Art WorldDC
Playing Rothko: The Seagram Murals on Arena Stage
Written by Andrew Katz Katz
If abstract painting is an inward journey seeking truth in the human condition, then perhaps Mark Rothko’s Seagram Murals are heralds for what we’ll find. Commissioned in 1958 for the dinning room of the Four Seasons in Manhattan’s Seagram building, the murals were a bit of a formal departure for the artist, who had already settled into his classic style of soft rectangular shapes floating on vertical canvases. The paintings also marked the beginning of Rothko’s journey into darkness, as he left behind a brighter palette for progressively darkened hues and a somber affect that would yield his late-career black paintings. Increasingly apprehensive of the posh Four Seasons restaurant as an appropriate setting for the meditative pictorial environment he sought, Rothko withdrew from the Seagram project in 1959, though he would later complete multiple such environments -- at the Philips Collection in D.C., in Harvard University, and with the Rothko Chapel in Houston. This landmark moment -- Rothko’s struggles in the studio and his germinating ambition for a pure physical environment for his paintings -- is the subject of Red, a screenplay by John Logan, produced by D.C.’s Arena Stage in conjunction with Chicago’s Goodman Theater (at Arena Stage through March 11, 2012). Concurrently with Red the National Gallery of Art is exhibiting the three Seagram paintings from its permanent collection, through August 15. More after the jump. -- Matthew Smith, Washington, D.C. contributor
As Roberta Smith noted regarding the Broadway incarnation of Red -- which won the 2010 Tony Award for best play -- there are some cringe-inducing moments resulting from dialogue that’s not quite in sync with the realities of studio practice. And the testy relationship between one of America’s foremost abstract painters and his fictitious confrontational assistant, who’s more interested in antagonizing Rothko than in making himself helpful around the studio, doesn’t jibe. Obviously, Red is aiming for folklore and entertainment over nuanced veracity. And awkward inaccuracies aside -- the Washington Post’s Phillip Kennicott pointsout a few rather significant ones -- it’s fun to see Rothko contemplating his work on stage, realistic reproductions of his murals strewn about. As with his prior work, Rothko was more interested in producing unsettled color combinations than in harmonizing. And with regard to the Seagram Murals -- landmark paintings that demarcated Rothko’s spiritual quest -- his intention was to “ruin the appetite of every son of a bitch who ever eats in that room.”
--- Matthew Smith is a writer and artist based in Washington, D.C.
A
Written by
Andrew Katz Katz
More stories
View all
THE MAGAZINE
Explore our magazine to discover exceptional artists
Call for Artists
Submit your work for consideration
New American Paintings is a juried exhibition-in-print and digital, presenting the work of 40 emerging artists in each issue.
Your gateway to new art
Discover tomorrow's art stars, today
PRINT + EARLY ACCESS DIGITAL SUBSCRIPTION
$179/YEAR
DIGITAL SUBSCRIPTION
$99/YEAR OR $10/MONTH
Each issue of New American Paintings features forty artists selected through our juried competitions—presented in a beautifully curated, full-color publication. Subscribers receive six issues per year, plus exclusive online access to current and past editions. Are you a collector? Consider our premium subscription and receive our museum-quality printed publication + access to each new digital issue two weeks before its general release.