Page 23 - Studio International - April 1972

Rothko authorship immediately recognizable. for its own sake, nor is he primarily concerned
Rothko is not, in general, involved with shape
Typically, rectangles of colour, more or less
through his regular in shape, exist within areas of ground with line, nor at all with perspective. He does
not want formal innovation in his pictures to be
colour.4 Their sides generally extend fairly close
paintings to the edge of the canvas, leaving a margin of seen as something important in itself. Against
this negative summary of characteristics can be
ground colour on either side:The height of the
rectangles and their internal relationships vary put his positive concern with gradation of colour
Andrew Causey considerably from painting to painting, but and tone, interest in texture and often
their symmetry is almost invariable.5 Rothko brushwork, and in the formation of local
avoids the use of shapes that would surprise by variations of space. All these concerns relate to
their irregularity or unusual positioning, and the detail of the pictures. Rothko himself
does not draw attention to the edge of the described his purpose as 'the simple expression
canvas, as he would if he allowed any of the of the complex thought'.' Simplicity of
internal colour shapes to break their symmetry expression is indeed evident in the layout of the
in a single place and spread to the edge of the paintings, but his complexity of thought has a
picture.6 Rothko's minimal involvement with counterpart in the complexity of detail in the
shape, and particularly his avoidance of any pictures. The simple format, the self-enforced
obliqueness in the placing of the shapes, limitation in Rothko's pictorial language, is one
means that his pictures relate very directly to of the main sources of his freedom. His basic
the spectator. They answer back in the way form is severe, and as soon as one becomes
Piero della Francesca's Baptism or Resurrection familiar with his art, expected. It is an
do, because of the frontality of the figures of undistracting framework within which problems
Christ. That is not to say that in either artist's of light and colour are resolved.
work immediate contact leads more quickly to Thin washes of paint accumulate on the
fuller revelation. The creation of this kind of surface to form hedges of colour.8 In the
response is the artist's method of holding the manipulation of the varying shades and
spectator's attention, of drawing him into the luminosity of these hedges of colour lies a basic
picture and inviting him to consider it in detail. finesse. It was the greatest pity that the recent

Rothko's painting has inspired little direct
comment from critics. Discussion has often been
based on Rothko's interest in poetry and drama
and not on the immediate evidence of the
pictures themselves. Interpretations of his work
have been presented in terms of its relationships
with tragic drama, pagan mythology and
romanticism in general.' The purpose of this
article is not to suggest that these explanations
are wrong. The evidence of Rothko's figurative
and semi-figurative paintings up to the mid-
1940s, and of his writings, tends to support such
views, and no change of direction in his painting
is so extreme as to suggest a substantial retreat
from the position he and Gottlieb took up in a
joint declaration in 1943: 'It is a widely accepted
notion among painters that it does not matter
what one paints so long as it is well painted. This
is the essence of academicism. There is no such
thing as a good painting about nothing. We assert
that subject is crucial and only that subject
matter is valid which is tragic and timeless.' 2
The intention here is to elucidate Rothko's
achievement in terms of the paintings
themselves. The danger of the literary approach
to Rothko is not that it necessarily mistakes his
intentions, but that it diverts attention from the
primary expression of his intelligence, his
paintings.3
From 195o all Rothko's painting, with the
exception of the pictures connected with the
Seagram mural commission of 1958, and the last
so-called black and grey paintings of 1969-7o,
observes a similar format. A part of Rothko's
purpose seems to have been to make his

I NO. 20 1950
Oil on canvas 116 3/4 x 101 3/8 in.
149