A retrospective exhibition of Mark Rothko's works is being held in the Paris Modern Art Museum from January 13th until April 18th 1999. Mark Rothko, who was one of America's greatest abstract painters, committed suicide at 67 in his studio on February 25th 1970.
This retrospective exhibition, held in collaboration with the National Art Gallery of Washington has been the first to take place in Paris since 1962.
Markus Rothkowitz, called Mark Rothko, gave up figurative painting in 1949 and turned to abstraction creating large size paintings with wide colored zones which gave viewers the feeling they were part of these.
Rothko's main interest was to create sensations through tragedy, ecstasy or fate. The fact that so many people cried in front of his works induced him to believe that he had succeeded in his interpretation of human feelings.
In 1958, Rothko was invited to produce a mural for the «Four Seasons» restaurant of the Seagram building, which was under construction but he gave up such project after finding the place too pretentious.
In December 1969, shortly before his suicide, he offered nine works, which were part of that mural to the Tate Gallery in London. Exhibited in Paris, these paintings showed that Rothko had been intensely using much somber colors in a dramatic way as if he had undergone a radical change.
In fact, Rothko, who was dubbed by the poet Stanley Kunitz as «the last Rabbi of western art», always considered himself as a kind of messiah whose desire was to act as an artist determined to make history notwithstanding the fact that he thought his paintings could modify the face of the world.
Some 70 works have been exhibited in the Paris Modern Art Museum including paintings produced in the 1930's.
WHEN FICTION BECOMES REALITY
The portrait of a young man by Paolo Uccello (circa 1397-1475) which was the pride of the Museum of Chambery, a French Alpine town, was stolen on January 15th 1999 in the same circumstances as described in a novel published five years ago by the mayor of that city. However the theft met a happy ending on January 24th 1999.
André Gilbertas, the mayor of Chambery, said he was shattered by that theft. In his novel titled «Ce cher Disparu» (literally our dear missing friend) this legendary portrait was stolen from the museum but sent back anonymously by post a few days later. This time the painting was found abandoned near a car park in nearby Aix-Les-Bains.
«I wanted to draw some attention regarding the collections of the museum when I wrote my novel but I had been told that there was no risk regarding the Uccello painting.»
Despite video cameras and two keepers, the thief managed to grab the painting and to leave the museum unnoticed. Police feared during several days that the thief might have gone abroad as Chambery is situated one hour away from the Swiss and Italian borders by road. The value of such portrait was estimated between US $ 1,5 and 2 million and the thief probably preferred to get rid of it as there was no chance that he could find a buyer on the art market.
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