Rothko Comes Home

"Rothko bummed around before moving to New York, where he took a class at the Art Students League in the 1920s. That's how his art career began.

And where this Portland show begins. The exhibit's earliest work, a 1926 still-life of a water pitcher, exhibits a Paul Cezanne-like naturalism toward his domestic subject matter.

Many of Rothko's influences revolved around friendships with fellow artists at the Art Students League, including Milton Avery and Adolph Gottlieb. The wonderful, contemplative "Nude" from 1933 has the vagueness of an abstraction -- but also the feel of a color-inspired work by Avery, who, in turn, drew from Matisse.

Although Rothko is not usually associated with urban cityscapes, he was quite adept at them. Guenther has assembled a few from the 1930s. Most depict the goings-on in the New York subway system -- people waiting on the platform or entering through the stairs. They're lovely, achieving a balance between representational precision and blurriness. They also have a Seurat-like emotional aloofness. You can feel Rothko's detachment from the world.

There's a touching work from the late 1930s of Rothko's first wife, jeweler Edith Sachar, that I can't help but read in an achingly sad way. The painting, "Craftsman," shows Sachar at work. It's playful and suggests a hint of Surrealism."---D.K. Row, The Oregonian.

The Mark Rothko retrospective at the Portland Art Museum starts today.


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