Riddle of America, The - Waldorf Research Institute

Like the gesture painters, their work arose out of an interest in a universalmythic expression. They wanted to create a nonrepresentational art thatsuggested transcendence and revelation, which took art back to its originsin mystery and magic. To overcome the perceived loss of power and predictableresponses from traditional religious symbols and rituals, they triedto eliminate all references to familiar images, whether in nature or art. Theywanted, in Newman’s words, to make “cathedrals … out of ourselves, out ofour own feelings.” They wanted their fundamentally simplified paintings tocreate an effect of infinity and boundlessness, but also an elemental impactakin to that evoked by the primitive, tribal, or ancient sacred art that theyadmired.In the early 1940s Mark Rothko (1903–1970) began using oil paint asif it were watercolor, thinning the paint and applying it in freely brushed,overlapping background glazes. This created a subtly luminous atmosphericimpression enhanced by minute surface changes in the stained and blottedcolor. However it was not until the later 1940s that he came to spreadsimple washes of this color across his canvases, eliminating any vestiges offigural or symbolic imagery. To solidify these rather diffuse pictures, Rothkomade his large color areasinto roughly rectangularshapes, but withloose, undefined edgesto give them a sense ofmovement and depth. In1949–1950 he first limitedthe number of such elementsin a picture to twoor three, arranging themas large rectangles ofsimilar width, one abovethe other (Figure 18).He placed the contoursof the rectangles closeto the picture edges inorder to make his designunobtrusive and to stressthe outer borders of theentire picture as one entity.There were no strongmovements or abruptFigure 18. Mark Rothko. November 22, 1949. 1949. Oilon canvas. Museum of Modern Art, New York130