Mark Rothko: Toward the Light in the Chapel

Cohen-Solal, Annie

ISBN 10: 0300219687 / ISBN 13: 9780300219685

Published by Yale University Press, New Haven, CT, 2015

About this Item

x, 282 pages, [8] leaves of plates, illustrations (some colour), map; 22 cm. Tight, clean copy. First thus. *** "Mark Rothko was not only one of the most influential American painters of the twentieth century; he was a scholar, an educator, and a deeply spiritual human being. Born Marcus Yakovlevich Rotkovitch, he emigrated from the Russian Empire to the United States at age ten, already well educated in the Talmud and carrying with him bitter memories of the pogroms and persecutions visited upon the Jews of Latvia. Few artists have achieved success as quickly, and by the mid-twentieth century, Rothko's artwork was being displayed in major museums throughout the world. In May 2012 his painting Orange, Red, Yellow was auctioned for nearly $87 million, setting a new Christie's record. Author Annie Cohen-Solal gained access to archival materials no previous biographer had seen. As a result, her book is an extraordinarily detailed portrait of Rothko the man and the artist, an uncommonly successful painter who was never comfortable with the idea of his art as a commodity" - Publisher. *** CONTENTS: The charismatic Yacov Rotkovich: a Jew of the empire, 1903-1913; A diligent student in Portland, Oregon: 1913-1921; The years of chaos: 1921-1928; The metamorphosis of Marcus Rothkowitz: 1928-1940; In search of a new Golden Age: 1940-1944; Between Surrealism and Abstraction: 1944-1947; Toward absolute Abstraction: 1947-1949; With the rebel painters, a pioneer: 1949-1953; The avant-garde Jewish painter and his journey of dispersion: 1954-1958; From a luxury skyscraper to a medieval chapel: the first anchoring in Britain, 1958-1960; Years of experimentation, recognition, and torment: the second anchoring in Britain: 1960-1964; The long-awaited chapel: the expiatory sacrifice, 1964-1970. Size: 8vo.

Seller Inventory # 123426

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Mark Rothko: Toward the Light in the Chapel
• Publisher: Yale University Press, New Haven, CT
• Publication Date: 2015
• ISBN 10: 0300219687
• ISBN 13: 9780300219685
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition: 1st.
• Condition: Fine
• Seller catalogs:
  • XO::Standard
  • Genre & Subject::Religious::Judaica
  • Movements::Abstract Expressionism
  • USA::6. Late Modern, 1945-1999
  • New Books
  • XXX::COLLECTIBLES

About this title

Synopsis

A fascinating exploration of the life and work of one of America’s most famous and enigmatic postwar visual artists

Mark Rothko, one of the greatest painters of the twentieth century, was born in the Jewish Pale of Settlement in 1903. He immigrated to the United States at age ten, taking with him his Talmudic education and his memories of pogroms and persecutions in Russia. His integration into American society began with a series of painful experiences, especially as a student at Yale, where he felt marginalized for his origins and ultimately left the school. The decision to become an artist led him to a new phase in his life. Early in his career, Annie Cohen-Solal writes, “he became a major player in the social struggle of American artists, and his own metamorphosis benefited from the unique transformation of the U.S. art world during this time.” Within a few decades, he had forged his definitive artistic signature, and most critics hailed him as a pioneer. The numerous museum shows that followed in major U.S. and European institutions ensured his celebrity. But this was not enough for Rothko, who continued to innovate. Ever faithful to his habit of confronting the establishment, he devoted the last decade of his life to cultivating his new conception of art as an experience, thanks to the commission of a radical project, the Rothko Chapel in Houston, Texas.

Cohen-Solal’s fascinating biography, based on considerable archival research, tells the unlikely story of how a young immigrant from Dvinsk became a crucial transforming agent of the art world—one whose legacy prevails to this day.

About the Author

Annie Cohen-Solal's books include Sartre: A Life (a best-seller translated into sixteen languages), Painting American (Académie des Beaux arts Prize), and Leo & His Circle: The Life of Leo Castelli (ArtCurial Prize).