Writings on Art [Hardcover]

Mark Rothko (Author), Miguel Lopez-Remiro (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 28, 2006

While the collected writings of many major 20th-century artists, including Barnett Newman, Robert Motherwell, and Ad Reinhardt, have been published, Mark Rothko’s writings have only recently come to light, beginning with the critically acclaimed The Artist’s Reality: Philosophies of Art. Rothko’s other written works have yet to be brought together into a major publication. Writings on Art fills this significant void; it includes some 90 documents—including short essays, letters, statements, and lectures—written by Rothko over the course of his career. The texts are fully annotated, and a chronology of the artist’s life and work is also included.
This provocative compilation of both published and unpublished writings from 1934--69 reveals a number of things about Rothko: the importance of writing for an artist who many believed had renounced the written word; the meaning of transmission and transition that he experienced as an art teacher at the Brooklyn Jewish Center Academy; his deep concern for meditation and spirituality; and his private relationships with contemporary artists (including Newman, Motherwell, and Clyfford Still) as well as journalists and curators.
As was revealed in Rothko’s The Artist’s Reality, what emerges from this collection is a more detailed picture of a sophisticated, deeply knowledgeable, and philosophical artist who was also a passionate and articulate writer.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Rothko's multiform and abstract expressionist paintings make him one of the most important artists of the 20th century. Gathering all of the artist's writings held in public collections as well as texts in Rothko's descendants' hands, this book brings to light many of his theoretical stances, practical considerations and personal revelations. Arranged chronologically from 1934, the year after his first solo show, to 1969, the year before his suicide, the approximately 100 texts consist of letters to curators and to artists like Barnett Newman, Herbert Ferber and Robert Motherwell; notes about his approach to the teaching of art; and writings that explore art as a means of communication. Editor López-Remiro's introduction contextualizes the writings and doubles as a handy chronology of Rothko's life and career. As he notes, these texts by the renowned abstract expressionist "form a sort of intellectual and emotional self-portrait of Mark Rothko." This book will change the way Rothko is understood and should be required reading for scholars of his era.
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Review

“Writings on Art brings Rothko’s genius into full and more personal light.”—Lance Esplund, New York Sun

(Lance Esplund New York Sun )

"Gathering all of the artist''s writings held in public collections as well as texts in Rothko''s descendants'' hands, this book brings to light many of his theoretical stances, practical considerations and personal revelations. . . . This book will change the way Rothko is understood and should be required reading for scholars of his era."—Publishers Weekly

(Publishers Weekly )

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 192 pages
• Publisher: Yale University Press (April 28, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0300114400
• ISBN-13: 978-0300114409
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #305,830 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

39 of 42 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Silences Broken, May 27, 2006

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Grady Harp (Los Angeles, CA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Writings on Art (Hardcover)

Mark Rothko created some of the more spiritually radiant paintings of any artist form any ear. That his paintings were abstractions - blocks of color conjoined by a marriage of midline intercourse of pigment - makes this accomplishment something that still befuddles art critics and historians and viewers alike. Here at last, some thirty-six years after his death by suicide, editor Miguel Lopez-Remiro has gathered notes from his addresses to Pratt Institute, letters to artists and friends and curators and writers, proving that Rothko was not the silent warden of explanations about his work: he was an eloquent spokesman and writer who simply felt that words were unnecessary in people's experience of his visual statements.

He wrote, 'I have never thought that painting a picture has anything to so with self-expression. It is a communication about the world to someone else. After the world is convinced about this communication it changes. The world was never the same after Picasso or Miro. Theirs was a view of the world which transformed our vision of things.' Kind accolades from a man once thought to be a recluse. In response to art critics' questions he merely state 'A painting doesn't need anybody to explain what it is about. If it is any good, it speaks for itself.'

Rothko's writings collected in this book demonstrate that he did indeed have the ability to discuss his mysteriously beautiful works: he also makes it clear that the communication between his paintings and the viewer should relay on the spiritual needs and vulnerabilities. These letters and essays are informative, well arranged chronologically by Lopez-Remiro, and graciously allowed to stand alone for their impact, much in the way his paintings must stand alone - usually in context with other Rothko paintings in isolated rooms with special lighting that gives the work the sense in frailty and intransigence. Highly recommended reading for those who have experience the miracle of standing before a Rothko image. Grady Harp, May 06

4.0 out of 5 stars Great insight, November 1, 2010

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Jack Peterson (Calgary, AB) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Writings on Art (Hardcover)

I am a collector of photography - primarily vancouver-based artists - but rothko's life and work has recently become a fascinating peripheral subject, by tangential association. This book provided exactly what I was looking for: a raw, uncut glimpse of a necessarily complex artist. For anyone studying Rothko this is a definite must-read.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Better than I expected, September 14, 2010

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Rodeoartist - See all my reviews

This review is from: Writings on Art (Hardcover)

The book arrived sooner and in excellent, "like new" condition, not at all what I was expecting. The person it was given to as a gift (and I) couldn't be happier... I will definitely use this seller again when looking for that hard to find litriture.