mark rothko: the spirit of myth, early paintings from 1930's & 1940's
MORAGA -- Mark Rothko: The Spirit of Myth, Early Paintings from the 1930s and 1940s will be on view at the Hearst Art Gallery, Saint Mary's College, from January 18 through March 2, 1997. The exhibition presents an in-depth look at the early work of Mark Rothko, one of the major American artists of the twentieth century, on loan from the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.
The Spirit of Myth includes 26 paintings from the 1930s and 40s which have rarely before been on public view and two outstanding examples of Rothko's mature abstract paintings, renowned for their atmospheric fields of color.
Rothko's early works are characterized by such subjects as landscapes, still-lifes, figure studies, and portraits, painted in an expressionistic style. The early paintings clearly illustrate the significant relationship between Expressionism and Surrealism and the development of Abstract Expressionism in the United States.
Born in Russia in 1903, Rothko emigrated with his family to the United States in 1913. He spent his youth in Oregon, studied briefly at Yale, and moved to New York in 1923. During the 20s, he supported himself by teaching art to children, drawing book illustrations and taking odd jobs while attending classes at the Art Student's League.
In the late 1930s, inspired by Surrealism and the writings of Nietzsche, Rothko began to explore the theme of Greco-Roman myths. In the early 40s, while still working in a Surrealist style, he, along with many of his contemporaries, was influenced by the theories of Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung.
Rothko's evolutionary and progressive search for a more direct mode of expression is evident in his innovative paintings of the 1930s and 40s and provides a critical key to understanding his later abstract color- field paintings.
After the mid-1940s, Rothko was a leading figure on both coasts of the American art scene, and a key member of an individualistic and influential group of artists known as the "New York School" that included Franz Kline, Willem de Kooning and Jackson Pollock. Rothko died in 1970 having achieved remarkable success in his lifetime.
The exhibition was selected from among the 965 paintings and drawings donated to the National Gallery in 1986 by the Mark Rothko Foundation. Along with its other Rothko holdings, this donation established the National Gallery as the major repository and study center of the artist's work.
The Spirit of Myth was selected by Jack Cowart, Deputy Director and Chief Curator of the Corcoran Gallery of Art and former curator of Twentieth Century Art at the National Gallery, and Jeremy Strick, Curator of Modern Art at the Saint Louis Art Museum.
