A fascinating exploration of the life and work of one of America’s most famous and enigmatic postwar visual artists Mark Rothko, one of the greatest painters of the twentieth century, was born in the Jewish Pale of Settlement in 1903. He immigrated to the United States at age ten, taking with him his Talmudic education and his memories of pogroms and persecutions in Russia. His integration into American society began with a series of painful experiences, especially as a student at Yale, where he felt marginalized for his origins and ultimately left the school. The decision to become an artist led him to a new phase in his life. Early in his career, Annie Cohen-Solal writes, “he became a major player in the social struggle of American artists, and his own metamorphosis benefited from the unique transformation of the U.S. art world during this time.” Within a few decades, he had forged his definitive artistic signature, and most critics hailed him as a pioneer. The numerous museum shows that followed in major U.S. and European institutions ensured his celebrity. But this was not enough for Rothko, who continued to innovate. Ever faithful to his habit of confronting the establishment, he devoted the last decade of his life to cultivating his new conception of art as an experience, thanks to the commission of a radical project, the Rothko Chapel in Houston, Texas. Cohen-Solal’s fascinating biography, based on considerable archival research, tells the unlikely story of how a young immigrant from Dvinsk became a crucial transforming agent of the art world—one whose legacy prevails to this day.
Annie Cohen-Solal's books include Sartre: A Life (a best-seller translated into sixteen languages), Painting American (Académie des Beaux arts Prize), and Leo & His Circle: The Life of Leo Castelli (ArtCurial Prize).
Table of Contents
Author's Note ix
1 The Charismatic Yacov Rotkovitch -A Jew of the Empire: 1903-1913 1
2 A Diligent Student in Portland, Oregon: 1913-1921 21
3 The Years of Chaos: 1921-1928 39
4 The Metamorphosis of Marcus Rothkowitz: 1928-1940 52
5 In Search of a New Golden Age: 1940-1944 69
6 Between Surrealism and Abstraction: 1944-1947 87
7 Toward Absolute Abstraction: 1947-1949 99
8 With the Rebel Painters, a Pioneer: 1949-1953 116
9 The Avant-Garde Jewish Painter and His Journey of Dispersion; 1954-1958 137
10 From a Luxury Skyscraper to a Medieval Chapel-The First Anchoring in Britain: 1958-1960 154
11 Years of Experimentation, Recognition, and Torment- The Second Anchoring in Britain: 1960-1964 171
12 The Long-Awaited Chapel-The Expiatory Sacrifice: 1964-1970 185
