Still's

Rothko, Peggy Guggenheim and others

(cat. no. 72).

1945-H

(fig. 38),

in the fall of

1945

These elements

which he showed
in

to

New York in his

Perry Street studio.

and texture and

38

In addition, Still's skillful manipulation of color, shape

by placing small areas of

his ability to create flickers of light

color at the edges of his canvas and scattered throughout the field

must have

impressed Rothko and certainly influenced his work of 1946-47.

Still's later

commitment to stylistic consistency

And Rothko and Still shared a basically

equation of color as space, as well as his

reinforced Rothko's

own

inclinations.

romantic attitude towards nature and painting

feelings of

Turner and Matisse. There were

artists as

both spoke about

itself

awe before the grandeur of nature and of

were inherently alien

Still's

Rothko generally avoided

the cavernous depths or void that

it

their

with such

however, that

facets of Still's style,

Rothko's sensibility

to

large areas of black (a color

their kinship

quite consistent use of

until the late 1960's)

and

implied, his sharp and dramatic contrasts

of positive and negative shapes and light and dark areas, the thick skin of his
heavily encrusted paint surface. There

work

in Still's

that aligns

him with

in addition, a rawness

is,

and brutality

the gestural branch of Abstract Expres-

much

sionism. These characteristics are very

at

odds with Rothko's serene and

orderly expression.

Rothko was undoubtedly

conceivable, therefore, that he
Still's stylistic

continuing

quantum

Rothko went

contact.

leap

inspiration for

a conduit of ideas

may have acted,

New York to Still.

between 1945 and 1948.

Rothko, and the two

It is

Still

artists

was a source of

were in frequent

to San Francisco to teach at the California School of

summer of 1947 Still made a brief visit to New York in

1947 and again in the summer of 1948 to discuss the formation

Fine Arts during the

the spring of

from

at least in part, as a catalyst in

of The Subjects of the Artist School with Rothko, Baziotes, David Hare and

Motherwell.

Upon

Still's

recommendation, Rothko was invited

San Francisco for a second time, during the

summer

to teach in

of 1949- Still lent

summer, and it was there that he saw Still's fully

1947-8-W No. 2 (fig. 39). When Rothko returned to New
York, he borrowed the painting and hung it in his New York apartment for
Rothko

his studio that

resolved painting

six years.

Although

it

has been stated that "Rothko developed his final style

1947-8-W," 39 Rothko had,

after seeing Still's large black

in fact, already

formulated his mature style by that time.

Still crystallized his characteristic

He

imagery some time before Rothko did.

did not, however, achieve the heroic proportions of his fully realized style

until 1949,
Still

when Rothko was

own

already on the verge of his

and Rothko remained close

for

many

years, and, as

breakthrough.

we have

seen, Still's

painting clearly helped to liberate Rothko. However, Rothko's contemplative

fig.

38

Clyfford
Francisco

mature formulation derives not from the basically expressionist work of

Still,

1945-H. 1945. Collection San

Museum

of

Modern

but from his

By 1947, Rothko begins

The

fig-

size

to introduce larger color shapes (cat. no. 73).

of the canvas itself generally remains modest, however, in this

period of emerging abstraction. Rothko also starts to break away from the

39

1947-8-W No.
Albnght-Knox Art Gallery,

New

Still

sensibility.

Art, Gift of

the artist

Clyfford

own unique

Still,

York, Gift of the

artist

2,

1947.

Buffalo,

practice of confining images to zones.

To

release his patches of color

and

allow them to float, he sometimes renounces the vertical-horizontal grid

structure and the division of the background planes into horizontal bands

work from the time of the subway paintings. This

abandonment of the balanced rectilinear structure to which he was so
obviously drawn is a rather unexpected departure. However, even the quite
which had dominated

freely disposed

his

compositions of the period convey the sense of order and

harmony we have come

to expect of Rothko's expression.

Freed from Surrealist imagery, Rothko

is

now

able to experiment with

numerous formal

alternatives: he

middle of large

in the

fields,

compresses a multitude of shapes and colors

reduces his compositions to relatively few blocks

of color, allows his forms to merge with the grounds upon which they are

placed and begins for the

first

time to achieve a wholistic image. The general

atmosphere of freedom and the belief

vailed in the

Rothko

to

New York

world

art

which pre-

in limitless possibilities

1940's must have encouraged

in the

attempt such varied and sometimes uncharacteristic solutions.

many of his paintings upon a horizontal-vertical

much in keeping with the practices of a number of his New

Rothko's insistence in
structure was very

York School

colleagues.

As Meyer Schapiro has pointed

painting was infected with literature, and

who

also

it

was only

out, ".

.Surrealist

in a milieu of artists

admired the Cubists and Mondrian that abstraction could take over
that Surrealism assigned to imagery." 40

some of the functions

The preference

for the grid that the Cubists

and Mondrian espoused was not a restraining but

a liberating influence in the

development of Rothko and

in that

it

his contemporaries,

helped offset this "infection of literature." Mondrian's geometric

abstraction affected figures as diverse as de

and Reinhardt. These younger

artists

Kooning and Rothko,

Newman

were attracted to both the formal and

metaphysical aspects of Mondrian's pure abstraction. Like the Surrealists,

Mondrian sought

a visual

system to express inner states and transcendent

Max

meaning. Indeed, Mondrian once said to

am

the Surrealist."

41

But unlike the

Ernst, "It

Surrealists,

is

not you but

who

Mondrian created

his

super-reality within the strictures of pure geometry.

Rothko's sensibility

is

in

many

respects close to Mondrian's.

attraction to order, stability, rectilinear structure and balanced

His

asymmetry,

his developing sense of the need to express a Platonic ideal, a higher spiritual

or metaphysical truth through abstract form, are

Mondrian's

own

all

clearly related to

goals. Despite Mondrian's personal asceticism

purity, he expresses in his painting a rich,

Rothko recognized

this

if highly

and aesthetic

controlled vein of emotion.

and spoke of the "sensuousness of Mondrian," respond-

ing to the complex and often contradictory nature of his

art.

Mondrian's grid divides the space of his surface plane into multiple

His primary colors anchor the grid within the

units.

field

but

also,

interacting with the black lines that surround them, create spatial

in

am-

biguity. Thus, color and line perform dual roles and enhance rather than

reduce the complexity of the image. Rothko, on the other hand, even in his
paintings of 1947-48, diminishes the complicating effect of color relationships by eliminating black and white and either subduing the value contrasts

among

his colors or sensitively balancing his contrasting hues so that they all

appear to hover on the same plane. Thus, unlike Mondrian's shapes, which

seem
ity

to advance

and

retreat in space, Rothko's color

of spatial play as they hold a single plane in a

forms achieve a uniform-

manner entirely consistent

with his emphasis on the two-dimensional picture surface. Mondrian relied

upon the black and white grid

to contain his

compositions and color, which

he restricted to the primaries. Rothko, however, abandons

minimal

and subtle color

to act almost independently

luminosity. Rothko's color

and

all

but the most

references to a rectilinear scaffolding and allows his widely varied

is

and

at its

the substance of his art. Yet

maximum
it is

level of

dematerialized

most unlike Mondrian's dense color.

Mondrian establishes a frame his grid within

in this respect, too,

In addition,

a frame

the

small rectangle of the canvas. His compositions are compartment-

alized

and consist of small discrete

units.

The viewer

is

forced to stand back

53

and examine the whole painting

him

example, patches of color. These enlarged

in the totality of the overall

Newman, who became

produced

close friends with

Rothko

automatic, frottage-like drawings

in black

first

adding color with grease and

1944,

image.
in the 1930's, had,

in the

He

mid-1940's.

of Surrealist drawings and watercolors, executing his

number

the forms and

work, the heroic proportions of the canvases engulf

Rothko, been an ardent advocate of Surrealism

like

how

Rothko, on the other hand, enlarges and

isolates small surface incidents, for

details and, in the later

the viewer, immersing

understand

in order to

colors interact with one another.

oil

and white and, then,

in

crayons as in The Blessing (fig. 40).

Calligraphic, heavily textured and improvisational oils followed, featuring

and

circular (female) forms

Works such

vertical (male) elements.

1946, and Genetic Moment 1947

Void,

(fig.

as

Pagan

suggest creation and genesis.

1),

Newman was perhaps even more pronounced

writings, Newman developed a personal and highly

Mondrian's influence on
than on Rothko. In his
54

intellectual concept of painting. This formulation of his ideology enabled

him

to achieve his characteristic

by

fields interrupted

mature

style as early as 1948: solid color

vertical stripes or "zips" of another color or tone.

By

1949, he had enlarged his canvases to heroic scale and he ultimately carried
the idea of the expansive color field further than either

Newman

Rothko and
and utilized

to structure color

it

Rothko or

Still.

Both

focused upon a small section of the grid, enlarged

and space. But,

it

in contradistinction to

Rothko's usual practice of working with horizontal bands of color within a

vertical or near-square field,

Newman

chose, by about 1950, to orient his

them

paintings horizontally and subdivide

"zips."

1950-5

And
1

in his

(fig. 42),

mature painting,

for

Newman eliminates much

with one or more

vertically

example,

Vir Heroicus Sublimis,

of the texture that had

marked
most

the grounds of his earlier canvases to produce neutral, wall-like fields

unlike

heavy impasto and Rothko's atmospheric surfaces.

Still's

Mondrian's

effect

which he made some of

experimented with

Newman

on

seen in his use of red and blue, with

most majestic statements. To be

his

many

is

colors other than the primaries,

Newman may

Newman

his colors are

and

true only in late works such as Who's Afraid of Red, Yellow

1966-70.

sure,

and

Blue, IIV,

tint his colors so that they lose their precision,

but

fig.

40

Barnett

he makes a statement about a field of a single, specific color. Rothko, on the

other hand,

is

concerned with relationships

colors. Despite

entirely flat

and

Newman's

rejection of

and unmodulated.

his "zips,"

among

his surface

which he creates by masking off

his field

is

not

with his brushstrokes

a section of the canvas,

fig.

lateral

expanse of the

field creates a sensation

which brings him closer to

Still

than

it

in contrast to the

of deep space and the void

does to Rothko,

who

chooses to keep

Newman

and

Still

purify their art by rejecting the decorative

qualities of paint, by ridding their canvases of complex relationships of color,

form and structure. They reduce color to

volume, form, space and

light.

its

essence and

Having emptied

make

it

become

their paintings of the

superfluous, they are able to express both the material reality of abstract

painting and the incorporeal reality of the sublime. Art for

becomes an
truth.

act of revelation, of exaltation, an

all

embodiment of

of

them

universal

Genetic Moment,

1947.

Newman

42

Barnett

Newman.

Vtr Heroicus Sublimis,

195051. Collection The Museum of

Modern

Art,

Ben Heller

his shallow color-space in flux.

Rothko,

Newman,

Collection Mrs. Barnett

fig.

and verticality of the "zip"

frontality

1944.

Newman

41

Barnett

painting over the tape and allowing the pigment to bleed or seep underneath.

The pronounced

The Blessing,

varied and modulated

pronounced texture,

He activates

Newman,

Collection Mrs. Barnett

New

York. Gift of Mr. and Mrs.

As Rothko

increasingly simplified his painting, he freed himself from

dependence upon the examples of other

of his

own hegemony,

artists

and approached the domain

mature expression. Elements of

his unique,

resolved style appear in the paintings of 1948-49 which

as

this

Rothko designated

multiforms, but not until the winter of 1949-50 does he achieve a fully

Numerous works

unified, consistent vision.

reveal an artist liberated in terms of color.

of 1949 (see cat. nos. 89, 92)

Violet,

Black, Orange, Yellow on

White and Red, of 1949 (cat. no. 90), for example, reflects Rothko functioning at the highest level of intuition and

is

predictive of his unsurpassed

mature color statements

In these multiforms,

Rothko

is

inexorably

moving beyond mythic

subject matter and Surrealist forms to replace imagery with color. This

is

not

to say that certain aspects of the painting of the preceding period are not

carried over into the

in the

new work,

1948, and Number 22, 1949

Rothko renounces

of such elements, primarily

for, in fact, traces

form of a residual calligraphy, do appear

(cat. nos.

entirely in his

in canvases

such as Multiform,

70, 91). These linear elements,

work of the

which

1950's, however, no longer

carry the weight of representational or symbolic allusions but are largely

formal in intent. In this transitional stage, Rothko cannot yet allow his color

and shape to stand alone.

He

still feels

impelled to define the picture plane

and emphasize the importance of his surface with these markings. Thus, he
places a series of short parallel strokes adjacent to a patch of color or he scores

the paint surface with lines or outlines a block of pigment. Sometimes he

draws with a thin line of color

just inside the canvas

edge to call attention to the

picture plane and produce an effect of a strip of light

was

later able to create,

color. Dots, dashes,

without recourse to

dragged

lines,

this

border of light he

by juxtaposing areas of pure

indeterminate contours,

activate the surfaces of the multiforms, as

restricts their

line,

all are

used to

Rothko more and more

severely

compositions and reduces the shapes in them to a few simple

slabs of color.

The

process of clarification has already started in Multiform, 1948 (cat.

no. 70): here both horizontal and vertical, large and small shapes are disposed

55


seemingly

random within the field. A number of colots act

merge together, unified, as they are reduced

at

discrete entities and

once as

to a single

Dashes and drips are the only reminders of Rothko's former

intensity.

More advanced

fascination with Surrealist automatism.

Number

at

19,

1949

(cat.

the luminous

is

where the internal configurations are en-

no. 88),

larged and simplified and the structural role of color increases in importance,
as linear surface incident

diminished. Despite the general pattern of

is

development that may be discerned

Rothko's evolution

in these paintings,

is

not absolutely consistent, his direction not entirely certain, as Number 18,

1948-49

canvas, he once again resorts to a

(cat. no. 77), indicates. In this

And

multiplicity of lines, shapes and colors.

another work of 1948

in

(cat.

no. 84), he chooses a fairly simple format and uses relatively few colors

shapes, but he reveals that he

is

resolution. Because this canvas

56

unable to attain a complete formal

still

is

and

exaggeratedly narrow, the areas of color

seem too large

to be comfortably contained within

executed on a

much

larger scale, a scale

it.

Rothko was

The painting should be

to successfully employ

barely one year later.

The

characteristics of Rothko's

force in paintings of

1949

and Red and Number 22

interesting comparison.

inches by 8 feet

10%

seems to have found

it

mature

style

emerge with increasing

like Untitled, Violet, Black, Orange, Yellow on White

(cat.

nos. 89-91).

Number 22

is

The two

unusually large

inches) for this date. It

difficult to take

is

latter

works form an

measures 9

(it

feet 9'/2

quite unwieldy, as Rothko

command

of the painting's space: the

proportions of the internal rectangles are rather awkwardly adjusted to the

dimensions of the canvas; the somewhat clumsy relationship of the internal

shapes to one another

The painting

ous.

related, harsh

is

is

uncharacteristically out of balance

and inharmoni-

a field of abrasive yellow with a narrow stripe of a

hue inserted near

its

top; close to the center

is

a broader

and

wider band of deep red, which almost touches either side of the canvas.

Within the red

recall

Miro,

for

area, three

white lines thread their way, lines which perhaps

example, his The Hunter (Catalan Landscape), 1923-24

fig.

1923-24. Collection The Museum of Modern

Art,

fig.

among

Rothko's work. Curiously, these skeins probably also refer to that wizard of

Dada, Duchamp,

within the composition they

for in their disposition

the linear elements in works such as Network of Stoppages

44).

Although Rothko never acknowledged a debt

master

may have

Rothko's Untitled,

influenced

1945

some of

(cat.

to

Paris,

(fig.

the

Dada

Duchamp,

works

his early Surrealist-inspired

no. 62), for example, has the quality of a

mirror image and resembles Duchamp's the Large Glass, 1915-23

in its general organization.

And Duchamp

and was,

in this, a precursor of Surrealist

between

Duchamp and Rothko

possibility.

Number 22, then,

recall

1914

capitalized

in his art

automatism. The existence of a link

remains an intriguing
reflects

(fig- 45),

upon chance
if

hitherto unexplored

the past and also, in

its

extreme

reduction and large scale, points to the future.

The awkwardness and harshness of this transitional work are in direct

contrast to the much more fully resolved Violet, Black, Orange, Yellow on
White and Red. In this painting, the significant elements of Rothko's mature
style are not only clearly in evidence but are unified: he

employs

a series of

harmony is achieved by means of

precise adjustment of a drastically reduced number of shapes and colors. This
order is in no sense mechanical or based upon predetermined calculation; it is
horizontals within a vertical format and

exquisitely sensitive and intuitive.

44

1914. Collection

New

of Stoppages,

The Museum

of

Paris,

Modern

Art,

York. Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Fund and

Mrs. William Sisler

gift of

(fig.

the last vestiges of Surrealist automatic calligraphy in

New York

Marcel Duchamp, Network

fig.

43), and are

43

Joan Miro, The Hunter (Catalan Landscape),

45

Marcel Duchamp, The Bride Stripped Bare

by

Her

Bachelors, Even (the Large Glass)

1915-23. Collection Philadelphia Museum

of Art: Bequest of Katherine S. Dreier

In

Violet,

and Red, Rothko

Black, Orange, Yellow on White

the supreme features of his genius

colors that advance

and

retreat.

means. The large violet shape

He

his ability to hold

reveals

one of

on a single plane

achieves this through relatively simple

in the

uppermost portion of the canvas

heavier than the smaller bands of orange and yellow below

prevents this rectangle from toppling because of

with the thin band of black directly below

it

its

it.

is

far

Rothko

weight by anchoring

and with two

it

vertical red bars

which, despite their narrowness, effectively counter the strength of the violet
mass. Furthermore, the soft yellow and white ground lends added density to
the lower half of the painting and reinforces an otherwise recessive area.

Rothko by now had enlarged and neutralized

his forms, allowing color

to breathe. Color does not allude to landscape, as

before, nor

has

come

is it

it

had only a few years

any longer a secondary element which supports shape. Color

to stand for form. Absolutely crucial to his color expression

Rothko's paint handling, which evolved from his Surrealist watercolors.

basically a watercolor technique translated into oil. Paint

is

is

It is

soaked into the

very fiber of the canvas, so that color seems dematerialized, a characteristic

effect of

Rothko's most successful

late

work. The intensity and warmth of

hues (he often favors yellow, orange, violet, red) and an extreme sensuousness
of pigment would seem to be at odds with this quality of dematerialization.

But Rothko's color

is

full

of contradictions.

He

frequently remarked he did

57

"

not wish color to be accepted at face value, asserting that datk paintings

could be mote cheerful than light ones, bright color more serious than deep

make

hues. Rothko's goal was to

mood,

color both area and volume, emotion and

once palpable and disembodied, sensuous yet spiritual. Fot colot

at

represents something larger than

its

own

sheet physical presence.

Rothko has

to think of color as the doorway to another reality.

Rothko himself said that he was not interested in color for its own sake.
Nor did he want to be labeled and limited as an abstract painter. "I'm

come

not interested in relations of color or form.

He
".

.basic

human emotions

before

him as a
ecstasy, doom.

tragedy,

my pictures are having

painted them.

And

relationships, then

it

is

43

you miss the point.

sionist figures, dream-like

imagery. But

same

the

vehicle to express
.

.The people who

I had when
moved only by their color
Rothko had always sought to

religious experience

you, as you say, are

if

convey these basic emotions

58

I'm not an abstractionist." 42

explained that color was important to

weep
I

but he had formerly done

subway scenes and,

so through expres-

mythic and Surrealist

finally,

only in his painting of the 1950's and 1960's that he

achieves "the simple expression of the complex thought" as he distills the

meaning of his

earlier

work

into color; color

which

is

the vessel for transcen-

dental meaning.

Red

fascinates

Rothko above

all

colors as a carrier of emotion.

No other

colot appears so insistently in his oeuvre from the time of the multiforms.

dominates Rothko's work of the

his last painting.

other hues unless

did,

Red

is

fifties

drawn

to red because of

its

with the elements and ritual

death and the

Rothko and
call to

result

of my

it,

uses

it

alone, altering

its

Perhaps Rothko was

to express.

and with blood

fire

Mondrian

as

black and white of the other

and

identified

it is

thus with

Existentialist philosopher, Kierkegaard,

admired, wrote movingly of red,

in

life,

whom

terms that

painting:

life is

Red

overwhelms or obliterates

powerful and basic associations:

simply nothing, a mood, a single

like the painting of the artist

crossing the

it

Rothko frequently

with

his friends deeply

mind Rothko's

The

The

spirit.

as

emotion he wishes

tonality according to the

was the color of

sixies and, in fact,

diluted or controlled by juxtaposing

it is

with equally strong colots, such

primaries, yellow and blue. But

so

and

so potent optically that

It

Sea.

To

who was

this

explaining that the Israelites

Egyptians were drowned.

end,

had

to

color.

My result is

paint a picture of the

Israelites

he painted the whole wall red,

already crossed over,

and

that the

44

Rothko belongs very much

in the tradition of such metaphysicians of

painting as Mondrian, Paul Klee and Vasily Kandinsky, for

whom

color

was

The paintings and writings of Mondrian

and Kandinsky, particularly the latter's On the Spiritual in Art received much
attention in New York in the 1940's. However, Rothko's commitment to
the key to the realm of the spirit.

the expression of the spiritual rather than the physical was inspired not by
their aesthetic theories, but

by the evidence of their painting. Moteover,

magic and mysticism, myth and

ritual

were integral to

late nineteenth-

and

movements as diverse as Symbolism, Surrealism,

Cubism and Suprematism. And Rothko's own youthful religious
background must surely have fostered and supported his concern with the
twentieth- century art

spiritual aspects of art.

important to reiterate that Rothko did not consider himself, even

It is

in his

mature phase, an abstract

was ever

artist.

He

said: "I

do not believe that there

a question of being abstract or representational. It

is

really a

matter

of ending this silence and solitude, of breathing and stretching one's arms

again."

45

For Rothko abstract form and pure color had significance only

insofar as they represented a higher truth.

Thus, he rejected

as far too

limiting the restricted goals of pure geometric abstraction just as he re-

nounced the

literary content of Surrealism.

Though Rothko

limited his forms and restricted his

was

his painting.

To suggest

to

number

of colors,

enhance rather than reduce the expressive possibilities of

his intention

multiple levels of meaning he had

first to strip

away

extraneous detail, just as the Surrealist poets and painters divested the object

Once

of conventional associations.

this purification has taken place

imagery has been renovated, the viewer

tions, in Apollinaire's words,
46

contradict each other."

Rothko expresses

tion,

expanded meaning

for

is

"numerous interpretations

rich content.

Rothko

by purging

learned from.

He now

that

sometimes

In these often contradictory layers of interpreta-

Formal reductivism thus gave

it

of

many

Rothko purified

of the European models he admired and

expressed the metaphysical meaning of his Surrealist

works without any recourse to the forms, symbols or allusions of

canvases. References to the external world are
color, as

respect,
tives,

Rothko
it is

his earlier

subsumed

into disembodied

and

spiritual. In this

attains a synthesis of the physical

interesting to note Rothko's admiration for the Italian Primi-

in particular Fra Angelico,

spiritual

rise to

as for other artists of his generation.

In a painful, often tortuous process of transformation,

his painting

and

permitted new kinds of associa-

and physical worlds

who

represented the beauty of both

in their religious paintings.

That Rothko was

able to achieve this synthesis with the rigorously limited means he allowed

himself

is all

the

more remarkable.

In these pure, reduced, transcendent

works, Rothko makes the concrete sublime.

59

IV

60

.LVothko

banishes entirely any hint of representational imagery from his

painting and resolves his mature, fully integrated style by 1950.

arrived at his characteristic formulation:

two

frontal rectangles of disembodied color stacked

one above another almost

The support

the canvas field in which they seem to hover or float.

long and narrow, as in Green and Red on Orange, 1950

near-square, as in No. 8, 1952 (cat. no. 105).
linear elements that
layers of color

remained

He

has

or three horizontal, relentlessly

Gone

in the paintings of

(cat.

are the

is

fill

either

no. 93),

or

few vestiges of

1949. Gone, too, are the

bands and contrasting horizontal and vertical forms that had

marked the multiforms.

Spatial illusionism always played a part in Rothko's

Renaissance windows of his

first

work

from

the

paintings to his Surrealist dream-landscapes

and, finally, to the Mondrian-inspired complex spatial play of the multiforms.

But

this illusionism

work

paintings. In a

like

although recession into depth

top to bottom, on the

flat

was extremely limited

Subway
is

Scene,

1938

(cat.

as early as the

subway

no. 22), for example,

indicated, one tends to read the image from

canvas surface. Rothko always creates a figure-

work from the time of the subway

ground relationship but,

in virtually all his

paintings, he modifies

by dividing his canvas into horizontal bands. These

it

bands emphasize the canvas surface and therefore flatten the composition.
This sectioning

is

an underlying,

if

often subliminal,

unifying factor

throughout Rothko's oeuvre.

By 1950,

this stratification

is

stressed further. Because Rothko's rec-

is even more limited

Rothko has diminished
the figure-ground relationship but has not abandoned it, and his forms float
ever so slightly above the color field upon which they are placed. This depth
is restricted, not only by means of frontality, but through feathery paint
application which renders the rectangles almost transparent: the ground is
revealed through the color forms and appears to merge with them. In
addition, Rothko often uses a band or accent of stronger color to reassert the

tangles of color are utterly frontal, spatial illusionism

than before. But the paintings are not resolutely

flat:

picture plane. Despite the emphasis on the picture plane and the sense of

shallow depth, there

in space

actually to

in these paintings a curious, paradoxical fluctuation

the color forms seem not only to hover on the canvas surface but

move

because there

and appear

is

is

forward. Because these veils of color are so weightless,

about them

to exist

a sensation

of mist and atmosphere, they advance

somewhere between us and the

picture,

somewhere

between what we know to be true and what we perceive.

Rothko express-

In these paintings, which are the essence of simplicity,

es his ideas

with increased clarity and directness. As he had said somewhat

earlier:

The progression of a painter's work, as

it

travels in time from point to point,

will be toward clarity: toward the elimination of all obstacles between the

painter

and the

such obstacles,

I give

(among

the idea

others)

and the

ideas

As examples of

one might pull out parodies of

(which are ghosts) but never an idea in

inevitably, to be understood.

observer.

memory, history or geometry, which

swamps of generalization from which

are

is,

and between

idea

itself.

To achieve

this clarity

47

Rothko's commitment to reduction and clarity

him with selfcommitment

endows his paintings with a nobility and monumentality which place him
among the foremost artists of his generation, perhaps even among the greatest
of the twentieth century and thus enables him to attain his grand ambition. He
later came to question his single-minded direction and often told his friends
filled

doubt and was achieved at great emotional cost. But this

that he felt trapped in

it;

he nevertheless produced an astonishing body of work

which, especially from 1950 to 1956, was

at

once remarkably consistent and

extraordinarily varied. For, while he severely limits the general format of his

compositions, rigorously restricting the number, kind and orientation of his

shapes, he uses canvases of different sizes and an

combining them

in

relationships of rectangles

Through

to painting.

enormous range of

colors,

seemingly infinite ways, and exquisitely adjusts the

whose proportions

this

rich

from painting

are slightly altered

and subtle formal variety, Rothko gives

expression to an unpatalleled range of emotions,

moods and

sensations, a range

and a sensibility that neither his contemporaries nor the younger generation of
color-field painters of the later 1950's

In these paintings,

Rothko

is

and early 1960's were able to approach.

clearly creating a set of rules for himself,

but he would not Or could not remain within them. Constantly exploring,
reshaping and re-evaluating form and color, he seems to have established
these principles only to break them. Reinhardt shares with

Rothko the sense

of need for perfection, the desire to express a Utopian order, a metaphysical

truth with his abstract form and color.

painting to

its

essence.

And,

aesthetic principles he formulated for himself.

fixed

module

like

Rothko, he reduces

But Reinhardt adheres obsessively

his

to the series of

By I960 he had

established a

of a five-by-five-foot canvas and limited his color to black, his

imagery to a cruciform structure of nine squares. The color painters of the

sixties, too, felt the

with metaphysics

need to remain within a system. They, however, dispense

in favor of the

Rothko perfected

pragmatism

a technique of

of

pure color*painting.

dyeing (or staining,

as it later

came

to

be called) with his paint which enabled him to satutate the threads of his
canvas with his

applying

many

medium

so that

pigment and canvas become one. By

thin washes of paint, one over another, and often allowing

some of the colors in the bottom layers to appear through the top coat of
pigment, Rothko achieves the effect of a hidden light source. In most of the
paintings of this period, Rothko creates a quality of inner light which seems
to

emanate from the very core of the work, a quality that

palpable and spiritual light of Rembrandt, an artist

calls to

whom

mind

he very

the

much

admired. Rothko often enhances this effect of inner light by floating a thin

"*

seam or
Thus,

sliver of another color

in Green,

through

his rectangles or

around their edges.

Yellow on Yellow of 1951 (cat. no.

White,

102), fleeting

glimpses of pink underpainting punctuate the large green upper mass, which
is

partially

surrounded by a narrow border of softly brushed white. There

layer of green underpainting in the yellow block at the

it

is

bottom of the canvas:

shines through the yellow, emphasizing the sense of suffused light and also

The yellow

balancing the composition.

behind the two rectangles

field

provides yet another border of light and further unifies the painting.

Rothko's mastery of both coloristic and formal nuance

painting after painting of the 1950's.

1953, and Homage

Blue,
his

supreme

to

1954

Matisse,

(cat. nos.

is

revealed in

Blue,

Brown on

108, 107), demonstrates

ability to achieve astonishingly different results within his

severely restricted format.

The former painting, roughly square

illuminated by an electric blue in

its

midsection. So powerful

is

in shape, is

this blue that

by two darker and larger brown forms to prevent

it

from

destroying the stability and balance Rothko seeks. Because the blue

is

more

it

62

A comparison of Brown,

must be

offset

would burst out of the rectangle if

the heavier and denser masses of brown above and below it did not press in
upon it to hold it in place. The blue field which surrounds the three bands
intense in value than the other colors,

(and

is

also

it

behind them) locks them together

in a single plane.

between foreground and background,

tions

emerge and coexist

indicates that

worked with

in

Contradic-

and shallow depth

tenuous and ever-shifting relationships. This canvas

Rothko could exploit blue

less

flatness

often than red

with

Newman, who had

Blue,

Brown on Blue

used

it

to powerful effect, yet

perhaps because

it

it is

a color he

had come to be identified

and so well. The richness of Brown,

so early

certainly derives in large part from Rothko's successful use

of the several blues disposed throughout

it,

but also depends upon the variety

and textures of the surrounding browns. Extraordinary balance, a superb

handling of scale and proportion and the tension between emphatic frontality

and

and an

flatness

effect of

shallow space also contribute to the painting's

majesty.

Despite the large size of Brown, Blue, Brown on Blue and the other
paintings of this period, Rothko's work

majestic proportions, intimate and emotionally accessible.

despite

its

Rothko

said:

paint very large pictures.

painting large pictures

The reason

know

refined and subtle and thus remains,

is

is

is

realize that historically the function of

painting something very grandiose

paint them, however

precisely because I

paint a small picture

is to

As

want

think

it

to be very

and pompous

applies to other painters I

intimate

and human. To

place yourself outside your experience, to look

upon an experience as a stereopticon view or with a reducing glass ....

However you paint

command.

the larger picture,

you are in

it. It

isn't

something you

48

special, intensely personal relationship

the canvas and, by extension, Rothko.

is

achieved between the viewer and

Acutely aware of the need for this

relationship, the artist noted:

A picture lives by

companionship expanding
,

the sensitive observer. It dies by the

send

it

out into the world.

and quickening

same token.

How often

it

It is therefore

in the eyes of

risky act to

must be impaired by the eyes of the

unfeeling

and the

cruelty of the impotent

who would extend their affliction

universally!^

The words

art

measure,

its

that describe the qualities

cannot adequately

express

breathtaking beauty. Indeed, Brown, Blue, Brown on Blue and other

mature paintings

sum

of the parts

creates the

sense of awe on the part of the viewer and convey a

harmony and meaning that is magical and larger than
of each canvas. In these transcendent works, Rothko

elicit a

feeling of mystery, a

the

and components of Rothko's

balance, shape, texture, tonality

contemporary spiritual equivalent of the great Renaissance paint-

ings he revered, paintings which were

meant

merely with their formal perfection but also

man and

as

to inspire the beholder, not

reminders of an order beyond

nature.

The ultimate

effect of

Homage

to

Matisse

Brown, Blue, Brown on Blue. This difference

is

is

completely unlike that of

in part

produced by Rothko's

use of a long narrow canvas, the one alternative he allows himself to the

Once again he employs blue,

here in the form of a rectangle at the bottom of the composition. It is
surmounted by a floating, vaporous yellow square. The misty yellow and the
red beneath it behave in an unexpected way. The red that peers through from
squarish format of Brown, Blue, Brown on Blue.

underneath the yellow overlay has a bluish tinge. This

when

is

curious, because

red and yellow interact they normally produce orange.

unusual

effect,

To

Rothko must have made the square an extremely

But the uncovered portion of

it

is

create this

bluish-red.

a true red: in all probability

Rothko

overpainted the band with this color. Therefore, in a quite inexplicable way,
the veiled red, which should be
actually bluish.

Rothko

The

refuses to accept

that red and yellow

fig.

46

Henri Matisse, The Red Studio.

1911.

The Museum of Modern Art,

New York. Mrs. Simon Guggenheim Fund

Collection

result

make

is

more orange than the uncovered band,

a sense of coherent shape

and implausible

proven rules about the behavior of color

orange. Here he creates his

own

rules

is

color.

that

is,

and reinvents

63

and

color,

this

his

is

homage

to Matisse.

Matisse was profoundly important to Rothko and his contemporaries.

His The Red

1911

Studio.

(fig.

autumn 1911.
To be sure,

46), and The Blue Window,

New York

School.

without doubt

inspired the artists of the

Rothko did not

find relevant Matisse's rather straightforward representation

of objects in such paintings. But his radical use of unifying planes of sensuous
color

which

two-dimensional surface of the canvas had

flatten space into the

enormous impact on Rothko.

There

is

also a

symbolic and spiritual dimension

and true

his choice of scarlet

The dense blue

vestments.

Rothko perhaps makes

red,

rectangle

contrasts with and acts as a

Homage

to

Matisse. In

reference to Catholic

emphatically, intensely physical;

is

it

the evanescent, incorporeal form of the

foil for

golden square. This shimmering halo-like form

religious imagery.

in

calls forth associations

Thus, the painting speaks of form and space, of the

with

real

and

immaterial, the physical and sensual yet disembodied presence of paint.

During the course of the 1950's Rothko experiments

ways: the size of the field and

number of

in a

64

the interior configuration differ in relationship

to one another and from painting to painting, the widths of the spaces

between colors vary, colors range from bright to dark, from gay to sober, but
amounts of black are introduced, although this color

are rarely somber, small

does not figure prominently until the

late 1960's.

Paint

is

handled in a loose,

brushy manner, feathered out so that the edges of forms are never clearly

The canvas

defined.

but on

is

stretched and then painted not only on

sides as well.

its

The works

are left

unframed

its

front surface

so that the

depth of the

stretchers and the entire painted surface are revealed. Although his composi-

tions are generally weighted towards their tops,

trates his darkest,

example,
is

in Light.

Earth and Blue

1954

(cat. no.

one of the few paintings of this time with a

Rothko had no

fixed system for

untitled or identified with

more

naming

numbers

interpretive or descriptive

Rothko occasionally concen-

bottom of the canvas,

heaviest colors at the

116). Light, Earth

title that

enhances

his canvases:

most

meaning.

its

are either left

or colors, since he probably felt that

names would

restrict their

meanings. Some-

times he bleeds the edges of rectangles so they appear unfinished

he then

completes their forms by enclosing them within another color area,

Number 8, 1952

(cat.

no.

it

as a totality

himself, as in Yellow. Orange. Red on Orange

as

we have

1954

tactility of his paint

seen, his color, despite

seems to hover somewhere

as in

105), or he leaves part of the rectangle so well

defined that the viewer can read

Rothko minimizes the

for

as,

and Blue

by dyeing

it

intensity,

its

and complete the shape

(cat. no.

and

into the canvas;

becomes disembodied and

in front of the paintings.

canvases are larger than life-size

10).

Because by

now

are often very large indeed

the
the

encompassed by these floating color shapes, drawn into space

somewhere between himself and the picture plane and is engulfed
an overwhelming emotional experience. Rothko's commitment to creat-

spectator

is

that exists
in

ing this exalted emotional experience, to art as an act of revelation, shared by

and

Still

Newman,

contrasts markedly with the attitudes of painters like

Pollock or de Kooning and Franz Kline, for

whom

the physical rather than

the spiritual aspects of painting were of central importance. For these artists

who emphasized
must
and

the gestural elements of Abstract Expressionism, the canvas

reflect the very act of painting. Pollock,

in his canvas, using his entire

body

as he

pouring paint, walking around

worked, was the quintessential

action painter. Because his canvases were so large,

Rothko probably had

to

expend

much

as

physical energy

when he painted

Pollock did. But

as

Rothko's approach was contemplative rather than physical; unlike Pollock,

who worked

intuitively, rapidly

and spontaneously, Rothko proceeded from

long periods of meditation to the physical act of painting.

As the 1950's advance, Rothko's canvases grow

the edges of his

larger,

forms become more concrete, the colors more opaque, the

mood

of the

work

more somber. This shift in direction was clarified and emphatically reflected
in a mural series Rothko executed for the Four Seasons restaurant in the
Seagram Building in 1958. Rothko had never before received a mural
commission nor had he ever painted a formal and unified series. He worked
on them for nearly a year and actually completed three separate sets of murals
before he was satisfied. Each set became progressively darker: the first were
primarily orange and brown, the last, deepest maroon and black. In them,
Rothko abandons solid color-forms in favor of rectangles with open centers
that reveal the field behind them and therefore suggest doorways. For the first
time he employs a horizontal support with a vertical configuration and
his palette

more

severely than ever before, using only

Rothko explained
After

had

two

restricts

colors in each panel.

that the panels were inspired by Michelangelo:

work for some

been at

time,

was much

I realized that I

influenced subconsciously by Michelangelo's walls in the staircase room of

the

Medicean Library in Florence

he makes the viewers feel that they

are trapped in a room where all the doors

that all they can do

is

and windows

are bricked up, so

50

butt their heads forever against the wall.

first time, the work is brooding, forbidding, tragic.

Rothko completed the commission but did not deliver the paintings:
when he saw the space for which they were intended, he said he was offended

For the

and returned the sum he had been paid

time Rothko refused to

sell his

for

them. In

fact, this

was not the only

work or accept patronage. He would not allow

museums to buy his paintings in the 1950's and returned the

Guggenheim International Award prize money he won in 1958. These
certain

actions no doubt

depended upon deep-seated emotional and moral

By

this

by

social injustice, as

time famous and financially secure, he must

still

attitudes.

have been outraged

he had been in his impoverished youth. The radical,

liberal Jewish immigrant probably felt guilty because he was himself rich
and had accepted a commission for a commercial establishment that served

the wealthy.

It is

much torment

well

known that Rothko's success brought him at least as

Whether or not Rothko was ever really satisfied

as comfort.

with the Four Seasons murals

is

open

to conjecture.

He

did consent to

sell

the

The second set was abandoned and the third,

completed in 1959, Rothko gave to The Tate Gallery in London (figs. 47, 48).
In I960, The Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C., openedanew
wing and set aside a room in it to display their three Rothkos, which
included Green and Tangerine on Red, 1956 (cat. no. 13 1). A fourth painting,
Ochre and Red on Red, 1954 (cat. no. 1 18), was acquired in 1964 and added to
the room at that time. The idea was conceived by Duncan Phillips, who was
moved by the artist's profound use of light and color. The windows in the
room were darkened, and thus was born the first "Rothko Chapel." This
first

group

as separate paintings.

installation

undoubtedly affected Rothko's thinking about future presenta-

tions of his work.

Rothko was given

his first important

one-man museum exhibition by

65

66
47, 48
The Tate Gallery, London,
figs.

The Museum of Modern Art

installation himself and made

When

in

New York

in

1961.

He

directed the

radical decisions about lighting

and place-

The Museum of
Modern Art in 1952, Rothko had asked that his paintings be hung in blazing
light and placed so close together that they touched one another. Some time
later, however, when one of his canvases was installed in the Modern's
collection galleries, Rothko indicated that he wanted the lighting dimmed.
Now he had all of the works hung very close to one another and drastically
reduced the lighting, so that the paintings appeared to glow in the dark. The
ment.

effect

he participated

in the 15 Americans

show

at

produced was one of an intimate environment, of a dark space

in

which

the paintings, instead of existing as individual entities, constituted a series

although they ranged

style.

in date

from 1945 to I960 and varied considerably

in

installation view

Rothko was commissioned

to execute a series of murals in

1961

for

Harvard University by Professor Wassily Leontief, Chairman of the Society

of Fellows and Professor of Economics of Harvard University, and John P.

Coolidge, Director of the Fogg Art

Museum. They were slated

to be installed

penthouse of Holyoke Center, designed by Jose Luis Sert, but were

ultimately placed on permanent view in the faculty dining room at the
in the

Center. Completed in 1962, the Harvard murals were exhibited at the

Guggenheim Museum in the late spring of 1963 before they were sent on to
Cambridge. The series consisted of five monumental panels which were
intended to be hung in two distinct but interrelated groups (cat. nos.
175-177). For the Guggenheim installation, Rothko flanked a wide panel
with two narrower ones; these formed a triptych. The remaining panels, one
wide, one narrow, were hung on separate walls adjoining the triptych.
Rothko's configurations in these murals are made up of post and lintel

narrow bands and by small discrete rectangles.

merged together in
bottom by very
The ground is dusky plum-

purple, one of Rothko's favorite colors, which

offset

forms

single ones in the narrower panels, double ones

the wide ones.

The

plinth-like masses are linked at top and

is

by black, deep

and creamy yellow columns. The relationship of the

alizarin

pillars to the picture

plane creates the illusion of space, while the saturated pigment and

brushwork

assert the

two-dimensionality of the canvas surface. The murals,

more impetuously painted than his earlier canvases, are replete with tempestuous strokes and aggressive blocky forms. The somber colors and massive
shapes create at once a sense of architecture, silence and stasis. The cumulative effect of the installation at the

Guggenheim was

a feeling of a sanctuary

within a public space.

The Museum of Modern Art

may have

installation

creasing bias on Rothko's part in favor of dimly

lit

influenced an in-

presentations and the

evolution of ever-darker paintings throughout the sixties. This development

must

also be attributed to a

change in Rothko's personality,

years passed. Internal

fame

for as his

grew, so did his uneasiness, and he became increasingly depressed

and external pressures mounted. The

as the

strain of

The

he produced very
1962 and 1963- He attended more and more ceremonial
such
Kennedy and Johnson inaugural
and
dinner
White House and painted
and
Although highly

Museum

of

Modern Art

exhibition took

its toll

little in

events

arts at the

less

acclaimed in the
wife, Mell,

fifties,

as the

celebrating the

a state

festivities

less.

he was barely earning enough then to support his

and his daughter, Kate, born

abroad extensively with his family and

in

1950.

Now he was able to travel

visit the cities

and monuments he

must have yearned to see. In 1963, his son, Christopher, was born. He
should have been happy and confident but he was deeply troubled. Friends
relate that he spoke of being trapped and feared his work had reached a dead
end.

But by 1964, Rothko was preoccupied with a major undertaking, a

commission from Dominique and John de Menil to execute murals for a
chapel in Houston (figs. 49, 50). This chapel, originally intended to be

Roman

Catholic and part of the University of St. Thomas, was finally

realized as an interdenominational chapel affiliated with the Institute of

Religion and

Human Development

at

Rice University. The octagonal floor

plan was designed by Philip Johnson; the final design was executed under the
supervision of

Howard Barnstone and Eugene Aubrey. Rothko

project with great enthusiasm and began to

accepted the

work on the murals shortly

after

67

he moved into his last studio, a converted carriage house on East 69th Street.
The commission gave Rothko the opportunity to fulfill one of his life's

ambitions

Western

to create a

religious art.

monument
He placed a

that could stand in the great tradition of

parachute over his skylight to adjust the

natural light that filtered in during the daytime, preferring to keep the

studio relatively dark. Rothko became obsessed with the chapel.

He

started

work intensively on them

until 1967, when they were basically complete. Yet even after 1967 he
returned to them from time to time to make minor changes.
Tragically, Rothko did not live to see this project realized, and it was
dedicated almost one year to the day after he committed suicide. Rothko
designed three triptychs, five single panels and four alternatives for the
chapel (figs. 49, 50). His theme was the Passion of Christ and he had, at one
point, planned to place the numbers of the fourteen Stations of the Cross on
the panels in the winter of 1964 and continued to

the exterior of the building to indicate the location of each panel inside the

68

Two

structure.

triptychs and one single panel are comprised of black hard-

edged rectangles on maroon

fields;

entirely black, veiled with a

wash of maroon. Variations

one triptych and four single panels are

in the thickness of

paint produce nuances of color. In these murals on the Passion of Christ,

Rothko evokes with

and black

his red

his belief in the passion of life, the

Red, so often the principal

finality of death, the reality of the spirit.

Rothko's emotions and ideas,

is

now accompanied by

black,

carrier of

which sym-

bolizes his state of mind and the character of his existence in the latter part of
his

life.

Black, however, does not signify only death.

colors in the artist's palette.

restricting

it

Rothko had reduced

to the simplest shapes

and to

It is

one of the richest

now he was purifying

color;

by

his painting in the fifties

it

even

of colors, limiting himself to red and, finally, black. These reds and blacks

do not any longer seem

tragic, twilit

to exist as physical color, but rather, as tranquil,

dreams of color. Even more than the Four Seasons or Harvard

murals, the Houston paintings create a total environment, a unified atmosphere of all-encompassing, awe-inspiring spirituality.
In 1968,

Rothko

suffered an

aneurysm of the

aggravated by other ailments, by heavy drinking

of his generation
years of his

These were

life

and by family problems.

aorta.

This condition was

common among

Nevertheless, in the

artists

last

two

Rothko produced an astonishing and prolific body of work.

in acrylics,

medium which Rothko

he was

chose because he was

make one painting a

Some were canvases but the majority were extraordinary paper pieces,
among the most exquisite work he had done. He had, of course, worked on
attracted to their fast-drying qualities

able to

day.

paper in the forties and he executed small-scale paper versions of his

canvas in 1958. Rothko had his assistant
floor as he watched.

Once he decided on

roll

oils

on
figs.

out a length of paper on the

the size he wanted, he had a series of

same dimensions. Then he

ten to fifteen sheets cut to approximately the

tacked the papers on the wall in a row and worked on them one at a time.

The new
planes

border.

either

acrylics are simplicity

brown

or black

itself:

on grey

in

most of them two dark

are surrounded by a narrow white

The borders were of extreme importance

to

Rothko, who constantly

readjusted their proportions in relation to the inner configurations. Imagery,

mood and meaning

1960's.

are vastly different

The glowing

from

his

work of the 1950's and

early

colors of the earlier paintings are replaced here by

deeper, quieter hues; the rectangles, which formerly floated, are denser,

more

stable, because of the

more opaque quality of the

acrylics.

Rothko's

49. 50

The Rothko Chapel, Houston

fig.

51

Caspar David Friedrich,

Monk

by the Sea.

Collection Staatliche Schlosser

1810.

und Garten,

Schloss Chatlottenburg, Berlin

69

preference for horizontal divisions within vertical canvases and configurations

is

upon horizontal divisions of horizontal

replaced by an insistence

supports.

Where

the vertical called to

alludes to landscape.

The doorways

Houston Chapel were

still

in

mind

architecture, the horizontal

to a higher reality created before the

redolent with sensuous color and form: there was

them an equilibrium between two states of existence, the spiritual and the
The new works, however, speak entirely of another, transcendent

physical.

world, of a painter

who

has crossed a threshold into the far side of reality.

These landscapes of the

such as Monk by the Sea

Caspar David Friedrich,

awe of the

spirit,

Rothko has long

human element

and sky are

human

way

monk;

form. Specific

Rothko.

He

conveys

the darker, heavier top

lighter, usually smaller area of grey below.

painstakingly adjusted and readjusted; between

in

of course,

in the figure of the

also unnecessary for

of his meaning through gesture and in the

mass meets the

Both artists stand

spirit. Friedrich,

since banished all allusions to the

references to beach, sea

all

(fig. 51).

both use nature to express that

necessary to incorporate a

felt it

resemblance to paintings by

spirit bear a certain

them

The two planes are

is

a band which

appears to be a flicker of light. Often, especially in the paper pieces, this

luminosity

is

The weight and

Inness-like.

texture of the canvas create a

heavier, darker presence than the paper does. In both paper pieces

canvases, however,

idea

is

incarnated in the

created by

and

moving towards darkness, "...the abstract

image.
But this is not to say that the images

Rothko

is

Rothko are the thin evocations of the speculative intellect; they are

rather the concrete, the tactual expression of the intuitions of an artist to

whom

the subconscious represents not the farther, but the nearer shore of

one-man

art," wrote the author of the preface to the catalogue of Rothko's

exhibition at Art of This Century in 1945.

moved beyond such concepts

sensual, corporeal.
in the

He had

By

in his painting.

the end of his

life

Rothko had

No longer is his art earthbound,

attained a harmony, an equilibrium, a wholeness,

Jungian sense, that enabled him to express universal truths

breakthrough works, fusing the conscious and the unconscious, the

in his

finite

and

the infinite, the equivocal and the unequivocal, the sensuous and the spiritual.

Now

he had

left

behind

all

that spoke of the carnate, the concrete.

He

had

reached the farther shore of art.

Diane

Waldman

FOOTNOTES
1

Washington, D.C., 1972,

with Edward

Interview

O'Connor, ed.,

Francis V.

Memoirs,

36. "Clyfford Still" in Art of This Century,

New

120.

p.

York, Clyfford

February

Still,

Weinstein,

12-March7, 1946.
January 24, 1978. According to Weins-

18.

numerous variants of

there were

tein,

37.

1977.

the name, such as Rothkovich, adopted

One

by different family members.

branch of the family changed

19-

Leter from Solman,

November

Quoted

San Francisco

in

Modern

Art,

9-March

14, 1976, pp.

Clyfford

Museum

of

January

Still,

15,

108-109.

1977.

name

its

December 27,

Letter from H. R. Hays,

38. Idem., opposite pi. 10.

to

2.

Weinstein and another to Nagel.

Letter from

Weinstein, February 24,

20. Ibid.

21. Mercury Galleries,

John

15,

40. Meyer Schapiro, "The Younger Ameri-

can Painters of Today,"

1938.

"The Easy Chair: Mark

Fischer,

39. Idem., p. 52.

York, The Ten:

November

Whitney Dissenters,

1978.
3-

New

Rothko: portrait of the

artist as

man,"

241, no.

an angry

22.

November

Letter from Solman,

The

Listener,

1402, January 26, 1956, p.

vol. lv, no.

15,

147.
Harper's,

vol.

1442,

1977.

41. Quoted in Morton Feldman,

July 1970, p. 17.

23. J.
4.

70

Letter from

Max Naimark,

Dr.

Feb-

L.,

Modernism," Art

Gromaire and Solman," Art News,

vol.

xxxviii, no.

16,

in

America, vol. 59,

November-December 1971,

no. six,

ruary 14, 1978.

"After

Rothko,

"Three Moderns:

p.

January 20, 1940, p.

72.

12.
5.

Current Biography

Charles

York, 1961, p. 398.

24. Joseph Liss, "Portrait by Rothko," unists.

"The Easy Chair,"

6.

Fischer,

7.

Letter from

On deposit in Rothko
Whitney Museum of American
New York.

Naimark, December 27,

Art,

25. Letter from Edith S. Carson, January 5,

9-

"The Romantics were Prompted,"

Quoted

Winter 1947/8,

in Brian

York.ca. 1973,
10.

Quoted

in

"A

and

the

New

Myth,

1978.
Breton,

27.

John D. Graham, System and

of Art,

March

3,

vol.

28.

New

Quoted

Fall

13.

York, 1937,

Newman

in

[letter],

January 7, 1965,

New York

Neu

America,

New

30.

York, 1944,

New

don, 1936,
17.

p.

the

his

Attitude

Tiger's Eye,

p.

vol.

in
1,

Paintno.

9,

114.

"A Symposium on How

to

Combine

p. 118.

Interiors, vol. ex, no.

10,

May

1951, p.

York, Mark

49.

The Museum of Modern Art, New

15

Americans.

March 25-June

Quoted

in Fischer,

"The Easy Chair,"

"Personal Statement" in David Porter

Gallery, Washington,
ing Prophecy

1950.

DC,

p. 16.

Paint-

"Reviews and Previews," Art News,

1948, p. 63.

Surrealism, Lon-

34.

65.

WPA Federal Art Project,"

Projects:

The

September

Joseph Solman, "The Easel Division of

Deal Art

York,

January 9-February

vol. xlvii, no. 2, April

is

New

4, 1945, n.p.

33.

Andre Breton, What

Balakian, Surrealism:

the Absolute,

11, 1952, p. 18.

WPA,"

1961, p. 14.
16.

Pos-

p. 84.

Architecture, Painting and Sculpture,"

50.

5,

p.

Interview with Solman, March 3, 1978.

Rothko: Paintings,

32.

Art News, vol. 60, no.

Anna
to

"Statement on

York,

Society for

Painting from the

I,

104.

L[awrence] C[ampbell], "Reviews and

Previews:

Winter 1947/48,

October 1949,

Ethical Culture.
15.

1971, vol.

"The Romantics were Prompted,"

ing,"

Sidney Janis, Abstract and Surrealist Art

in

Milton Avery, delivered

for

47.

Platform and Other Matters:

31. Art of This Century,

Eulogy

"A," an aesthete, speaking.

is

1959, p. 64.

Edward

14, 1977.
14.

New Jersey,

28. This

46. Quoted in

48.
29.

trans.

Marvin,

15.

p.

York Times, June 13, 1943, p. x9.

"Mark

M. Avery, December

Lillian

Princeton,

sibilities I,

Marcus Rothko and Adolph Gottlieb

New

1947, p. 41.

Letter from Sally

Either/Or,

Swenson and

Dialectics

'Globalism' Pops into View," The

0[scar] C[ollier],

in

F.

Surrealism, p. 59.

Alden Jewell, "The Realm of Art:

16.

Rothko," The New Iconograph, no. 4,

Kierkegaard,

David

with unacknowledged collaboration of

1961, p. 75.

Art News, vol. xxxii, no. 9, December

12.

1957, p. 93.

Stfren

The Road

Jane Schwartz, "Around the Galleries,"

2, 1933, p.

is

45.

Barnett
1

What

26.

p. 153.

Certain Spell," Time

lxxvii, no. 10,

Pos-

p. 84.

O'Doherty, American

Masters: The Voice

Conversations with Art-

43. Idem., pp. 93-94.

44.

1977.

sibilities 1,

New York,

published, n.d.
p. 22.
file,

8.

Rodman,

42. Selden

New

Moritz.ed,

Yearbook,

An

Sam Hunter,
TheNew York

Modernism,"

March

14,

1948,

p. 8x.

TheNew

Anthology of

"Diverse
Times.

Ca.
35. Ibid.

1964-66. Photo by Alexander

Liberman

1.

Portrait of Rothko's Mother, n.d.

Oil on canvas, 20 x 16!4"

Estate of

Mark Rothko

2.

Untitled, late

1920s

Watercolor on paper, 15 x 22"

Lent anonymously

/fa

3.

**

Untitled, late

1920s

Watercolor on paper, 15 x 21V4"

Estate of

Mark Rothko

"l^^H^^B^H

mm

Untitled, late

1920s

Watercolor on paper, 15 x \2Ys"

Estate of

Mark Rothko

5.

The Bathers.

late

1920s

Watercolor on paper, 1214 x 15"

Estate of

Mark Rothko

6.

Untitled, late

1920s

X 15"

12%

x 15"

Watercolor on paper, 12

1.

Estate of

Mark Rothko

Untitled,

[ate

1920s

Watercolor on paper,
Estate ot

8.

Pasture.,

Mark Rothko

late

1920s

Watercolor on paper,
Estate of

10%

Mark Rothko

15%"

9-

Untitled.

1930

Oil on canvas, 21 x 27"

Estate of

Mark Rothko

10.

Untitled.

1930

Oil on canvas, 28 x 17"

Courtesy The Pace Gallery

1.

Interior.

1932

Oil on masonite,
Estate of

23%

Mark Rothko

x 18"

12.

Untitled.

1932

Oil on muslin

canvas board,
Estate of

mounted on
x 20 34"

26%

Mark Rothko

....

</

13.

Untitled.

1936-37

Oil on canvas, 24 x 18"

Courtesy The Pace Gallery

14.

Nude.

1936

Oil on canvas, 36 x 2AVa"

15.

Estate of

Mary

Untitled.

1938

Alice

Rothko

Oil on canvas, 49 34 x 37"

Estate of

Mark Rothko

.V

""

'-.

k\

16.

Untitled.

1936-38

Oil on canvas, 40Ks x 30Vs"

Lent anonymously

17.

Untitled.

1936-38

Oil on canvas, 28 x 36"

Estate of

Matk Rothko

18.

Untitled, ca.

1936

Oil on canvas, 32 x 42"

Estate

19.

of"

Mark Rothko

Self Portrait.

1936

Oil on canvas, 32(4 x 26"

Estate of

Mary Alice Rothko

20. Subway (Subterranean Fantasy), ca. 1936

Oil on canvas,
Estate of

33%

x 46"

Mark Rothko

21.

Untitled.

1936-38

Oil on canvas, 20V4 x 30"

Estate of

Mark Rothko

22. Subway Scene.

1938

Oil on canvas, 35 x 4714"

Estate of

Mark Rothko

"WW**

^jm&b

23. Antigone.

1938

Oil on canvas, 34 x 46"

Lent anonymously

39*/.

24^

Untitled.

1939-40

Oil on canvas, 29 3/4 x 36"

Estate ot

Mark Rothko

$
**
l

25.

Untitled.

1940-41

Oil on canvas, \1Va x 25V5"

Estate of

Mark Rothko

26.

The Omen of the Eagle.

1942

Oil on canvas, 25'/2 x

17%"

Estate-

ill

Mark Rotlikn

27.

The Omen. 1942-43

Oil on canvas, 19 x 13"
Estate ot

Mark Rothko

28

The Syrian Bull. 1943

Oil on canvas. 3914

X.27W"

Collection Mrs. Barnctt

Newman

29. Sacrifice of lphigenia.

1942

Oil on canvas, 50 x 37"

Lent anonymously

30.

Horizontal Procession
(Gyrations on Four Plana:

Oil on canvas,

23%

Lent anonymously

>'>

47%"

5 1

Poised Elements

1944

Oil on canvas, 37 x 49"

Courtesy The Pace Gallery

$2.

Unlit led.

1944

Watercolor on paper, 26 x 19%"

Lent anonymously

33. Phalanx of the Mind. 1944

Oil on canvas, 54 x
Estate of

35%"

Mark Rothko

M.

Ttresias.

Estate of

35. Archaic Phantasy.

1944

Oil on canvas,

79%

x 40"

Mary Alice Rothko

1945

Oil on canvas, 48 x 24"

Courtesy The Pace Gallery

Oil on ca

Courtesy The Pace GaJIery

Birth of Cephalopods. 1944

Oil on canvas,
Estate of

39^

x 53VS"

Mark Rothko

38.

TotemSign.

1945-46

Watercolor on paper, 29'/2 x 21

Courtesv The Pace Gallery

'/t"

39.

Rites of Lilith.

1945

Oil on canvas,

81%

Estate of

100%"

Mark Rothko

iO

ntitled

1945-46

Watc-rcolor on paper, 27'/; x

Courtesy The Pate Gallen

20H"

1.

Untitled.

1944-45

Watercolor on paper,
Estate of

22%

Mark Rothko

30%"

* ^

42. Entombment

Gouache on
Collection

*^1 -r /

19 S6

paper, 20-H x 25'4"

Whitney Museum

of

American Art,

New

York

43. Entombment

II.

1946

Watercolor on paper, 30 x 38"

Private Collection

44.

V mitUd. 1945-46
Watercolor on paper,
Lent anonymously

40%

x 2714"

Untitled.

1945-46

Watercolor on paper, 29Vs x 2\ }A"

Lent anonymously

I.

Untitled.

1944 -45

Watercolor on paper, 29 34 x 2\yg"

Estate of

Mark Rothko

1945-46

rrcolor

Estate

or'

on paper.

Mark Rochko

j>

jar^sf

"

i-^i

'**

e*

i9

Untitled.

1944-45

Watercolor on paper,
Estare ot

20%

Mark Korhko

x 28'/i"

50.

Untitled.

1945-46

Watercolor on paper,
Estate of

39%

Mark Rothko

x 26 3/s"

Untitled.

1945-46

Watercolor on paper, 22 x 15VV'

Estate of

52.

Vessels

Mark Rothko

of Magic.

1946

Watercolor on paper,
Collection

53.

Untitled.

38%

25W

The Brooklyn Museum

1946

Oil on canvas, 38'/2 x 54'/4

Courtesy The Pace Gallery

54. Figure in Archaic Sea.

1946

Oil on canvas, 54!/* x W>/&"

Estate of

Mark Rothko

^^mt

55. Horizontal Vision.

1946

Oil on canvas, 387s x 54 V$"

Lent anonymously

*^^1mP^3I

^'
,

56.

Personage Two.

1946

Oil on canvas, 55 34 x 32"

Estate of

Mark Rothko

#*

57.

The Source. 1945-46

Oil on canvas, 39'4 x 27 34"
Estate of

Matk Rothko

58

Untitled.

1945-46

Oil on canvas, 31'/2 x 3914"

Courtesy The Pace Gallery

59. Aquatic

Drama. 1946

Oil on canvas, 36 x 48"

Courtesy The Pace Gallery

Wfi

*
*&0tE**

^J
i

60. Prehistoric Memory.

Pastel on paper,

1946

25%

19%"

Collection Steingrim Laursen, Copenhagen

61.

Untitled.

1946

Watercolor on paper,

38%

x 25'/2"

Collection Mr. and Mrs. Donald Blinken

62.

Untitled.

1945

Oil on canvas, 22 x 30"

Courtesy The Pace Gallery

jBP'^
ill W*

mjL/t .t^
i'vr

\.

'"^

J)

'^

\qgp/
/

63. Slow Swirl at the Edge of the Sea. 1944

Oil on canvas, 75 x 8454"

Estate ot

Mary Alice Rothko

64.

Untitled.

1945

Watercolor on paper, 27 x AOVi"

Estate of

Mark Rothko

65. Gethsemane.

1945

Oil on canvas, 54 3/g x

Lent anonymously

35H"

66. Primeval Landscape. 1945

Oil on canvas,
Estate of

54%

x 35"

Mark Rothko

m
".

^ *.

**
'-Xjcj^

67.

Untitled.

1945

Watercolor on paper,

21%

Courtesy The Pace Gallery

x 30"

##

*'

68.

Untitled.

1945

Watercolor on paper, 40Vi x ZlVi"

Estate of

Mark Rothko

69. Compost! ion.

1946

Oil on canvas,

27%

18%"

Private Collection

70.

Multiform.

1948

Oil on canvas, 89 x 65"

Estate of

Mark Rothko

Untitled.

1946

Oil on canvas, 39V5 x 54Vi"

Estate of

Mark Rothko

72.

Untitled.

1946

Oil on canvas,
Estate of

27%

x 38"

Mark Rothko

73.

Number 26. 1947

Oil on canvas, 33 34 x 45!4"
Collection Betty Parsons,

74.

Untitled.

1947

Oil on canvas, 61 x A6V2

Courtesy The Pace Gallery

New

York

75.

Untitle J. n d.

OH

on canvas, 48 x 40"

Lent anonymously

76.

Untitled,

1947

Oil on canvas, 39 34 x 33"

Estate of

Mark Rothko

77.

Number

18.

1948-49. Oil on canvas, 6lVi

Collection Vassar College Art Gallery,

x 55 7/e"

Poughkeepsie

New

York

Gift of

Mrs John

Rockefeller, III

78.

Untitled.

1947

Oil on canvas, 54'/2 x

Estate of

35W

Mark Rothko

79.

Untitled.

1947

Oil on canvas,
Estate ot

80.

Untitled.

38%

x 39!4'

Mark Rothko
1947

Oil on canvas, 61 x 43"

Estate. of

Mark Rothko

SI.

Untitled.

1947

Oil on canvas, 38V5 x 27

Estate of

32.

Untitled.

.;'

Mark Rothko
1947

Oil on canvas, 47Ms x 35"

Courtesy The Pace Gallery

* .*

83

Multiform.

1948

Oil on canvas, 53Vs x

46%"

Courtesy The Pace Gallery

84.

Number

15.

1948

Oil on canvas, 52 x 29"

Lent anonymously

85. Number 24.

1948

Oil on canvas, 34 x 50!

Collection

The Museum

"

of

Gilt of the artist

86

Multiform.

1949

Oil on canvas, 80 x }9!

Lent anonymously

,"

Modern Art, New

"lurk

_, -!

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^B
87.

Number

11.

1949

Oil on canvas, 68 x 43!4"

Lent anonymously

88.

Number

19.

1949

Oil on canvas, 68 x 40"

Collection

The Art

Institute of Chicago,

Anonymous

Gift

89.

Untitled.

1949

90.

Violet,

Black, Orange, Yellow on White

Oil on canvas, 98 x 65"

Oil on canvas, 81'/2 x 66"

Courtesy The Pace Gallery

Estate of

Mark Rothko

and

Red.

1949

-w^HK^Hi^^H
91.

Number 22. 1949

Oil on canvas,
Collection

17 x \01Vg"

The Museum of Modern Art,

Gift of the artist

New

York.

92. Magenta. Black, Green on Orange. 1949

Oil on canvas,
Estate of

85%

64 /5"
1

Mary Alice Rothko

93. Green, Red on Orange.

1950

Oil on canvas, 93 x 59"

Courtesy The Pace Gallery

94.

Untitled,

n.d.

Oil on canvas, 90 x
Estate of

43%"

Mark Rothko

95.

White

Center.

1950

96.

Oil on canvas, 81 x 55V2"

Private Collection,

New

York

Untitled.

1951

Oil on canvas, 93 x 57"

Collection Mr. and Mrs. Gifford Phillips,

New

York

97.

Untitled.

1949

Oil on canvas, 56 x 30!4"

Courtesy The Pace Gallery

98.

Number

10.

1950

Oil on canvas,
Collection

90%

x 57Vs"

The Museum of Modern Art,

Gift of Philip Johnson

New

York.

99. Number 12.

1951

Oil on canvas, 57V4 x

Estate of

52JV

Mary Alice Rothko

100. Number 18.

195

1.

Oil on canvas, 8

VA

x 67"

Collection Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute, Utica,

New

York

*we?a-

Mi^WMM^Ti

ii^m

.J

101.

Untitled.

1950

Oil on canvas, 81!4 x

102.

42W

Lent by Galerie Beyeler, Basel

Green, White, Yellow on Yellow.

Oil on canvas, 67'/2 x

Lent anonymously

44W

1951

103. Black, Pink

and Yellow

Oil on canvas,
Collection

16 x

over Orange.

92W

Graham Gund

1951-52

104.

Number

10.

1952

Oil on canvas, 8IY2 x 4214"

Collection Mr. and Mrs. Bagley Wright

^^^^H

105.

Number

8.

1952 Oil on canvas, 8OV2 x 68"

Collection Mr- and Mrs. Burron Tremaine, Meriden, Connecticut

106.

Untitled.

1952

Oil on canvas,

55%

Lent anonymously

30%"

107.

Homage

to

Matisse.

Oil on canvas,
Collection

108.

1954

105^

x 5

1"

McCrory Corporation, New

Number 61 (Brown,
Oil on canvas,

Blue,

Brown on

16V$ x 92"

Collection Panza di

Biumo

York

Blue).

19'

109.

Yellow. Black, Orange on Yellow.

Oil on canvas, 106 x 5

1953

1"

Lent anonymously

110

Yellow. Orange.

Red

Oil on canvas,

1 1

on Orange.

5 x

Lent anonymously

90 34"

1954

Ill

Untitled.

1953

Oil on canvas, IGV2 x 6IV2"

Lent anonymously

112.

Untitled.

1953

Oil on canvas, 74 x 61"

Collection Mr. and Mrs. Roberr Kardon

113.

White, Yellow,

Red on

Oil on canvas,

90%

Yellow.

x 7 1"

Courtesy The Pace Gallery

1953

114. Orange, Gold and Black. 1955

Oil on canvas, 89'/2 x 3854"

Collection Honorable and Mrs. Irwin D. Davidson

115.

Blue, Yellow, Green on Red.

Oil on canvas,

77%

1954

x 65V6"

Collection Mr. and Mrs. Oscar Kolin

16.

Light, Earth

and

Blue.

1954

Oil on canvas, 76 x 67"

Private Collection

117.

Number 20}. 1954

Oil on canvas, 84 x 68"
Estate of

118

Ochre

Mary Alice Rothko

and Red on

Red.

1954

Oil on canvas, 90 x 69"

The

Phillips Collection,

Washington, D.C.

119.

Untitled.

1954

Oil on canvas, 93 x 56'4"

Private Collection

120.

Untitled.

1954

Oil on canvas,
Collection

Rhode

93%

Museum

x 56!4"

of Art,

Island School of Design,

Providence. Purchased in honor of Daniel Robbins

121.

White Band (Number 27). 1954

Oil on canvas, 86Vs x 8

1"

Collection Mr. and Mrs. Ben Heller,

122.

Untitled.

1955

Oil on canvas, 91
Collection

'-4

x 69"

Graham Gund

New

York

123

Three Reds.

1955

Oil on canvas, 68 x

38>/:>"

Collection Mr. and Mrs- Donald Blinken

124.

Yellow, Blue on Orange.

1955

Oil on canvas, 102!^ x

66W

Collection

Museum

of Art, Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh

125.

Blue over Orange. 1956

Oil on canvas, 86 x 79"

Collection Mr. and

Mrs Donald Blinken

126.

Number

2.

1954

Oil on canvas,

13V2 x 68'/4"

Collection Tehran

Museum

of Contemporary Art

127. Blue Cloud.

1956

Oil on canvas, 54'/2 x 53"

Lent by Gimpel

128.

& Hanover Galene, Zurich

Blackish Green Tone on Blue. 1957

Oil on canvas, 103 x

Estate of

Mark Rothko

16H"

129.

Violet

and Yellow

on Rose.

1954

Oil on canvas, 84 x 67 34"

Collection Panza di

Biumo

130. Green, Red, Blue.

Oil on canvas, 8
Collection

From

1955

Wi

77%"

Milwaukee Arc Center.

the Collection of

Mrs. Harry Lynde Bradley

131. Green

and Tangerine

on Red.

Oil on canvas, 93'/2 x

The

1956

69W"

Phillips Collection,

Washington,

DC.

132. Orange and Yellow. 1956

Oil on canvas,

91x71"

Collection Albright-Knox Art Gallery,

Buffalo,

New

York, Gift of

Seymour H. Knox

133.

Untitled.

1955

Oil on canvas,
Estate of

134.

Untitled.

53%

x 2714"

Mark Rothko
1956

Oil on canvas,

79%

69"

Collection Mr. and Mrs. Lee V. Eastman

135. Red and Pink on Pink.

1953
Tempera on paper, 39Vs x 2554"
Courtesy The Pace Gallery

136.

White Cloud. 1956

Oil on canvas, 66V2 x 621/2"
Private Collection

137. Black, Ochre, Red over Red.

1957

Oil on canvas, 100 x 82'4"

Collection Panza di

Biumo,

138. Brown, Black on Maroon. 1957

Oil on canvas, 91Vi x 76"

Estate of

Mark Rothko

139. Four Reds.

1957

Oil on canvas, 81 x 50"

Collection Mr. and Mrs. Daniel Schwartz

140. Untitled.

1957

Oil on canvas, 19Yi x 69V3"

Frederick

Weisman Family

Collection

Untitled.

1957

Oil on canvas, 79V? x

69%"

Private Collection, Zurich

142.

Untitled (Number 7).

1957

Oil on canvas, 69Y2 x 44"

Estate of

Mary Alice Rothko

143.

Untitled.

1955-56

Oil on canvas, 64 x 58"

Collection Gerald

S. Elliott,

Chicago

44.

Yellow

and Gold. 1956

Oil on canvas, 61Vs x

Collection

62%"

The Museum of Modern Art, New

Gift of Philip Johnson

Yotk.

145.

Brown and Black

m Reds.

146. Number 16.

1958

Oil on canvas, 91'/i x 60"

Collection Joseph

E.& Seagram Sons,

1958

Oil on canvas,
Inc.

Estate of

79%

x 69"

Mary Alice Rothko

147.

1956

Yellow over Purple,

Oil on canvas, 69

/:

59 4"
l

Morton Neumann Family Collection

148. Saffron.

1957

Oil on canvas, 69!4 x 53'/i"

Collection Mr. and Mrs. Ralph

I.

Goldenberg, Chicago

149.

Number

9.

1958

Oil on canvas, 101 x 82"

Collection

Mr

and Mrs. Donald Bhnken

150. Black, Maroons

and While. 1958

Oil on canvas, 105 x 166"

Collection Mr. and Mrs. Ben Heller,

New

York

">

Light Cloud.

Dark Cloud. 1957

Oil on canvas, 66-H x 62Vi"

Collection

The

Fort

Worth Art Museum Benjamin

,

J Ti liar

Trust Fund

52. Red,

Brown and Black. 1958

Oil on canvas,

106%

x 11714"

The Museum of Modern Art,

Mrs. Simon Guggenheim Fund
Collection

New

York.

153.

White, Red on Yellow. 1958

Oil on canvas, 95 x 81 /2"

l

Lent anonymously

154.

Untitled.

1961

Oil on canvas, 105 x 83"

Collection Arnold and Milly Glimcher,

New

York

155.

Reds,

Number

16.

1960

Oil on canvas, 102 x 119'/i"

Collection

New

The Metropolitan Museum

ot Art,

York, Purchase, Arthur A. Hearn Fund,

George A. Hearn Fund, Hugo Kastor Fund, 1971

156.

Untitled.

1960

Oil on canvas,
Collection
Gift of

92%

x 81"

The Toledo Museum of Art.

Edward Drummond Libbey

157.

Untitled.

1959

Acrylic on paper, 38V6 x 25"

Estate of

Mary Alice Rothko

158.

Untitled.

1959

Acrylic on paper, 38 x 25"

Estate of

Mary Alice Rothko

159

Untitled.

1960

Oil on paper
Collection

mounted on canvas, 25'/2 x 19V5

and Mrs. Lee V. Eastman

Mr

160. Greyed Olive Green, Red on Maroon. 1961

Oil on canvas, 10156 x 89!/2"

Lent anonymously

161.

Number 101. 1961

Oil on canvas, 79 x 81"
Collection Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Pulitzer,

Jr.

^HBHHSm
162.

Number 117. 1961

Oil on canvas, 93 x 81"
Collection Mr. and Mrs. Donald Blinken

163.

Number 118. 1961

Oil on canvas, 115 x 102'/2"
Collection

Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westtalen, Dusseldorf

164. Number

207 (Red over Dark Blue

Oil on canvas,

92V4

Collection University

on

"

Dark

81V8
Art Museum,

University of California, Berkeley

Grey).

1961

165

Orange and Lilac over

Oil on canvas,

Ivory, n

Dartmouth College Museum and

Hanover, New Hampshire

Collection

166. Orange, Wine, Grey on Plum. 1961

16 x 94"

Oil on canvas, lOAVi x 92V2"

Galleries,

Lent anonymously

167. Painting.

1961

168.

Oil on canvas, 93 x 80"

Collection

The Museum of Fine

Untitled.

1961

Oil on canvas, 69 x 50"

Arts,

Houston

Collection Mr. and Mrs. Lee V. Eastman

169.

Untitled.

1961

Oil on canvas, 92

/2

x 8

Vi

Courtesy The Pace Gallery

170.

Blue and Grey. 1962

Oil on canvas, 79V4 x 69"

Frederick

Weisman Family

Collection

171.

Number

1,

White and Red. 1962

Oil on canvas, 102 x 90"

Collection Art Gallery of Ontario;
gift

from the Women's Committee Fund, 1962

172.

Number 28. 1962

Oil on canvas, 81 x
Estate of

76%"

Mary Alice Rothko

173.

Number 212. 1962

Oil on canvas,
Estate of

69%

62"

Mary Alice Rothko

174. Red, Orange, Orange on Red. 1962

Oil on canvas, 92 x 80'/2

Collection

The

St.

"

Louis Art

Purchase: funds given by

the Shoenberg Foundation

Museum

175-177. Triptych from Harvard Murats. 1962

Oil on canvas,

left

panel 104 7/s x

17"; central panel

Courtesy of the President and Fellows

of

104%

Harvard College

x ISO //'; right panel 104ys x 96"

1

178.

Rust. Blacks on Plum.

1962

Oil on canvas, 60 x 57"

Courtesy The Pace Gallery

179-

Dark Grey Tone

on Maroon.

Oil on canvas, 134 x 72"

Estate of

Mark Rothko

1963

180. Black on

Dark Maroon. 1964

181. Brown, Green, Green-Grey on Deep Brown

Oil on canvas, 97 x 76"

Oil on canvas,

Lent anonymously

Collection Carter Burden,

93H

x 8II/2"

New

York

ca.

1965

182.

Untitled.

1963

Oil on canvas, 69 x 90"

Collection Mr. and Mrs. Richard E

Lang,

Medina, Washington

183. Untttled.

1964

Oil on canvas, 81 x 69"

Collection Barbara and Donald Jonas

^Piujm.1

184. Green, Black, Green. 1966

185. Red.

1968

Oil on canvas, 82 x 70"

Oil on paper

Collection Dr. Paul Todd Makler

Collection Mrs. Hannelore Schulhof

mounted on canvas, 33

25W

186.

Untitled.

1967

Oil on canvas, 81 x 76"

Private Collection

187.

Untitled.

1968

Acrylic on paper, 29 x 22"

Estate of

Mary Alice Rothko

Untitled.

1968

Acrylic on paper, 32 7/s x 25"

Estate of

Mark Rothko

189.

Untitled.

1968

Acrylic on paper, 40V2 x 21"

Estate of

Mark Rothko

190. Black on Grey.

1969

Acrylic on canvas,
Estate of

81W

Mark Rothko

93 4"
l

191.

Brown and

Grey.

1969

Acrylic on paper, 72 x 48"

Estate of

Mark Rothko

192

Untitled.

1968

Acrylic on paper,
Estate of

58%

Mark Rothko

29%"

193.

Untitled.

1968

Acrylic on paper, 597s x 42}

Lent anonymously

194.

195. Broun

Brown and Grey. 1969

Acrylic on paper, 60!4 x
Estate of

Mark Rorhko

48 4"
l

and

Grey.

1969

Acrylic on paper, 62 x 48Vs"

Lent anonymously

"

-._

196.

Untitled.

1968

Acrylic on paper,

60

Lent anonymously

x 42'4"

197.

Untitled.

1968

Acrylic on paper,

33%

Lent anonymously

x l^Va"

Dm

198. Black on Grey.

1970

Acrylic on canvas, 80'4 x 69"

Lent anonymously

265

Downtown

Portland, ca.

191520

Yale, ca.

Rothko and Max Naimark, Yale 1921

1921-23

Chronology
1913-1921

1903-1913
September 25

Marcus born
pharmacist,

High

School. Completes high school in three

years.

Interested in literarure, social studies,

Dvinsk, Russia, to Jacob, a

in

and Anna Goldin Rothkowitz.

Youngest of four children:

teen, brothers,

Attends Shattuck Grade School and Lincoln

labor and radical causes.

sister, Sonia,

Loves music, plays

four-

mandolin,

Moise and Albert, eleven and

piano.

later

During high school,

studies drawing at local art school, works in

eight respectively, at time of birth.

shipping department of Weinstein business.

Attends Hebrew school, studies scriptures and

Talmud.

19211923

Attends Yale University,

New

Haven, with

Portland friends, also Russian emigtants, Aaron

Jacob emigrates to United States, arrives

1910

Island. Travels to Portland,

Ellis

Oregon, where

his

brother, Samuel Weinstein, settled earlier.

Harry Director and

Max Naimark.

larships cancelled after one year.

French, history, mathematics (in which he ex-

physics,

cels),

economics and

biology,

Albert and Moise arrive Portland, passage ar-

1911

Their scho-

Takes English,

philosophy. Sketches often.

Works

at

Yale stu-

ranged by father.
dent laundry and two cleaners.

1913

August

Freshman year rooms with Naimark

5

Marcus, morher and

sister

depart Libau, Russia,

aboard S.S. Czar. Travel second-cabin.

August 17

Arrive

New

York, able to speak only Russian

Sophomore

and Yiddish.

To New Haven;

stay ten days with

Weinstein

cousins, proceed by rrain to Portland. Live at

538 Second

Street,

in

Jewish neighborhood,

southwest Portland.

Mother takes name Kate.

at

820

Howard Avenue, New Haven, home and office

of Dr. Herman W. Grodzinski. Takes meals at
Yale Commons, Lawrence Hall.

classmate,

year,

with Director and another

Simon Whitney, publishes

lived weekly

short-

pamphlet The Yale Saturday Eve-

ning Pest. Progressive tone unusual for Yale at

this time.

In 1922-23 lives at 161 Lawtence Hall, Yale

University, with Director and another student.

1914

March 27

Takes meals
Jacob

dies.

go to work at New York

Company, Weinstein family mens'
clothing business. Marcus becomes delivery

Weinstein family home,

at

10

Howard Avenue.

Sonia, Alberr and Moise

Leaves Yale without receiving degree.

Outfitting

boy, takes newspaper route.

Moves
work

to

in

New

York; takes odd jobs including

garment

district

and

as

bookkeeper

for

Samuel Nichtberger, C.P.A. and

uncle,

tax

Avery's style important to his develop-

Sally.

attorney.

ment.

1924

1928-1929

January-

Begins taking anatomy courses with George

February

Bridgman

New

Art Students League,

at

Address on application

West 102nd

York.

c/o Mrs. Goreff,

is

19

Clyfford Still in

Vaclav Vytlacil

New York

again; studies with

Art Students League.

at

1929

The Museum of Modern

November 8

New York,

Art,

opens.

Uses this address until

Street.

Begins teaching art to children part-time

1929.

at

Center Academy, Brooklyn Jewish Center.

Returns briefly to Pottland, |oins acting com-

Keeps position until 1952.

pany there run by Josephine Dillon.

Lives at 23

Addresses

Portland

in

Apartments, 635 Northrop Street and c/o

ca.

1929-1930

Weinstein Brothers, Morgan Building.

1925

Moves back

home

New

to

York, which remains

his

Paints in

December

League; studies

Student work
scenes,

in

is

still lites

in

class at

Art Students

and figure.

still life

Meets Louis Harris

Weber's

18

Still

visits

studies,

domestic

Whitney Museum

does

urban

later.

First

ma|or Surrealist exhibition

States.

1932
January 929

New

United

for first time;

Washington, three months

Milton Avery moves to

York,

Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, Newer

November

Super-Realism.

New York

New

of American Art,

opens.

class.

style;

realist

November

and landscape.

returns to Spokane,

figure

1931

in

Clyfford

in expressionist style; paints

nudes,

cityscapes,
scenes.

Max Weber's

October-

Meets Adolph Gottlieb.

Continues to work

until his death.

266

East 25th Street.

#C, Parkhurst

are:

Julien Levy Gallery,

Show.

York.

New York,

Exhibition

Surrealist

Group

shown

previously

at

Wadsworth Atheneum.
1926

March-

May

Continues studies

at

Art Students League with

While camping with Nathaniel Dirk

July 2

Weber.

at

Hearth-

Camping Grounds, Lake George, New

stone

York, meets Edith Sachar.

Influenced by Weber, experiments with expres-

Summer

Vacations with Averys and Gottliebs at Cape

sionist style.

Ann, Massachusetts; does

Becomes member

ot

Art Students League,

re-

mains such until 1929. thereby entitled to take

certain courses

and vote on

member, student must be

least three

issues.

(To qualify

so again

in

1934,

1935, 1936.

November

10

who makes costume

Marries Edith Sachar,

as

jewelry to help sustain them.

enrolled at League at

months.)

Address

137 West 72nd Street.

is

1926-1927
ca.

November-

Marcel Duchamp's Large Glass shown publicly

January

for first

time in Internationa/ Exhibition

Brooklyn Museum,
Late 1920's

Draws maps

for

New

The

at

York.

popularized

rabbi.

Not

Museum of Art, Portland, Oregon. First oneman exhibition. Shows drawings and water-

history

biblical

ings, presses unsuccessful suit against

for

Browne

$20,000 and

November 2
December 9

1-

Contemporary Arts Gallery,

Exhibition

share of royalties.
First

New

York.

First

among

group

exhibition. Organized by Bernard Karfiol

who

of

Paintings

Man

New

by Marcus

one-man exhibition

Nude.

Opportunity Galleries,

from Center

his students

Academy.

1928

November 15December 12

work of

colors with

re-

credited for draw-

and Macmillan, publisher,

Meets David Smith.

1933

Summer

book. The Graphic Bible, by Lewis Browne,

tired Portland

1932-1933

in

New

York,

An

Rothkowitz.

York. Shows

Smoking. Portland. Riverside Drive.

other

oils,

watercolors and drawings.

Hans Hofmann opens

art school in

New

York.

chooses several of Rothkowitz's paintings.

Josef Albers becomes head of art department at

Other participants include Avery, Louis G.

Ferstadt, Gela Forster, R.

W.

Black Mountain College, Black Mountain,

Gerbino, Harris,

North Carolina.

Olive Riley.

Becomes

close friends with

Avery and

his wife

1934

Meets Joseph Solman

?t

Avery's studio.

May

22-

June

12

Uptown

New

Gallery,

York,

Woman and Cat,

Sculptress,

New

Paintings

by

Uptown

Rothkowitz shows The

August 14-

Uptown

September 17

Rothkowitz shows Mother and Child, The Sewing

sculpture division and supports creation of

York, Group Exhibition.

Index of American Design.

Pugilist.

New

New York

Pierre Matisse Gallery,

York, Group Exhibition.

James Thrall Soby, After

Union fotmed

in

York, with

local

published.

Picasso,

book primarily devoted

First

New

[Andre Mas-

son].

Lesson.

Artists'

art

easel

mural division, graphic division,

division,

July 2

Gallery,

programs during Depression. Consists of

Lesson.

June 12-

Gallery,

Most extensive of government-supported

Rothkowitz shows

Young Americans.

Selected

to Surrealism to

appear in United States.

chapters elsewhere, to agitate for creation of art

projects

Meets wtiter H. R. Hays.

Rothkowitz

the unemployed.

for

among 200 members

at inauguration.

Similar

Gottlieb begins to collect primitive

organizations founded around same time are Artists'

Committee of Action and Art Students'

Council

November

in

New

Mesopotamia but does not

1935-1936

December 1937. Sponsored jointly by Artists'

Union and Artists' Committee of Action, edited

Decembet

by Stuart Davis. Becomes

January 4

official

organ of Ar-

majot aesthetic

1-

December 10

December

15

collect.

New

York. The Ten. Group's

exhibition. Each of nine artists shows four

first

Rothkowitz shows Woman Sewing

16, p. 32),

(fig.

Subway.

1936

Julien Levy Gallery,

New

York, Paintings by

Salvador Dali. Dali makes

first visit to

January 7-18

United

New

Municipal Art Galleries,

Group forms

Galleries. Joined for this

Robert Godsoe opens Gallery Secession.

ftiend

Ben-Zion,

include

Mem-

Rothko),

Yankel

Harris,

15, p.

32),

The Sea,

opening, TheTen, several other

Gottlieb (probably brought to gallery by Harris

and

show by Gottlieb's

Edgar Levy. Rothkowitz shows Crucifix-

ion (fig.

Bolotowsky,

Ilya

to

Kufeld,

Nahum

only citizens can exhibit there.

Julien Levy Gallery,

New

York. Abstract
First

artists threaten

Alien Clause, which stipulates that

Rothkowitz, Louis Schanker, Solman and

Sculpture by Alberto Giacometti.

Before

Portrait.

withdtaw work and picket unless Galleries

tescind

Tschacbasov.

York, The Ten.

section of inaugural exhibition of

States on this occasion.

bers

December

Montross Gallery,

paintings.

issues, reviews

current exhibitions.

art;

Aegean,

267

16-

Union, advocates community involvement

in arts, debates

in archaic art of

African sculpture, art of Nineveh, Egypt and

York.

Art Front begins publication, continues until

tists'

November

Rothkowitz interested

its

American Artists Congress holds inaugural

February 14

session this Friday evening. It

one-man

For Democracy,

exhibition in United States.

is

"Fot Peace,

For Cultural Progress.

Rothkowitz belongs

'

to this group.

1934-1935
Meets Annalee and Barnett

Fall

December

15-

New

Gallery Secession,

York, Group Exhibifast

January 15

tion.

Rothkowitz shows Duet.

Newman

at break-

given for them shortly after their marriage

by Gottliebs; may have known Batnett previously.

1935
January 10-

Pierre Matisse Gallery,

February 9

1933-1934.

American Abstract Artists founded

York, Joan Miro

Gallery Secession,

February

tion.

New

York, Group Exhibi-

November 10-24

Rothkowitz shows Nude.

form The Ten: group of independents has

paint representationally in loose,

sympathic

to abstract

art,-

flat

manner

meet once

yet

Subway

Scene,

Woman

Sewing

admire Expres-

month

at

Europe.

Organized by Joseph

gia for Italian Trecento.

sionism. They protest conservative policies of

art establishment;

in

Brummer. Pamphlet with text by WaldemarGeorge, who comments on Rothkowitz, nostal-

no declared program, but majority of members

are

New

Galerie Bonaparte, Paris, TheTen. Group's only

exhibition

Above-mentioned membets of Gallery Secession

leave to

;n

York.

January 155

New

Rothkowitz shows

Crucifixion (fig.
(fig.

15,

p.

32),

16, p. 32).

Julien Levy publishes anthology, Surrealism, in

New

one

Group seldom numbers more

commonly referred to as "The

York.

another's studios.

than nine and

Ten

Who are

is

Lives at 313 East 6th Street from

Nine."

now

until

1940.

1936-1937
August

Works

Progress Adminisrration,

Project established,

Federal Art

Holger Cahill, Director.

September

May

15

1-

Employed by

easel division of

WPA

in

New

York; produces painrings

for federal

and Thought

buildings

Earns $95.44 for sixty hours work per month.

WPA

Others on

this

at

Arshile Gorky, Philip Guston,

Willem de Kooning, Jackson Pollock, Ad

9-

New

December

14-

New

Montross Gallery,

York, The Ten. Group

no longer member. Rothkowitz shows

among

Bonestell Gallery,

November

joined for this

November

New

York, The Ten. Group

show by David Burliuk.

Yves Tanguy arrives

Marra moves

Interior.

New

in

York.

to

New

York, where he remains

until 1948.

others.

New

Effect of Surrealism begins to be felt in

York

1952.

in

October 234

in

show by Lee Gatch. Tschacbasov

loined for this

Music,

Non-Ob|ective Painting opens

ot

York, renamed The Solomon R. Guggen-

heim Museum

York, Fan-

Organized by

Dada. Surrealism.

Alfred H. Barr, Jr.

January 2

Museum

New

The Museum of Modern Art,

tastic Art,

1939
June

Reinhardt, Jack Tworkov.

December

unpublished

1955, pp. 20-21.)

time are William

Baziotes,

January 17

of Six Key Figures,

Ph.D. dissertation, Princeton University,

New York

Perls Galleries,

[Wifredo Lam].

automatic techniques will pro-

art circles,

foundly influence development of American

1939-1940
art.

268

November-

The Museum of Modern Art, New York,

January

Picasso: Forty Years of His Art.

1937
April 26-

Passedoit Gallery,

May8

bers

Gottlieb,

New

York, The Ten.

Mem-

Bolotowsky,

Gatch,

Ben-Zion,

include

Kufeld,

Harris,

The Ten breaks up because members begin to

1940

show individually

Rothkowitz,
January 8-27

Schanker and Solman.

Neumann-Willard Gallery,
Work

Gottlieb moves to desert near Tucson, where he

at various galleries.

by Marcel Gromaire.

New

Mark

Solman. Rothko shows Entrance

remains until 1939

templation.

John Graham's System and

New

York.

Union

joins

lished in
Artists'

Dialectics of Art

pub-

CIO

5-21

Becomes United

States citizen.

Second Annual Membership Exhibition: American

Artists

shows

name Mark Rothko

announce-

in

show; hereafter consistently uses

for rhis

Congress Inc..

New

Street Scene (fig.

Rothkowitz

York.

17, p.

32

in

April 16-

Julien Levy Galley,

May

exhibition in

9-21

Passedoit Gallery,

New York,

The Ten. Group

for this

can Artists' Congress, because of

May

10

show by

founded

November

test

this

in

show by

New York

Artists' Congress.

Avery,

are:

Rothko very

Kerkam.

Among

Baziotes,

active on

Committee, which
Earl

Painters and Sculptors

by group that broke from

its

mem-

Bolotowsky,

Bradley Walker Tomlin, Ossip Zadkine.

gionalism and American Scene painting; joined

for

sancrion of

Schwartz, David Smith, Solman, Joseph Stella,

exhibition as pro-

Whitney's bias towards Re-

against

irs

Gottlieb, Gatch, George L. K. Morns, Rothko,

York, The Ten: Whit-

Group mounts

Modern

Federation of

bers

ney Dissenters.

First

Russian invasion of Finland.

American

New

York, Matta.

De Creeft, Gottlieb, Harris, Manfred Schwartz,

among others, declaring secession from Ameri-

Karl Knaths.

Mercury Galleries,

New

York.

is

now Ben-Zion, Bolotowsky, Gottlieb, Graham,

Harris, Ralph Rosenborg, Rorhkowitz,
Schanker and Solman. Joined

New

Signs statement with Avery, Bolotowsky, Jose

April

Painting

Section.

5-26

Subway. Con-

legally until 1959.

February 2

May

to

this name in exhibitions, usually signs work

Mark Rothko, although does not change name

as Local 60.

1938

May

New

The Party, among others. First ap-

pearance of

ment

York.

Rothko. Joseph

is

Federation's Cultural

concerned with politics as

Rothkowitz
well as culture.

shows Conversation
Experiments with automatic drawing. Deeply
interested in

New

Oedipus myth. (Dore Ashton, The

York School:

York, 1973,

p.

tigone (cat. nos.

Cultural Reckoning.

98). Paints

Scene.

Rorunda of

New York

New

first

the

American Art Today Building,

World's

Fair. Federation exhibits for

time.

An-

22, 23) Interest in theater and

early reading of Nietzsche's

edy,

Subway

June 20-

July8

September

The Birth of Trag-

issue

Fitst

of View.

Surrealist

magazine,

founded by Charles Henri Ford, published until

perhaps influence a number of painrings of

1947.

1939-40 on mythological and dramatic themes.

(William C.

Seitz, Abstract-Expressionist Paint-

ing in America:

An Interpretation Based on the Work

October

Piet

Mondnan

arrives in

until his death in 1944.

New

York, remains

1941

March 9-23

Museum, New York,

Riverside

annual

first

Federation exhibition. Rothko shows Portrait of

Mary, Craftsman, Underground Fantasy, Subway.

Other participants include: Avety, Bolotowsky,

George Constant, Morris Davidson, Gottlieb,

Graham, Harris, Schwartz, Tomlin.

Max

July

Ernst emigrates to United States; marries

Peggy Guggenheim in September After brief

stay in New York travels across country. Remains

in

America

until 1953.

October-

November

Special issue of View devoted to Sutrealism.

Andre Breton emigrates

Andre Masson

United

to

arrives in

New

States.

York, where he

continues to work until 1946.

Addtess

1941-1942

time

at this

is

269

29 East 28th

New

The Museum of Modern Art,

Exhibitions:

Drawings,

Paintings,

Street.

York, 2

Prints

-Joan

Artists in Exile,

photograph taken on the occasion of an

exhibition at Pierre Matisse Gallery,

Miro, Salvador Dali.

1942. Bottom row,

1941-1943

Works
tic

closely with Gottlieb developing aesthe-

based on

Graeco-Roman and

in

interest

to

I.

t.:

Max

Zadkine, Yves Tanguy,

York, March

Marc Chagall, Fernand

Piet

Mondtian, Andre

Christian myth. Rothko's mythological paint-

Masson, Amedee Ozenfant, Jacques Lipchitz, Pavel

ings are stratified in composition, sometimes

Tchelitchew, Kurt Seligmann, Eugene Berman. Photo by

divided

Geotge

differentiated

sharply

into

Irrationally

juxtaposed

registers.

images disposed

Piatt Lynes

in

among whom

orderly, geometfic manner, at times segregated

in zones.

Imagery drawn from archaic sculpture,

Northwest coast Indian

art,

Robert Motherwell, Hare and

are

Baziotes.

also architectural

Peggy Guggenheim founds

motifs. Palette ptimatily pastel.

New

Century,

1942

H. Macy Depattment Stote, New York

[Group Exhibition]. Organized by Samuel
Kootz. Rothko shows Antigone. 1938 (cat. no.
and

Oedipus.

her private

Jimmy Ernst
1947 when Mrs.

collection of avant-garde art there.

R.

23)

gallery. Art ot This

York; shows established modern

unknown Ameticans and

artists,

January 5-26

Ernst,

Andre Breton,

Leger; second row:

New

Matta Echautten, Ossip

Closes

secretary.

is

Guggenheim moves

Other participants include

Introduced to

in

to Venice.

Jimmy

Ernst by Baziotes.

Avery, Gorky, Gottlieb, Graham, Karl Holty,

Jan Matulka and Geotge

L.

New York

Valentine-Dudensing Gallery,

January-

1943

K. Morris.

Mondrian]. First one-man exhibition

February

in

June 3-26

New

Wildenstein and Co.,

Federation exhibition. Rothko shows The Syrian

New

1943

Bull,

no.

(cat.

28),

York.

1943

Persephone,

March 3-28

Pierre Matisse Gallery,

Exile.

New

York.

York, third annual

[Piet

(fig.

work with mythological

Artists in

Gottlieb's Rape of

26, p. 42),
title

is

only other

included.

Breton, Ernst, Fernand Leger, Masson,

Matta, Mondrian and Tanguy are

among

four-

June

With Gottlieb
The

teen expatriates shown.

New

writes to

York Times art

Edward Alden Jewell,

critic, in

response to his

negative review of Federation exhibition.

man

Special issue of View devoted to Ernst.

April

May

Special issue of View devoted to

Published

Tanguy.

in

The

articulates their

June

First

October 14-

November

issue

of

VVV, magazine, founded and

flat

New-

contributes to letter but does not sign

New

York Times, June 13,

commitment

it.

it

to use of simple

shapes, belief in importance of mythic con-

Rothko gives

edited by David Hare with Breton and Ernst

tent, kinship

as editorial advisers.

The Syrian Bull, Gottlieb gives Rape of Persephone

451 Madison Avenue,

New

to

York,

Surrealism. Participants include

First Papers of

on

Duchamp, Max

Ernst, Paul Klee, Matta, Miro, Masson, Picasso

and Tanguy, together with young Ameticans,

August

Newman

with primitive

art.

in appreciation for his collaboration

letter.

Meets Buffie Johnson in Los Angeles;

year in

New York she introduces him

to

later in

Howard

270
Mark and Mell Rothko with Clyfford
California,

ca.

1945-46

Still,

1946

Peggy Guggenheim's

Putzel,

assistant

from

1942-44.

October

1-

November

The 460 Park Avenue

We

See

Galleries,

New

well: Paintings.

November

principles and theories on

their

WNYC

cast. Assert their intetest in

York, Robert MotherDrawings.

First

Sidney Jams, Abstract and Surrealist Art

in

America, published.

December 4-30

Rothko and Gottlieb discuss

New

Papiers Col/es,

one-rrfan exhibition.

1943, Gottlieb shows

Oedipus

October 13

Art of This Century,

November
York, As

Them. Portraits by Federation members.

Rothko shows Leda,

October 24-

67 Gallery,

New

York, Forty American Moderns.

Gallery opened in Fall by Putzel. Participants

aesthetic

radio broad-

include

Jungian and eternal

I.

Rice Pereira, Rothko, Kay Sage.

Peggy Guggenheim represents Rothko on Put-

symbols, belief in power of myth, importance of

zel's advice.

archaism and of psychological content.

Our presentation

oj these

own

primitive

and more modern than

terms,

Meets Max Ernst.

myths however, must

he in our

which are at once more

Geometric curvilinear forms are flattened, juxthe myths

taposed against indeterminate opaque grounds

themselvesmore primitive because we seek the

and atavistic

primeval

which are sometimes divided into emphatic

roots

of the idea rather

horizontal

bands.

Continues to use pastel

than their graceful classical version; more

palette, with accents ot brighter or deeper color.

modern than the myths themselves because we

Often works

in watercolor

from now until 1946.

must redescribe their implications through our

For example, Horizontal Procession (Gyrations on

own

experience.

Four Planes). Poised Elements. Slow Swirl at

November 9-27

Art of This Century,

New York, Jackson Pollock:

and Drawings.

Paintings

First

Edge of the Sea. Birth of Cephalopods.

one-man exhibi-

all

1944

the

(cat.

nos. 30, 31, 63, 37).

tion.

Kootz publishes New Frontiers

ing.

In

it

he says,

if

Meets Mary Alice Beistle (Mell),

in

American Paint-

illustrator of

children's books, thtough photographer

Aaron

"the ultimate potential of

Siskind.

Abstraction and Expressionism" were known,

Gottlieb elected head of Federation ot Modern

the future of art could be predicted.

Painters and Sculptors, continues as such until

Address

is

165 East 31st Street.

1945.

1944
1945
February 8-26

Artists'
First

October 3-2

Gallery,

New York

[Ad Reinhardt].

one-man exhibition.

Art of This Century,

Drawings by

New

Baziotes. First

York. Paintings and

one-man exhibition.

January 9-

Art of This Century,

February 4

Paintings. First
lery.

Shows

New

York, Mark Rothko

one-man exhibition

at this gal-

fifteen paintings including Sacrifice

oflphigema, 1942, The Syrian Bull. 1943, Birth

of Cephalopoda

Poised Elements. Sloiv Swirl at the

EdgeoftheSea,

1944(cat. nos. 29. 28, 37, 31,

all

63), Omens of Cods

I,

Entombment

Works

and

Mortimer Brandt Gallery,

May

Rothko:

1945, Entombment

Birds,

both 1946

11,

April 22-

Memory.

42, 43).

(cat. nos.

among

Summer
David Porter Gallery, Washington, D.C.,
Painting Prophecy

he

feels

1950.

1945-46, Geologic Reverie,

Porter includes artists

may be forming

new tendency

Rents house

in East

Hampton, Long

in

August 16-

San Francisco

September

colors

Museum

Mark

by

of Art. Oils

Barbara. Shows Slow Swirl at the Edge of the Sea,

Ernst,

Stuart

Baziotes,

Knaths,

Gottlieb,

Mind,

Pollock,

all

1944, Gethsemane, Primeval Landscape,

1946

both 1945, Prehistoric Memory,

63, 31, 36, 34, 33, 65, 66, 60),

New

67 Gallery,
Participants

York,

include Gorky,

Hof-

Gottlieb,

critics

family in Portland.

September-

Visits

November

California.

name the "new metamorphism" and states "I

we see real American painting beginning
now." (Published in Edward Alden Jewell,
"Toward Abstract of Away," The New York

Spends time

in

Late in year Pollock begins all-over drip paint-

believe

ings.

1945, Section

1,

Still

271
begins teaching at California School of Fine

Arts, San Francisco; retains position until 1950.

II, p. 2.)

Figures and grounds begin to merge, forms lose

Divorce from Edith Sachar granted.

definition.

March

others.

to

Times, July

(cat. nos.

among

Problem for Critics.

mann, Pollock and Rothko. Putzel asks

March

and Water-

Rothko. Travels in part to Santa

Poised Elements, Ritual, Tiresias, Phalanx of the

include

Richard Pousette-Dart and Rothko.

13

Island.

Davis,

Jimmy

March

1946,

others.

painting, uniting the romantic and the abstract.

Participants

Spring

1945

Masson and Ernst.

flecting influence of Miro,

February

York, Mark

Olympian Play. 1945, Tentacles of

(cat. no. 65),

reveal strong affinity to Surrealism, re-

New

Shows Gethsemane.

Watercolors.

New Jersey.

Marries Mell in Linden,

Julien Levy Gallery,

New

of Still

in

in abstract color-

forms which suggest landscape.

York. Arshile Gorky.

Special issue of View devoted to

Gorky emerges

Influence of

biomorphic shapes,

Becomes

Duchamp.

friendly with Motherwell.

Address from now until

1945-1946

1954

is

1288 Sixth

Avenue.

November 27January 10

Whitney Museum of American Art, New York,

Annual Exhibition of Contemporary American
Painting.

1945

Rothko shows Primeval Landscape,

(cat. no. 66).

Lives at 22

December

10-

January 16

West 52nd

Whitney Museum of American Art,

Annual Exhibition
Painting.

Street.

New

York,

of Contemporary American

Rothko shows Room

in

Karnak.

1947

1946
January 26-

March

1946-1947

Pennsylvania

Academy

phia, The One

Exhibition.

of Fine Arts, Philadel-

Hundred and

March 3-22

Annual

Forty-First

Rothko shows Landscape, 1945.

Betty Parsons Gallery,

New York. Mark Rothko:

one-man

Recent Paintings.

First of five annual

exhibitions here.

Shows Archaic Phantasy,

Rites

ofLilith, both 1945 (cat. nos. 35, 39), [Omens

February 5-

March

13

Whitney Museum of American Art, New York,

Annual Exhibition of Contemporary American
Sculpture,

February 12-

March

First

ca.

1945.

Scene,

Art of This Century,

(cat. no.

Rothko

and Drawings.

Watercolors

shows Baptismal

of?]Gods and Birds, 1945? .The

New

one-man exhibition

1946, Room in Karnak

York, Clyfford

Still.

April 14-26

Rothko

at this gallery.

later

re-

Betty

While

April

young
Robert M. Coates reviewing Hofmann show

Yorker, uses

in discussing

New

York,

in

at

New York
of what

his

Clyfford Still:

Recent

in

New

York,

artists

Still

proposes to Douglas

the creation of school for

taught by contemporary

artists.

The

artists: ".

.he

is

cer-

some people

call

Summer

I,

Barr, Jr.

in relation to

more

had employed

Kandinsky

book Cubism and Abstract Art.

in

Visits family in Portland before proceeding to

teaching job.

the

have christened abstract Expres-

sionism." Alfred H.

same term

Gallery.

Artist.

spatter-and-daub school of painting and

politely,

among

term "abstract expressionism"

one of the most uncompromising rep-

resentatives

Votive Figure,

School ultimately realized as The Subjects of the

Early
tainly

Parsons

MacAgy and Rothko

Mortimer Brandt Gallery,

1945-46

Paintings.

pudiates.

New

Source,

1946, Astral Image,

others.

wrires catalogue text which Still

March 30

57), Entombment

1936

in

California School of Fine

June 23-

Guest Instructor

August

Arts, San Francisco. Teaches ten hours a week:

at

painting course restricted to artists and ad-

vanced students; contemporary art lecture

series.

Remains

San Frar isco until end

in

2500 Leave

lives at

August,

of

July 21

-.orth Street.

Fall

September 9-2 7

Wildenstein and
annual Federati
not particip.!

membet.

:i

sponsors

e,

as

Still

With

Baziotes,

David Hare and Motherwell,

Name

Newman's

who does

East 8th Street.

guest of

he |oins faculty second semester.

is

at

35

suggestion;

Still partici-

pates in initial planning stages but does not

Apostate.

teach,

With Mar
arreno, Herbert Ferber, Gottlieb,
Boris Margo, Newman, Felipe Orlando,
Theodoros Stamos, John Stephan and Hedda

December

dies by suicide.

founds school. The Sublets of the Artist,

York, seventh

exhibition. Rothko,

shows

St-

New

Inc.,

Gorky

he returns to position at California

as

School of Fine Arts. There are no formal courses

but a "spontaneous investigation into the sub-

are,

how

general cultural magazine published from Oction

tober 1947 until 1949, edited by Ruth Stephan,

John Stephan.

art editor

his subjects

and transformation, moral attitudes, posfor

further explorations..

."

(An-

nouncement for School, The Subjects of the Artist,

New

and symbols, organic forms,

Newman

work. Diffuse, rectangular patches of color, dis-

initiates Friday

Some

to public

posed vertically and horizontally,

float in

biguous space. Larger formats made

duck used. Re|ects watercolor

1948-49) Approximately

York,

am-

evening lectures open

of speakers are Jean Arp,

John

Cage, Joseph Cornell, Gottlieb, de Kooning and

unsized

of

Reinhardt. Friday evening lectures

for oils,

fifteen

students attend school.

automatic calligraphy largely disappear from

272

what

an editor on

is

second, third issues.

Literary references

artist

they are arrived at, methods of inspira-

sibilities

Newman

modern

of the

jects

Sterne, contributes sratement to The Tiger's Eye,

which he

at Studio

35.

school started on premises of The Subjects of the

applies in thin washes. For example. Untitled.

Artist after

Number 26. both 1947

to

number some

(cat. nos.

74, 73). Begins

it

dissolves,

and The Club, informal

Abstract Expressionist group, grow out of this

paintings

of his

series.

1947-1948
December

6-

January 25

Whitney Museum

of

American Art,

December

New

Rothko

In letter to Still,

York,

Newman

states that

proposes to carry on public relations, arrange

Annual Exhibition of Contemporary American

Painting. Rothko shows Archan Phantasy, 1945

lectures and seminars for

The Subjects of

Artist. In later letter to Still, writes of being

(cat. no. 35).

Winter

First

eve of nervous breakdown, says he

and only issue of

Editors are:

writing;

berg,

Chareau,

Pierre

John Cage, music.

Harold Rosen-

art;

First

architecture;

published

as first

Museum

of

9-March

14, 1976, p.

Art, Clyfford

Still.

January

113)

Configurations are simplified,

art.

It

reduced

in

is

number, colors

generation of Abstract Expressize.

sionists

Modern

magazine to deal exclu-

with contemporary American

sively

on

withdraw-

ing from participation in school. (San Francisco

appears

Possibilities

Motherwell,

is

the

were abandoning Surrealist-inspired

intensified, canvases increase in

Color and shape assume autonomy as ma-

ture style begins to emerge.

imagery and formulating their marure

styles.

1949

Includes statement by Rothko.

1948
January 3

1-

March 21

Whitney Museum of American Art,

New

York,

Annual Exhibition of Contemporary American

Watercolors and Drawings. Rothko

Sculpture,

Betty Parsons Gallery,

Shows Number 1-10, 23-

16

April 2-

Whitney Museum of American Art,

May8

Annual Exhibition

shows Fantasy.

March 8-27

Sculpture.

Betty Parsons Gallery,

Recent Paintings.

Phalanx of
Beginnings

among
June

Still,

the
,

New

Shows

Mind,

1945

(cat.

Companionship,

1944,

Watercolors

The Subjects of

Spring

nos. 31, 33),

York,

and Drawings.

Rothko

the Artist

fails

financially and

closes.

Dream Imagery,

others.

Baziotes and Motherwell meet in Rothko's

recommends

notes of this meeting read:

MacAgy

that

Rothko again

July 5-

Still

August 12

be invited to teach at California School of Fine

Arts.

apartment and discuss creation of

Still's

New

of Contemporary American

shows Brown and Yellow.

York, Mark Rothko:

Poised Elements.

New York, Mark Rothko.

March 28-

Apnl

He

is

to

made Guest

Instructor, painting,

school.

"A group

philosophy and practice of painting today, open

of
to artists

and advanced students only. Also gives

painters, each visiting the center one afternoon a

week, each

free

to teach

in

illustrated lectures

whatever way he

artists

on thoughts of contemporary

and their work.

chose or free to stay away, every student free to

work

or remain away,

attend every teacher's

meeting or none." (Published

Museum

of

9-March

14, 1976, p. 113.)

in

San Francisco

Modern Art, Clyfjord Still. January

September
October

15-

Samuel M. Kootz Gallery,

trasubjectives.

New

York, The ln-

Reopening exhibition of gallery

that had been closed since

summer

1948, or-

ganized by Kootz and Rosenberg. Participants

are

de Kooning, Gorky, Gottlieb,

Baziotes,

Hofmann, Motherwell, Pollock,

Graves,

Reinhardt, Rothko,

Name
November

18

Mark Tobey and Tomlin.

taken from Jose Ortega y Gasset.

is

Gives lecture,

My

Point of View, as part of series

of forum talks on Contemporary Art at Studio

35.

Numbers most works;

times added

descriptive titles some-

later.

1949Winter 1950

December
February

16-

Whitney Museum of American Art, New York,

Annua/ Exhibition of Contemporary American
Painting. Rothko shows Number 19.
Mature

style crystallizes.

Frontal rectangles of

varying sizes, aligned one above another,

most of canvas. These seem

above color

upon which they

field

fill

to hovet slightly

are juxta-

posed. Thin washes of pigment saturate canvas;

colors are disembodied, luminous, intense. For

example, Magenta. Black. Green on Orange and

Black, Orange. Yellow on White

Violet,

both 1949

and Red.

1.

1950, photograph by Nina Leen which

lrascibles,

accompanied
to

r.:

Theodoros Stamos,

273

January 15, 1951. Bottom row,

article in Life,

Jimmy

Newman,

Ernst, Barnett

James Brooks, Mark Rothko; second row: Richard

Pousette-Dart, William Baziotes, Jackson Pollock, Clyffotd
Still,

Robert Motherwell, Bradley Walker Tomlin; top row;

Willem de Kooning, Adolph Gottlieb, Ad Reinhatdt,

Hedda

nos/92, 90).

(cat.

The

Sterne.

Time

Inc.

1950
January 3-2

Shows Number

and

New York, Mark Rothko.

Betty Parsons Gallery,

10, 11, 14, 15,

among

of

others.

for first

New

time identifies

it

in print as "School

York." Participants include Baziotes,

Gottlieb, de Kooning, Matta, Pollock, Rein-

January 23-

Betty Parsons Gallery,

February

Newman.

First

New

York,

Barnett

hardt, Rothko,

one-man exhibition.
January 15

Mother

"Irascible

tion of

Travels in England, France and Italy.

Spring

Group

Against Show,"

dies.

Open

letter to

Roland

L.

Redmond

The Metropolitan Museum of Art,

contemporary American painting

York,

of contemporary American art, American Paint-

artists.

December, which

would be prejudiced against advanced

Letter published

summer's
Baziotes,

issue of

entirety

in

January-

in

Fritz

Bultman,

February

Appointed Assistant Ptofessor, Department of

Design,

Brooklyn College.

Jimmy

Kooning, Rothko.

moves

New

York.

November 10December 30

Whitney Museum of American Art, New York,

Annual Exhibition of Contemporary American
Painting. Rothko shows Number 7 -A.

December 30

Daughter, Kathy Lynn (Kate),

to

Meets Alfred H. Barr,

Jr.

is

born.

and Dorothy C. Mil-

ler.

1951
January

1-

February 7

Frank Perls Gallery, Beverly Hills, Seventeen

Modern American

"The School of

Painters.

New

Catalogue with text,

York," by Motherwell,

in

which he defines the characteristics of this group

Art Students League.

net's graphics class at

Hofmann, Weldon Kees, de

Still

).

Studies printmaking for one week in Will Bar-

this

Fall

(fig.

early February

Art News. Signatories include

James Brooks,

Ernst, Gottlieb,

in

of

New

late

felt

Artists Led Fight

Publication with this cap-

President of

sculptors, protesting national |uried exhibition

they

Advanced

May 1950, protested jury for

The Metropolitan Museum of Art's exhibition of

from eighteen avant-garde painters and ten

ing Today 1950. planned for

of

Life.

now famous Nina Leen photograph

group which,

May 20

Still.

Mark and Mell Rothko, 1948-53

Retains

position

until

June 30, 1954. Teaches contemporary

art,

theory of art, color, elements of drawing,

graphic workshop. Reinhardt had been teaching
there since 1947.

March 19

symposium on How to combine

and sculpture at The
Modern Art, New York. Statement

Participates in
architecture,

Museum

of

painting

May

reprinted in Interiors,

April 2-12

Betty Parsons Gallery,

1951.

New

York, Mark Rvthko.

Shows Number 1-16.

June

Museum, 1951 Annual Ex-

Los Angeles County

2-

Contemporary Painting in

hibition:

July 12

States.

Rothko shows Number

11.

The United

1951.

Meets Dore Ash ton

ca.

1951-1952

Meets Sally and William Scharf.

274
1952

March

Rothko invited by Joseph

13

tain College, Black

Fiore, Black

Moun-

Mountain, North Carolina,

to teach painting there

from June 25-August

22. Retuses offer.

March 25-

The Museum of Modern Art,

June

Americans.

New

York,

Fifteen

Organized by Dorothy C. Miller.

Participants include Baziotes, Herbert Ferber,

Frederick Kiesler, Pollock, Rothko,

Early

Tomlin. Rothko and

1950s

travel,

and

Still

Still refuse to let their

work

causing cancellation of plans to circulate

exhibition in Europe.

December 20

Writes

to

Lloyd Goodrich, Associate Director of

Whitney Museum

American Art,

of

New

York,

regarding the acquisition and display of his

work by museums:
Since

have a deep sense of responsibility for

the life

my pictures

will lead out in the world,

will with gratitude accept any form of their

exposition where their life

maintained,

and avoid

and meaning can

feel that this cannot be done.

life,

actions

.at least in

my

must maintain a congruity between my

and

function

and only

am to continue to
And I do hope that I

convictions, if I

and do my

have here clarified

First

be

all occasions where 1

work.

my position

issue of

Modern

which deals with abstract

Artists in America,

art

and

is

edited by

Motherwell and Reinhardt.

1952-1953

Clyfford Still teaches graphics at Brooklyn College.

Mark Rothko and daughter, Kate,

early I950's

Studio
live

at

106 West 53rd Street; continues to

on Sixth Avenue.

1953

May

Tomlin

11

dies

1954

October 18-

December

The Art Institute of Chicago, Recent Paintings by

Mark Rothko. Travels in part to Providence,

Rhode

Organized by Katharine Kuh.

Island.

Shows Number
Number

November

both

9.

Henri Matisse

From about

Number

1951,

12,

nos. 99, 104),

(cat.

Number

among

1954,

1952

10,

Number

1, 1953,

others.

dies.

time uses both

this

and

Matisse, Light, Earth

and num-

titles

example Homage

bers for his paintings, for

Blue, both

1954

to

(cat.

nos. 107, 116).

1955

Clement Greenberg

Spring

"American-Type' Paint-

in

discusses origins of

Partisan Review,

ing,"

Abstract Expressionism, noting importance to

development of

movement

this

New York

sence of emigre artists in

World War

Hofmann and

II,

Kandinskys

early

Painting.

Museum

at

Early

1950s

pre-

during

and

his school

Non-Ob|ective

ot

analyzed

Painters

WPA,

of

Gorky,

are

Hofmann, Kline, de Kooning,

Motherwell, Newman, Pollock, Rothko, Still,

Gottlieb,

Tobey

New

York.

two

April 11-

Sidney Janis Gallery,

May

one-man exhibitions there. Shows Light. Earth

and Blue. 1954 (cat. no. 116), Violet Center.

14

Earth and Green,

1954,

Yellow Expanse,

Summer

Teaches
sity

among

First of

1955,

The Ochre.

others.

approximately ten weeks

for

at

Univer-

of Colorado, Boulder.

1956
Early 1950's

February 20

"The Wild Ones," Time, includes discussion of

Baziotes, Gorky, Gottlieb, Guston, de
ing, Motherwell, Pollock

Koon-

and Rothko:

cursory study of advance-guard painting

gives rise to the conclusion that it consists, like

the

Mock

Turtle's arithmetic of "Ambition,

Distraction, Uglifi cation

is

and

and

ca's newest

for

its

negatives cannot

painting.

positive qualities

sum up Ameri-

good deal can be said

once they have been set

in the context of modern history.

11

It

one side,

August

Derision."

wild, woolly willful. But nothing has only

Pollock dies in car accident.

Address

is

102 West 54th Street until 1961.

1957
February-

Visiting Artist, Tulane University,

March

leans.

Does not teach

series of talks

he

While

there, paints White

Greens in Blue and Red. White

feels

through

Or-

and critiques and consults with

faculty and students.

and

New

specific courses but gives

and Broun;

these constitute an important breakfor

him.

While

at

Tulane

lives

on

Glendale Boulevard and Iona Street in Metairie,

suburb of New Orleans.

April 1-20

Sidney Jams Gallery,

New

York, 8 Americans.

Rothko shows The Black and The White, 1956.

Mark and Mell Rothko, Provincetown, Massachusetts, 1957

December

Rothko

In Letter to the Editor ot Art News,

Americans

his ceramic wall

"Two

article,

Rothko and Kline

my work

classify

and

patible with schools

To allude

mutilation.

know

embalm. Real identity

is to

ply, for

to

my work
.

meaning of

the

Painting

is

the

word

Sweeney, Guggenheim Museum's Director

as Action

No

The

May 4-31

matter

action.

Action

antithetical to the very look

and

Mark

tion. Green

and Maroon, 1953, Blue and

Rothko. Small

and Red

131), Orange

The

Phillips

June 14-

Venice,

XXIX

October 19

d'Arte.

Rothko shows Black

Esposizione Biennale Internazionale

Greens in Blue,

all

Reds.

and Maroon

White and

1957, Reds. 1957-58,

is

250 Bradford

at

Street in Province-

town, Massachusetts.

Moves studio

starts his first

monumental canvases

for

com-

Four Seasons

Has never before worked

for first time.

panel to two colors.

The Museum

March

Rothko. Major

12

to

in series.

Number 24.

ele-

participate

in

Art.

New

Shows Baptismal

Rothko

1947, Number 20,

three separate series

Matisse,

to

1958

(cat.

no

1954
149),

(cat.

no.

1949, Number

107),

black. First set sold as separate paintings, second

Modern Art

abandoned; third completed

Rome, Pans

Rothko

The Tate

to

in

1959 but never

eventually

given

ter's

name

October 13-

Gallery, London.

name

legally

to

Museum

of

London, Amsterdam, Basel,

by

December
Legally changes

9.

January 1963

by The International Council ot The

restaurant,

Hom-

Number

Number 22, 1960, among

fifty-four works. Circulated into

to

di-

1945,

Scene.

22, 1949 (cat. no. 91), Number 10. 1953,

age

F.

York, Mark

one-man exhibition

evolving from -orange to deepest maroon and

to

John

activities

Modern

ot

rects installation.

of murals which become progressively darker,

delivered

Green

18 East 95th Street

January 18-

Restricts palette in each

Makes

Kennedy's inaugural

restaurant, Seagram Building, ordered by Phil-

Employs horizontal formats with verncal

May and

in

1953, which had been purchased in

Accepts invitation

January

gymnasium Here

in

1961

222 Bowery, which had been

to

opens new wing

acquired in 1964 and added to room.

Lives at

Buys cottage

ments

1957, included.

Ochre and'Red'on Red, 1954(cat.no. 118),

1957

among

others.

Johnson

Green.

designated to display their

is

two acquired

three Rothkos,

Red

over Reds, Deep

and Black, Two Whites, Two

ip

on Red,

Collection

which small room

mission,

one-man exhibi-

Phillips purchases latter two.

November

YMCA

DC,

Washington,

Collection,

Phillips

Paintings by

1957. Green and Tangerine on Red. 1956 (cat no

1958

June

work

life

1960

arbiter.

276

man's

arena," he explains in letter to James Johnson

incom-

of my work. The work must be the final

spirit

meaning of

the

that to

is

what modifications and adjustments are made

to

Blue.

without enticing pictures into the competitive

categories, except by

Painting borders on the fantastic

in

An

as "Action Painting."

the author must

artist herself,

National Sec-

White and Greens

tor

time when honors can be bestowed, sim-

to the

that aspect of the article which clas-

/ reject

Pans; Rothko

States

1957, and withdraws painting. "I look forward

as "action

painters"

sifies

Award

tion

UNESCO.

at

$1,000 United

refuses

Action," Art News Annua/, 1958,

in

labels both

which

Kooning's

Elaine de

refutes

Mark Rothko; daugh-

The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New

York, American Abstract Expressionists and Imagisls.

Shows Reds Number 22, 1957.

changed to Kate
Begins mural panels commissioned by Professor

June

Travels with Mell and Kate to England. France,

Italy,

Wassily Leontief, Chairman of the Society of

Belgium and The Netherlands.

Fellows and Henry Lee Professor of Economics,

Harvard University, and John

Shortly after trip meers poet Stanley Kunitz.

rector,

October

Gives lecture at Pratt Institute,

Brooklyn,

Di-

in

sachusetts. These were to be housed in pent-

which he disassociates himself from Abstract

house of Holyoke Center, designed by Jose Luis

Expressionist

movement, discusses

his

de-

Sen but

velopment from figuration to abstraction and

use of large scale.

Meets Katharine

are instead ultimately placed

on perma-

nent view in faculty dining room at Center.

1962

Kuh when

she moves to

New

York.

Seattle Fine Atts Pavilion, Seattle World's Fair.

April 21-

October

Art Since
Travels

1958-1959

Begins to work on paper again.

October 22-

The Solomon R

February 23

P. Coolidge,

Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, Mas-

Guggenheim Museum. New

York, Guggenheim International Award 1958.
Miro receives $10,000 International Award for

in

1950: American and International.

part

to

Waltham, Massachusetts,

Boston.

May
May

13

Kline dies.

Attends state dinner celebrating the

White House.

arts

at

Meets Dominique and John de Menil.

Completes Harvard Murals

New

175-177).

(cat. nos.

formulation appears: in each of the five

panels are two or three vertically oriented rectangles linked at top and bottom by hotizontal

He

and small, loosely brushed rectangles.

lines

seeks to turn his "pictorial conceprs into mutals

an image for a public

which would serve

as

place." (Quored in

"Rothko Murals

College Art Journal,

vard,"

Summer

vol.

Har-

for

no.

xxii,

4,

1963, p. 254.)

1963

The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New

York, Five Mural Panels Executed for Harvard
University by Mark Rothko. Panels are shown

April 9-

June 2

there before they are sent to Cambtidge.

Baziotes dies.

June 4

Mark Rothko and

August 3

October 26

son, Chtistopher,

Summer 1964

Son, Christopher Hall, born.

Dining room where murals are hung

the

time

first

for

meeting

is

used for

ot ditectors of

Harvard

Alumni Association and Associated Hatvard

Clubs.

Marlborough-Gerson Gallery,

)oins

New

York.

1964

Dominique and John de Menil visit Rothko in

studio; upon seeing Fout Seasons panels
there, commission him to make murals for

Spring

his

chapel in Houston.
April 2-

The Tate Gallery, London, Painting and

June 28

Sculpture

Black

Rents

1954

Rothko shows
(cat.

no.

116),

Deep Red. Reds. Number 22. both 1957,

in

among

Summer

Decade 54-64.

of a

Earth and Blue.

Light.

others.

summer

Ca.

cottage in Amagansett, Long

1964-66

Is-

land.

Winter

Selects last studio, converted carriage house at

157

East

69th

Street.

Places parachute over

skylight to keep studio relatively dark.

Starts

wotk on Houston chapel murals.

1965
January 7

Delivers eulogy tor Milton Avety,

January

3, at

New York

who

died

Society tor Ethical Cul-

ture.

Meers Ann and Bernard Malamud

Johnson's inaugural

March 28

Wins Medal Award

tive Atts

May 24

Lyndon

of Brandeis Universiry Crea-

Awards.

David Smith dies

June 14

at

activities.

Participates in

in car accident.

The White House

Arts, shows Ochre

and Red on

Festival ot the

Red. 1954 (cat. no.

118).

Los Angeles County

July 16-

Augusr

Museum

of Aft, The

New

York School: The First Generation. Paintings of the

Mark Rothko and

son, Christopher,

August 30-Septembet

2, 1968, Provincetown, Massachusetts

277

Rothko shows Number 26,

Number 24, 1948 (cat. no.

1940's and 1950's.

1947

(cat. no. 73),

Winter

Begins to use larger paper; concerned about

paper pieces' fragility, he mounts them on can-

1956, White Center, 1957.

85), Green on Blue,

Ray Kelly becomes

vas.

Jonathan Ahearn becomes

assistant, remains as such

Roy Edwards becomes

December

until

assistant, remains as such

August 1966

remains

assistant,

such until February 1969

as

until 1968.

1969
January

home and moves

Leaves

into East 69th Street

However, remains

studio.

1966

constant touch

in

with family.
Travels with

June

France,

family to Italy,

The
Oliver Steindecker becomes assistant, remains

February

Netherlands, Belgium, London.

until Rothko's death.

The Museum of

October 15-

The

November 27

Modern Art organizes Two Decades

International Council of

1956, Black Stripe on Red,

Houston,

April

Six

Organized

Painters.

Participants are

by

from Yale University. Kingman Brewster, President of Yale, says:

Rothko. Rothko shows Composition, 1945, Ast-

tled,

Summer

1946, Green

1960, Untitled. 1963,

Teaches

at

Stripe,

1955, Unti-

among

others.

to pro-

older painters,

for

Receives Honorary Degree, Doctor of Fine Arts,

June 9

Mond-

rian.de Kooning, Guston, Kline, Pollock and

ral Image, ca.

assistance

financial

sculptors, writers and composers.

Thomas Art Department,

Dominique de Menil.

161).

(cat. no.

Mark Rothko Foundation incorporated

vide

University of St.

Rothko shows

Present.

the

to

Number 101. 1961

June

St.

The Development of Modernist Painting:

Jackson Pollock

on

1967
February-

Washington University,

Gallery of Art,
Louis,

1958, Number

1960-61.

10.

278

April 1-30

Delhi,

Rothko shows Green

Melbourne, Sydney.
Blue.

New

Tokyo, Kyoto,

Painting. Travels to

of American

As

few

one of the

among

who can

artists

new

the founders of a

be counted

school of Ameri-

can painting, you have made an enduring

the art

place for yourself in

University of California, Berkeley, at

suggestion of Peter Selz. Meets Brian O'Doherty

tury.

and Barbara Novak, who also teach

ity

there.

of this

cen-

Your paintings are marked by a simplic-

and a

of form

magnificence of color. In

them you have attained a visual and spiritual

November
December

Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, The

9-

Stedelijk van

17

Netherlands, Kompass

Houston murals

III.

are

Rothko continues

to

grandeur whose foundation

Travels to Frankfurt.

basically

complete,

an human

in

is

the tragic vein

admiration of your

which has nourished young

influence,

but

existence. In

the degree of Doctor of Fine Arts.

them.

(Reprinted

in Yale University Art Gallery,

1968

ven, Salute

March 27-

The Museum of Modern

June 9

Surrealism,

and Their

Art,

New

Heritage.

Spring

Edge of the Sea

1944

Rothko,

Donates Seagram murals

to

The Tate Gallery,

London. Rothko stipulates that the nine can-

(cat. no. 63).

room by themselves
shown with other paintings.

vases are to be placed in a

is

and

hos-

are never to be

me

seems to

pitalized for three weeks. Forced to stop work-

"It

ing.

now

that the heart of the matter

to give this space

is

you propose the greatest

eloquence and poignancy of which

May 28

New Ha-

May 6-June

Travels to Los

from aneurysm of aorta and

Suffers

Mark

to

20, 1971.)

York, Dada,

Angeles, Chicago. Rothko shows Slow Swirl at

the

artists

throughout the world, Yale confers upon you

make minor changes on

my

pictures

Together with Albers, Federico Castellon,

are capable."

(Quoted

Dorothea Greenbaum, William Gropper,

Gyorgy Kepes, Louise Nevelson and Saul Stein-

the Galleries:
seur,

The Rothko Room," The Connois706, December 1970, p.

berg

is

inducted into National Institute of Arts

vol.

in Alastair

Gordon, "In

175, no.

303.)

and Letters, Department of Art.

1969-1970

Summer

Rents house in Provincetown near Motherwell.

Resumes work and within weeks does many

October 16-

The Metropolitan Museum of

small acrylics on rag paper. Their dimensions

February

Painting

dictated by size of studio and available paper.

Starts to

employ

water with

acrylics; able therefore to use

medium

in

and Sculpture: The

ganized by Henry Geldzahler.

Vessels

of Magic,

Number

10.

monumental paintings,
Reds,

1952

Number

16,

Art,

New

York

First Generation.

1946, Number 26,

(cat. nos.

Or-

Rothko shows
1947,

52, 73, 104, 155),

1960.

spreads and soaks colors with wide brushes and

sponges.

Creates black and grey or

brown

series:

canvases

279

Ca.

1964

comprised of two rectangles, black

or

brown

They

at

at top,

gtey

bottom, framed by thin white band.

are stark, quiet, remote,

Rice University,

of Religion and

somber.

is

finally

denominational chapel

realized

Human

as

inter-

with Institute

affiliated

Development. Octa-

gonal floor plan designed by Philip Johnson; the

1970
final

February 25

In studio, during early hours of

own
February 28

morning, takes

life.

Murals comprised of thtee triptychs,

Buried

in

cemetery overlooking Shelter Island

Sound.

May 29

panels, four alternatives.

Rothko room

at

The Tate

Gallery,

London,

Two

triptychs, one single panel

five single

Passion of

composed of
fields.

triptych, four single panels entirely black,

dies.

veiled

with

maroon wash. Varied paint

thicknesses produce nuances of color.

1971
February 27,28

is

black hard-edged rectangles on maroon

One
Mell

Theme

Christ.

opens.

August 26

design executed under supervision of How-

ard Barnstone and Eugene Aubrey.

The Rothko Chapel, Houston, dedicated. Originally to be

sity

Roman

Catholic and part of Univer-

of St. Thomas, then interdenominational at

Rothko

said of these murals: "I

was always look-

ing for something more." (Quoted in Vogue, vol.

157, no. 5,

March

1,

1971, p. 111.)

Clair Zamoiski

New

At Betty Parsons Gallery,

,,

At Betty Parsons Gallery,

York, 1949

New

York, 1949

Exhibitions and Selected Reviews

280
/.

Knows How

Group

Digest

to Forfend Trouble," The Art

vol. x, no. 8, January 15,

1936, p. 6

Whitney

November

Dissenters,

Pamphlet with

1938.

5-26,

by Bernard

text

Braddon and Marcus Rothkowitz

Galerie Bonaparte, Paris, The Ten,

ber

New York

Opportunity Galleries,

[Group

November 15-December

Exhibition],

10-24,

Murdock Pemberton.'Mann andOthers,"

vol. iii, no. vi, December

Creative Art,

Uptown

text

by Waldemar-George

cember

York, The Ten, De-

14,

1936-January

"The Nine That

2,

Gallery, Continental Club,

New

December 15, 1936, p. 16

M.D., "A New Group Exhibition of
Work by The Ten," Art News vol. xxxv,
no. 12, December 19. 1936, p. 18
"Solo Figures and Group Landings," The
,

May 22-June

cans,

Uptown

Young Ameri-

Selected

1934

12,

Gallery, Continental Club,

New

York, Group Exhibition, June 12-July

2,

Neu' York Times

tion II, p.

December 20, 1936,

Sec-

1934

Front, vol. 3, no.

Continental Club,

Gallery,

York Group
,

February 1937, pp.

1,

14-15

Exhibition: American Moderns

August 14-September

New

Gallery Secession,

17,

1934

Passedoit Gallery,

York, Group Exhibi-

1934-January

15,

vol. xi, no.

York: Gallery Secession," Art Neu s,

:

xxxiii, no. 12,

December

New York [Group

Exhibition], January 15-February 5, 1935

Montross Gallery,

cember

16,

"Exhibitions in

News,

New

York, The Ten, De-

1935-January 4, 1936

New

York: The Ten," Art

vol. xxxiv, no.

12,

December 21,

New

23-November

vol. 2, no. 3,

15,

May

1937, p. 23

1,

4,

1939

1939. p. 16

Neumann-Willard Gallery. New York, Neu'

Work by Marcel Gromaire. Mark Rothko.
Joseph Solman, January 8-27, 1940

H[oward] Dfevree],

"Five of the Current

Times

May

and Solman," Art Neus

Talent Exhibited by

The Ten,'" Art News

Rorunda

vol. xxxv, no. 32,

Wanamaker's

Picture Gallery, John

Wanamaker, New York, Second Annual

Membership Exhibition: American Artists

May

12

American Art Today Build-

ol the

New York
Modern

World's

Painters

Fair,

and

June 20-July

8,

Municipal Art Galleries,

New

York, The

Ten, January 7-18, 1936

"A Municipal Adventure," The New

Passedoit Gallery,

New

and

May

Museum

of Art.

Federation of Modern Painters

Annual Exhibition
ern

1,

and Sculptors
1940

Museum. New York, The

Riverside

Painters

and

ol the Federation of

Sculptors,

xxxvi, no. 34,

May

21,

York

New

Municipal Gallery

First

Mod-

March 9-23,

Store,

New

York

Organized by Samuel Kootz

Edward Alden Jewell. "Mr

covers, " The

1938, p. 16

Kootz,

Mercury Galleries,

New

York, The Ten:

Kootz Dis-

New York Times January

1942, Section 9,

York's

R.H. Macy Department

'

vol.

Times January 12, 1936, Section 9, p. 9

"New

Norrhamp-

ton, Massachusetts, American Art from the

[Group Exhibition], January 5-26, 1942

M.D., "New Experiments by The Ten'

Group in its Seasonal Show,"
Art News,

The

Sculpture,

1941

5-21, 1938

York, The Ten,

The Federa-

Sculptors:

1940

November 12-December

8, 1937, p. 17

xxxviii, no.

vol

January 20, 1940, p

Smith College

90

2, 1937, Section II, p.

Congress Incorporated,

Three Moderns Rothko, Gromaire

J.L.,

First Exhibition of Paintings

9-21, 1938

February 1936, p. 12

York, The Ten, Oc-

1935, p.

Herbert Lawrence, "The Ten," Art Front,

Digest,

15, 1938, p.

"The Ten:' a Substantial Showing,"

Art News vol xxxviii, no. 4, October 28,

The Art Digest

Group Shows," The New York

May

15

tion of

J. L., "Versatility of

Gallery Secession,

The Ten, April

vol.

12, 1934, p. 12

tober

J.L

ing,

at Passedoit's,"

15,

New

New York,

26-May8, 1937

1935
J[ane] S{chwartz], "Exhibitions in

November

Bonestell Gallery,

16,

'"The Ten'

December

tion,

New

12, 1938, p.

Jacob Kainen, "Our Expressionists," Art

Uptown

November

"Whitney Dissenters," The Art

1937

are Ten,'" The Art Digest,

Hold Their

Dissenters'

Exhibition," Art News, vol. xxxviii,

vol. xiii, no. 4,

vol. xi, no. 6,

xlvi

York, Paintings by

"Whitney

own

no. 7,

New

Montross Gallery,

Pamphlet with

1936.

J.L.,

12,

1928

1928, pp. xlv

Novem-

p. 9; reply

"Letter to the

by Samuel

Editor: Opinions

under Postage," The New York Times,

January 18, 1942, Section 9,

Wildenstein and Co., Inc., Galleries, The

Federation of

Modern Painters and

May 21-June

Second Annual,

Catalogue with texts by Rothko and other

Annual Exhibition of Paintings and Sculpture

by Members of the Federation of Modern Paint-

participating artists

ers

Painting Prophecy-1950, February

x9

p.

10,

1942.

New

67 Gallery,

May

New

York,

York, The Federation of

Inc.:

14-July 7, 1945

New York

May 26

Yorker, vol. xxi, no. 15,

Maude

Edward Alden
"The Realm of Art," The New York
in

Times, June 13, 1943, p. x9

The 460 Park Avenue Galleries, New York,

As We See Them, October 1 1-November 3,

vol.

19, no.

June

17,

in the

United States.

Organized by Sidney Janis, circulated by

Museum of Art. Traveled

to: Cincinnati Art Museum, February
8-March 12, 1944; The Denver Art
San Francisco

Museum, March 26-April

1944; The

3,

Whitney Museum
June

Museum of Art, June-July

Francisco Museum of Art, July

Santa Barbara

lery,

New

Mortimer Brandt Gal-

York, November 29-December

Up

1945, Section

1,

May

and Surrealist Art?" The Art Digest,

xix, no. 5,

December

New

1944, pp. 8, 31

1,

"New

Emily Genauer,
The

MacAgy

Wildenstein and Co., Inc.,

New

Show,"
December

Howard Devree, "Among the New

Shows," The New York Times, December
3, 1944, Section

II, p.

x8

New

Sculptors

and

shown

in

America Before

11 -May 6,

[sic]

guest ar-

Edward Alden Jewell, "By

September 12-29, 1945

"Unhampered Flow of Tradition..." Lim,

September 1945,

Art of This Century,

New

York, Autumn

October 15-31, 1945,

vol. xliv,

p.

29

News

December

"The Whitney
vol. xliv, no. 16,

1-14, 1945, pp. 13-15

Academy

Pennsylvania

Annual

of Fine

Exhibition

and

Arts,
Forty-

of Painting

January 26-March

3,

and

1946.

Art Circle,

New

York, Some Aspects of

Modern Art, closed October 23, 1944

Maude

Riley,

"Fifty-Seventh

Review," The Art Digest,

October 15, 1944,

67 Gallery,
erns,

R.F.

New

p.

vol.

in

19, no. 2,

17

December 4-30, 1944

change,"

A rt

News,

Thomas

13,

1946.

1,

Fair Ex17,

De-

p. 18

March 1946, pp. 29, 62

David Porter Gallery, Washington, D.C.,

of Distinction

New

York, 12 Works

May 20-June

8,

April 16-

B. Hess,

"One World

in

Water-

color," Art News, vol. xlvi, no. 3,

May

The Art

Institute of Chicago, Abstract

American Art,

Surrealist

texts

1,

1948.

by Katharine

November

and
6,

Catalogue with

Kuh and

Frederick

Sweet

Peyton Boswell,

Jr.

"Chicago Surveys the

Abstract and Surrealist Art of America,"

vol. 22, no. 4,

November

9-10

Whitney Museum of Ametican Art, New

York, Annual Exhibition of Contemporary
American Painting, December 6, 1947-

ings,

January

vol.

July 1946, pp. 48-49

Wildenstein and Co. Inc.

Whitney Museum of American Art, New

York, Annual Exhibition of Contemporary
American Sculpture, Watercolors and Draw-

31-March

21,

1948.

Catalogue.

1946

"Reviews and Previews," Art News,

xlv, no. 5,

International Water-

14th Biennial

January 25, 1948. Catalogue

"The Whitney Draws

B. Hess,

Charles Egan Gallery,

vol. xlii, no.

cember 15-31, 1944,

5-March

February

Catalogue

Slowly to the Left," Art News, vol. xlv, no.

York, Forty American Mod-

"Gifts for Dollars:

44

New

of American Art,

American Sculpture, Watercolors and Drawings

Street

Thomas

15, 1947, pp.

Whitney Museum

x9
vol.

June8, 1947

The Art Digest

Catalogue

York, Annual Exhibition of Contemporary

New

The Brooklyn Museum,

1947-January

April

1944

New

1947, p.

1947, pp. 25, 54-55

January 10, 1946. Catalogue

Frankfurter,

Mas-

"Reviews and Previews," Art News,

color Exhibition,

American Painting, November 27, 1945-

M.

British

'The Ideographic Picture,'" The

xlv, no. 12, February 1947, p.

Whitney Museum of American Art, New

York, Annual Exhibition of Contemporary

Alfred

ters:

York Times, January 26,

p. 2

Salon, October 6-29, 1945

Sculpture,

America of (twenty paintings) never

Newman

January 23, 1947. p. 21

First Exhi-

bition in

nett] B.

Modern Painters and

Philadelphia, The One Hundred

York,

York, The Ideo-

Sculpture by Members of the Federation of

First

Art of This Century,

New

281

Edward Alden Jewell, "New Phase in Art

Noted at Display," The New York Times

Sets the Pa.ce," Art

18-19,57

1947. Announcement with text by B[ar-

York, Fifth

Anniversary Exhibition of Paintings and

Surrealist

York World Telegram

2, 1944, p.

vol.

the Naturalists," Art News, vol. xlv,

no. 11, January 1947, pp.

graphic Picture, January 20-February 8,

"The Passing Shows," Art News,

M[aude] R[iley], "Whither Goes Abstract

Modern

Frankfurter, "What's

Whitney: Abstract Emphasis Builds

Betty Parsons Gallery,

with text by Jermayne

1946-

1945. Catalogue

17-June 17,

no. 13,

York, 1944

M.

Alfred
at the

Francisco, Contemporary American Paint-

30, 1944. Separate catalogue published as

New

II, p.

California Palace of the Legion of Honor, San

Sidney Janis, Abstract and Surrealist Art in

America,

American Painting, December 10,

York Times, July

Catalogue with text by Sidney

Janis. Traveled to

657

January 16, 1947. Catalogue

ited Edition

1944.

9, 1945, pp.

New

American Art,

of

York, Annual Exhibition of Contemporary

659
Edward Alden Jewell, "Toward Abstract
or Away? A Problem for Critics," The New

tists

1944; San

Kansas City, Missouri

Clement Greenberg, "Art," The Nation

ing,

and Surrealist Art

Young Memorial Museum, San

The Museum of Fine Arts,

de

lery of Art,

The Art Digest,

1943
Abstract

M.H.

Evidence,'

"Insufficient

vol. clx, no. 23,

unacknowledged collaboration of Barnett

Jewell,

York; The Saint Paul Gallery, Minnesota;

Houston, William Rockhill Nelson Gal-

Riley,

1945, p. 12

[letter],

New

Times,

June 6, 1943, Section II, p. x9; reply by

Marcus Rothko and Adolph Gottlieb with

Newman

The

to:

Francisco;

1945, p. 68

Traveled

Rochester Memorial Art Gallery,

New

The

1946.

Problem for Critics

Third

Annual Exhibition June 3-26, 1943

Edward Alden Jewell, "End-Of-TheSeason Melange," The

18-October 5,

Robert M. Coates, "The Art Galleries,'

Modern Painters and Sculptors

and Sculptors and guest artists September

Sculptors:

Catalogue
Wildenstein,

1945.

New York, Sixth

Venice, La

XXIV

Biennale di Venezia:

Collezione Peggy Guggenheim,

September 30,

1948.

May

La
29-

Catalogue with

texts by Bruno
Guggenheim

and

Alfieri

Peggy

November

11,

The Art Digest

Wildenstein and Co.

New

York, Eighth An1,

nual Exhibition of Paintings and Sculpture by

Members of the Federation of Modern Painters

and

September 14-October

Sculptors,

2,

November

vol. 25, no. 3.

Guggenheim

Florence,

February

La Collezione
19-March 10,

Catalogue with text by Peggy

1949-

Guggenheim. Traveled
1949

Milan, June

to Palazzo Reale,

Separate catalogue

with additional text by Francesco Flora

New

National Arts Club,

Modern Painters and Sculptors, March

14-31, 1949

282

Whitney Museum of American Art,

New

York, Annual Exhibition of Contemporary

American Sculpture. Watercolors and Drawings

2-May

April

San Francisco

8, 1949. Catalogue

Museum

Previews," Art News,

November 1950,

vol.

The Museum

no.

xlix,

47

p.

Round Table on Modern Art, April 8-10,

1949

Samuel M. Kootz Gallery,

Intrasubjectit'es

New

York, The

September 15-October

3,

Catalogue with text by

January

11-

Museum, Amsterdam,

Surrealisme

Abstraction: Choi x de la Collection Peggy

Keuze nit de

U.S.A.. from Great Britain, The

the

United States.

November-December

1949

Gug-

19-February 26,

1951.

American Art,

ot

New

York, Annual Exhibition of Contemporary

American Painting. December 16,
February

5,

1949-

September 20-

Traveled to Schloss

October

10-24,

Sao Paulo, Brazil,

Bienal do Museu de Arte

Moderna de Sao Paulo. October-December

195

Catalogue

Museum

of Saint Louis, Contempor-

November

ary American

Painting.

December

1951. Catalogue

10,

colors

and

New

York, Exhibition of Water-

Sculpture

By

the

Members of

Federation of Modern Painters

and

Movements in American Painting from 1900

to the Present

in

6,

Beaux-Arts de
March 3-28, 1951. Catalogue
French and Dutch. Traveled to

Kunsthaus Zurich,

Moderne Kunst aus

as

Sammlung Peggy Guggenheim.

1951. Separate catalogue in

Max

April-

German

1952.

November

Baur

Dforothy] S[eckler], "The American Conflict:

Rebel and Conformist," Art News.

December 1951, pp. 21,

vol. 50, no. 8,

Bill

15, 1951-January

Catalogue with text by John

58-59
of

Modern

Art,

New

York,

and Sculpture in America.

January 23-March 25, 1951. Catalogue
with text by Andrew Carnduff Ritchie
Belle Krasne.

February

1951,

1,

pp. 11,21

Thomas B

The Museum of Modern Art, New York, 7 5

Americans. March 25-June 1 1, 1952. Catalogue with reprinted and new texts by

"The Modern Presents 37

Years of Abstraction in America," The Art

Rothko and other

Hess,

Abstraction Un-

"Is

vol. xlix, no.

participating artists

James Fitzsimmons, "Fifteen More Ques-

Modern Museum," The

tions Posed at the

Art Digest, vol

American?" Art News.

University
raska,

the

Sculptors.

Galleries,

26, no. 15,

May

Sidney Jams Gallery,

University

of

1,

Annual

Exhibition.

1,

1952,

pp. 11, 24

10,

New

York, 9 American

1954

Neb-

Lincoln, Nebraska Art Association

Sixty-First

4-April

February 21-March 5, 1950

12-

The Brooklyn Museum, New York, Revolution and Tradition: A n Exhibition of the Chief

Painters Today. January 4-23,

Lotos Club,

1951

Bruxelles,

February 1951, pp. 38-41

1950. Catalogue

1951.

5,

Berliner

Traveled to Palais des

Digest, vol. 25, no. 8,

Whitney Museum

Berlin,

Amerikamsche Malerei:

1951:

Abstractie:

Peggy

Verzameling

genheim, January

The Museum

United States and France, with Sculpture from

October

City Art
Stedelijk

Abstract Painting

cessions.

Schonberg,

Festwochen

Robert Motherwell

September

New Ac-

York,

Catalogue

Painters,

with text by

Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center,

Rathaus

New

1951. Catalogue

Charlottenburg,

February 7, 1951

May

15

Art,

York Private Collections.

8,

Modern American

Margaret Breuning, "Kootz Re-opens,"

the

Frank Perls Gallery, Beverly Hills, Seventeen

Kootz

15, 1949,

Modern

New

Werden und Gegenwart.

December 31, 1950. Catalogue

Thomas B. Hess, "Invited Guests of
Whitney," Art News. vol. xlix, no.

der

vol. 23, no. 20,

of

from

Summer

Whitney Museum of American Art, New

York, Annual Exhibition of Contemporary
American Painting. November 10-

1949. Catalogue with text by Samuel

The Art Digest,

Paint-

H.H. Arnason

7,
Selections

GuggenheimlSurrealtsme

of Art, The Western

40 American

1940-1950, June 4-August 30, 1951.

ers,

"Reviews and

December 1950, pp. 32-33, 63

York, Federation of

nesota, Minneapolis,

Catalogue with text by

1950, p. 17

Rfobert} Gfoodnough],

1948
Palazzo Strozzi,

University of Min-

University Gallery,

1950

Belle Krasne, "Youth: France vs. U.S.,"

March

Joe and Emily Lowe Art Center, Syracuse

University, Painting and Sculpture from the
Institute Collection

1951. Catalogue

February 9-28, 1954

"Nebraska Shows Old and New," The Art

College of Fine and Applied Arts, Urbana,
Illinois, University of Illinois Exhibition of

Digest, vol. 25, no.

12,

March

Modern Art
15.

Allen

Virginia

S.

Weller

Museum

of Fine Arts, Richmond,

American Painting 1950. April 22-June 4,

1950.

p. 11

Modern Art,
College of Fine and Applied Arts, Urbana,

texts by

Contemporary Painting. March 4-April 15,

Cahill,

1951. Catalogue with text by Allen S

Weller
Los Angeles County
Exhibition:

Sidney Janis Gallery,

Painters in U.S.

New

York, Young

and France. October 22-

United

Museum, 1951 Annual

Contemporary

States.

Painting

June 2-July 22,

the

1951.

Catalogue with text by James B. Byrnes

New

The Museum

York.

of

Separate

catalogue in language of each country with

Illinois, University of Illinois Exhibition of

Catalogue with text by James

Johnson Sweeney

U.S.A. Organized by The

International Council of

Contemporary American Painting. February

26-April 2, 1950. Catalogue with text by

in the

1951,

some or all of following: Holger

Mildred Consrantine, Greta

Daniel, Arthur Drexler, Richard Griffith,

Henry Russell Hitchcock, William

S.

Lieberman, Edward Steichen. Traveled

to:

Musee Nationale d'Art Moderne,

as

Cmquante ans

March 30-May

d'art

15,

Paris,

aux Etats-Unis,

1955;

Kunsthaus

Zurich, zs Moderne Kunst aus U.S.A.. July

1955; Museo de Arte

16-August 28,

Moderno, Barcelona,
el

Unidos

Estados

as

El Arte Moderno en

(architecture),

Palacio de la Virveina, Barcelona, as

and

Unidos (painting,

Estados

el

sculpture, prints), September 24-October

Haus des

24, 1955, with two catalogues;

Deutschen Kunsthandwerks,
as

Frankfurt,

Moderne Kunst aus U.S.A.. November

13-December
London,

as

Tate Gallery,

1955;

11,

Modern Art

in the United States.

January- 5-February 12,

as 50 jaar moderne
March 2-April 15,

1956; Wiener Secession Galerie (painting, sculpture, prints, architecture)

Neue

and

Galerie, Vienna (photogtaphy), as

Moderne Kunst aus U.S.A.

May

5-June 2,

1956, with one catalogue; Kalemagdan

Pavilion (painting, sculpture),
lery,

(prints,

Museum

4-25,

ULUS Gal-

photographs),

Fresco

6, 1956,

July 6-August

Sidney Janis Gallery,

New

York, 8 Ameri-

April 1-20, 1957. Catalogue

cans.

views," Art Neus. vol. 56, no. 2, April

1957, p. 11

Emily Genauer, "Bad Press

U.S. Art

for

Examined," New York

York,

May

Art Acquisitions 1954-1957.

15.

Emily Genauer, "Abstract Art that

Ltd., London,

Summer Exhibi-

July 16-August 24, 1957

Robert Melville, "Exhibitions," Architec-

Octobet

1957, pp. 269-271

of Art, Pennsylvania State Univer-

Tribute

to

May

28. 1959.

Hilton Kramer. "The End of Modern

1959,

42

Kenneth Rexroth, "Ameticans Seen

vol. 58, no. 4, Summer 1959, pp. 30-33, 52, 54
Lawrence Alloway, "The

New

American

Painting," Art International, vol. Ill, no.

Hetzel Union Building,

sity,

Displayed Here," The

Abroad," Art Neus,

tural Ret ieu\ vol. cxxii, no. 729,

tion in

is

York Herald Tribune.

p. 17

p.

Museum

New

The Neu- American Painting. Sep-

Painting," The Reporter. July 23,

1957-February 15, 1958. Catalogue

Fils,

as

as

28-

1959. Traveled in part to

Touted Europe

New

Albright Art Gallery, Buffalo, Contemporary

tion,

York,

May

tember 25-October 25, 1959

J[ames] Stchuyler], "Reviews and Pre-

Gimpel

8,

New

Art,

Painting.

Albany Institute of History and Art,

An

Exhibi-

February

Sidney Janis.

3-4, 1959, pp. 21-29

New

Fieldston School Arts Center,

York,

American Art Today. April 26-30, 1958

3-24, 1958

Venice,

Contemporary Aft, London,

Institute of

Some Paintings from the E.J. Power Collec-

with one catalogue

Museum of Modern
New American

The

September

1957

(architecture), Belgrade, as Sav-

remena utmetnost U.S.A.D.

Show

May

1956; Gemeente

Museum, The Hague,

kunst in de U.S.A..

Grounds, Hyderabad,

April 15-25. 1957; Calcutta,

3rd

Bienal Hispano- Americano de Arte: El Arte

Moderno en

dustrial Exhibirion

tion.

March 13-April

19, 1958. Catalogue

XXIX

Exposizione Biennale Inter-

nazionale d'Arte.

June

14-October

19

1958. Catalogue with text on Rothko by

Sam Hunter

with text by Lawrence Alloway

Ettore Camesasca, "La Pittura Straniera,'

Herald Tribune. April 17, 1955, Section 6,

Parrick Heron, "London," Arts. vol. 32,

Le

P. 13

no. 8,

in

Paris

May

1958, pp. 22-23

Lawrence Alloway, "U.S. Modern: Paintings," Art

Neus and Review,

vol. vii, no.

Patrick Heron,

"The Americans

at

the

of

Museum

International Council of The

Modern Arr, New York. Separate

catalogue in language of each country with

1956, pp. 15-17

texts

by Alfred H. Barr,

McCray, repnnred
Institute.

Wisconsin,

55

September 9-October 23,

Americans.

1955

New

American Watercolors from

Museum

the

York,

Whitney

of American Art. November 26,

1955-January 3, 1956
Betty Parsons Gallery,

New York,

Ten Years.

December 19, 1955-January 14, 1956.

Announcement with text by Clement

New

Sidney Jams Gallery,

Paintings by 7 Americans.

artists.

Die neue amenkanische

Mark

linger; Galleria Civica d'Arte

as

tura Americana. July

Hochschule
as

fur

16-August

Bildende Kunste, Berlin,

1,

Washington, D.C.

La

cember

nouvelle peinture am'ericaine.

6, 1958-January 4, 1959;

Crafts Society,

New

Delhi,

Third International Contemporary Art Exhib-

Traveled

to:

Ahmedabad,

23-March
Municipal

closed

De-

Musee

Narional d'Art Moderne, Paris, with additional exhibition ah Jackson Pollock

15,

1959,

catalogue texts by

January

et

la

16-

with additional

Sam Hunter on

Werk,

45, heft 8, August 1958, pp

jg.

153-156

New

Sidney Janis Gallery,

Janis:

York,

Years of

10th Anniversary Exhibition.

tember 29-November

1,

1958

Root Art Center, Clinton,

New

Sep-

York,

New

Trends in 20th Century American Painting.

October 26-November 30, 1958

Department of Fine Arts, Carnegie

tute,

Insti-

Pittsburgh, The 1958 Pittsburgh

Bicentennial International Exhibition of Con-

Painting

temporary

cember

and

Sculpture.

1958-February

5,

8,

De-

1959.

Catalogue

Sep-

1958; Stedelijk

nouvelle peinture americaine,

Febtuary

11, 1958;

Die neue amerikanische malerei,

February

ition.

Moderna,

La Nuova Pittura Americana.

June 1-29, 1958; Museo Nacional de Arte
Contemporaneo, Madrid, as La Nueva PinMilan,

1958; Palais des Beaux-Arts de Bruxelles,

1957

&

Arnold Rud-

York, Recent

Rothko. Bradley Tomlin

1958

5,

to:

September 24-

and Kenzo Okada, January 6-February 26,

All India Arts

Ttaveled

19-May 26, 1958, with ad-

ditional catalogue text by

as

Phillips Collection,

Paintings by

as

Museum, Amstetdam, as Jong Amerika

schilderl, October 17-November 24,

October 20, 1956

The

by Rothko and

Kunsthalle Basel,

tember 1-Ocrober

Greenberg

texts

Portet

Jr..

other participating

malerei. April

Katonah Gallety, Katonah,

May

Heinz Keller, "Ausstellungen: Venedig,'

Tate Gallery, "Arts. vol. 30, no. 6, March

Milwaukee Art

vol. vii, no. 4/5,

The Neu- American Painting. Organized by

The

26, January 21, 1956, pp. 1,9

Am,

pp. 4-5

Sidney Janis Gallery,

Painters,

New York, 8 American

January 5-31, 1959. Catalogue

J[ames] S[chuyler],

"Reviews and Pre-

views," Art News, vol. 57, no. 9, January

1959. p. 10

The Museum of Fine

Arts, Houston, Neu-

York and Paris: Painting in the

Fifties,

January 16-February 8, 1959- Catalogue

with

texts

by Dore Ashton and Bernard

Dorival

Pollock

and by Jean Cassou; Tate Gallery, Lon-

Brooks Memorial Art Gallery, Memphis,

21

1957.

don, as The Neu- American Painting, Feb-

The Roy and Marie Neuberger

Museum,

ruary 24-March 22, 1959, with additional

American Paintings: 1944-1956. February

7,

March 31, 1957;

In-

catalogue

text

by Gabriel White; The

13-March

1,

1959

Collection,

Kunstmuseum

St.

Gallen, Switzerland, Neue

March 14-April

Amerikanische Malerei,

1959. Catalogue with texts by R.

26,

Reprinted in Art Neu s,

Herbert Read.

May

can Painters,

New

Sidney Jams Gallery,

//

Germany, Museum Fridericianum,

Documenta

nationale Ausslellung. July

1-October 11,

Catalogue with text by Werner

1959-

York, 9 American
Catalogue

Painters, April 4-23, 1960.

Kunst nach 1945: Inter-

'59,

New York,
May 8-June

Sidney Jams Gallery,

293

ticles, p.

Hanhart, E. Naegeli and Hans Theler

Kassel,

28-May 31, 1961

1960, see Bibliography, General Ar-

Haven,

H. S[andler}, "Reviews and Pre-

Ten Americans," Art News,

views:

Summer

60, no. 4,

Centro Internazionale delle Arti

e del

tume, Palazzo Grassi, Venice, Arte

Lawrence Alloway,

"Before and After

1945: Reflections on

Documenta

International,

II,"

Art

Ill, no. 7, 1959, pp.

vol.

vol.

1961, p. 10

Religious Perspectives in Post-1950

American Art, April 18-29, 1960

Haftmann

1961.

Catalogue
I[rving]

New

Yale University Christian Association,

70 Ameri3,

Milan, Undtci Ameri-

Galleria dell'Ariete,

27-May 1960. Catalogue with

by Guido Ballo

July 7-October

templazione,

18,

CosCon-

1961.

cani, April

Catalogue with text by Paolo Mannotti

text

and poem by Willem Sandberg

29-36, 79
San Francisco

Moscow, American Painting and

Sokolniki,
Sculpture:

American National Exhibition

Moscow July 25-September

in

ganized by Archives of American Art, De-

284

troit.

Catalogue with text

Rockefeller, 111,

English by

in

John

July 1-August 7, 1960

Cleveland

Museum

of Art, Paths of Abstract

October 4-November

Art,

Catalogue published

Lloyd Goodrich
Arts, Ohio,

I960.

13,

Edward B. Hen-

as

New

ning. Paths of Abstract Art,

The Columbus Gallery of Fine

and

of Art, Paintings

York,

1960

1960.

18,

with texts by Thomas Grochowiak and

Catalogue with

Annelise Schroder

Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute, Utica,

New

by Tracy Atkinson

York, Art Across America, October

15-December 31, I960. Catalogue with

Modern American Painting 1950-1958. Organized by City Art

Museum

of St. Louis,

Mumford Jones and

by Howard

texts

Richard B.K. McLanathan

the

W.P.A.,

in

language of

each country with anonymous texts.

Traveled

to:

Moderna, Rome, January 23-February

22, I960; Permanente Gallery, Milan, as

25 Anni di Pittura Americana, March 5-31,

Amerika Haus, Berlin, April

I960;

15-May

15,

museum

I960; Hessisches Landes-

Darmstadt,

I960; Goteborgs

Goteborg, Sweden,
Maleri

as

as

Moderne

1930-1958, June

Amerikanische Malerei

3-26,

Helmhaus Zurich,

Konkrete Kunst:

50 Jahre

I960

Entwicklung,

Konstmuseum,

Modern! Amertkanst

1932-1958, July

15-August

7,

1960; City Art Gallery, York, England,

Kunstmuseum

Basel, Die J ubildumss chenkung

W.P.A.,"
September

at

vol. 60, no. 6,

Galerie Neufville, Paris [Group Exhibition],

University of California, Berkeley, Art from

ungs-Gesellschaft an das Basler Kunst-

museum,"

M'erk,

47, heft

jg.

May

5,

1960, pp. 182-183

Stadtisches

Museum

I960.

Germany, Monochrome

Malerei,

West

William Rockhill Nelson Gallery and Atkins

Museum

of Fine Arts, Kansas City,

of

Modern Art,

New

17-Apnl 24, I960. Catalogue

York. Traveled

to:

Heller.

Modern

The Art

In-

September 22-October

The Baltimore Museum of Art,

December 3-31, 1961; Contemporary
Cincinnati, January

Center,

February

Museum

25,

22-

The Cleveland
March 13-April 10,

1962;

of Art,

1962; California Palace of the Legion of

15-July

22,

3,

Museum, Oregon,

Portland Art

1962;

1962; Los Angeles

Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, 60 Ameri-

H.H. Arnason and

Jr.,

Ben Heller and

Henry

Geldzahler,

with text by Ralph T. Coe

American-type collector," Art Neus,

New Trends in 20th

ing,

New

York,

Century American Paint-

March 5-26, 1961

ers,

"Heller:

New
vol.

60, no. 5, September 1961, pp. 28-31,

58

The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum,

New York, American Abstract Expressionists

and

Imagists,

October 13-December 31,

1961. Catalogue with text by

Apnl8-May7, 1961

H.H. Arna-

son

Yale University Art Gallery,

and Sculpture from

Gallery, April

New

Haven,

Jack Kroll, "American Painting and the

Art

Convertible Spiral," Art News, vol. 60,

the Albright

26-September 4, 1961

I960: Abstract Expressionist

April 3-May 8, 1960.

5-October 14, 1962. Catalogue with texts

by Alfred H. Barr,

January 19-February 26, 1961. Catalogue

Paintings

'50's,

New

of

Seitz

York, Business Buys American Art, March

Catalogue with text by

Museum

William

Sarasota, Florida, The Sidney Janis Paint-

Painting of the

Art,

June

I960

John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art,

Chipp and Grace Morley

can Painters

Mr. and Mrs. Ben

Collection of

Honor, San Francisco, April 30-June

Leverkusen,

Catalogue with texts by Herschel B.

Whitney Museum of American Art,

of Art, American Bus-

September 14-October

15, 1961

Arts

Union College, Schenectady,

3,

Museum

the Arts,

Maria Netter, "Die Jubiliiumsschenkung

des Schweizerischen National-Versicher-

February 23-March 22, I960

March 6-April

and

22, 1961;

museum, 1960

Missouri, On the Logic

October 1960, pp. 165-168

Ingres to Pollock,

San Francisco

County Museum of Art, September

"American Painting

York," Museums Journal,

5,

1961, p. 14

stitute of Chicago,

mid-August-mid-September, I960
J. AS. Ingamells,

5,

"Reviews and

60, no.

vol.

National-Verstcher-

ungs-Gesellschaft an das Basler Kunst-

1-October

Art Neu s,

Organized by The

Schweizerischen

des

Previews: Paintings from the

The

Nazionale d'Arte

Galleria

York, Paintings from

September

1961

iness

circulated by United States Information

Agency. Separate catalogue

New

Smolin Gallery,

text

Polariteit,

1961. Catalogue

July 22-September 18,

L[awrence] C[ampbell],

Contemporary American Painting, January

14-February

Museum, Amsterdam,

Stedeli|k

1959. Or-

5,

Museum

Sculpture from the Collection of Mrs.

Birmingham Museum
Tenth

Anniversary

of Art,

Alabama,

Exhibition

April

no. 7,

November 1961, pp. 34-37, 66,

68-69
Lawrence Alloway,
the

"Easel

Guggenheim," Art

Painting at

International,

vol.

v, no.

10,

Christmas 1961, pp. 26-34

&

Dore Ashton, "Art," Arts

vol. 78. no.

Architecture,

December 1961, pp. 4-5

12,

Brandeis University,

York, December

sachusetts,

1964; Isaac Delgado

The

1962;

Waltham, MasNovembet 21-December 23,

Institute of

Contemporary Art,

Boston, as American Art Since 1950. Sepa-

Vanguard American Painting. Organized by

H. H. Arnason

United States Informa-

for

guage of each country with

Traveled

Arnason.

H.H.

text by

various cities,

to:

Yugoslavia, as Savremena Amerika umenost

1961; USIS Gallery, American Embassy,

London, February 28-March 30,

Hessischen Landesmuseum
as Abstrakte

14-May
ten, as

reprinted from Seattle catalogue

Separate catalogue in lan-

tion Service.

1962;

Darmstadt,

Sam Hunter

with text by

rate catalogue

New York,
May 7-June

can Painters,

2,

1962.

Catalogue

Haus am Waldsee,

bis

1962, June 1962. Caralogue wirh rext by

Manfred de Motte

1962; Salzburg, Zwerglgar-

13,

Amenkanische Maler der Gegenwart,

Smolin Gallery,

New

York, Art of the Thir-

Septembet 25-October

ties,

1962

3,

Oakland Art Museum,

Deparrment of Fine Arrs, Carnegie

tute, Pittsburgh,

Insti-

22-September 20,

1964;

University,

The 1961 Pittsburgh In-

ternational Exhibition of Contemporary Paint-

and

ing

1961-

October 27,

Sculpture,

January 7, 1962. Catalogue with text by

Gordon

Bailer

Washburn

Whitney Museum

New

York, American Art of our Century: 30th

Anniversary

December

Exhibition,

10, 1961.

November

15-

Catalogue with texts

by John I.H. Baut and Lloyd Goodrich

Florida Union

Social

Florida, Painting
Collections,

Room,

and

2, 1962.

Univetsity of Michigan

University of

Sculpture in Florida

January 14-18, 1962

of Art,

Ann

Painting,

and Mrs.

Selections from the Collection of Mr.

1962

Danbury Scott
ticut,

Dwan

Los

Gallery,

New

Whitney Museum of American Art,

[Group

Angeles

Exhibition], 1962

Angeles," Artforum,
November 1962, p. 48

Amon

Museum

Cartet

vol.

no.

i,

6,

24,

ruary 13-March4, 1962

leries,

Dore Ashton, "New York Commentary:

De Kooning's Verve," Studio International,

nia,

1962. Traveled

of Western Art, Fort

Environment:

Artist's

ro:

UCLA

Arr Gal-

Los Angeles, January 6-February

10, 1963;

Oakland Art Museum,

March 17-Apnl

Inc.,

Danbury, Connec-

27 Contemporary American

15,

Califor-

Museum

of American Art,

New York

February 14-late March 1964

New

tions: Picasso to Pollock,

York, 2 Genera-

March 3-April

4,

1964
University Art

Museum,

University of Texas

Austin, Re cent American Paintings Aptil

,

15-May

15, 1964. Catalogue

Arts Gallery,

Indiana Universiry,

Bloomington, American Painting 19101960, April 19-May 10, 1964. Catalogue

The Tate Gallery, London, Painting and

Sculpture of a Decade:

54-64 April 22-June

,

28, 1964. Organized by Alan Bowness,

Lawrence Gowing and Philip James

Calouste Gulbenkian

Foundarion.

talogue with unsigned text by Bowness,

Alan Bowness, "54/64 Painting

Stuttgart,

for

Cat-

Gowing and James

1963

830, June 1962, p. 225

Galerie Miiller,

Artists,

with text by Henry R. Hope

The West Coast, Novembet 6-December

York, Masters of American Watercolor, Feb-

Arts,

1964

6,

Fanton Museum and His-

Sidney Janis Gallery,

Fine

H[opkins], "Reviews: Los

H[enry] T.

of

Institute

Galerie Jacques Benador, Geneva, Artistes

at

Worth, Texas, The

vol. 163, no.

Museum

Arbor, Contemporary American

18,

Detroit

Washington

Octobet 5-30,

Louis,

November 10-December

americaines

Catalogue

Roy R. Neuberger, October 21-November

of American Art,

St.

California, Treasures

from East Bay Collections, September 28-

November

Museum,

Aft

7, 1964;

Bloomington, June

ney
July 10-August

May 4-June

Indiana University,

January 9-25, 1964. Organized by Whir-

1962

13,

5,

New

Speed Art Museum, Louis-

1964; J.B.

torical Society,

Amenkanische Malerei, April

of Art,

March 18-April 22,

lanta Art Association,

1964;
Gegenwart

Berlin,

Museum

Orleans, February 7-March 8, 1964; At-

ville,

10 Ameri-

Sidney Janis Gallery,

1963-January

1,

Sam

Francis,

&

Sculp-

ture of a Decade," Studio International vol.

,

Gimpel

Fils Ltd.

Coast

&

London,

Selection of East

West Coast American Painters,

Reichardt,

"Les Expositions a

Londres: peinture americaine," Aujourd'hui,

6eannee, no. 36, April 1962, p.

Marc

well,

Marlborough Fine Art, Ltd., London, Asof 20th Century Art,

1964, July 10-26, 1964

September
Continuity

and Change: 45 American Abstract

and

Sculptors,

April 12-May 27,

Painters

November

Daniel Robbins, "Continuity and Change

vi,

Pavilion, Seattle World's

Fair, Art Since 1950: American

tional,

vol.

Ocrober 25, 1962, pp. 59-65

Seattle Fine Arts

and Interna-

April 21-October 21,

Traveled in part

to:

1962.

Sam Hunter.
Rose Arr Museum,

Catalogue with text by

October

24-October

Collects,

1964.

25,

Catalogue

7-

Arr Gallery, The University of New Mexico,

Catalogue

Albuquerque, Art Since 1889, October

The Minneapolis
turies

Hartford," Art International,

2, 1963-

11 Abstract

1962.

Catalogue with text by Samuel Wagstaff,

no. 8,

New York,

Painters,

Expressionist

New

Century of American Art, 1864-

Milwaukee Art Center, Wisconsin

1963- Catalogue

Sidney Janis Gallery,

at

July-August

55

Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford,

1964, pp. 190-194

Adelphi University, Garden City,

York,

pects

May

167, no. 853,

19-February

Rothko, January

1963

15,

March 1962
J[asia]

Franz Kline, Joan Mitchell, Robert Mother-

Institute of Arts, Four Cen-

of American Art,

November

1963-January 19, 1964. Catalogue with

Directions

in

15, 1964. Caralogue

Sidney Janis Gallery,

New

York,

Selection

of 20th Century Art of 3 Generations

November 24-December 26, 1964.

text by Marshall B. Davidson

New

20-November

27,

American Painting.

Or-

Catalogue

ganized by The Poses Institute of Fine

Arts,

Brandeis University, Waltham,

Massachusetts.

Catalogue with text by

Sam Hunter. Traveled

to:

Munson-

Williams-Procror Institute, Utica,

New

The Tate Gallery, London, The Peggy

Guggenheim Collection, December 31,
1964-March

7, 1965. Caralogue

by Peggy Guggenheim

with text

Institute of Contemporary Art, University of

Pennsylvania,

Philadelphia, 1943-1953:

The Decisivi Years, January 14-March

1,

Cleveland

Museum of Art

Fifty Years of Mod-

Art 1916-1966, June

ern

14-July

September 30-November

lection.

1966. Catalogue with text by Edward B

Kant Memorial Exhibition,

War

Thomas

II,

Critic's Choice:

March 31-April

Catalogue with texts by

1965.

Hilton Kramer and

Hess,

B.

Harold Rosenberg

An

York, Art Since 1923:

Honor

Exhibition

Agnes Rindge Claflin

oj

May

5- June 16, 1965

White House Festival of

June

the Arts,

14,

York, Art of the United States: 1670-1966,

from the Collection of Mr and Mrs. H. Gates

September 28-November 27,

Lloyd.

Los Angeles County

New York

School:

Museum

The First Generation,

and 1950's, July

Paintings of the 1940's

16-August

1,

1965. Catalogue with ex-

cerpts from earlier texts by Lawrence Al-

Robert Goldwater, Clement

loway,

Greenberg, Harold Rosenberg, William

Rubin and Meyer Schapiro and reprinted

,"

A rtforum

by Rothko and other participating

Ferry

no.

"The

New York

oj

Hawkins

1-November

American Painting

Organized

by The International Council of The

New

of Modern Art,

Generation," Artforum

Knoedler et Cie.,

Paris, Six peintres ameri-

cams: Gorky, Kline, de Kooning. Newman.

19-November

October

Rothko.

25, 1967. Catalogue with reprinted texts

by Elaine de Kooning, Rothko and other

York. Sepacountry

Rasmussen, Irving Sandler, G.R. Swen-

The National Museum of

Tokyo, October 15-

son. Traveled to:

Modern Art,
November

27, 1966, with catalogue with

Japanese section; The National

Modern

Museum

Kyoto, December

Art,

Japanese

section;

New

12,

1967, with catalogue

1966-January 22,

vol. iv,

Melbourne, June 6-July

Kala

Lalit

March 25-Apnl

Delhi,

15,

van Abbemuseum,

Stedeli|k

The Netherlands, Kompass

kunst na 1945 uit Neu York:
1945

New

in

December

Eindhoven,
Schilder-

111:

Paintings after

with texts by Lucy R. Lippard, Waldo

School:

September 1965, pp. 3-13

1,

October

'.

1967.

19,

participating artists

Two Decades

of

Pollock.

Collection,

Academy,
First

November

Detroit Institute of Arts, The

with

The

Whitney: The

vol. 5, no. 3,

October 18-November

Catalogue

1966, pp. 51-55

artists

Philip Leider,

New

Barbara Rose, "The

rate catalogue in English in each

of Art, The

1966.

Catalogue with text by Lloyd Goodrich

Museum

1965

texts

Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Selected Works

20, 1966

The White House, Washington, D.C., The

Contempotary Art, University of

New

Whitney Museum of American Art,

Show

Vassar College Art Gallery, Poughkeepsie,

New

Col-

1967.

Catalogue with text by Henry Geldzahler

Institute ot

Providence Art Club. Rhode Island, 1965

24.

5,

Henning

1965. Catalogue

Art Since World

Woodward Foundation

Selected from the

31,

November

York,

9-

1967. Catalogue in Dutch

17,

and English with text by Jean Leering.

Traveled to Frankfurter Kunstverein as

Kompass

New

York: Malerei nach 1945. De-

cember 30, 1967-February

rate

catalogue

1 1,

1968. Sepa-

German and

in

English

with texts by Leering and E. Rathke

The Royal Dublin

'67:

Society, Rose

November

Poetry of Vision.

The

1967-

13,

January 10, 1968. Catalogue

1967; National Gallery of Victoria,

lery of

New

8, 1967;

Art Gal-

South Wales, Sydney, July

Clement Greenberg, "Poetry of Vision,"

Artforum, vol.

vi,

no. 8, April 1968, pp.

18-21

17-August 20, 1967

University of California, Berkeley, The UniArts Center, January 6-February 16,

versity

Columbus Gallery of Fine

Arts, Ohio,

Generations oj American Art:

1966

Tun

1943-1965

Sidney

Museum

Massachusetts,

leyan,

of Art,

Wes-

Williams-Vassar

Exchange Exhibition, February 28-March

18,

1966

Connecticut, Brandeis University Creative

1957-1966: Tenth Anniver-

sary Exhibition, April

17-June 26, 1966.

Moderna

Stockholm,

Museet,

Guggenheim samling fran Venedig.

Peggy

Novem-

1968; Portland

13-October

13,

1968;

November

with text by Peggy Guggenheim

December
Museum ot

San Francisco

Sidney Jams Gallery,

tions:

Picasso

New

York, 2 Genera-

Pollock,

to

January 3-27,

1968;

15,

1-

Art, January 13-February 16,

Museum, March

1969; Seattle Art

12-

April 13. 1969; Detroit Institute of Arts,

1967. Catalogue

1895-1965:

Crosscurrents

in

St.

Thomas Art Department,

Houston, Six

Painters,

February-April

Modern Art. April 26-May 21, 1966. Or-

1967. Catalogue with texts by Morton

ganized by Public Education Association,

Feldman, Thomas B.

New York. Exhibition divided among

New York galleries: Paul Rosenberg and
Co., 1895-1904; M. Knoedler & Co.,

nique de Menil

lery,

28,

gon, September

July 14-August 17, 1969; Albright-Knox

Seven Decades,

1905-1914; Perls Galleries,

Co.

The Min-

May 15-July
Art Museum, Ore-

Pasadena Art Museum,

University of

Thaw &

to:

The

January

ber 26, 1966-January 8, 1967. Catalogue

Catalogue

Inc.,

New York,

Collection.

neapolis Institute of Arts,

The Larry Aldrich Museum, Ridgefield,

Arts Awards,

Art,

and Harriet Jams

17-March 4, 1968. Traveled

November 11-December, 1966

Williams College

The Museum of Modern

E.

Hess and Domi-

May

1967, pp. 59-60

V.

1915-1924; Saidenberg Gal-

1925-1934; Stephen Hahn Gallery,

1925-1934; Pierre Matisse Gallery,

1935-1944; Andre Emmerich Gallery and

Fondation
France,

May

Maeght,

Dix ans

with text by Peter Selz

Catalogue

September

Buffalo,

November

18,

15-

Museum

1969; Cleveland

of

1969-January 4,

1970. Catalogue with text by Alfred H.

national Council of

The InterThe Museum of Mod-

ern Art. Separate catalogue in language of

each country.
St.

Paul

d'art vtvant

de

Vence,

1955-1965,

3-July 23, 1967. Catalogue with text

by Francois Wehrlin

GalleriaOdyssia, 1945-1954; Cordierand

Ekstrom, Inc., 1955-1965

Art,

19,

Barr, Jr. Circulated further by

Kurt von Meier, "Houston," Artforum.

vol. v, no. 9,

Art Gallery,

October

Basel, February
Institute of

May

Washington, D.C., Art for Embassies

25,

to:

Kunsthalle

28-March 30, 1970; The

Contemporary Arts, London,

1-31, 1970;

Berlin,
halle,

Washington Gallery of Modern Art,

Traveled

Akademie der Kunste,

June 12-August, 1970; KunstNurnberg, September 1 1-October

1970;

Wurttembergischer Kunst-

verein, Stuttgart, as

Von Surrealismus

bis

November 12-December

zur Pop Art,

27,

1970; Palais des Beaux-Arts de Bruxelles,

January 7-February

1971, with no

11,

catalogue; Kunsthalle Koln, Von Picasso

bis

March 5-Apnl

Warhol.

1971.

18,

Helmut

Separate catalogue with text by

Hilton Kramer, "The Absttact and the

Real,

New

The
tion

to Visual Facts,"

York Times, July 21, 1969, Sec-

II, p.

D31

American Art from 1945

national Herald Tribune.

to Now," InterNovember 1-2,

1969, p. 7

Kunsthaus Zurich, American Art 1948-

Philip Leider, "Art of the Real,

of

R. Leppien

From Metaphysics

Modern Art,"

Artforum, vol.

Seprember 1968,

Museum

vii. no.

Gallery of Art, Washington University, St.

65

p.

1968, January 20-February 23, 1969

1,

Louis, The Development of Modernist Paint-

Art Gallery, University of California, Irvine,

Twentieth-Century Works on Paper, January

Traveled to

1968.

30-February 25,

Memotial Union Art Gallery, University

of California, Davis, March 26-April 20,
Catalogue with text by James

1968.

Monte

Museum

Finch College

of Art,

New

Betty Parsons' Private Collection,

York,

March

1968. Catalogue with text

13-April 24,

"Laufen der Ausstellungen: Der

Raum

der Amerikanischer Kunst 1948-1968,"

Werk,

jg.

56, no.

1,

January 1969,

p.

Robert Melville, "Gallery: Minimalism,"

Architectural Review, vol. cxivi, no. 870,

Museums: The Betty Parsons

Collection," Arts Magazine, vol. 42, no.

March 1968,

Caralogue with text by

1969-

1-30,

Robett T. Buck,

Jt.

The Museum of Modern Art, New York, The

Neu American Painting and Sculpture: The
[

August 1969, pp. 146-148

First Generation,

Cranbrook Academy of Art,

Bloomfield

Michigan, Betty Parsons' Private Col-

Hills,
lection,

September 22-October 20, 1968.

Memphis, November 1-December

5,

71

April

ing: Jackson Pollock to the Present.

June 18-October5, 1969

New

Whitney Museum of American Art

York, Seven Decades of 20th Century Art,

July 3-September28, 1969

Traveled to Brooks Memorial Art Gallery,

by E.C. Goossen
J.B., "In the

in

1,

1968. Catalogue with text by E.C. Goossen

York,

A rt in

tions,

September 28-November

Westchester from Private Collec-

1969-

2,

Catalogue with text by Donald M. Haley

54

p.

Hudson River Museum, Yonkers, New

Honolulu Academy of Arts, Hawaii, Signals

Rosalind Constable, "The Betty Parsons Collection," Art News, vol. 67, no.

1,

March

1968, pp. 48-49, 58-60

The Museum

Modern

of

Art,

New

March 27-June 9, 1968. Traveled to: Los

Angeles County Museum of Art, July
16-September

8,

The Art Institute

19-December 8,

1968;

October

the Sixties,

October

-November

10,

1968. Catalogue with text by William

1,

Milwaukee Art Center, The

Collection of Mrs.

D.C. Paintings from

Albright-Knox Art

Gallery,

May

the

18-July 21, 1968

New

Whitney Museum of American Art,

May

York, Recent Acquisitions.

23-July 7,

1968

the

Real:

3-September 8,

New York,

USA 1948-1968.

July

Catalogue with

1968.

text by E.C. Goossen. Circulated by

International Council of

Modern

Art.

The

The

The Museum of

Separate catalogue in lan-

guage of each country with

text

by Goos-

sen. Traveled to: Centre National d'Art

Contemporain,

Paris,

as

L'Art du

reel:

USA

November 141948-1968,
December 23, 1968; Kunsthaus Zurich,

as

Der Raum

in der Amerikanischer

1948-1968. January

Kunst

19-February 23,

1969, with catalogue with Goossen text in

English, additional text by Felix Andreas

Baumann; The Tate Gallery, London,

The Art of the Real:
Painting

and

24-June

1,

An

Sculpture,

1969

as

Aspect of American

1948-1969, April

1969-February

Clement

Henry Geldzahler,

Fried,

Harry Lynde Bradley, Octobet 25, 1968-

Greenberg,

February 23, 1969. Catalogue with text

Rosenblum and William Rubin,

by Tracy Atkinson

printed or revised from earlier sources

Stadtische

Kunsthalle Diisseldorf, Malerei

des Zwanzigsten Jahrhunderts

1968

New

York, Works of Art from

Harold

Museo Nacional de

Robert

Rosenberg,

Bellas

re-

Buenos

Artes,

Aires, 109 Obras de Albright-Knox Art Gal-

October 23-November 30,

1969.

Catalogue

the Peggy

Guggenheim Foundation, January 16-March

Pasadena Art Museum, Painting

in

November

New

York:

1969-

23, 1969- Catalogue with text by Peggy

1944

Guggenheim

January 11, 1970. Catalogue with text by

to

1969,

24,

Alan R. Solomon
The Disappearance and Reappearance of the Image: Painting in the United States since 1945.

The Museum of Modern Art,

16,

1970. Catalogue with texts by Michael

lery,

Art, Washington,

York Painting and Sculpture:

1940-1970, October

The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum,

The National Gallery of

New

York,

Johnson Sweeney

Rubin

Art of

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New

1968. Catalogue with text by James

York,

Dada, Surrealism, and Their Heritage.

of Chicago,

in

Organized by Inrernational Art Program,

Palais des Beaux- Arts de Bruxelles, Petnture

americaine depuis 1945,

1969

National Collection of Fine Arts, Smithsonian Institution,

Washington, D.C.

Separate catalogue in language of each

country with texts by Ruth Kaufman and

John

W. McCoubrey,

and reprinted

by Rothko and other participating

Traveled
January

to:

Sala

Timosoara,

ruary 14-March

1,

Bucharest,

1969; Museul

17-February 2,

Banatului,

Cluj,

Dalles,

texts

artists.

Romania, Feb-

1969; Galeria de Arta,

Romania, March 14-April

Slovenska Narodna Galeria,

Narodni Galerie, Prague, July 1-August

15, 1969; Palais des Beaux-Arts de

October 21-November

16,

the

San Francisco Museum of Art, January

6-February 15, 1970

The Katonah
Color,

Gallery, Katonah,

February

1-March

New

York,

15,

1970.

Catalogue with texts by Michael Fried and

Clement Greenberg adapted

in part

from

earlier sources

School of Fine

&

Applied Arts Gallery, Bos-

ron University School of Fine and Applied

Arrs, Centennial Exhibition: American

Artists

of the Nineteen Sixties,

6-March

14,

February

1970. Catalogue with text

by H.H. Arnason

1969

Rona Dobson,

of Art, Trends in

Twentieth Century Art: a loan exhibition from

2, 1969;

Bratislava,

Czechoslovakia, April 14-June 15, 1969;

Bruxelles,

Museum

Santa Barbara

"Brussels:

The Look of

Whitney Museum of American Art,

New

York, Recent Acquisitions, July 9- 19, 1970

January

lery.

19-February

1972.

20,

Catalogue

Fondation Maeght,

St.

France, Exposition

Unis,

I'art

aux

16-Seprember 30,

July

Etats

1970.

Peter Schjeldahl,
the Fifties,"

"Down Memory

TheNew York

6, 1972, Section

Catalogue with text by Dore Ashton

York,

II, p.

Lane to

Times, February

23

Sidney Jams Gallery,

Jams: Part

New

American Art,

of

Mead Art Building, Amherst

College,

York, Landmarks of American Art: 1900-

Amhetst, Massachusetts, Color Painting.

1960. July 24-September 13, 1970

February 4-March

Albnght-Knox Art Gallery,

Buffalo, Color

and Field: 1890-1970. September 15November 1, 1970. Traveled to: Dayton

Art Institute, November 20,

1970-

with text by

Catalogue

1972.

3,

New

Expressionism

York, Abstract

10,

of Art,

February 4-March 28,

1971.

and Pop Art,

February

27-Apnl

February

Catalogue

16, 1972.

vol. xv, no. 5,

May

20,

1971, pp. 46-50

New

Marlborough Gallery,
the

and 20th

19th

York, Masters of

April-May

Centuries,

1972
San Francisco
ters in

Museum

November

27, 1970. Catalogue with text

Des Moines Art Center, Iowa, Twenty-Five

Years of American

text by

Kunsthaus Zurich, Malerei

Max

Kozloff

Cleveland

Museum

of Art, Cleveland Collects

Contemporary Art,

New

Whitney Museum of American Art,

York, The Structure of Color.
25-April 18,

1948-1973,

zwansigsten

des

1970

Jahrhunderts.

Painting

March 6-April 22, 1973. Catalogue with

by George D. Culler

February

July

1-August 20,

1973- Catalogue with text by Edward B.

Henning

Rothko and other participating

artists

Art Museum, American Art Third

Seattle

Quarter Century, August 22-October 14,

1973- Catalogue with text by Jan van der

Northwood
Selections

Cedar Hill, Dallas,

Institute,

from

the Collection of

Catalogue

America. June 24-29, 197

Louisiana

Whitney Museum of American Art,

Downtown Branch, New York, Beginnings:
Painting,

Twentieth-Century American

September-October 26, 1973

Oakland

Museum,

Art

Department,

Louisiana -Retj: Amerikansk Kunst 1950-

California, Period of Exploration

1970. September

tembet 4-November 4, 1973- Catalogue

1-October 24, 1971.

Catalogue with texts by Stig Brogger,

David Galloway, Klaus Honnef, Niels

Jensen, Gunnar Jespersen and

Erik

Thygesen, and texts by Mel Bochner,

John Cage, Oyvind Fahlstrom, Alan

omon and Rothko and

artists translated

from

Sol-

other participating

Century

American

DC.

Artists,

October 23-November 22, 1971

New

Orleans

Collects.

Museum

November

of Art,
14,

New

Orangerie des Tuileries, Paris, Art du

1971-January 9,

XXe

Fondation Peggy Guggenheim. Venise,

November

1974-March

30,

with

Catalogue

1975.

3,

Peggy

by

text

Guggenheim

Whitney Museum of American Art,

Downtown Branch, New York, Subjects of
the Artists: New York Painting 1941-1947
April

22-May 28, 1975

the

for

Arts,

Marden.

Houston,

Rice University,
Novros.

Rothko,

April-May 1975. Catalogue published

Marden, Novros, Rothko: Painting in

the

as

Age

Houston, 1978, with text by

Cleveland
terior

Museum

and

Schueler.

of Art, Landscapes. In-

Exterior:

Rothko and

Avery,

July 9-August 31,

1975. Cat-

B Henning

The Jewish Museum, New York, Jewish Ex-

Sep-

October

Art of

the Twentieth Century.

1975-January 25,

1976.

Worth Art Center Museum,

Texas,

16,

with text by Mary Fuller McChesney

Catalogue

Des Moines Art Center, Iowa, The Ktrsch

Years:

1936-1958,

10, 1974.

raska

January

7-February

Traveled to University of Neb-

Art Galleries,

Lincoln,

February

Fort

Selections

from the Permanent Collection and

Fort Worth Private Collections,

26-November

9,

October

1975

2 5 -March 31, 1974

The Edmonton Art Galley, Edmonton,

Arts,

Houston, The

Great Decade of American Abstraction: Modernist

10,

Orleans

An

October 2-November 24,

perience in the

The Museum of Fine

Twentieth

earlier sources

Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington,

Lichten-

to

1974. Catalogue

alogue with text by Edward

Museum, Humlebaek, Denmark,

1

Picasso

Sheldon Nodelman

Direction in

Galerie Beyeler, Basel, Art Fair 1971 Basel:

of Twentieth-Century

the Nordrhetn-Westfalen Collection in

of Actuality

Marck

Mrs. Harry

Lynde Bradley. March 2 1-April 30, 1971.

from

Institute

1971. Catalogue with text

by Marcia Tucker and reprinted texts by

stein: Masterpieces

si'ecle,

of Art, Modern Mas-

West Coast Collections, October 18-

15,

Hopkins

Diisseldorf,

Edward B. Henning, "Color and Field,"

Art International,

September 8-October

1974. Catalogue with text by Henry T.

The Tate Gallery, London

The University Art Museum, The University
of Texas, Austin, Color Forum,

Catalogue with text by Priscilla Colt

Texas,

9-March4, 1972

Museum

1971; Cleveland

January

Op and

Pop.

Worth Art Center Museum,

las Collections,

New

to

March 13-April

Twentieth Century Art from Fort Worth Dal-

Cad N. Schmalz

Sidney Jams Gallery,

York, 25 Years of

From Pollock

2:

1974

13,

Fort

American

1974

19,

Sharp-Focus on Realism,

Whitney Museum

Selected

February 9-March

Painters of the Fifties.

Paul de Vence,
vtvant

New

Pace Gallery,

Art 1960-1970, January 15-March

1974. Catalogue with texts by E.A.

Canada, The
can

Collective Unconscious:

Ameri-

and Canadian Art: 1940-1950. De-

cember

5,

1975-January

18,

1976.

Catalogue with text by Karen Wilkin

Carmean, Jr and Phillippe de Montebello

and texts by Walter Darby Bannard,

The Columbus Gallery of Fine

Arts, Ohio,

Kermit Champa, Jane Harrison Cone,

Michael Fried, Clement Greenberg,

Aspects of Postwar Painting in America.

Albnght-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo,

Rosalind Krauss, Kenworth Moffet, Bar-

ganized by The Solomon R. Guggenheim

and Second

bara Rose and William Rubin reprinted or

1972. Catalogue

Abstract Expressionism: First

Generations in the Albright-Knox Art Gal-

revised from earlier sources

January

17-February 29,

1976.

Or-

Museum, New York. Catalogue. Traveled

and expanded form to The Sol-

in revised

omon

R.

Guggenheim Museum, New

July 20,

York,

as Acquisition Priorities: Aspects of

Museum

Postwar Painting in America, October 15,

1976-January

Separate

1977.

16,

1976. Organized by Whitney

New York

of American Art,

'American Moderns

Tokyo,"

Fail ro Stit

TheNeu- York Times. July

40

15, 1976. p.

The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum,

York,

Century American

Twentieth

The Brooklyn Museum, New York, American Water colors and Pastels from the Museum
Collection.

1976. Catalogue

January 23-March 28,

with text by Diane Waldman. Traveled

as

Amerikanische Zeichner des 20. Jahrhunderts

Show

Drei Generationen von der Armory

Heute,

bis

to:

Staatliche Kunsthalle

Baden-Baden, May 26-July

11,

1976;

Kunsthalle Bremen, July 18-August 29,

1976. Separate catalogue in
text by

Waldman,

German with

additional text by

Geneva, Peinture

et d'Histoire,

1950-1965

americaine en Suisse:

July

4-October 4, 1976. Catalogue with text

Institute of Arts, America

Nou\ February 20-May

2,

1976

Artists

and East Hampton:

August

spective.

York,

100-Year Per-

14-October

1976.

3,

Catalogue

and Horizon: American Painting

1776-1976. Organized by The Toledo
Ohio. Traveled

of Art,

Albnght-Knox Art Gallery,

March 6-April

to:

Buffalo,

11, 1976; Detroit Institute

May 5-June 13, 1976; The Toledo

Museum of Art, Ohio, July 4-August 15,
1976; Cleveland Museum of Art, Sepof Arts,

1800-1950,

New York,

The

with texts by Robert T.Buck, Frederick J.

Cummings, Sherman
Wittmann

E. Lee

and Otto

W.

Works from

Art,

of the Whitney

March 8-ApriI

Museum

1,

can Masters,

and Sculpture Garden,

Institution,

1876-1976.

Washington,

May 20-October

Boorstin and Cynthia Jaffee

Worth Art Center Museum,

Permanent Collection:

Texas,

and New A cquisitions from

the Fort

Worth Art Museum Permanent

Collection.

McCabe

Kunst.

January

14-February 27,

Rutgers University Art Gallery, New-

New

Jersey, Surrealism

American Art: 1931-1947

March 5-April

24, 1977. Catalogue with texts by Jack

J.

Spector and Jeffrey Wechsler

South Dakota Memorial Art Center, Brook-

The Calligraphic Statement,

Sidney Janis Gallery,

June 6-October 31, 1976

last

four decades, July

porary Art Society in cooperation with

logue with text by Marina Vaizey

The

Art Museum, Southampton,

Parrish

New

York, Twentieth Century American

Paintings from the Metropolitan

Museum

of

25-December 31, 1977.

Catalogue with texts by Henry Geldzahler

Art. September

and Helen A. Harrison

The New York

Museum, Albany, New

State

October
of Art.
9-November 27, 1977. Catalogue with
texts by Robert Bishop, William H.
Gerdts and Thomas B. Hess
York:

The

State

The San Jose Museum

of Art, California,

Modernism,

Post-war

VIII:

4-December

1977.

31,

Catalogue

and His

New

York, Mil-

January 28-

Friends.

February 24, 1978

Abstract Expressionism: The Formative Years.

Organized by Herbert

F.

Museum
Museum

and Whitney

Traveled

of Art,

Ithaca,

of American Art,
to:

Herbert

F.

March

Johnson,

New

Johnson

York.

Museum

New

of Art, Cornell University, Ithaca,

York, March 30-May 14, 1978; The Seibu

New

April 7-May 7,

York,

Less

is

1977. Catalogue

Museum

ot Art,

1978; Whitney

Tokyo, June 17-July 12,

Museum of American

New York, October 5-December 3,

Seibu Department Store Art Gallery, Tokyo,

18-

The

in Britain:

6-26, 1977. Organized by The Contem-

and

with text by S[idney] Jfanis]

//.

Home

Grace Borgenicht Gallery,

Texas, The

Three Decades of American Art, June

28, 1977.

1977.

Catalogue

20-Apnl24, 1977

75th Anniversary

May 25-August

and G. Roque

America

Kunsrhaus Zurich, Aspekte Konstruktiver

More,
Retrospective,

Michael

I.

Worth Art Center Museum,

Selections

ings,

Fort

October 15-November 28,

1976. Catalogue with text by

20, 1976. Catalogue with texts by Daniel

J.

Foreign Shores:

Danoff

Brunswick,

D.C., The Golden Door: Artist-Immigrants

of America,

in Belgium.

Catalogue with texts by K.J. Geirlandt

ton Avery

1976. Catalogue

Smithsonian

Art

November

the Collection

18,

Three Centuries of Art by Foreign Born Ameri-

January 9-February 20, 1977

Miami-Dade Community College, South

Campus, Florida, Abstract Expressionism,
Museum of American

1-November 30,

Milwaukee Art Center, From

1976. Catalogue

10,

October

McShine, Barbara Novak, Robert

Rosenblum and John Wilmerding

Fort

tember 8-October

10-June

United States Information Service. Cata-

1976. Catalogue with texts by Kynaston

Heritage

May

11.

1977. Catalogue

American Embassy, London, American Art at

New

Guild Hall, East Hampton,

The Museum of Modern Art,

The Minneapolis

Reign of Elizabeth

by Charles Goerg

Natural Paradise: Painting in America

Hirshhorn

Museum. Cambridge, Eng-

Fitzwilliarn

land Jubilation: American Art During the

Palais des Beaux-Arts de Bruxelles, American

Musee dArt

Hans

Albert Peters

Museum

April 22-

Collection,

1977

July 3-September 19, 1976

Drawing: Three Avant-Garde Generations

The

Collecting,

5,

catalogue

New

lectors,

June

Art,

1978.

Catalogue with texts by Robett Carleton

San Francisco

Museum

of

Modern

Art, Col-

Hobbs and

Gail Levin

One- Man

Museum

of Art, Portland.

Oregon [Drawwork

ings and watercolors exhibited with

of the

artist's

Brooklyn],

students at Center School,

Summer 1933

Bulletin of the

Museum

of

An Portland,

3,

no.

1,

1933,

Rothkou'itz,

1933
Jane Schwarrz, "Around the Galleries,"

Contemporary Arts Gallery,

Exhibition

vol.

November-December,

n.p.

New

York,

An

of Paintings by Marcus
November 21 -December 9,

Art News,

vol. xxxii, no. 9,

December

2,

1933, p. 16

Art of This Century,

New

York, Mark

Rothko Paintings, January 9-February 4,

1945- Catalogue with anonymous text

April 15, 1949, p. 27

Tfhomas] B

Edward Alden Jewell, "Art: Diverse

views," Art

Shows," The New York Times. January

1949, p 48

1945. Section

II, p.

8
vol. xliii,

His Myths," The Art

Digest, vol.
p.

19, no.

York, Mark

22-May 4, 1946

Edward Alden Jewell, "Art: Hither and

Yon," The New York

April

Times,

28,

New

York, Mark

Section

New

1950,

15,

May

January 15, 1950,

Digest, vol. 24, no. 8,

17

p.

Tfhomas] B

H[ess], "Reviews and Pre-

views," ArtNews, vol.

xlviii, no. 10,

Feb-

of Art,

and

Oils

Watercolors by

Mark

September

1946. Traveled in part to

Rothko,

August

The Santa Barbara Museum of

13-

New

York, Mark

Burrows, "Final Works by

Beckmann and a Group of Americans,"
York Herald Tribune. April 8, 195

Donald Bear, "Rothko's Paintings High

But Far from

Analyze," Santa Barbara News

p.

Recent

Press,

Sep-

York, Mark

March 3-22,

Paintings.

1947

The
tion

New

York Times. March 9, 1947, Sec-

II, p.

M[argaret]

"Fifty-seventh

The Art Digest,

vol. 21, no. 12,

March

15,

1947, p. 18

March 1947,

p.

1,

Section

II,

"Fifty-seventh Street in

Rothko:

Recent

New

March 8-27,

Paintings,

1948

x8

Betty Parsons Gallery,

Rothko,

New

March 28-Apnl

M[argaret]

vol.

April 1948, p. 63

16,

B[reuning],

Street in Review:

The Art

Institute of Chicago, Recent Paint-

by

Mark

Rothko.

October

18-

December 31, 1954. Traveled in part to

of Aft, Rhode Island School of
Design, Providence, as Paintings by Mark

Museum

sons," The Art Digest,

vol.

23, no.

14,

12,

The

The Museum

International Council

Modern

of

Art. Sepatate

catalogue in language of each countty with

and reprinted

text by Peter Selz

Goldwatet.

text

Traveled

Whitechapel Art Gallery, London,

by
to:

Rothko:

as

October

additional text by Btyan

Stedelijk

Exhibition

Retrospective

10-

Robertson;

Museum, Amsterdam, Novem-

ber 24-December 27,

1961, with cata-

logue with additional text in French by

Emilio Villa; Palais des Beaux-Arts de

1962; Kunst-

halle Basel,

A Show

catalogue in English and German; Gal-

New Work

ot his

at

Chicago,"

November

1,

Katharine Kuh, "Mark Rothko," The Art

Institute of

Chicago Quarterly, vol. xlviii,

November

15, 1954, p.

with

8, 1962,

27-May

1962, with separate

20,

catalogue with text by Palma Bucarelli,

none by Petet
de

68

March 3-ApriI

Nazionale d'Arte Moderna, Rome,

leria

April

1954, pp. 5, 19

Musee d'Art Moderne

Selz;

Ville de Paris,

la

December

1962-

5,

January 13, 1963

Mark

New

Rothko,

York,

April

New

Paint-

1-May

14,

John Canaday,
for

1955
Robert M. Coates, "The Art Galleries,"

New

Yorker, vol. xxxi, no.

10, April

23, 1955, p. 84

L{averne]

G[eorge],

"Fortnight in Re-

May

1,

About

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Kathanne Kuh, "The Fine

1957. Caralogue with text by Elaine de

no.

January 28, 1961, pp. 78-81

Irving Herschel Sandler,

Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston,

Rothko,

More and When

Robert M. Coates, "The Art Galleries,"

1955, p. 23

Mark

"Is Less

Whom?: Rothko Show

tions

1955, p. 54

Par-

18-March

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4-31, I960

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Sam Hunter, "Diverse Modernism," The

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Mark

DC.

Washington,

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Stuart Preston, "Chiefly Abstract." The

ings

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1961. Catalogue with text by Peter Selz.

to

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Easy

New

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Architecture.

75, no. 4, April 1958. pp. 8, 29, 32

E.C. Goossen, "The End of Wintet

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York,"

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46

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8,

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Cimaise, serie 5, no. 4, March-April 1958,

x 10

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Museum

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xlvin, no. 2, April

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Maude

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Art

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1,

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1961, p. 10

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London Gallery, London,

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Rothko,

Robert Kudielka, "Ausstellungen," Das

1964.

Re-

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Spring 1961, pp. 148-149

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Harrison,

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Alan
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The

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Claude Dane, Sam Hunter, Georgine

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31, 1970

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with

the

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New

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1970, November 13-December

David

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5,

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Galleria Martano,

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Newport Harbor Art Museum, Newport

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Boymans van Beuningen, Rotterdam,

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3,

Carnduff Ritchie

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98-103

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239-251
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vol. iv, no. 1,

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Hilton Ktamer,

7779

Context," Arts Magazine,

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Here

at

in

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New

66," The

York Times,

39

1,

Abstractionist: Rothko's

Work

in Color,

Times, February 26, 1970, p. 39

Maria Netter, "Ende einer Pionierarbeit:

vol. 51,

112-135

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jg.

Zum

Tode des Malers Mark

38, vol. 10, March 6, 1970, p. 35

William Rubin. "Mark Rothko 1903-70, The New York Times,

Donald B. Kuspit, "Symbolic Pregnance

ford Still," Arts Magazine, vol. 52, no. 7,

Mark Rothko and ClyfMarch 1978, pp. 120-125

in

March

8, 1970, pp. 21,

22

Harold Rosenberg, "The Art World: Rothko," The

xlvi, no. 6,

///. Articles

('absence de

May

xxvc annee, no. 21,

vol.

Man's Landscape," Art

64, no. one, January-February 1976, pp.

no. 6, February 1976,

au-

Conveyed Luminosity Yet an Extreme Serenity," The New York

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Harry Rand, "Adolph Gottlieb

"Rothko ou

Vallier,

February 26, 1970, pp.

December 1975, pp. 70-73

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Dora

Max
Mark Rothko: The

Magazine, vol. 50, no.

50, no. 4,

lespace continu,"

et

annee, no. 40, January 1963, pp.

7e

Steele,

Philippe Sollers, "Le

March

30-39

Janet Kutner, "Brice Marden, David Novros,

Urge

architecture,

3642

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Les Levine, "Lone Star Four," Arts Magazine, vol. 48, no. 6,

1974, pp.

et

10-11

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vol. x, no. 4,

December 1971, pp. 54-63

vol.

International, vol.6, no.

5-6, 1962, pp. 90-94

New

Yorker, vol.

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Robert Olmos, "Mrs. Allen About Her Brother," Northwest

on Rothko

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"Brown
5,

Belittles

Drawings

in

Book," The

York Times. January

Neti'

News. vol. 69, no. 2, April 1970, pp. 29, 66, 67

1929

Max
Ofscar] Cfollier],

1947, pp.

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Iconograph,

no. 4, Fall

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88-89

vol. vni, no.

8, April 1970, pp.

41-44
John Fischer, "Mark Rothko:

Douglas MacAgy, "Mark Rothko," Magazine of Art,

January 1949, pp. 20-21

vol.

42, no.

1,

portrait ot the artist as an angry

Harper's, vol. 241, no. 1442, July 1970, pp.

man,"

16-23

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Dore Ashton, "Mark Rothko," Arts

&

Architecture, vol. 74, no. 8,

October 20, 1970, pp. 45-49

Dore Ashton, "Art: Lecture by Rothko," The New York Times.

October 31, 1958, p. 26

October 20, 1970, pp. 30-44

August 1957, pp.

8, 31

Brian O'Doherty, "Rothko," Art International,

Alastair

Dore Ashton, "L'Automne

Cimatse, serie vi, no. 2,

Elaine de Kooning,

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York: Letter from

New

York,"

Gordon, "In the

175. no. 706,

seur, vol.

vol.

xiv,

no.

8,

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174-179

Mrs. John de Menil, "Address given in The Rothko Chapel," Febin Action:

vol.

Gabnella Drudi, "Mark Rothko," Appia,

Ftanz Kline and

xxvii,

1958, pp. 86-97,

vol. 2,

January I960, n.p.

Museum

of American Art,

file,

Whitney

New York

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5,

Emilio Villa, "Idee de Rothko," Appia,

1971. Transcript on deposit in Rothko

ruary 26,

vol. 2,

January 1960, n.p.

Georgine Oeri, "Tobey and Rothko," Baltimore Museum of Art News

March

1,

1971, pp. 109-111

Lawrence Alloway, "Art," The Nation,

1971, pp.

349-350

vol.

212, no. 11, March 15,

Robert Goldwater, "Rothko's Black Paintings," Art in America, vol.

59, no. two, Match-April 1971, pp.

Kathatine Kuh, "The Fine Arts:

day Review, vol.

liv,

58-63

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A Maximum

of Poignancy," Satur-

Tthomas] B. H[ess], "Editorial: Can Art Be Used?" Art News,

vol.

70, no. 2, April 1971, p. 33

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197,

May

chapelle oecumenique

au Texas,"

no. 934,

Houston,"

tional, vol. 183, no.

Museum

General Books,

see

181,

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his paintings," Studio Interna-

p.

292

New

Brian O'Doherty, "The Rothko Chapel," Art in America, vol. 61, no.
one, January February 1973, pp. 1418, 20

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vol.

48,

44-45

"The

The Attitudes of 10

Ides of Art:

York

Still.

Artists

p.

292

on their Art and

December
The Museum of Modern Art, New York,
15 Americans, 1952, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, The New
York School, 1965, see Group Exhibitions, pp. 283, 286
Tiger's Eye,

"The Romantics Were Prompted,"

Man

vol.

1,

no. 2,

in

Possibilities 1

84. Reprinted in Kunsthaus Zurich,

New

York, Clyfford

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1947, p. 44. Reprinted

Post.

1965, see

1946. Reprinted in part in Sandler, The

Contempotaneousness," The

Brian O'Doherty, "Rothko: Failure was His Success," The

York School,

Readings in American Art

in

full

"Clyfford Still" in Art of This Century,

943, April 1972, pp. 149-155

no. 7, April 1974, pp.

New

of Art, The

286; in

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vol. xxx,

June 1971, pp. 273-275

Andtew Causey, "Rothko through

1943.

of Art, The

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Angeles County

February 12 March 7,
in

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"Personal Statement" in David Porter Gallery, Washington, D.C.,

1900-1975. 1975,

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no. 3, Spring 1971, pp., 249-251

Modern

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Triumph of American Painting, 1970, see General Books, p. 292

Group

1971, pp. 16-19

Dore Ashton, "The Rothko Chapel

Gottlieb, "The Portrait and the

New

Art in

New

"Une

WNYC

Excerpts from transcript in Los Angeles County

no. 16, Aptil 17, 1971, pp. 52, 81

Jean-Patrice Matandel,

Mark Rothko and Adolph

Mark

Wintet 1947/8,

Rothko,

Exhibitions, p. 291; Theories of Modern Art,

p.

1971, see One-

1968, Readings

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American Art Since 1900, 1968, tevised edition, 1975, see General

July 27, 1974, p. 34

Books,

292

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li,

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March 24, 1975, pp. 69-75

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75, no. 10, December 1976, pp.

Latet ,"

Six Yeats

9,

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35-37

October 1949,

New

p.

14.

Reprinted in The

York, 15 Americans, 1952; The

Knoedler, Paris, Six

New American

peintres americatns,

Dore Ashton, "Oranges and Lemons, An Adjustment," Arts

tions, pp.

revised edition, 1975, see General Books, p.

Bowman, A New

Russell E.

Acquisition by

Mark

Rothko,

The David

Robert

F. Phillips,

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1970," Museum News, The Toledo

1977, pp.

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Mark Rothko 1903-

"A Symposium on How

Combine

to

292

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Interiors, vol. ex, no.

in part in

Los

1965, see

Group

10,

Exhibitions, p. 286; Readings in American Art Since

1968, revised edition, 1975; Art Since Mid-Century,

1900,

98-101

1958,

Group Exhibi-

283, 286; Readings in American Art Since 1900, 1968,

Sculpture,"

of Art, vol. 19, no. 4,

of Modetn Art,
Painting,

1967, see

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and Alfred Smart Gallery, University of Chicago, 1977

Tiger's Eye, vol. 1, no.

Museum

vol. 1, see

1971,

General Books, p. 292

George Dennison, "The Painting of Matk Rothko," unpublished,

n.d. On deposit
New York

in

Rothko

file,

Modem

The Museum of

Art,

Unpublished

Rothko
Joseph

Liss, "Portrait

Rothko

file,

letter to

of American Art,

On deposit
New Yotk

by Rothko," unpublished, n.d.

Whitney Museum of American

Art,

file,

Lloyd Goodrich, Directot, Whitney

New

Whitney Museum of American

Unpublished

letter to

New

Rosalind Irvine, Whitney

By Rothko

"Editor's Letters," Art News, vol. 56, no. 8,

[Interview with Rothko] in Selden

Marcus Rothkowitz and Bernard Bradden [Statement],

New

York, The Ten: Whitney

Dissenters,

in

Mercury

November

-26, 1938

tists,

New York,

School,

in

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A New Platform and Other Matters: 'Globalism' Pops

oration ot Barnett

into

View," TheNew York Times, June

part in Hess, Abstract Painting,

13, 1943, p. x9-

Reprinted

1951; Blesh, Modern Art U.S.A.,

1968; Sandler, The Triumph of American Painting,

General Books, p. 292

in

of Ameri-

Rothko

December 1957,

file,

p.

Conversations with

6
Ar-

1958, Pratt Institute, Brooklyn. Excerpts

Museum of Art, TheNew

York

1965, see Group Exhibitions, p. 286; Dore Ashton, "Aft:

TheNew York

Dore Ashton, "Letter from

New

Times, October 31, 1958, p. 26,

York," Cimaise. no.

6,

December

1958, pp. 37-40, see articles on Rothko, p. 294; Art Since MidCentury.

1971, vol.

1,

see

General Books, p. 292

in

1956; Ashton, The Unknown Shore, 1962; Chipp, Theories in Modern

Art,

Rodman,

Los Angeles County

Lectute by Rothko,"

Marcus Rothko and Adolph Gottlieb with unacknowledged collab-

Realm of Art:

in

1957, pp. 93, 94

[Lecture] delivered Fall

from transcript

Museum

On deposit
New York

York, April 9. 1957.

Whitney Museum of Ametican Art,

Galleries,

Art,

in

can Art,

IV.

Museum

On deposit
New York

York, December 20, 1952.

1970, see

Eulogy

for

Milton Avety, delivered January 7, 1965,

Society for Ethical Culture,

New

New York

York. Transcript published in

National Collection of Fine Arts, Smithsonian Institution,

ington,

DC,

Milton Avery.

December

12,

Wash-

1969-January 25, 1970

Photographic Credits

Museum

Courtesy The Metropolitan

Works in the exhibition

no

of*

New

Art,

York: cat

155

Museum

Courtesy The

of

Modern

Art,

New

of

Modern

Art.

New York,

photo by

New York

photo by

York; cat

nos

98. 152

Color

Museum

Courtesy The

Rudolph Butckhardt

Albnght-Knox Art Gallery

Arr

rsit)

Museum,

no

Buffalo tat

ol

Henry B

nos

no

New Hamp-

Courtesy
Courtesy

Graham Gund:

nos. 103, 122

114. 115. 134. 159. 168. 183

cat. nos.

Nordrhein-Westfalen,

Dusseldorf:

no. 163

cat

Mr

Courtesy
Paul

154
i;

cat

Kunstsammlung

Courtesy

no. 127

Courtesy

Courtesy Arnold and Mill) Glimcher cat no

and Mrs Richard E Lang cat no

Macapia, Seattle Art Museum;

cat. no.

158.

in the text

182

19. 22. 3

166,

162.

169.

146.

149.

153.

11V.

157.

172, 173. 178. 179. 186. 187.

190. 191, 194. 195. 198

Courtesy David
Allen

McKee

Mewbourn:

Courtesy The

New

no

York:

16

cat. no.

Gallery. New- York: cat

no

Museum

of

Modern

Art.

New

New

cat

no

York; cat

no. 91

New

York:

Courtesy

nos. 108, 137

16

School of Design. Provi-

&

York,

top, p. 17

14

fig

Time

Magazine

Life

lnc

p.

bottom, p 7

14

p.

19

1,

273 top
p.

Teemer.

Jr

23

fig

figs.

Museum

Courtesy The Metropolitan

28, 35. 37

of Art.

Museum

of

Modern Art. New York:

Museum

Soichi Sunami: figs

77

Courtesy Dr

Max Naimark
p.

David Preston:
cat

148

18.

46

fig

fig

figs. 2. 3.

p 265

Museum

Courtesy Galene Beyeler, Basel cat no

Courtesy Rheinisches Bildarchiv.

101

p
Courtesy Bradley Family Foundation.

Inc.,

Milwaukee

<.at

130

181

fig.

45

fig
1

1,

32

p 265 middle,

p.

270

all.

273 bottom, p 275 bottom, p 277 top

Courtesy

dence

Courtesy Olive Bragazzi Fine Arts Service, photo by Charles Uht:

Art

of

26

Courtesy Kate Rothko Prizel p

Museum
fig

Rhode

of Art,

Island School of Design, Provi-

10

Courtesy Estate of Mary Alice Rothko figs

15. 16,

17,30

Courtesy Estate of Mary Alice Rothko, photo by Henry Elkan:

Courtesy The Brooklyn

Museum

car

no

52
p.

Courtesy Gerald S Elliott. Chicago, photo by Jonas Dovydenas:

143

274 top and bottom

151

Aaron Siskind p 280

no 43

p 275 top and bottom

fig 9

Courtesy The Si Louis Art Museum,

Courtesy San Francisco

Courtesy The Fort Worth Art Museum: cat no

Phillip Galgiani; cat

14.

figs.

4. p 265 right
277 top and middle, p 279

Courtesy Philadelphia

no

figs.

left

Courtesy Acquavella Contemporary Art. Inc., New- York

cat.

York:

Modern Art. New York, photo by

of

7, 43.

Courtesy Oregon Histoncal Society. Portland:

no

New

22

Courtesy The

Black and white

cat

27 1 bottom

Courtesy University of Maryland Art Gallety. College Park,

Hans Namuth:

no.

figs.

29. 36.42. 44

F.J Thomas: cat. nos. 140. 170

Malcolm Varon; cat no 96

no

24

fig

12

p.

Nina Leen,

Courtesy The

Elton Schnellbacher: cat. no. 124

no.

fig.

Robertson. Houston, figs 49,50

Jones: fig

Walter Klein, Dusseldorf:

6.

Courtesy The St Louis Art Museum: cat no. 174

Herbert Vose cat

New

Robert E. Mates and Mary Donlon

no. 120

dence; cat

Hickey
Bruce

photo by Jack

Jr.: cat. no.

of Art:

27

Alexander Liberman:

Museum, Southampton. New York:

Mr and Mrs Joseph Pulitzer,

Museum of Art. Rhode Island

Museum

Courtesy Mrs Adolph Gottlieb.

York: cat. no. 136

Courtesy Count Panza di Biumo: cat

Courtesy The Parnsh Art

Institution.

Courtesy Adolph and Esther Gottlieb Foundation lnc

Consuelo Kanaga:

Courtesy The Pace Gallery.

American Art. Smithsonian

Photograph Collection: p 269

Piatt Lynes

139

Courtesy Art Gallery of Ontario: cat. no. 171

Courtesy

George

of

107

100

cat. no.

figs

51

fig.

Courtesy Archives

25

Courtesy Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute. Utica,

York:

Regina Bogat frontispiece

no. 167

cat

Jorg P. Anders:

Courtesy The Baltimore

Courtesy The Mayot Gallery. London: cat

Courtesy McCrory Corporation.

New

34.39

86,87, 89, 90. 92. 93. 99, 110, 111. 113. 117,

160.

and figures

Courtesy Albnght-Knox Aft Gallery, Buffalo.

cat. nos.

123. 125. 128. 135. 138. 142. 145.

Supplementary illustrations

104

Aida and Bob Mates cat nos. 121, 150

Robert E Mates and Mary Donlon:
70. 74,

147

no

Museum of Contemporary Art cat no 126

The Toledo Museum or Art cat no 156
Mr and Mrs Burton Tremaine; cat. no. 105
Whitney Museum of American Art. New York: cat

Courtesy Tehran

no. 165

Bruce C Jones:

184

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no 88

cat-

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no

cat

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cat

New York

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Courtesy The Art Institute of Chicago;

shire

185

18. 131

95

no

Will Brown cat

no

Nelson tat

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Beville cai

no

no 85

Berkelej

Lee Bolnn cat

144

The Museum of Modern Art,

curtesy

132

Geoffrey Clements cat

University

no

cat

Museum
left

of

Modern

Art; fig

38

and right

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.

Robert E Mates and Mary Donlon cat nos. 1-18. 20. 2

30. 32. 33.

23-

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94.97. 102. 106. 109, 133. 180. 188. 189, 192. 193. 196. 197

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Courtesy The Tel Aviv Museum;

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of American Art,

figs

5. 13

New

York, photo

ND237.R725 A4 1978
Mark Rothko, 1903-1970
Rothko, Mark,
012368

ND237.R725 A4 1978
Mark Rothko, 1903-1970
Rothko, Mark,
012368

ISBN 0-89207-014-5