Marc Rothko...

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Marc Rothko (1903-1970) was an Russian born American. He is described as an abstract expressionist but had rejected any title particularly that of being abstract. He began essentially as a figurative artist who focused on mythological themes. He used mythology to comment on current history. He sought out works by Freud and Jung, reading their works on dream analysis and archetypes of the collective consciousness. Rothko understood that mythological symbols refer to themselves, operating in a space of human consciousness that transcended specific human mythology and culture. His newer vision meant to address the modern man's spiritual and creative mythology which he saw as being 'empty' (nothingness). He later chose subjects that complimented his growing concerns with form, space and color. Rothko's work matured from representation of mytholgical subjects to trascendent, rectangular fields of color. In 1936, he began writing a book on the simularities in the art of children and modern painters...