Mark Rothko

by Peter Selz

Catalogue of an retrospective exhibition.
The museum of modern art new york, 1961

Unknown Binding

First published January 1, 1961

About the author

Peter Selz was a German-born American art historian who specialized in German Expressionism.

Reviews

[Carl · Rating 4 out of 5]

"The open rectangles suggest the rims of flame in containing fires, or the entrances to tombs, like the doors to the dwellings of the dead in Egyptian pyramids, behind which the sculptors kept the kings 'alive' for eternity in the ka. But unlike the doors of the dead, which were meant to shut out the living from the place of absolute might, even of patrician death, these paintings–open sarcophagi–moodily dare, and thus invite the spectator to enter their orifices. Indeed, the whole series of these murals brings to mind an Orphic cycle; their subject might be death and resurrection in classical, not Christian, mythology: the artist descending to Hades to find the Eurydice of his vision. The door to the tomb opens for the artist in search of his muse."