Mark Rothko: The Works on Canvas - Hardcover

Anfam, David

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0300074891 ISBN 13: 9780300074895

Publisher: Yale University Press, 1998

Synopsis

Originally published in 1998 and still in print, this quintessential volume presents an overview of Mark Rothko’s stunning corpus of paintings on canvas and panel. With all works reproduced in color, the book includes the images for which Rothko is most famous—the large, hypnotic, poignant fields of color—along with almost 400 additional paintings that are far less well known and reveal an artist who was attuned by turns to realism, expressionism, surrealism, and the avant-garde issues of his era.

"Far and away the best monograph ever written on Rothko."—Yve-Alain Bois, Artforum

About this title

From the Inside Flap:

This book is the first volume of the definitive catalogue raisonné of the work of Mark Rothko, one of the greatest abstract artists of the twentieth century. It documents Rothko's entire output of paintings on canvas and panel, reproducing all the extant works in color. An introductory text also investigates every essential feature of Rothko's art.

David Anfam explores the underestimated variety as well as the amazing continuity of Rothko's pictures. These include the images for which Rothko is famous--the large, hypnotic, and poignant fields of color--along with almost 400 further pictures that reveal a far less well known yet fascinating figure who was attuned by turns to realism, expressionism, surrealism, and the avant-garde issues of his era.

Anfam presents a radical overview of Rothko's achievement, drawing upon unpublished material and interviews. Special attention is given to Rothko's sources and themes: they extend from a study of such old masters as Rembrandt and Vermeer to his eventual groundbreaking vision of painting as an environment, expressed in the mural cycles and the architectonic ensemble of the Rothko Chapel in Houston. The author analyzes the physical makeup of the paintings, as well as Rothko's innovative sense of space, color, and surface, his complex technical procedures, and the symbolism and philosophical basis of the work. This is combined with an account of Rothko's stylistic evolution and its chronology. Rothko's progress is traced from figuration to an abstract vision imbued with a profound grasp of how the viewer has an interactive role to play in perceiving the works. The volume also includes the most extensive Rothko bibliography ever published. The result of nearly a decade of research sponsored by the National Gallery of Art, this monumental publication is the reference point for all future studies of Rothko's art.

About the Author:

David Anfam is a leading authority on modern American art. A regular contributor to The Burlington Magazine, he is the curator of several major Rothko exhibitions. His publications include Abstract Expressionism and Franz Kline: Black & White, 1950-1961.

About this edition

• Publisher: Yale University Press
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 0300074891
• ISBN 13: 9780300074895
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 708