dailyrothko:Mark Rothko, Black-Form Paintings No 1, no 2, no 4, no 5, no 5 (2), no 6, no 7, no 8
dailyrothko:Mark Rothko, Black-Form Paintings No 1, no 2, no 4, no 5, no 5 (2), no 6, no 7, no 8 , 1964, Mixed media on canvas.The TATE gallery in london says this about them: “Although not related to a commission, Rothko clearly recognised the Black-Form paintings as a coherent series and numbered them sequentially No. 1 to No. 8, with No. 5 curiously appearing twice. Yet they were never shown as a series during his lifetime. These works mark a complete break with his colour field paintings of the 1950s.”While I have done my best to complete this series (My previous post on it was two less than we have here now and several scans have been updated) I am still unsure as to many things, including if there is an existing scan of No 3. There are other Rothkos with that number but I have yet to knowingly see a No 3 from 1964 that goes in this set. There are some other Rothkos that are looks-appropriate as well as many different scans of these with endless variations of black, brown, purple and grey (my previous scan of no 4 was positively purple) making the “Dark Rothkos” some of the hardest to compare. I’ll call these the best scans I can find right now and I do love this series and how Rothko seems to take his colorful translucency and turn it around in this contemplative, mournful and very mortal feeling series.I was dubious about the second no 5, myself but that ones comes right from the Tate and we who are amateurs will assume real scholarship behind that. I hope you enjoyed this Rothko series and investigation as much as I did, and if you find a scan of Number three, well, hand it over. -- source link