Christopher Santiago's List: Mark Rothko

NY Times on Pratt Lecture

Feb 22, 12

I initially started on Kate's shared page, the occidental observer. One reference that kept catching my attention was to a BBC series entitled "The Power of Art," a documentary show where Simon Schama studies eight famous artists, one of which is Mark Rothko. The quotes the source gave felt racist and without context so I went looking for the documentary. When I found it, which was pretty difficult because of BBC's restrictions on out of country viewers, Schama discussed Rothko's last lecture. He deems it "the last time [Rothko] had anything to say about art and its the closest insight we have to how he saw his painting." Naturally, I had to have it. After a few searches, although I couldn't find a transcript of the lecture because no one was recording his words, I did see a Dore Ashton, on October 31, 1958, wrote an article about his lecture for: the New York Times!

proquest.umi.com.proxy.libraries.rutgers.edu/pqdweb Rothko lecture Times
Writings on art - Mark Rothko, Miguel López-Remiro - Google Books 4

Feb 22, 12

Dore Ashton became something of an expert on Rothko after his Pratt lecture. After reading the article I was convinced I could find the lecture somewhere. I found a couple of books which indeed had a transcript, but I had to buy them. I did some more searching and I found a book whose preview had [almost] all of the Pratt lecture. I found it! These are (mostly) Rothko's own words about his own painting. There are even some questions from students! The lecture doesn't start until page 125 but the bookmark takes you to a search result already. Just click the link that reads page 125. This is the beginning of the speech Mark Rothko gave at Pratt institute. The screen shot function is a lot messier than diigo and so if anyone has any tips on how to use diggo without needing to take a screenshot I'd really appreciate it.

books.google.com/books Rothko lecture Pratt
Power of Art Page 8 | DocumentaryStorm - Stream Full Documentaries 2

Feb 22, 12

This is a BBC series entitled: The Power Of Art. The series looks at 8 influential artists and its last episode is entirely devoted to Mark Rothko. Although the host Simon Schama's "unique style," which can quite easily be concluded to mean overtly forced facial gesticulations and useless insights into how he cooks, isn't particularly appealing, there are moments where words taken directly from Rothko are portrayed by an actor. The short episodes within are in black and white and the actor portrays Rothko's paradoxical cynicism and compassion with riveting fervor.

documentarystorm.com/...8 Rothko documentaries lecture
- 5 moments should be watched. Many are quotes directly from Rothko, and some of those same quotes are in the Pratt lecture section in my previous bookmark but hearing the words from an actor adds on a dramatic layer that seems essential to understanding Rothko. In particular notice his facial expressions as he speaks and how it changes, radically, instantaneously, unpredictably.
- **20:05-20:41
  Rothko expresses how death is involved in his work.
  21:55-22:25
  Rothko emphasizes the goal of his work.
  **29:00-30:00
  Where did Rothko get his inspiration? What is his purpose?
  34:45-35:20
  This is not a quote from Rothko but does add insight into how deliberate each of Rothko's works are. He thinks of every detail; meticulous down to the distance from the painting.
  **36:25-37:00
  Why does Rothko paint? He shows no attempt to hide his disdain for critics. He paints for the individual, not the public.
Suicide 18

Feb 24, 12

www.warholstars.org/...mark_rothko.html
- Rita Reinhardt
- Donald McKinney
- "I think he [Rothko] felt felt that he had sold enough paintings... that he had sold his soul. I think he wanted some privacy about his work, and I don't think he wanted us to know how much work was still available. I mean, any issue of selling to
- Rothko had postponed the visit twice.
- Frank Lloyd
- again, that was certainly an issue. But there were other issues, like he didn't want to disclose, to let us know what he still had."
- Bernard [Reis
- Rothko complained about the third sale to the Marlborough within a year.
- How dare Lloyd force his way into the warehouse to pick and choose from the long-treasured hoard of paintings." and "Why had Bernard pressed him to do this? Whose side was Bernard on?
- postpone the trip
- Oliver Steindecke
- 9:35 am
- six to eight hours
- Theodoros Stamos
- "If I choose to commit suicide, everyone will be sure of it. There will be no doubts about that."
- Jonathan Ahearn
- Lee Seldes
- Agnes Martin
16 more annotations...
The Romantics were prompted 6

Feb 25, 12

I found an essay written by Rothko. The page initially starts out as a biography but the essay is there. I haven't highlighted it yet, so have at it your own way.

teifidancer-teifidancer.blogspot.com/...o-romantics-were-prompted.html rothko essay
- transcendental must involve the strange and
  unfamiliar, not everything strange or unfamiliar is transcendental.
- Freed
  from a false sense of security and community
- Both the sense of community and of security depend on the familiar. Free of them, transcendental experiences become possible.
- The picture must be for him, as for anyone experiencing it later, a revelation, an unexpected and unprecedented resolution of an eternally familiar need.
- Even the archaic artist, who had an uncanny virtuosity, found it necessary to create a group of intermediaries, monsters, hybrids, gods and demi-gods. The difference is that, since the archaic artist was living in a more practical society than ours, the urgency for transcendent experience was understood, and given an official status.As a consequence, the human figure and other elements from the familiar world could be combined with, or participate as a a whole in the enactment of the excesses which characterize this improbable hierarchy. With us the disguise must be complete. The familiar identity of things has to be pulverized in order to destroy the finite associations with which our society increasingly enshrouds every aspect of our environment.
- ending this silence and solitude
4 more annotations...