Rothko Chapel interior.
For those who haven't had a chance to see the Rothko Chapel here in Houston, I'd highly recommend a visit. Located at 3900 Yupon near the museum district and Montrose area, it is a 'generic' chapel for those of any belief or tradition. Opened in the year of my birth, 1971, it's angular postmodern simplicity of design creates a space that is reverent, calm, and peaceful – an ideal place for meditation, contemplation, or simple quiet time. Many events from people of all traditions are held there. I was organizing a Humanist Contemplatives Club a year or so ago, and we would often meet there (I am currently beginning a new Humanist Contemplatives Meetup here in Houston, by the way, although we now meet elsewhere).
What I'm writing about today, however, are Mark Rothko's paintings which are presented inside the chapel space. These paintings are huge foreboding canvases which seem at first glance to be mere black panels. Upon further inspection one sees the varying shades within the darkness, and the different kinds of 'black' and different textures on the canvases – nevertheless, the overall impression of featureless darkness is unmistakable. One also will eventually notice the interesting relative sizes and positions of the canvases.
However, the overall impression leaves many perplexed. In the book The Rothko Chapel Paintings: Origins, Structure, Meaning by Sheldon Nodelman, the author writes:
“A strong component of the visitor's initial impression of the chapel is likely to be a sense of bafflement, of the inadequacy of one's available discursive apparatus to the experience one is confronting. This is no accident...”
Indeed, a friend of mine had just that reaction. He told me recently that he had been to the chapel and seen the paintings but that he “just didn't get it”. I tried to explain a little but found myself stumbling a bit, which is what inspired this article. Note that Nodelman wrote of this effect on viewers: this is no accident.
What do the paintings mean?
Atypically, the artist was allowed to have a say in the architectural layout of the space, so the paintings were specifically created as one with it. Therefore no one painting can be understood alone or apart from the architectural environment for which is was composed. The entire chapel is a unified statement.
The statement seems to be one of “darkness and impenetrability” that had become present in Rothko's work by the late 1950s. Rothko's own tumultuous life can be read about on Wikipedia, among other places. It describes the effect as “surrounding the viewer with massive, imposing visions of darkness”.
Over the six years of his life spent on this project, Rothko had a gradually growing concern for the transcendent (caution: that word doesn't mean the same thing to everyone). Nodelman writes that he told friends the Chapel would be his most important artistic statement. Initially, the chapel was to be Roman Catholic. It's octagonal shape was based on the Byzantine church of St. Maria Assunta. The format of canvases in threes recalls the common triptych arrangements of paintings of the Crucifixion. However, Rothko left out overt references, which created something more universal.
[Part 2: Go beyond the dark interpretation]
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