Mark Rothko: From the Inside Out

“The journey to understand the painting is also the journey to understand Rothko, because the work is so thoroughly suffused with the man.”—Christopher Rothko Mark Rothko (1903–1970), world-renowned icon of Abstract Expressionism, is rediscovered in this wholly original examination of his art and life written by his son. Synthesizing rigorous critique with personal anecdotes, Christopher, the younger of the artist’s two children, offers a unique perspective on this modern master. Christopher Rothko draws on an intimate knowledge of the artworks to present eighteen essays that look closely at the paintings and explore the ways in which they foster a profound connection between viewer and artist through form, color, and scale. The prominent commissions for the Rothko Chapel in Houston and the Seagram Building murals in New York receive extended treatment, as do many of the lesser-known and underappreciated aspects of Rothko’s oeuvre, including reassessments of his late dark canvases and his formidable body of works on paper. The author also discusses the artist’s writings of the 1930s and 1940s, the significance of music to the artist, and our enduring struggles with visual abstraction in the contemporary era. Finally, Christopher Rothko writes movingly about his role as the artist’s son, his commonalities with his father, and the terms of the relationship they forged during the writer’s childhood. Mark Rothko: From the Inside Out is a thoughtful reexamination of the legendary artist, serving as a passionate introduction for readers new to his work and offering a fresh perspective to those who know it well.

Arts & Photography

Rothko, Christopher

History & Criticism

Yale University Press

A landmark monograph on an unprecedented scale that allows all aspects of Mark Rothko’s career to be heard in full voice, published in close collaboration with the artist’s family and featuring beloved works from major collections as well as never-before-seen canvases and paintings on paper.\nDeluxe and comprehensive, this revelatory volume examines the brilliance of Mark Rothko (1903–1970), a pioneer of the New York School and major figure in the Abstract Expressionist movement. Illustrated with more than 275 images that explore his paintings, prints, and works on paper, this book highlights the best-known and also lesser-known works by Rothko—from his early figurative and Surrealist works to his mesmerizing color-field paintings of immense scale to the more restricted palette of his luminous later works and his final series of black-and-gray paintings. Among Rothko’s artistic philosophies, he held that painting was a deeply psychological and spiritual experience through which basic human emotions could be communicated. This is the first book to include foldouts that highlight works from the Rothko Chapel in Houston and the Rothko Room at the Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C.\nKate Rothko Prizel and Christopher Rothko draw on intimate knowledge of the artworks and the artist’s life to give a fuller picture of their father and place him within the context of art history; they endeavor to give an impartial portrait—the man and his work—while introducing personal details where they can enlighten. Alexander Nemerov and Hiroshi Sugimoto provide reflections about the artist’s work.

Mark Rothko

Nemerov, Alexander

SUGIMOTO, Hiroshi

Rothko Prizel, Kate

Rizzoli Electa

Image of the Not Seen: Search for Understanding

Anfam, David

Ashton, Dore et al

Rothko Chapel

In the summer of 1957, Milton Avery, Adolph Gottlieb and Mark Rothko renewed a friendship that had begun in the late 1920s. All three were in Provincetown, on Cape Cod in Massachusetts, in the light and by the sea, and over the next few extraordinary summers they interacted, and advanced and accelerated radical new ideas in their individual bodies of work. The Provincetown summers witnessed Avery's largest and most abstract paintings, such as “Sunset Sea” of 1958, and the development of new directions in Gottlieb's work, including his 1957 paintings “Blast II” and “Blue at Night.” This same time marked the darkening of Rothko's palette and, in 1958, the birth of the new forms found in the Seagram Murals and the later paintings of of the Harvard commission. Coming to Light is the first publication and exhibition to focus on the works of this period by each artist.

Coming to Light: Avery Gottlieb Rothko--Provincetown Summers 1957-1961

Freedman, Ann

Spring, Justin

Scharf, William

Cavanaugh, Philip

Cavanaugh, Sean Avery

Sentner, Madeleine

Vevers, Tony

Weissler, Edye

Knoedler & Company

In 2006, the Rothko Chapel in Houston, Texas, invited Michael Somoroff to place his majestic sculptural installation, Illumination I on the campus grounds. It was the first such invitation ever made by the Chapel, and the only addition to it since Barnet Newman's Broken Obelisk was placed there some 30 years prior. This book tells the story of this groundbreaking installation, from its conceptualization through its unveiling--in formal and documentary photographs, diagrams and studies. The art historian and author of Mark Rothko's catalogue raisonné, David Anfam, contributes a text, as do Rothko's son, Christopher Rothko, and the artist.Michael Somoroff was born in New York City in 1957. He works in photography, installation, filmmaking, writing and a variety of new media technologies. His work is in the collections of The Museum of Modern Art, New York, The Houston Museum of Fine Arts and the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.

Michael Somoroff: Illumination I at the Rothko Chapel

Individual Artists

Stativ Ltd. Inc

A handsome introduction to Rothko's rarely seen jewel-like paintings on paper of the late '60s 
This volume brings together key paintings from Rothko's (1903-70) renowned body of work made in the late 1960s--a significant and prolific period in the artist's life.In the wake of a particularly difficult bout of ill health, Rothko was forced to reduce the scale of his practice from his signature monumental canvas to more intimately sized paper. Despite physical limitations, Rothko worked feverishly with a renewed enthusiasm for color, delighted by the effect of acrylic paint, which he had newly discovered.In an intimate introduction, Christopher Rothko writes of the artist's shift in scale and the parallel between the viewer's experience with the paintings and his father's own creation of them. Eleanor Nairne explores Rothko's trajectory, tracing his early works and experience painting through the Seagram paintings and chapel commission to these works on paper. The book is produced on the occasion of the inaugural exhibition at Pace Gallery's new gallery space in London's Hanover Square.

Mark Rothko 1968: Clearing Away

Nairne, Eleanor

Pace Publishing

ROTHKO

Pagé, Suzanne

CITADELLES

Rothko: Every Picture tells A Story (Foundation Louis Vuitton)

Citadelles & Mazemod

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