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| Mark Rothko photographed by Consuelo Kanaga Brooklyn Museum, New York |
Mark Rothko (1903 – 1970) was an American artist of Russian Jewish descent. Although Rothko himself refused to adhere to any art movement, he is generally identified as an abstract expressionist. Along with Jackson Pollock and Willem de Kooning, he is one of most famous American post-war artists.
For more biographical notes, and for earlier works, see parts 1 to 4 also. This is part 5 of 6-part post on the works of Mark Rothko:
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| 1958 Four Darks on Red oil on canvas 259.1 x 294.6 cm Whitney Museum of American Art, New York City © Kate Rothko Prizel and Christopher Rothko/DACS 2016 |
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| 1958 No.10 oil on canvas 239.4 x 175.9 cm Private Collection © Kate Rothko Prizel and Christopher Rothko/DACS 2016 |
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| 1958 No.13 ( White, Red on Yellow ) oil and acrylic with powdered pigments on canvas 241.9 x 206.7 cm Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City © Kate Rothko Prizel and Christopher Rothko/DACS 2016 |
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| 1958 No.16 ( Red, Brown, and Black ) oil on canvas 270.8 x 297.8 cm Museum of Modern Art, New York City © Kate Rothko Prizel and Christopher Rothko/DACS 2016 |
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| 1958 No. 24 oil on canvas 176.5 x 152.2 cm Private Collection © Kate Rothko Prizel and Christopher Rothko/DACS 2016 |
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| 1958 No. 36 ( Black Stripe ) oil on canvas 157.1 x 170.1 cm © Kate Rothko Prizel and Christopher Rothko-DACS 2016 |
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| 1959 Lavender and Mulberry oil on paper mounted in fibreboard 95.9 x 62.8 cm Hirshhorn Art Collection, Washington, DC © Kate Rothko Prizel and Christopher Rothko/DACS 2016 |
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| 1959 No. 301 ( Reds and Violet over Red / Red and Blue over Red ) [ Red and Blue over Red ] oil on canvas 236.9 x 205.7 cm Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA © Kate Rothko Prizel and Christopher Rothko/DACS 2016 |
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| 1959 ( Title unknown) oil on paper mounted on fibre-board panel 60.6 x 47.9 cm Private Collection © Kate Rothko Prizel and Christopher Rothko/DACS 2016 |
1958-1959 The Seagram
Murals
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| The Seagram Building was completed in 1958 and hailed as a modern architectural masterpiece. The striking skyscraper is be the headquarters of the Seagram Liquor Company |
In the late 1950s, Rothko was commissioned to paint a series of murals for the fashionable
Four Seasons restaurant, in the Seagram Building on Park Avenue, New York. He
set to work, having constructed a scaffold in his studio to match the exact
dimensions of the restaurant. However, the murals were darker in mood than his
previous work. The bright and intense colours of his earlier paintings shifted
to maroon, dark red and black.
Rothko was influenced by Michelangelo’s Laurentian Library in
Florence, with its blind windows and deliberately oppressive atmosphere. Rothko
commented that Michelangelo ‘achieved just the kind of feeling I’m after – he
makes the viewers feel that they are trapped in a room where all the doors and
windows are bricked up, so that all they can do is butt their heads forever
against the wall.’
Recognising that the worldly setting of a restaurant would not
be the ideal location for such a work, Rothko withdrew from the commission. He
finally presented the series to the Tate Gallery, expressing his deep affection
for England and for British artists, especially J.M.W Turner.
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| 1958 Sketch for Mural No.1 © Kate Rothko Prizel and Christopher Rothko/DACS 2016 |
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| 1958 Untitled ( Seagram Mural Sketch ) © Kate Rothko Prizel and Christopher Rothko/DACS 2016 |
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| 1959 Black on Maroon oil, acrylic and glue tempera on canvas 266.7 x 228.6 cm Tate, London © Kate Rothko Prizel and Christopher Rothko/DACS 2016 |
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| 1959 Black on Maroon oil, acrylic and glue tempera on canvas 266.7 x 381.2 cm Tate, London © Kate Rothko Prizel and Christopher Rothko/DACS 2016 |
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| 1959 Black on Maroon oil, acrylic and glue tempera on canvas 266.7 x 457.2 cm Tate, London © Kate Rothko Prizel and Christopher Rothko/DACS 2016 |
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| 1959 Red on Maroon 1 oil, acrylic and glue tempera on canvas 182.9 x 457.2 cm Tate, London © Kate Rothko Prizel and Christopher Rothko/DACS 2016 |
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| 1959 Red on Maroon 2 oil, acrylic and glue tempera on canvas 182.9 x 457.2 cm Tate, London © Kate Rothko Prizel and Christopher Rothko/DACS 2016 |
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| 1959 Red on Maroon oil, acrylic and glue tempera on canvas 266.7 x 238.8 cm Tate, London © Kate Rothko Prizel and Christopher Rothko/DACS 2016 |
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| 1959 Red on Maroon oil, acrylic and glue tempera on canvas 266.7 x 457.2 cm Tate, London © Kate Rothko Prizel and Christopher Rothko-DACS 2016 |
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| 1959 Untitled ( Mural Sketch ) oil on canvas 182.6 x 450.2 cm © Kate Rothko Prizel and Christopher Rothko/DACS 2016 |
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| 1959 Untitled ( Seagram Mural Sketch ) © Kate Rothko Prizel and Christopher Rothko/DACS 2016 |
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| 1959 Untitled ( Seagram Mural Sketch ) oil and acrylic on canvas 183.5 x 152.7 cm © Kate Rothko Prizel and Christopher Rothko/DACS 2016 |
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| 1959 Untitled ( Seagram Mural Sketch ) © Kate Rothko Prizel and Christopher Rothko/DACS 2016 |
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| 1959 Untitled ( Seagram Mural ) oil and mixed media on canvas 265.4 x 288.3 cm © Kate Rothko Prizel and Christopher Rothko/DACS 2016 |
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| 1960 Black on Dark Sienna on Purple oil on canvas 304.8 x 266.7 cm Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA © Kate Rothko Prizel and Christopher Rothko-DACS 2016 |
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| 1960 No.7 oil on canvas 266.7 x 236.2 cm Sezon Museum of Modern Art, Karuizawa, Japan © Kate Rothko Prizel and Christopher Rothko/DACS 2016 |
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| 1960 No.14 1960 oil on canvas 290.8 x 268.3 cm San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, CA © Kate Rothko Prizel and Christopher Rothko-DACS 2016 |
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| 1960 No.16 oil on canvas 259.1 x 303.5 cm Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City © Kate Rothko Prizel and Christopher Rothko/DACS 2016 |
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| 1960 Untitled oil on canvas 175.3 x 127.3 cm San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, CA © Kate Rothko Prizel and Christopher Rothko/DACS 2016 |
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| 1960 Untitled oil on canvas 235.9 x 205.7 cm Private Collection © Kate Rothko Prizel and Christopher Rothko/DACS 2016 |
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| 1960 Untitled oil on canvas 236.2 x 206.4 cm Toledo Museum of Art, Ohio © Kate Rothko Prizel and Christopher Rothko/DACS 2016 |
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| 1960 Untitled oil on paper 46 x 35.9 cm San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, CA © Kate Rothko Prizel and Christopher Rothko/DACS 2016 |
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| 1961 Blue Orange, Red oil on canvas 229.2 x 205.9 cm Hirshhorn Art Collection, Washington, DC © Kate Rothko Prizel and Christopher Rothko/DACS 2016 |
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| 1961 Green on Brown oil on canvas 258 x 229 cm Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza © Kate Rothko Prizel and Christopher Rothko/DACS 2016 |
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| 1961 No.2 oil on canvas 200.7 x 206 cm Private Collection © Kate Rothko Prizel and Christopher Rothko/DACS 2016 |
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| 1961 No.16 © Kate Rothko Prizel and Christopher Rothko/DACS 2016 |
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| 1961 No.207 oil on canvas 235.6 x 206.6 cm Berkeley Art Museum, University of California © Kate Rothko Prizel and Christopher Rothko/DACS 2016 |
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| 1961 Orange, Red, Yellow acrylic on canvas 236.2 x 206.4 cm Private Collection © Kate Rothko Prizel and Christopher Rothko/DACS 2016 |
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| 1961 Untitled ink and wash on paper 28.1 x 21.8 cm National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC © Kate Rothko Prizel and Christopher Rothko/DACS 20 |
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| 1961 Untitled pen and ink and wash on paper 28.1 x 21.8 cm National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC © Kate Rothko Prizel and Christopher Rothko/DACS 2016 |
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| 1961 Untitled pen and ink and wash on woven paper© Kate Rothko Prizel and Christopher Rothko/DACS 2016 |
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| 1961 Untitled © Kate Rothko Prizel and Christopher Rothko/DACS 2016 |
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| 1962 Blue and Grey oil on canvas 193 x 175 cm Fondation Beyeler, Riehen © Kate Rothko Prizel and Christopher Rothko-DACS 2016 |
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| 1962 No.2 ( Red Maroons ) oil on canvas 200.7 x 205.7 cm Cleveland Museum of Art, Ohio © Kate Rothko Prizel and Christopher Rothko/DACS 2016 |
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| 1962 Orange, Red and Red oil on canvas 236.5 x 203.5 cm Dallas Museum of Art, Texas © Kate Rothko Prizel and Christopher Rothko/DACS 2016 |
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| 1962 Untitled ( Red-Brown, Black, Green, Red ) oil on canvas 206 x 193.5 Fondation Beyeler, Riehen © Kate Rothko Prizel and Christopher Rothko-DACS 2016 |
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| 1962 Untitled oil on canvas 206.5 x 193 cm Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, Germany © Kate Rothko Prizel and Christopher Rothko/DACS 2016 |
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| 1963 No.2 oil, acrylic, and glue on canvas 80.2 x 69.1 cm Walker Art Centre, Minneapolis, Minnesota © Kate Rothko Prizel and Christopher Rothko/DACS 2016 |
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| 1963 Untitled No.11 oil on canvas 190.8 x 175.6 cm Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO © Kate Rothko Prizel and Christopher Rothko/DACS 2016 |
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| 1963 Untitled oil on canvas 175 x 127 cm © Kate Rothko Prizel and Christopher Rothko-DACS 2016 |
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| 1963 Untitled oil on canvas 175.2 x 162.5 cm Private Collection © Kate Rothko Prizel and Christopher Rothko/DACS 2016 |
