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White Hot Rothko Rare work at Sotheby's draws power art collectors BY RENEE HARRISON DRAKE Extraordinary wealth affords individuals the ability to collect the paintings of their dreams. On May 15th at Sotheby's New York salesrooms, a masterpiece by Mark Rothko, the pioneer of abstract color-field painting, will capture the attention of those few - and very lucky - individuals who have many millions of dollars to spend on contemporary art. White Center (Yellow, Pink, and Lavender on Rose) comes from the collection of David Rockefeller, the prominent philanthropist, banker, and statesman, who is also known as the patriarch of one of America's wealthiest families. This exquisite canvas was acquired by Rockefeller in 1960 on the recommendation of Dorothy Miller, the first chief curator at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. The work was owned at that time by Elizabeth Bliss Parkinson and was sold to Rockefeller through the renowned Sydney Janis Gallery, which had originally handled its sale to Mrs. Parkinson directly from the studio of Rothko. Executed in 1950, White Center has never before appeared at auction and is estimated to achieve over $40 million dollars.
1950 was a pivotal year for Rothko, and this canvas represents the first fully realized work in the artist's mature style. During this seminal period, Rothko abandoned the use of the representational; he reduced the imagery in his works to floating, misty bands of color placed on a vivid color field. The reductive, seemingly weightless forms were executed in a variety of sizes and myriad combination of colors expressing a range of emotions, mood and sensations. Rothko stated that these paintings gave him clarity as an artist, as they eliminated all obstacles between the painter and the idea as well as the observer and the idea; however, according to Diane Walden, the author of Mark Rothko: a Retrospective, written in 1978, "his commitment to reduction and clarity filled him with self-doubt and was achieved at great emotional cost." In this monumental canvas, the white center brings life to the yellow, pink, lavender and rose notes that Rothko chose for his visual symphony. Tobias Meyer, Sotheby's Worldwide Head of Contemporary Art, regards White Center as one of the artistic monuments of the 20th Century. "Every great artist has one painting with which he is most closely associated, and for Rothko, this is the one. It is one of the most important works by the artist that is still in a private collection and is, without question, in the pantheon of masterpieces produced by the Abstract Expressionists." David Rockefeller acknowledged that the painting had given him and his wife Peggy great pleasure for almost 50 years. Previously, they had only collected figurative work. This was the first abstract work they added to their collection, and it became one of his wife's favorite paintings. Mr. Rockefeller stated to Sotheby's that, "[he] grew to respect deeply Rothko's power as an artist and the subtle and intricate balance of this great work. Now I hope another admirer of Abstract Expressionism will derive similar pleasure from it."
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