Untitled (Seagram Mural sketch) 1959

Editor: This is Mark Rothko’s “Untitled (Seagram Mural sketch),” painted in 1959 using oil. The hues of red and brown, almost like looking into embers. How do you see the materials contributing to the work's meaning? Curator: For me, Rothko's strategic deployment of oil paint – its viscosity, the way it's layered, the visible brushstrokes – points to a critical tension: high art versus the materiality of labor. Consider, these aren't ethereal washes of color, but deliberately constructed fields. How do those layers, and the labor evident within them, shape your perception of its abstract qualities? Editor: I see what you mean! Knowing it's a sketch, though, I initially read the layers as building toward a final, possibly smoother, product. But you're saying the visible labor is the point? Curator: Exactly. Rothko was commissioned for the Four Seasons restaurant in the Seagram Building. Reflect on the implications of producing something perceived as profound or spiritual, but destined to hang in a site synonymous with commerce and elite consumption. Editor: So, even his move away from the commission, refusing it after realizing the space, becomes another part of that statement? Curator: Absolutely. By emphasizing the process and then withdrawing the work, Rothko critiques the commodification of art. He highlights the irreconcilable differences between artistic intention, the labour of production, and the intended space. What's left is a painting which poses many questions about value and context. Editor: That really shifts how I view it. It's not just abstract expressionism; it's an active negotiation of its own place in the world of making and selling. Thanks for helping me unpack that. Curator: Indeed. Paying attention to the materials and their intended destination offers profound insight. There's a tension within, a testament to the struggles artists face within capitalist structures.