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Declaration Research Topic Assignment Untitled (Black on Grey) 1969

Rothko, Mark. Untitled (Black on Grey) 1969, 1969. Acrylic on canvas, Length at CB ((a) to waist): 80.0in (203.3cm) Length at CB (b): 69.1in (175.5cm). National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. Accessed April 20th, 2017.

ARTH207 Declaration Research Topic Assignment Abstract Rothko’s Dark Work Mark Rothko once said that “there is only one thing I fear in life, my friend: One day, the black will swallow the red.” I believe this concept to be the reason why I chose to study Rothko’s Untitled (Black on Grey) 1969 painting – the last piece he had created before his suicide. His paintings in the beginning of his career were vibrant and full of color, as New York School’s Color Field paintings usually would be. However, his last series had no color present, rather very minimal color and a large amount of blacks and greys. Rothko’s Untitled (Black on Grey) 1969 artwork consists of a clear horizontal line that divides the top section, consisting of a smooth application of black, with the bottom section, consisting of varied brushstrokes and paint applications of greys. This insight into how Rothko’s life (that be it Historical and Bibliographical context) affected his works is extremely intriguing. I haven’t constructed a thesis yet, but I do have some questions I am considering to answer; these questions being: -

How has Rothko’s life influences his last piece(s)?

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How did he wish to represent his life and emotions through his work? Keeping composition and content in mind.

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How has Color Field as an Art Movement influenced Rothko? And/or has Rothko changed Color Field?

Rothko’s works are indisputably tied to how he perceived his life. So, the theories or theoretical frameworks I plan to employ are: -

Utilizing primary sources to interlock the artist’s intent with his completed work(s) - Holding quotes and commentaries on his own pieces on high importance

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Historical and Bibliographical context to understand Rothko – through his life’s story

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Museums, textbooks, biographies, and additional scholarly/reliable articles and content

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Expert commentary – if possible.

Through everything planned, I declare Rothko’s Untitled (Black on Grey) 1969 painting to be my topic of research.

Research Paper Topic Outline Intro: Thesis: Not concrete, but going in the direction of these questions: -

How has Rothko’s life influences his last piece(s)?

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How did he wish to represent his life and emotions through his work? Keeping composition and content in mind.

-

How has Color Field as an Art Movement influenced Rothko? And/or has Rothko changed Color Field?

Body: What to overall tie everything back to: Rothko’s message, but keep formal analysis overall also Idea I: Historical context: I. II.

Color field – explain previous works (ones vibrant with color) Rothko’s suicide – depression (bibliographical) a. Did anything specifically send him down that type of emotional spiral? i. Or was is more of a steady decline? ii. If so, is it possible to track this through his works? And if so, is it relevant to add? I think quite possibly. b. Did he have a suicide note?

III.

Build off of color theory scaffolding and Rothko’s ending depression to how his last piece was effectively an end result of the two. a. Is the color aspect of color field iconography?

IV.

How was the NY scene with the whole post World Wars? – did it affect his work? a. If not really, just don’t include this idea then.

Idea II: composition I.

How has Rothko purposely constructed the composition? a. Horizontal dividing line b. White boarder(?) c. Smooth application of black versus varied brushstrokes (and almost distraught) application of grey d. Why is black on the top? – top heavy – what was Rothko intending? i. Horizontal stability yet top heavy.

II.

How it was presented if it was of importance. a. If it was part of a series (bit ambiguous if it is still), but if it was, how was the series presented? i. All on a single wall or spread across the room? b. Before or after his death?

Idea III: his message I.

Through composition, what has Rothko tried to communicate?

a. What were his ideals about painting? – wrapping back to Color Field. b. Top heavy nature c. White boarder – if needed to talk more about it II.

If this can be answered somehow: was this piece intended to be his last piece or did he have others that were unfinished?

III.

Was this piece meant for public eye? Or was it meant to be a personal piece?

Conclusion: Restate thesis (well in different words). However, for now it will be these questions: -

How has Rothko’s life influences his last piece(s)?

-

How did he wish to represent his life and emotions through his work? Keeping composition and content in mind.

-

How has Color Field as an Art Movement influenced Rothko? And/or has Rothko changed Color Field?

Art is about the message the art sends out to the viewers, often leaving the artist and their life out of mind when viewing the piece. However effective an artwork’s message might be, there is a sense of undeniable clarity to understanding the context and its creator. – type idea to bring it back out to a larger context/ idea.

Remaining questions to answer: -

Where to put the visual description of the piece?

o Will it be included in the final analysis? o If so, should I describe it, or rather just reference specific aspects within the analysis? -

Is Black on Grey a series of paintings? If so, who has them? How many? Which ones are they? Why are they so difficult to find information on??

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I feel that it might work towards a better structured essay if I flip Ideas I and II with each other. That being Composition goes first, then historical context. Would that make for a more powerful paper?

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Is this essay to persuasively geared towards presenting Rothko’s message even if I have the research to back it up?

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Is there a reliable source for quotes of the artist that a research paper would accept as an academic source?

Bibliography Blessing, Jennifer. "Mark Rothko Untitled (Black on Gray)." Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. Breslin, James E. Mark Rothko: A Biography. London: The University of Chicago Press, 1993. Kosoi, Natalie. "Nothingness Made Visible: The Case of Rothko's Paintings." Art Journal 64, no. 2 (Summer, 2005): 20-31. JSTOR (10.2307/20068380). http://0www.jstor.org.library.scad.edu/stable/20068380. Pitman, Alexandra. "Mark Rothko (1903–1970) - Psychiatry In Pictures." The British Journal of Psychiatry 193, no. 6 (November 2008): 484. Polcari, Stephen. "Mark Rothko: Heritage, Environment, and Tradition." Smithsonian Studies in American Art Smithsonian Studies in American Art 2, no. 2 (Spring, 1988): 32-63. JSTOR, The University of Chicago Press Journals. http://0www.jstor.org.library.scad.edu/stable/3108950.

Summary Breslin, James E. Mark Rothko: A Biography. London: The University of Chicago Press, 1993 Summary: James Breslin’s Mark Rothko: A Bibliography is a bibliographic book that aims to address Mark Rothko’s life and how the artist had influenced the art industry, and vice versa. The author was a fairly well-known journalist, reporter, columnist (only recently deceased, having died a month ago on March 19th, 2017); he was fascinated with telling the most important stories. During his career as an investigative journalist, he risked his life several times to expose the Mafia present in New York. He uncovered that Donald Manes, “the Brought President of Queens,” was involved in the kickback scheme in 1986. Furthermore, he was a columnist for the New York Herald Tribune, the Daily News, the New York Journal American, Newsday, and others. Through all his work he was recognized and awarded for a George Polk Award for Metropolitan Reporting in 1985, and also given the Pulitzer Prize for Commentary in 1986. James Breslin is known for his thorough work within the journalism field. In Mark Rothko: A Bibliography, Breslin dives deep into the artist’s background and overwhelming depression, further connecting Rothko’s life and his ideologies to his works. He brings together over a hundred interviews with professionals in the field (those being patrons, artists, and art dealers), as well as Rothko’s personal papers and quotes. Not only does the author connect Rothko’s works to his life, but additionally creates a well-constructed portrait of the New York art scene ranging between the 30’s to the 60’s of Abstract Expressionism. Quotes: “But, as Donald McKinney has written, ‘it was from his observation of this classic ‘studio

accident’ that he conceived doing the last major series of paintings – the Black and Grey acrylics on canvas.’27 In addition to stabilizing the rectangles, these white margins also frame the image, in the work of a painter who had once equated frames with coffins. Before, Rothko had left his canvas unframed, blurring the boundary between the work and its surrounding environment. Now, start white boarders serve the space of the work from the ‘actual’ space around it. Less a physical ‘presence,’ the painting – despite its considerable size – is more a self-contained object, its space boxed-in.” Pg. 527. “Yet ‘Black on Grey’ works like color plate 21 show the weight of an impenetrable black on a more luminous, varied, inviting – a more physical and human – space, now placed under heavy pressure, and sealed off.” Pg. 529. “The ‘Black on Grey’ paintings are not simply Avant-guard efforts to thwart the expectations of an art market perfectly capable of absorbing any and all gestures of resistance…[these paintings] are still strongly emotional: they quite openly express the urge to withdraw, to retreat, to ‘rock shut as a seashell.’ It is not just that these paintings comment on Rothko’s death; his suicide commented on these paintings: these feelings Rothko was asserting, are real.” Pg. 530. “Silence is so accurate” Mark Rothko. Pg. 206. Critical Response: James Brislin not only talks about Rothko’s artwork, Untitled (Black on Grey) 1969, but his bibliography brings together the whole artist’s life and career to make his last art piece and its surrounding commentary straightforward and easily understandable. This provides useful insight to the New York art scene present at the time, the issues the artist was dealing with - both public and personal, as well as what made his works so individually differentiating or cohesive as a

whole. I personally agree with what Breslin has constructed in what he believes Rothko was going through and what his motivation were – this is due to the fact that he has created a scaffold off of solid evidence, these being: direct quotes from Rothko himself, other comments from artists who knew him personally, professionals in the field, patrons, dealers, etc. The way he structures his biography makes it clear when reading about Rothko’s life’s story. I believe this will be a very important document that will provide my research analysis with correct and supportive evidence....