Rothko Chapel Revisited with Sheldon Nodelman & Christopher Rothko 6.9.21

Rothko Chapel

The Rothko Chapel presented a livestream lecture and conversation with art historian Sheldon Nodelman and Christopher Rothko. In 1997, Nodelman authored Rothko Chapel Paintings: Origin, Structure, Meaning, where he explored the Rothko Chapel as "a masterpiece of twentieth century art and incontestably the greatest work of pictorial installation to date, both dauntingly complex and enigmatic." The quarter century that has elapsed since the publication of Nodelman’s book on the Chapel paintings has allowed for further reflection and the emergence of some new evidence regarding Mark Rothko's design and creative process that promotes a fuller estimation of its achievement. Of particular importance is a new understanding of the second of the three painting design phases that culminated in the finished work. This revelation is not only impressive but also enables a better appreciation of the leap of inspiration that resulted in what we know as the Rothko Chapel today. About the presenters Sheldon Nodelman is Emeritus Professor of the History of Art at the University of California, San Diego. He received his B.A., M.A. and Ph.D degrees from Yale University. Before joining the Visual Arts faculty at UCSD, he taught at Bryn Mawr College, Princeton University and Yale. His research fields include Classical Greek and Roman art--especially Roman sculptured portraiture, the twentieth century avant-garde, and art historical theory and method. Prominent among his published works is the major critical study so far of the Rothko Chapel paintings. He is currently pursuing two parallel investigations of the work of Marcel Duchamp. Christopher Rothko, the second of Mark and Mary Alice Rothko's two children, is a psychologist, writer and for the last thirty years, the custodian of the Rothko legacy. He is editor of his father's book of philosophical writings, The Artist's Reality. His book of essays, Mark Rothko from the Inside Out, was published in 2015 by Yale University Press. Dr. Rothko has helped prepare more than two dozen Rothko exhibitions at museums and galleries around the globe and is co-curator of the recent Rothko exhibition at the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna. He is Past Chair of the Rothko Chapel Board and is currently head of the Opening Spaces Project, guiding the restoration of the Chapel and enhancement of its campus.