Rothko Mark. Paintings in the style of abstract expressionism

Abstract art, pointless painting does not succumb to a cold sober analysis. The work of such an artist as Rothko Mark, whose paintings do not contain a hint of objects from the real world - abstract art in its pure form. Logic and search for familiar analogies can interfere with the viewer in the perception of the way of self-expression of Rothko, in the search for which the artist has passed a long and difficult road.

Finding Your Way

Markus Yakovlevich Rotkovich was born in 1903 in the town of Dvinsk, Vitebsk province (now Latvian Daugavpils). After 10 years, his family emigrated to America, and he had to go through many life challenges. He did not immediately find his way in life, accidentally hitting the artistic environment. In the 30s and 40s of the last century, it was the USA that became the center of development of the avant-garde art - abstractionists from the totalitarian states of Europe were driven out here.

In 1938, the artist adopted the name Rothko Mark. The paintings of that period he created under the influence of the cube-faturist Mark Weber (1881-1961) and the surrealist Arshile Gorky (1904-1948). Rothko has been searching for his way for a long time. He passed periods of fascination and figurative painting: he painted portraits and city landscapes ("Woman in Sewing", 1935, "In the Underground", 1938). Surrealistic motives in his work intensified from the fascination with new philosophical ideas: interest in the unconscious, in the inner world of an individual, in the automatism of expressing emotions and impressions.

First, the era of the Great Depression, then the premonition of a new world war, created an atmosphere in society in which traditional landmarks lost. The artist seeks support in mythological subjects ("Antigone", 1941, "Hierarchical birds", 1945), and then comes to an absolutely pointless painting.

Since the early 50's finally formed such an artistic phenomenon as Rothko. Mark, whose paintings were two or three parallel rectangles, found his way. Painting a colored field - such a definition found criticism for the Rothko method.

A simple form for complex ideas

The artist himself did not like to explain his paintings and could not stand it when others did it. He did not try to disclose the idea in words, therefore, in the museum halls where Mark Rothko is represented, pictures with names in the form of a serial number and the date of creation.

He could not accept when he was called an abstractionist, because he considered his paintings a reflection of real life, living organisms seeking contact with the viewer.

He was negative about the opinion of himself as an artist - "colorist", although he always carefully worked with color, even manually rubbed pigments, achieving the desired color and consistency. More important, he considered the ratio of the masses and the volumes of those blocks that made up his compositions.

Painting as a theater

In his youth, Rothko wanted to seriously engage in dramatic art and almost did not enter acting courses. His compositions he often called dramas, and they are easy to imagine scenic scenery. This can explain one more aspect of the influence of Rothko's paintings on the audience.

Many celebrate the extraordinary involvement in the space of painting. For the exposition of his works, the artist chose a dim artificial light, almost semi-darkness. And the distance from which he recommended looking at the picture, Rothko defined in 18 inches (45 cm). Given the visual vibration of the boundaries of colored blocks, the heterogeneity of the paint coating (sometimes multilayered), one can explain the appearance of motion into the interior of the picture, giving rise to additional bright emotions.

Rothko's Chapel

How important were the organization of the space for the artist's paintings and ways of perceiving his paintings, one can understand from the history of his work on the design of the chapel of the church at the Institute of Religion in Houston. The huge panels written for the chapel are located in a room designed with Rothko's wishes in mind. Mark, whose pictures in this case are almost monochrome, participated in the design and lighting of the hall.

The church, of which the chapel is a part, does not belong to a specific religion and is dedicated to God. A meditative, detached from the worldly atmosphere fills an octagonal hall with a light source located in the dome. In this room, and placed Mark Rothko pictures. The photo shows what a strong impression this exposition has.

A long way to recognition

Personal life circumstances of the artist were not easy. Long years of poverty, disbelief of the closest people in his talent strongly influenced him, therefore, the creativity of Mark Rothko can hardly be called optimistic. Even the compositions from the blocks of bright and warm colors cause strong dramatic emotions. The expression of tragedy in the life of society and each individual is called the main theme of the artist.

Death as the last picture

In the late 60's came glory, money, but piled up disease, family turmoil. On February 25, 1970, the artist committed suicide by opening his veins. Mark Rothko - paintings, photos with him filled all the newspapers and magazines - signed his last work ...

They say that he could not imagine how his paintings are bought just for decorating the interior. After working for two years on an order for the most expensive restaurant in New York, Rothko returned the advance and refused to work when he introduced the chewing rich men glancing at his panel.

The world's best collections of contemporary art can not be imagined without the paintings that Mark Rothko wrote. "Orange, Red, Yellow," "White Center" - for these paintings are paid at auctions unthinkable millions of dollars. These figures particularly disturb the people who see only unevenly painted spots, not bothering to take a step towards new ideas and emotions. And how much is freedom, how much is the pain of a person and an artist?