Mark Rothko

Record year1949

summaryA method, from circa 1949 to 1970, of vertical soft-edged rectangles, monochrome grounds, thin-layer transparency, and saturation producing luminosity/depth and affective space. It is counted once as a mature painting language: each Untitled is not treated as a repetition, and it does not claim all color-field painting, abstract art, viewers' emotions, or auction prices.

M rationaleIt organized material layering, edges, scale, and color fields into a general painting method with effects of depth and feeling, supporting M5.5. The absence of work-by-work technical examination only widens the material interval for the works; it does not directly reduce M.

attribution rationaleRothko 0.50; artistic prehistory and his own early development 0.20; production support 0.07; display and viewers 0.10; conservation records 0.05; unresolved work-by-work attribution 0.08. Independent contemporary artists are not listed as causal contributors merely because they belong to the same school.

overlap boundaryA method, from circa 1949 to 1970, of vertical soft-edged rectangles, monochrome grounds, thin-layer transparency, and saturation producing luminosity/depth and affective space. It is counted once as a mature painting language: each Untitled is not treated as a repetition, and it does not claim all color-field painting, abstract art, viewers' emotions, or auction prices.

Evidence gapsWork-by-work materials, dating, and technical reports are needed to calibrate the boundaries of thin layers, pigments, and conservation.

Record year1964

summaryThe completed delivery of Rothko paintings and an architectural environment in the Houston sacred space commissioned in 1964 and opened in 1971. The mature painting method is counted only as an input; this item claims site coordination and the public environmental work. Architecture, subsequent interfaith activities, and Barnett Newman's sculpture are excluded.

M rationaleThis was a completed environmental commission spanning painting, architecture, and public access. It is assigned M5.2 as a cultural-space outcome with a defined site and delivery. The painting method itself is not counted again; M expresses only the added site-level contribution.

attribution rationaleRothko 0.30; de Menils 0.18; three architects 0.17; construction and installation 0.12; studio 0.08; operation, conservation, and visitors 0.10; unresolved decision boundary 0.05. Newman's independent sculpture is not included in the budget.

overlap boundaryThe completed delivery of Rothko paintings and an architectural environment in the Houston sacred space commissioned in 1964 and opened in 1971. The mature painting method is counted only as an input; this item claims site coordination and the public environmental work. Architecture, subsequent interfaith activities, and Barnett Newman's sculpture are excluded.

Evidence gapsCorrespondence between Rothko and the architects, records for the making of each painting, and archives of lighting and installation decisions are needed.

Record year1958

summaryMore than thirty coordinated paintings made for the Seagram/Four Seasons project in 1958–1959, together with residual cross-painting spatial organization in related late dark series. The mature color-field method has already been accounted for in the methods outcome; this item receives credit only for series arrangement, scale, and relation to place. The original restaurant installation was not completed, so no public experience at the original site is claimed.

M rationaleThe series organization of multiple coordinated paintings and their actual delivery form a spatial increment independent of the method of any single painting; because the original-site outcome was unrealized, that success-and-failure boundary is intrinsic to the project, yielding a net M4.4. Production quantity is not duplicated by the number of panels.

attribution rationaleRothko 0.42; commission and architectural environment 0.15; production/installation planning 0.10; museum conservation and display 0.12; foundation allocation 0.08; prehistory 0.06; unresolved contract and disposition 0.07.

overlap boundaryMore than thirty coordinated paintings made for the Seagram/Four Seasons project in 1958–1959, together with residual cross-painting spatial organization in related late dark series. The mature color-field method has already been accounted for in the methods outcome; this item receives credit only for series arrangement, scale, and relation to place. The original restaurant installation was not completed, so no public experience at the original site is claimed.

Evidence gapsContracts, correspondence concerning repayment of the commission fee, the destination of every painting, and Harvard material/fading conservation reports are needed.

Record year1948

summaryIn 1948, four people co-founded Subjects of the Artist and ran less than a year of short-term art teaching and organization. Only the co-founding and limited operation are counted; Abstract Expressionist education or students' later achievements are not claimed.

M rationaleThere was actual co-founding and operation, but it closed within a year and no curricular or learning effects have yet been established. It is assigned M2.8 as a short-term educational-organizational delivery. Closure is an intrinsic scope boundary of the outcome, not a deduction for unread material.

attribution rationaleRothko 0.20; Baziotes, Hare, and Motherwell 0.18 each; students, staff, and the New York art-school environment 0.14; facilities and administration 0.07; unresolved 0.05.

overlap boundaryIn 1948, four people co-founded Subjects of the Artist and ran less than a year of short-term art teaching and organization. Only the co-founding and limited operation are counted; Abstract Expressionist education or students' later achievements are not claimed.

Evidence gapsCurriculum, students, teaching materials, and resource inputs are missing; individual teaching shares await calibration.