Preface and Acknowledgments

Anfam, David

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Preface and Acknowledgments

David Anfam

Mark Rothko: The Works on Canvas—Catalogue Raisonné

~A catalogue raisonné can be understood as a reunion of a special kind. It unites in one place a record of objects that may never before have existed together. Certainly, this is the case with the works of Mark Rothko. Created over a period of almost half a century, Rothko’s paintings have long since been globally dispersed. The process of regrouping...

Author

David Anfam

PublisherNational Gallery of Art

PublisherYale University Press

Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-20466

Preface and Acknowledgments

A catalogue raisonné can be understood as a reunion of a special kind. It unites in one place a record of objects that may never before have existed together. Certainly, this is the case with the works of Mark Rothko. Created over a period of almost half a century, Rothko’s paintings have long since been globally dispersed. The process of regrouping them, albeit between the covers of a book, has been a momentous undertaking. Momentous not just in terms of logistics—time, effort, administration, travel and the range of individuals and institutions without whom this project could not have been completed—but also because it gives pause for thought about the maker of these more than eight hundred artworks and how he himself might have viewed such a venture. Rothko’s wariness (to phrase it diplomatically) of art historians or critics and their ambitions was legendary. Yet so was his deep concern for the integrity of his artistic enterprise and the life that the pictures would lead, as he once put it, “out in the world.” Thus one hopes, above all, that Rothko would have cast a kind eye on a catalogue raisonné of his paintings—he might even have regarded it as a homecoming of sorts after their inevitable diaspora.

The present volume was conceived as the first of several that, together, will encompass Rothko’s output in all media. It represents nearly a decade of research, yet its roots reach still further back. In the course of conducting doctoral study on Rothko and Clyfford Still in the United States in 1977–78, I had the good fortune to meet Kate Rothko Prizel and her husband Ilya Prizel. Since that first long evening in Baltimore twenty years ago, Kate, Ilya and Christopher Rothko have continued to distinguish themselves as preeminent guardians of Rothko’s legacy and have served as the keystone of this scholarly edifice. By allowing full access to their remarkable collections, as well as to crucial and often unpublished archival resources, they have made an immeasurable contribution. Their support, guidance and judiciousness have been the essential force behind the compilation of the catalogue raisonné. In the process I have been greatly assisted by their registrar, Marion Kahan, to whose energies, patience and professionalism my documentation of the Rothko estate holdings is indebted on many levels.

Well before this catalogue was begun, vital measures were underway to ensure the preservation, documentation and long-term accessibility of Rothko’s oeuvre. Here the Mark Rothko Foundation (1976–86) played a major and historic role. Donald Blinken, president of the foundation, was a catalyst and firm supporter from the outset of the catalogue raisonné, which has benefitted from his wisdom and good common sense. The same is true of Dana Cranmer, conservator of the Rothko Foundation, whose keen grasp of the physical make-up of the paintings has added everywhere to my own understanding. Sir Alan Bowness, director of the Tate Gallery at the time of its 1987 Rothko retrospective, also exercised his customary diplomacy and charm in facilitating the inception of my engagement on the project.

By its receipt of the large gifts of paintings and other works from the Rothko Foundation in 1985 and 1986, the National Gallery of Art in Washington promised to become a leading public repository of Rothko’s achievement and an august sponsor of the catalogue raisonné. Special recognition is therefore due to J. Carter Brown and Earl A. Powell III, successive directors of the Gallery during my term there. Their respective deputy directors in this same period, Roger Mandle and Alan Shestack, also played notable roles. Jack Cowart, former head of the Gallery’s department of twentieth-century art, displayed both acumen and his usual good humor throughout the initial years of my tenure. Particular acknowledgment must be made to Philip C. Jessup, Jr., the Gallery’s secretary and general counsel, for his tireless expertise.

Frances P. Smyth, the National Gallery’s editor-in-chief, has been unique as the one person at that institution involved with the catalogue from start to finish. Her outstanding skills as editor, supervisor and managerial diplomat have never faltered from an exemplary level of professionalism. Massive help has likewise been given by Laili Nasr, research associate on the project. Ms. Nasr’s loyalty to the aims of the enterprise and her diligence in pursuing with conspicuous success a seeming infinity of scholarly tasks and questions remains a model of its kind. In these research pursuits we have both depended upon the superb library resources of the Gallery. Profuse thanks are therefore owed here to its indefatigable librarians including, but not limited to, Caroline Backlund, Ted Dalziel, Frances P. Lederer, Thomas F. McGill, Jr. and Stephen Mize. Additional substantive assistance with the Rothko bibliography was also provided by Anna Pegler Gordon and Paul Roth. My debts to other current or former Gallery staff are too wide-ranging to render a summary list either practical or comprehensive. However, the following have made contributions in diverse ways. They are listed alongside their respective departments (or those in which they worked during my research there): Mariah Seagle, Maria Tousimis, Mary Yakush and Chris Vogel (editor’s office); Richard Amt and Ira Bartfïeld (imaging and visual services); Steven Mansbach, Henry Millon, Therese O’Malley and Helen Tangires (center for advanced study in the visual arts); David Bull, Sarah Fisher, Heather Galloway, Ann Hoenigswald, Jay Krueger (conservation); Nancy R. Breuer, Elizabeth C. Croog and Sarah Fontana (secretary-general counsel’s office); Kimberly Bockhaus, Lisa Coldiron, Isabelle Dervaux, Christoph Grunenberg, Shaune Pasche, Marla Prather, Laura Rivers, Jeremy Strick (twentieth-century art); Ruth E. Fine, Carlotta Owens and Charles Ritchie (modern prints and drawings); Sarah Greenough (photographs); Anne Halpern (registrar’s office); Lisa Mariam (loans and national lending service); Stefan Wood (installation and design). And an army of art handlers abetted my scrutiny of the still far larger legion of Rothkos within the Gallery’s precincts.

Outside the National Gallery, the list of those who have aided or encouraged my undertaking is more monumental than any roll call of acknowledgments can reasonably be expected to accommodate. Certain individuals have nevertheless gone well beyond the bounds of duty or practical necessity. The production of this book in its present format would be inconceivable without three parties. First, John Nicoll, director of Yale University Press in London. Mr. Nicoll pulled out all stops, as it were, to fulfill the highest publishing standards and urgent deadlines. Secondly, Derek Birdsall (and his staff at Omnific) formulated a design of elegance, clarity and more. His brilliant control of the layout and reproduction of the images to approximate scale add a new dimension to the reader’s perception of their imagined presence. Thirdly, Jane Havell has deployed editorial prowess of the first rank, always maintaining grace and acuity under pressure.

Because the magnitude, intricacy, expressive goals and—to be frank—difficulties of Rothko’s art defy the neat, fact-laden parcels that are the mainstay of the ideal or conventional catalogue raisonné, I have chosen to introduce the catalogue entries with a text that engages more than can be addressed in their limited scope. Apart from considering the physical attributes of Rothko’s idiom—color, surface, composition, inscriptions—I have also looked to such issues as dating, iconography, sources and his treatment of elements such as narrative, symbolism, space and darkness. On this score, Rothko’s precepts themselves offer a certain licence. He never distinguished between form and ideas or content, preferring instead to see them as reciprocal parts of a total unity. With that belief in mind, a decision has in turn been made to place all 856 works within a single volume so that its beginning leads through to the core and conclusion of this extraordinary creative outpouring in one unbroken sweep.

No overview of Rothko would be complete or even possible without recognition of those who have been at the forefront of studies investigating the breadth and depth of his achievement. The primary names that come to mind here and to whose research or views I have often had recourse are: Dore Ashton, Leo Bersani, the late James E. Breslin, Anna C. Chave, Thomas Kellein, Brian O’Doherty, Stephen Polcari, Robert Rosenblum, Lee Seldes, David Sylvester and Diane Waldman, curator of the 1978 Solomon R. Guggenheim retrospective that was a milestone in the public representation of Rothko’s corpus. Further intellectual stimulus has come in particular from John Gage, John Golding, James Naremore and Sheldon Nodelman. Another longstanding source of inspiration has been my first mentor—on the page if not in person—in the study of time and narrative, Frank Kermode.

Technically, the growth of a catalogue raisonné also demands the airing of the discoveries that it may occasion, putting them under public scrutiny and even taking the chance to branch out from its unavoidable hiatuses. Such undertakings ultimately benefit and refresh the author’s central focus. In this respect, acknowledgment is due to: George G. King, former director of the Katonah Museum of Art, who at an early stage inspired me to redouble my efforts to make sense of the early Rothko; Paul Winkler, director of the Menil Collection, and his staff including Susan Davidson, associate curator, Walter Hopps, curator of twentieth-century art and Carol Mancusi-Ungaro, chief conservator, all of whom have been wonderful partners in my exploration of Rothko’s later art for the 1996 exhibition celebrating the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Chapel; and those who made the 1995–96 retrospective of Rothko in Japan (and its beautiful catalogue, which has become a prototype for others) such a pleasure in which to participate—Mariko Goto, Sumi Hayashi, Nobuyuki Hiromoto, Masato Ishikawa, Ryohei Kakio, Yozo Mori, Naoko Seki and Ichiro Suyama. Nor can the rewards of working with Norman Rosenthal and Christos M. Joachimides be overlooked: that collaboration in 1992–93 fostered contacts with a host of collectors and museums which proved vital to long-term progress on the catalogue.

On a still more practical plane, the cooperation of dealers represents one of the fundamental building blocks of a catalogue raisonné. Here, special mention should be made of the following and their galleries (or those with which they were associated at the time of their assistance): Arne Glimcher, Marc Glimcher, Linda Ashcraft, Douglas Baxter, Eileen Costello, Renato Danese, Jay Grimm and Judy Harney (Pace Wildentein); Robert Mnuchin, James Corcoran and Jennifer Vorbach (C&M Arts); Jeffrey Figley (Sidney Janis Gallery); Bernd Dütting and Pascale Zoller (Galerie Beyeler); André Emmerich; Elvira González; Jack Tilton; Alfred Richter (Elkon Gallery); Martha Baer, Anika C. Guntrum, Neal Meltzer, Laura Paulson, Diane Upright and Candace Worth (Christie’s); Lucy Mitchell-Innes, Candy Coleman, Helyn Goldenberg, Laura Harden, Leslie Prouty and Rebecca Tuggle (Sotheby’s).

Additional people in the art trade who have supplied much help are: Doris Ammann (Thomas Ammann Fine Art A.G.); Lorinda Ash (Gagosian Gallery); Abigail Asher; Thomas Babeor; Richard Bellamy; Daniel Blau; Marc Blondeau; Jeffrey Deitch; Anthony D’Offay; Richard L. Feigen; Ann Freedman (Knoedler & Co.); René Gimpel; Richard and Paul Grey; the late B. C. Holland; Jeffrey Hoffeld; Vivian Horan; Annely Juda; Stuart Levy; Gilbert Lloyd (Marlborough Fine Art); Duncan MacGuiguin (Acquavella Contemporary Art); Matthew Marks; Stephen Mazoh; Jason McCoy; David McKee; Catherine Morris; Edward Tyler Nahem; David Nahmad; David Nisinson; Reinhard Onnasch; William O’Reilly (Salander—O’Reilly Galleries); Anna Riehl (Jan Krugier); Lawrence Rubin; Gertrude Stein; Leslie Waddington; Thea Westreich.

Christian and Cherise Moueix, Victoire Schlumberger and Olivier Tardif have displayed unique graciousness and hospitality. They are the paradigm of civilized art lovers, while Sanford Hirsch is their counterpart among the directors of art foundations; among dealers, Manny and Jackie Silverman share with Isabel Mignoni similar qualities. Each deserves a special niche. So does Christopher Burke. He took an inordinate number of excellent photographs of Rothko’s paintings and thereby went far toward ensuring the overall quality of the catalogue.

I wish to thank further collectors, their curators, museum staff, conservators, art historians, Rothko’s friends and those—on both sides of the Atlantic and beyond—who gave kind assistance or input: Jonathan Ahearn; Sandra Amann; Dennis Anderson; Roger Anthony; Michael Armstrong; Tina Aujesky; Richard Armstrong; Ida Balboul; Joan Banach; Marion Barclay; Susan Barnes; Vivian Endicott Barnett; Tracey Bashkoff; Hans C. Bechtler; Lucy Belloli; Avis Berman; Trish Berube; Janet Bishop; Ruth and the late Leonard Bocour; Peter Boswell; Emily Braun; Edward R. Broida; James B. Byrnes; Jo-Anne Carson; Beverley Carter; Claude Cernuschi; Trinkett Clark; James Coddington; Francis Cohen; Marjorie B. Cohn; Crosby Coughlin; Judith Cousins; Kimberly Davenport; David and Jane Davis; Michael Desmond; Hester Diamond; Geoffrey Edwards; Rebecca Even-Nur; Susan Filin-Yeh; Gilbert Frimet; Hubert de Givenchy; Dominique de Menil; Jerome Dersh; Monique and the late Lee C. Eastman; José Capa Eiriz; Heinz and Ruth Eppler; Elizabeth Estabrook; Volkmar Essers; Robert Evrén; Trevor Fairbrother; Edith and the late Herbert Ferber; Eydie Garlikov; Ivan Gaskell; Thomas and Nanette Gehrig; Byron and Dorothy Gerson; Carol and Henry Goldberg; Blanche and the late Carl Goreff; Steve Gottlieb; Aleco Goulandris; Richard Grant; Roberta Gratz; Alison de Lima Greene; Cristina Gálvez Guzzy; William P. Harbig, Jr.; Juliette Hays; Ben Heller; Clinton Hill; Douglas Himmelfarb; Catherine Hinds; John Dixon Hunt; the late William C. Janss; Anna Kafetsi; David Klein; Lilian Sachar Klein; the late Ida Kohlmeyer; Charlotta Kotik; Helle Krenzien; Mel Lader; Frances and Bernard Laterman; Gail Levin; Anne-Marie Levine; Jeremy Lewison; Mildred Liss; Jane Lombard; Carlos Blanco Lou; Terence Mahon; Franz Meyer; Marc Meyer; Portland McCormick; Robert and Jane Meyerhoff; Dorothy C. Miller; Charles R. Mills; Peter Namuth; Annalee Newman; Sasha Newman; Muriel Kallis Steinberg Newman; Percy North; Francis V O’Connor; the late William Pall; Giuseppe Panza di Biumo; Andrea Pappas; Michela Parkin; Gifford and Joann Phillips; Julie Phillips; Morris Pottish; the late E. J. Power; Marla Price; Stephen Prokopoff; Harry Rand; Jacqueline Rapmund; Paula Reens; Dan Rice; Brenda Richardson; David Rockefeller; Ludwig Roselius; Selma Rosen; David Ross; Sandra Rotman; William S. Rubin; Helene Rundell; Bart Ryckbosch; Howard Sachar; Richard C. Sachs; Berthe Saunders; Martica Sawin; William and Sally Scharf; Paul Schimmel; Katharina Schmidt; Angela Schneider; Toby Schreiber; Daniel Schulman; Douglas Schultz; Peter Selz; Tomàs Llorens Serra; Aaron Siskind; Brydon E. Smith; Ira Smolin; Oliver Steindecker; Patricia Still; Gene Summers; Matthew Teitelbaum; Ann Temkin; Michael Tooby; Sophie Tracey; Pam Trimpe; Pat Trivigno; Maarten van de Guchte; Annick van der Moer; Geneviève Vidal; Mario-Andreas von Lüttichau; Sid Wasserman; Robert Weinstein; Liz Weisberg; Siegfried Weishaupt; the late Frederick Weisman; Veronica Whittaker; John Wilson; Barbara Wolanin; the late Morris Yanoff and Michael Zakian. Extensive details of the catalogue also relied upon the staff of the following libraries in particular: the Library of Congress, Washington; Avery and Butler Libraries, Columbia University; the Museum of Modern Art, New York; Koninklijke Bibliotheek, The Hague; Universitätsbibliothek, Dusseldorf; Schweizerische Landesbibliothek, Bern; Zentralbibliothek, Luzern; Biblioteca Nacional, Madrid. And, of course, thanks are accorded to a myriad parties who wish to remain anonymous.

Finally and crucially, I acknowledge those whose friendship, intellectual rapport or human warmth made life more bearable within the confines of the little world of the District of Columbia and even more pleasant in my frequent travels beyond it: Eileen Anfam; Frederick Bearman; Charles Brock; John Franklin; Robert Gibbons; Carla Hanzal; Robert and Pamela Harington; Joe and Sue Heim; Cynthia Herbst; Ron and Stefania Kenley; Ian McKeever; Geoff and Paula Nuttall; Adam and Helen Pearce; Faith Pleasanton; David and Jodi Raskin; Justin Roebuck; Todd and Janet Rubsamen; Astrit Schmidt-Burkhardt and Franz Reitinger; Richard Shone; Elyse Strongin; Claire Timmons; Carlos Vega; Kevin Weis; Artemis Zenetou and Paula Zyats.

David Anfam

London, 1998–2001

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