10/27 Seagram Murals - Laug

https://spectatio.wordpress.com/2013/09/02/rothko/

In 1958, abstract expressionist artist Mark Rothko was commissioned by Joseph Seagram and Sons to produce pieces for their new high society Manhattan restaurant, The Four Seasons. He embarked on an epic series of abstract pieces all in shades of red, that sparked the recent Broadway play, Red, and have been exhibited most notably at the Tate Modern Art Museum. The series is called the Seagram Murals (Banville).

Despite the prospect of profit and fame by displaying his artwork in the cafeteria of the New York bourgeoisie, Rothko developed an ulterior agenda outside of any capitalist venture with these paintings. He had been quoted saying that he wanted the paintings to be "something that will ruin the appetite of every son-of-a-bitch who ever eats in that room.” Instead of taking advantage of the offer to rub noses with the elite and wealthy patrons of Four Seasons,  Rothko wanted to distance himself from their impact on society (Alley).

Following his completion of the pieces, Rothko spent months travelling in Europe and, much to his surprise, returned to the positive reception from the Seagram commissioners. Upon this reaction he returned the advance they gave him and pulled out of the mural project. The reason why he pulled out remains mysterious, and have been attributed to Rothko’s temperamental personality. The mystery lay within the sequence of events. Why did he create these pieces he wanted them to hate? Why did he ever accept to work on this commission? Why was the ignorant reaction of the commissioners so upsetting to him?

I like to think of the series of events, and mystery surrounding this controversy are an emotional allegory for the symbols of red. Red can indicate so many passionate emotions, and in the western tradition holds a flamboyantly fiery connotation as to how these emotions are expressed. Very much in the same vein as Rothko’s paintings and situation, I think of the blood red in the Soviet flag. The Soviet Union’s omniscient red as a symbol of strength represented their whole hearted deconstructionist intentions, but ended in an abstraction from those ideals, and a changed symbol.

http://captainplanet.wikia.com/wiki/Soviet_Union

Perhaps that’s what happened as Rothko pushed forward with this project. Maybe the red in his paintings changed after he returned from traveling. The red’s in these paintings aren’t merely red, they tap into the upsettingly militaristic connotation that red presents. Rothko’s near execution of these pieces would have been juxtaposed by the New York upperclass calmly dining in the Four Seasons. I like to think that Rothko thought that merely doing so was to make the wealthy sick or nauseous, but in the end it just made him nauseous.

Works Cited

• Banville, John. "A Room Full of Violence, and the Silence of Death." The Telegraph. Telegraph Media Group, 6 May 2006. Web. 26 Oct. 2015
• Alley, Ronald. "Mark Rothko, 'Black on Maroon' 1958." Tate. Web. 26 Oct. 2015.