Simon Schama's Power of Art - Rothko, part 7 of 7

A documentary about the american abstract expressionist painter Mark Rothko. A program from BBC.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• simon
• schama
• mark
• rothko
• art
• power
• of
• bbc
• documentary

[D4Shawn]

I'm pretty sure he invented the rectangle.

[ninuxy]

@shysterlicios It takes a mind that embraces tranquility, a mind that "feels" to understand Rothko's work. As Simon culminated the series, you have to get away from the hustle and bustle of everyday life and let your conscious works its way through the colors and then in one excellent moment, tears will stream down your face. If you have an erratic, labile mind, you can never conceive such awareness. No wonder for those art analysts who do, they put a price of $80 million on Rothko's painting.

[liftshaulscooks]

Thank-you.

[ninuxy]

@trinitaterion Personally, I won't pay in 10's of millions for his work even though I admire his art, because it has had a profound effect on me.

But then again, it's an one and only, and he conveys above and beyond with his art. So, I won't be surprised that there are people out there who would pay such hefty amount.

People who pander to their intellectual torpor are the ones labeling such work as "crap." Again, different art has different impression on different people. YMMV.

[trinitaterion]

@ninuxy i see the 80million price on his paintings as a VERY clever conspiracy, just like religions do with people. Built yourself an army o"art experts" and they will brainwash the rich.

[trinitaterion]

@ninuxy

you should write about modern art in magazines, thanks to words like that ppl buys that crap. (i do like rothko, but dont love him) i think the realm of higher conciousness looks much much diferent than a rothko painting.

[571jans]

If I could get millions for painting squares...*sigh* He may have killed himself knowing the money he swindled people out of with this crap. It's more than a little outrageous that such flippant paintings should be so much, or that someone might pretend to get so much from so little.

[runemrick]

I never really liked modernism.

I looked at Pollock and dismissed him . After that I stopped looking. I dismissed it all.

Probably I was like many young people; it just seemed stupid.

There's something about these; the longer I look the more I like them.

It is like starring at a bricked up window. The bricks trap you, but you’re pulled into a kind of space within them. A nether world of the dim and indistinct.

A part of us is in there, waiting with a cleaver or to welcome us home. I'm not sure.

[thebloads]

Schama uses such religious descriptions! He describes Rothko's angst and anxieties (stations of the cross?) , his rejection of wealth and the esteem of his peers (the temptation of Jesus?) . Then goes on to treat Rothko like a transcendent timeless thing not for the initiated. (the death and ressurection?) Is this quasi-religious charlatanism? You decide.

[thebloads]

@Akkkico Its coming from the price tag.

[thebloads]

If you have to go through a whole episode of narrative and allusions to his struggles and difficulties merely to justify the painting, then it obviously can stand little on its own. What if i told you that my daughter accidentally drew it? Would it be worth all the sweat and tears and intellectualisation that Schama put in?

[Gilbertoyaya]

Well is'nt this wonderful?