Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Still, these are not intended to be formal studies in color and form. Rothko was trying
to express the most basic human emotions in a pure language. (A “realistic” painting of
a person is inherently fake because it's only an illusion of the person.) Staring into these
windows onto the soul, you can laugh, cry, or ponder, just as Rothko did when he painted
them.
20th-Century British Artists
Since 1960, London has rivaled New York as a center for the visual arts. You'll find
British artists displayed in both the Tate Modern and the Tate Britain. Check out the
Tate Britain Tour chapter for more on the following artists: David Hockney, Stanley
Spencer, Jacob Epstein, Gilbert and George, Henry Moore, Francis Bacon, and Bar-
bara Hepworth.
Rothko, the previous century's “last serious artist,” believed in the power of art to ex-
press the human spirit. When he found out that his nine large Seagram canvases were to
be hung in a corporate restaurant, he refused to sell them, and they ended up in the Tate.
(A 2010 Tony Award-winning play called
Red
dealt with Rothko's anguished decision.)
In his last years, Rothko's canvases—always rectangles—got bigger, simpler, and
darker. When Rothko finally slashed his wrists in his studio, one nasty critic joked that
what killed him was the repetition. Minimalism was painting itself into a blank corner.
The decade began united in idealism—young John F. Kennedy pledged to put a man on
the moon, newly launched satellites signaled a united world, the Beatles sang exuberantly,
peaceful race demonstrations championed equality, and the Vatican II Council preached
liberation. By decade's end, there were race riots, assassinations, student protests, and
America's floundering war in distant Vietnam. In households around the world, parents
screamed, “Turn that down...and get a haircut!”
Culturally, every postwar value was questioned by a rising wealthy and populous
baby-boom generation. London—producer of rock-and-roll music, film actors, mod fash-
ions, and Austin Powers joie de vivre—once again became a world cultural center.
Though government-sponsored public art was dominated by big, abstract canvases
and sculptures, other artists pooh-poohed the highbrow seriousness of abstract art. Instead,
they mocked lowbrow, popular culture by embracing it in a tongue-in-cheek way (Pop
