Rothko's Seagram Murals - Part VII
7:00 AMRothko's Seagram Murals:
A Tumultuous Journey to the Tate
Part VII
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| Mark Rothko, Maroon on Red (Section 4), 1959 |
Taking into consideration the many merits of the Tate Museum, it becomes possible to see how Rothko would have been acquiescent in displaying his paintings there, despite his general aversion to museums. Against the backdrop of the Seagram Murals commission, the advantages of the Tate exhibition space ultimately sets up an opposition with the Four Seasons restaurant. “Rothko had always wanted his single paintings hung low, so they would confront and surround the viewer. But throughout the Four Seasons room, his mural would have to be hung above the diners’ heads, or they would not be seen” (Breslin 378). The huge amount of dissatisfaction felt after the Seagram commission weighed next to the compliance of Reid and the Tate Museum, made the Tate become an infinitely more attractive possibility. Reid successfully addressed all of the disappointments of the Seagram Murals commission by eventually providing Rothko with an ideal space for the display of his paintings. Although Rothko gave only a small selection of paintings from the Seagram commission to the Tate, the rest of the known Seagram Mural panels were given to his newly formed foundation (Clearwater and Rothko 46-7). Since his donation, the panels have been spread across the globe: nine at the Tate Museum, seven at the Kawamura Museum of Modern Art in Japan, thirteen at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, and a few others remain in the ownership of Rothko’s children.
Works Cited
Ashton, Dore. About Rothko. New York: Oxford University Press, 1983.
Breslin, James E. B. Mark Rothko: A Biography. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1993.
Clearwater, Bonnie, and Mark Rothko. Mark Rothko, Works on Paper. New York: Hudson Hills Press in association with the Mark Rothko Foundation and the American Federation of Arts, 1984.
Rothko, Mark. Mark Rothko, Paintings, 1948-1969: April 1-30 1983, the Pace Gallery. New York: Pace Gallery Publications, 1983.
Rothko, Mark, and David Anfam. Mark Rothko: The Works on Canvas : Catalogue RaisonnƩ. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1998.
Rothko, Mark, and Marc Glimcher. The Art of Mark Rothko: Into an Unknown World. New York: C.N. Potter, 1991.
Rothko, Mark, and Miguel LĆ³pez-Remiro. Writings on Art. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2006.
Rothko, Mark, and Oliver Wick. Rothko. Milan: Skira, 2007.
Seiberling, Dorothy. “The Varied Art of Four Pioneers: Mark Rothko.” Life, November 16, 1959.
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