A spotlight on Mark Rothko and his philosophy

One of the preeminent painters of his generation, Mark Rothko is identified with the New York School, a group of painters, which emerged during the late 1940s. It was recognized as a new voice in American art. During a career spanning well over five decades, the artist created a new impassioned form of abstract art. Here's a spotlight on Mark Rothko and his philosophy:

• Rothko's work, an extensive note on the website of Washington, DC-based National Gallery of Art mentions, is characterized by rigorous attention to formal elements such as color, shape, balance, depth, composition, and scale; yet, he refused to consider his paintings solely in these terms. He explained: It is a widely accepted notion among painters that it does not matter what one paints as long as it is well painted. This is the essence of academicism. There is no such thing as good painting about nothing.
• In their manifesto in the New York Times Rothko and Gottlieb had written: "We favor the simple expression of the complex thought. We are for the large shape because it has the impact of the unequivocal. We wish to reassert the picture plane. We’re for flat forms because they destroy illusion and reveal truth."
• By 1947 Rothko had virtually eliminated all elements of surrealism or mythic imagery from his works, and nonobjective compositions of indeterminate shapes emerged. His work began to darken dramatically during the late 1950s. This development is related to his work on a mural commission for the Four Seasons restaurant, located in the Seagram Building in New York City. Here Rothko turned to a palette of red, maroon, brown, and black.
• He largely abandoned conventional titles in 1947, sometimes resorting to numbers or colors in order to distinguish one work from another. "Silence is so accurate," he said, fearing that words would only paralyze the viewer's mind and imagination. He eventually withdrew from this project, due to misgivings about the restaurant as a proper setting for his work.
• The artist had, however, already produced a number of studies and finished canvases, two of which are included in the present installation. In the Seagram panels, Rothko changed his motif from a closed to an open form, suggesting a threshold or portal. This element may have been related to the architectural setting for which these works were intended.