Black Paintings: Robert Rauschenberg, Ad Reinhardt, Mark Rothko, Frank Stella

by Stephanie Rosenthal (Editor)

In the late 1940s, several prominent artists of the New York School--among them Robert Rauschenberg, Ad Reinhardt, Mark Rothko and Frank Stella--were intently studying the color black. That work, interrelated but not collaborative, resulted in an astonishing number of almost monochromatic black paintings, which today are considered treasures of many major collections, including the Whitney Museum of American Art's. For the first time, Black Paintings gathers all of the best of the title artist's black works textured black, striped black, blue-black, brown-black, black-black. In thorough illustration and thoughtful analysis, it sheds light on the differences between these postwar works as well as their commonalities. For Frank Stella and Robert Rauschenberg, black was a way to disappear into something new, a way to a new artistic vocabulary. For Mark Rothko, it stood for emptiness and nothingness; it asked the spectator to reflect back on it. For Ad Reinhardt, it offered denial and invisibility. Each artist's black portfolio reflects a breakthrough or transition in his own work, and, combined, they represent a larger moment of transition. The Black Paintings marked both a beginning and an the end of painting as illusion, as a window onto the world, and the beginning of painting as the mode for the creation of self-sufficient perceptual objects--a change that granted new roles to both artist and viewer.

Genres: Art

204 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2007

Reviews

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was so excited when this book finally came out in the U.S. (I guess it was released in Europe first because there was an actual show of black paintings.) I just got it and I voraciously read through all the essays about each artist's black period. They are excellent and mostly clear-headed, without too much random art historical theorization or jargon. The most important part of the book, though, is the prints. And they are amazing. Big, lush, full page affairs, and, what's obviously most important in a book about paintings that are all black, they are intensely clear and precise so that you can at least somewhat relive the experience of being in front of these works and seeing the faint gradations of color and texture that make the whole experience so serene and awesome. While it would be nice if it included really nice prints of black paintings by some other artists who are mentioned in the texts (Malevich and Newmann come to mind), it's still an amazing book to have and see or even just see (until there's show somewhere in the U.S.).

[翰林院编修]

似无。
黑色绘画：罗伯特·劳森伯格，阿德·莱因哈特，马克·罗斯科，弗兰克·斯特拉
4.64 · 评级详情 · 22 评分 · 5 评语
在1940年代后期，纽约学派的几位著名艺术家-其中包括罗伯特·劳森伯格，阿德·莱因哈特，马克·罗斯科和弗兰克·斯特拉-都在专心致志地研究黑色。这项工作相互关联但不合作，产生了数量惊人的几乎单色的黑色画作，这些画作今天被认为是许多主要收藏品的宝藏，包括惠特尼美国艺术博物馆。《黑色绘画》首次将标题艺术家所有最好的黑色作品聚集在一起：纹理黑色，条纹黑色，蓝黑色，棕黑色，黑色黑色。通过详尽的插图和深思熟虑的分析，它揭示了这些战后作品之间的差异以及它们的共性。

[Caroline Coward · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent overview of works in various shades of black, with a good discussion of the styles and movements that inspired the artists.

[Kamakana · Rating 5 out of 5]

if you like this review i now have website: www.michaelkamakana.com

270417:: (i think) this is an exhibition catalogue from a show in Berlin...

now i really want to see these actual works, though my favorite is still ad reinhardt... there is an interesting psychological interpretation: any artist goes through 3 stages- 1) separation 2) transition 3) integration- though it is not that these artists were ever conscious of this theory. each artist can be seen as somewhere coming to black paintings on this thought, either as 1) mostly as 2) some as 3), according to when they went black eg. 1) Stella starts there 2) Rothko continues 3) Reinhardt ends... there is mention of merleau-ponty and the mystical, sensual, enveloping of black. also how black could be considered stimulus to religious/philosophical thought because the mind is not distracted by sight, spectacle, colour, ephemeral aspects of the perceived world... 'close your eyes and see' (beckett) indeed...