Mark Rothkc EDITED And with an introduction, annotations, AND CHRONOLOGY BY MIGUEL LOPEZ-REMIRO Mark Rothko (1903-1970), one of the greatest artists of the twentieth century, was engaged in the written discourse of his colleagues and critics throughout his life. While the essays and letters of many of his contem¬ poraries have been collected,, however, Rothko's writ¬ ings have only recently come to light, beginning with the critically acclaimed The Artist's Reality: Philosophies of Art (Yale University Press). Writings on Art is the first book to bring together the artist's other written works. It includes some ninety documents—including short essays, letters, statements, and lectures—written b Rothko over the course of his career. The texts are extensively annotated, and a chronolo y of the artist's life and work is also included. This provocative compilation of both published and unpublished writings from 1934 to 1969 contains a number of revelations about Rothko; the importance of writing for an artist who many believed had renounced the written word; the meaning of transmission and transition that he experienced as an art teacher at the Brooklyn Jewish Center Academy; his deep concern for meditation and spirituality; and his private relation¬ ships with such contem orary artists as Barnett Newman, Robert Motherwell, and Clyfford Still, as well as with journalists and curators. As was true also of The Artist's Reality, what emerges from this collectiory^anuanced picture of a sophisti¬ cated, deeply l<i^^^^^^le, and philosophical artist who was also articulate writer. ^3 s> OLIVER-WENDELL-HOLMES # f§) * LIB RARY S gjjpgr amphem altwrcL . =J # ^ o& ego # a C§) >41 E§3G§pP' In Honor of RUSSELL H. LUCAS Class of 1912 WRITINGS ON ART ■ EDITED AND WITH AN INTRODUCTION, ANNOTATIONS, AND CHRONOLOGY BY MIGUEL LOPEZ-REMIRO YALE UNIVERSITY PRESS NEW HAVEN AND LONDON 3 > O H * H tc O < O in u H 2 S JUN 1 4 2006 Cover image: Henry Elkan, Portrait of Mark Rothko, 1954. Courtesy of the Rudi Blesh papers, 1909-1983, in the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution. Copyright ©2006 by Yale University. Copyright ©2005 by Editions Flammarion, Paris, France. Published in French as Ecrits sur I'art, 1934-1969 by Mark Rothko. Writings by Mark Rothko ©2006 Kate Rothko Prizel and Christopher Rothko. Transcription of "Scribble Book" compiled by Miguel Lopez- Remiro, with textual emendations by the Getty Research Institute, ©2005 Editions Flammarion, Paris. Introduction, annotations, and chronology translated by Karen Gangel. All rights reserved.This book may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, including illustrations, in any form (beyond that copying permitted by Sections 107 and 108 of the U.S. Copyright Law and except by reviewers for the public press), without written permission from the publishers. Set in Minion and Syntax type by Amy Storm Printed in the United States of America by Thomson Shore Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Rothko, Mark, 1903-1970. Writings on art/Mark Rothko; edited and with an introduction, annotations, and chronology by Miguel Lopez-Remiro. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN-13: 978-0-300-11440-9 (cloth: alk. paper) ISBN-10: 0-300-11440-0 (cloth: alk. paper) I. Rothko, Mark, 1903-1970—Written works. 2. Rothko, Mark, 1903-1970—Correspondence. 3. Artists—United States—Correspondence. I. Lopez-Remiro, Miguel. II. Title. N6537.R63A35 2006 759.13—dc22 2005032790 A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. The paper in this book meets the guidelines for permanence and durability of the Committee on Production Guidelines for Book Longevity of the Council on Library Resources. 10 987654321 Viii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ix INTRODUCTION xvii NOTE TO THE READER ROTHKO'S WRITINGS ON ART i " New Training for Future Artists and Art Lovers," 1934 4 "Scribble Book," ca. 1934 14 Sketchbook, ca. 1934 16 The Ten: Whitney Dissenters, 1938 is "A comparative analysis,” ca. 1941 CONTENTS 22 "The ideal teacher," ca. 1941 25 "Indigenousness," ca. 1941 28 "The satisfaction of the creative impulse," ca. 1941 30 Manuscript drafts of a letter to the editor by Rothko and Adolph Gottlieb, 1943 35 Rothko and Gottlieb's letter to the editor, 1943 37 "The Portrait and the Modern Artist," by Rothko and Adolph Gottlieb, 1943 41 Comments on The Omen of the Eagle, 1943 42 Brief autobiography, ca. 1945 43 Letter to Emily Genauer, 1945 44 "I adhere to the reality of things," 1945 45 Personal statement, 1945 46 Letter to the editor, 1945 47 Letter to Barnett Newman, 1945 48 Introduction to First Exhibition Paintings: Ciyfford Still, 1946 49 Letter to Barnett Newman, June 1946 so Letter to Barnett Newman, August 1946 52 Letter to Barnett Newman, 1947 53 Letter to Herbert Ferber, 1947 55 Letter to Clay Spohn, 1947 57 "The Ides of Art: The Attitudes of Ten Artists on Their Art and Contemporaneousness," 1947 58 “The romantics were prompted," 1947 60 Letter to Clay Spohn, February 1948 62 Letter to Clay Spohn, May 1948 63 Letter to Barnett Newman, 1949 64 Letter to Clay Spohn, 1949 65 "Statement on His Attitude in Painting," 1949 66 Letter to Barnett Newman, April 1950 68 Letter to Barnett Newman, June 1950 69 Letter to Barnett Newman, July 1950 70 Letter to Barnett Newman, August 7, 1950 72 Letter to Barnett Newman, August 1950 74 "How to Combine Architecture, Painting, and Sculpture," 1951 1 75 Notes from an interview by William Seitz, 1952 80 Letter to Herbert Ferber, August 1952 82 Letter to Herbert Ferber, September 1952 83 Letter to Lloyd Goodrich, 1952 85 Notes from an interview by William Seitz, March 1953 86 Notes from an interview by William Seitz, April 1953 89 Letter to Katharine Kuh, May 1954 90 Letter to Katharine Kuh, July 14, 1954 92 Letter to Katharine Kuh, July 28, 1954 94 Letter to Katharine Kuh, ca. August 1954 95 Letter to Petronel Lukens, August 1954 96 Letter to Petronel Lukens, September 1954 98 Letter to Katharine Kuh, September 20, 1954 99 Letter to Katharine Kuh, September 25, 1954 101 Letter to Katharine Kuh, September 27, 1954 102 Letter to Katharine Kuh, October 20, 1954 103 Letter to Katharine Kuh, October 23, 1954 104 Letter to Katharine Kuh, November 1954 105 Letter to Katharine Kuh, December 1954 107 Letter to Petronel Lukens, December 1954 108 Letter to Katharine Kuh, ca. 1954 109 "Whenever one begins to speculate," ca. 1954 111 "Relation to one's own past," ca. 1954 112 “Space in painting," ca. 1954 113 Letter to Katharine Kuh, 1955 114 Letter to Herbert Ferber, July 7, 1955 116 Letter to Herbert Ferber, July 11, 1955 118 Letter to Lawrence Calcagno, 1956 119 Notes from a conversation with Selden Rodman, 1956 121 Letter to Herbert Ferber, 1957 123 Letter to Rosalind Irvine, 1957 124 Letter to the editor, 1957 125 Address to Pratt Institute, 1958 129 Letter to Ida Kohlmeyer, ca. 1958 130 John Fischer, "The Easy Chair: Mark Rothko, Portrait of the Artist as an Angry Man,” 1970 139 Letter to Herbert Ferber and Bernard Reis, 1959 141 Letter to Elise Asher and Stanley Kunitz, 1959 142 Letter to Milton Avery, 1960 143 Notecards, ca. 1950-1960 145 Letter to the Whitechapel Gallery, 1961 147 "A Talk with Mark Rothko," 1961 148 Letter to Herbert Ferber, 1962 149 Tribute to Milton Avery, 1965 151 Letter to Bernard Reis, 1966 152 Letter to Norman Reid, 1966 153 Letter to Herbert Ferber, July 7, 1967 155 Letter to Herbert Ferber, July 19, 1967 156 Letter to Elise Asher and Stanley Kunitz, 1967 157 Acceptance of Yale University honorary doctorate, 1969 159 CHRONOLOGY 169 INDEX Acknowledgments ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I wish to thank the many institutions and individuals that provided support during the preparation of this work. First, I want to express my gratitude to the Catedra Felix Huarte de Estetica y Arte Contemporaneo at the University of Navarre, Spain, where I was a research fellow during the writing of my thesis— my point of departure for this work. At that institution, I wish to thank Professor Alvaro de la Rica, who introduced me to Rothko, and Maria Josefa Fluarte, for her enthusiasm and her confidence in my work. Thanks to my thesis advisor, Professor Maria Antonia Labrada, University of Navarre, for her philosophical and artistic knowledge. I also want to thank the Visual Arts Department at the Univer¬ sity of California, San Diego, where I was a visiting scholar under the exceptional aegis of Professor Sheldon Nodelman; thanks, too, to Professor John Welchman, who was the first to suggest that I work on Rothko’s writings. I would especially like to thank Maxime Catroux, Editions Flammarion, for editing this book. I also wish to thank the staff at Yale University Press, especially Michelle Komie, Patricia Fidler, and Dan Heaton, for the editing and production of the English-language edition of the book. Finally, I thank the Rothko family for their contribution to this work. Miguel Lopez-Remiro viii Introduction Mark Rothko (1903—1970) is today recognized as one of the most influential and important artists of the twentieth century. Thirty-six years after his death, Rothko’s work continues to interest the art and publishing worlds.1 It also inspires art lovers, as evidenced by the tremendous success of the retrospective presented in 1998 by the National Gallery of Art in Washington and the Whitney Museum of Art. Although Rothko is one of the twentieth century’s most discussed and exhibited artists, his writings have yet to be studied. By the end of the century, only a dozen texts by Rothko, edited by Bonnie Clearwater, curator of the Mark Rothko Foundation, were available to the public.