Violent and serene, visceral and cerebral, mystical and transcendental - Mark Rothko's luminous canvases elicit a remarkable range of intense reactions. In a series of analytic, personal and even poetic essays by contemporary scholars, Seeing Rothko explores the experience of standing before Rothko's most compelling artistic creations.
Throughout his artistic career, Mark Rothko (1903-70) was concerned with what other people saw when they looked at his canvases. As his work shifted from figurative imagery to glowing fields of colour, his concern expanded to the settings in which his canvases were exhibited.
With contributions by leading authors and critics including Dore Ashton, John Elderfield, Briony Fer, Charles Harrison and Sarah K. Rich, as well as by the editors, Seeing Rothko makes a vital contribution to our understanding of the experience of encountering the work of one of the greatest artists of the twentieth century. The book also reproduces in full-colour facsimile two of the artist's previously unpublished notebooks, making it an essential purchase for all Rothko enthusiasts.