Sunday, September 30, 2012

Rothko's Thoughts by Rothko

The book written by the painter Mark Rothko in 1940-41 (maybe started as early as 1936) and published by his son Christopher in 2004 "The Artist's Reality, Philosophies of Art" is short but dense. Written by the artist to define his thoughts about art in general, art history, artists, philosophy, sociology of art, he also discusses the foundations of Beauty and Myth. Ultimately, Rothko appears haunted by the question formulated in his introduction to the chapter titled Art as a Natural Biological Function: "Why paint at all?".

The painter stays mute about his own path or works and the reader will find only a few references to abstract.
The book is a catalyst for Rothko's search and ends abruptly without a conclusion... Rothko kept painting.




photographs by the author:
"Untitled" (The Subway), 1937, Mark Rothko
"Untitled", 1949, Mark Rothko

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