MARK ROTHKO

Mark Rothko (1903-1970) in my opinion one of the greatest abstract expressionists of all times.
In 1936, Rothko began writing a book (never completed) about similarities in the art of children and the work of modern painters. According to Rothko, the work of modernists, influenced by primitive art, could be compared to that of children in that "child art transforms itself into primitivism, which is only the child producing a mimicry of himself." In this manuscript, he observed that "the fact that one usually begins with drawing is already academic. We start with color." It is a physical and emotional, non-intellectual experience. Rothko was using fields of color in his work and his subject matter and form at this time had become non-intellectual.


Tate Modern in London has a huge room decorated with the most amazing large scale paintings by Mark Rothko, do see this room full of Rothko's masterpieces if you get the chance.

LINK: Tate Modern