Customer Reviews

About Rothko

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3 star:		(1)
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The definitive book on Mark Rothko's work, by one of his closest friends. Ashton gets as close as she can to a very elusive, contradictory person. The book requires the same kind of sublime imagination that Rothko's paintings - his "children," as he often called them - require. Those without soul should pass this book by.

Out of two hundred plus pages here you will find a grand total of maybe two pages' worth of remarks that strike you by their precision, sensitivity, and depth of understanding of the work - that is until you realize that these are without exception quotes from the artist himself. Ashton herself seems to have nothing to say "about Rothko". Desperate to write a "big" and "important" book, she offers empty hyperbole in place of thoughtful analysis, coated in such convoluted, meaningless, and purely academic lingo that by page five reading the book becomes a painful chore not unlike having to clean the underside of a sanitation truck with a toothbrush. Frankly, I don't see how a manual on transmission repair could offer fewer insights into Rothko's painting.

I read the book in the eighties, when it was published-- I was attracted to the great photo of Rothko on the cover-- the book is a loving Rothko-like homage--cryptic, deep, serious-- the lack of irony is sometimes hard to take-- but adds a sense of the compelling-- I found myself reflecting upon it-- as one might reflect upon one of the paintings-- Ashton obviously loved her subject-- oh, she describes her meetings with Rothko-- in his later, financially secure period eating in an upper east side chinese restaurant-- a delight.

Seriously I did. The first time I saw a Rothko painting was at the SFMoMA. It covered an entire wall of the room and was the biggest thing on canvas I have ever seen. I was hoping that Dore Ashton's book would give me an insight into the meaning and style of Rothko, but rather, it seemed to be a biography of the man rather than a critism of the work. I suppose that's partially my fault since I'm sure there quite a bit of art critism books out there on Rothko...unfortunately, the historical presentation of the book isn't really all that interesting. I guess in the end, the big picture is that Rothko was deeply influenced by his Marxist experiences because that's what I got from Ashton's book. On a side note, Dore Ashton writes for Modern Painter magazine, which is actually a good magazine.