Rothko in Britain - Whitechapel Gallery, London E1 until 26th February.
Rothko in my Life:
- I have seen the Seagram murals in the Tate - they were never hung in the Four Seasons Restaurant in the Seagram building in New York - the space Mark Rothko designed them for. They have spent most of their life in Britain. In giving them to the Tate, Rothko insisted that they be shown exclusively together in their own room. Room 18 in the Tate is one of my favourite rooms.
- I have seen the Seagram murals along with many of his other paintings at a Rothko retrospective at the Tate Modern, in fact that is where they are at the moment.
- I have seen the Rothko's that hang in Tate St Ives.
- I see a new Rothko image every month, on my teNeues Rothko calendar that Santa leaves every year, and has done so for the past decade.
- I have a Rothko postcard in almost every room in my house.
- I have Rothko all around me and have done since I got interested in art and architecture.
Imagine my delight to hear that the Whitechapel - who was the first gallery in Britain to show Rothko's work - are celebrating the 50th anniversary of that show with a riveting display of photographs, letters, testimonies and reviews alongside Rothko's Light Red over Black painted in 1957. Light red over black is one of my favourites and was one of the first of his paintings to enter a British Museum. In the 60s when Rothko's work was first viewed by British eyes people spoke of being thunderstruck, overwhelmed, spellbound, transformed and being blown away. Nobody had seen anything like it.
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| Light Red over Black - 1957 |
Rothko's paintings are - in his own words - 'the simple expression of the complex thought'. I can't wait to see this exhibition.
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Some information and facts taken from article written by Laura Cumming - Observer, Review Section - 11th Sept 2011 others taken from Seeing Rothko by Glenn Phillips and Thomas Crow.
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