2023-11-12 15:45:11
Mark Rothko, in his studio in New York, in the early 1960s. HENRY ELKAN/ARTE
ARTE – SUNDAY NOVEMBER 12 AT 5:45 P.M. – DOCUMENTARY
May we be forgiven for evoking a personal memory here: around thirty years ago, we discovered the Rothko Chapel, in Houston (Texas). The interior was dark and a mass was taking place, the end of which we patiently awaited. We saw nothing of the paintings: at the time, the central dome which diffuses overhead light was obscured. When the faithful had dispersed, we asked the caretaker if it was possible to have more lighting. She smiled big and replied: “Of course, but you’ll see even less!” » And it was true.
Read the interview with Suzanne Pagé, artistic director, and Christopher Rothko, son of the painter: Article reserved for our subscribers “Her paintings speak a universal language that does not need explanations”
When she then turned off the weak lights, we got used to the darkness from which, little by little, the paintings emerged, in pulsations at first slow, then progressively more intense. Apparitions… But they are only given to those who are willing to give their time. Since the Renaissance, paintings have been windows open to the world. With Mark Rothko (1903-1970), they become doors: for those who are willing to cross the threshold, they give access to other universes.
In the book he dedicated to his father, his son, Christopher, thinks, for his part, of mirrors: “One morning in 1996, I spent two hours alone in the chapel, before opening time to the public. Instead of the deep meditative experience I expected, I had to fight a very strong urge to flee. (…) As I walked along the walls of this octagonal space, surrounded by huge murals on all sides, I began to realize that my discomfort was not coming from the paintings or the space, but from myself. I found myself in a room full of mirrors – dark, unrelenting mirrors – and I stood at the point where their reflections converged, so that everyone reflected my image. (…) It was a very enriching experience, but also very disturbing. »
evil cook
It is these strong impressions that Pascale Bouhénic’s film attempts, clumsily it must be admitted, to recreate. Awkwardly, because, if the biography of the artist is succinctly but correctly told, we have known better in terms of commentary on a work. The historical context is rather well rendered, but lacks depth and analysis.
What is most interesting, apart from a series of paintings which are not in the exhibition of the Louis Vuitton Foundation, partner of the film, are, on the one hand, the sequencing into antinomic chapters (“Figure/not figure” , “American/not American”, “Abstract/not abstract”…), which pose the numerous contradictions of the man and the work, and, on the other hand, the testimonies of restorers, scientists, and even the color merchants who analyze the very particular technique of Rothko, a diabolical cook capable of recreating in Manhattan techniques used in 15th century Italy to put them at the service of an even older idea, since it dates back to the Greek Neoplatonists , then to Russian icon painters.
Read the review: Article reserved for our subscribers At the Louis Vuitton Foundation, a unique dive into the vibrant world of Mark Rothko
With their inverted perspective (the vanishing point is you) and, in his case, with the frontality and the pulsation that this very particular material gives to its abstractions, it is not you who contemplates the image, it is she looking at you.
Mark Rothko. The painting is looking at youdocumentary by Pascale Bouhénic (Fr., 2023, 53 min). Available on demand on Arte.tv until February 9, 2024.
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