Abstract
Since the Romantic period, painters have no longer made use of traditional Christian iconography to express religious transcendence. Taking their cue from Schleiermacher’s Reden Über die Religion, painters have sought for new, personal ways to express religious transcendence. One example is Caspar David Friedrich’s Monk by the Sea. Rosenblum argues, in his Modern Painting and the Northern Romantic Tradition, that there is a parallel between Friedrich and the abstract expressionist Rothko with respect to the expression to religious transcendence. In this article I investigate how the experience of transcendence that Rothko’s paintings want to evoke is to be described. Is it an experience of the sublime in the Romantic tradition? Is it the evocation of the ultimate in accordance with Tillich’s broad concept of religion? Does it display affinity between Rothko and the first generation of abstract painters such as Kandinsky and Malevich? Or is it a transcendent experience that cannot be situated so easily within the options supplied? After determining Rothko’s understanding of transcendence, some issues will be brought up that could be fruitful for Christian theology.
References
Abrams M.H. (1973). Natural supernaturalism: Tradition and revolution in romantic literature. Norton, New York
Alloway L. (1973). Residual sign systems in abstract expressionism. Artforum, 12: 36–42
Barnes S.J. (1989). The Rothko Chapel: An act of faith. University of Texas, Austin
Begbie J. (1991). Voicing creations’s praise: Towards a theology of the arts. T&T Clark, Edinburgh
Burke, E. (1990). A philosophical enquire into the origins of our ideas of the sublime and the beautiful. Ed. A. Phillips. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Chave A.C. (1989). Mark Rothko: Subjects in abstraction. Yale University Press, New Haven and London
de Menil D. (1989). Preface. In: Barnes, S.J. (eds) The Rothko Chapel: An act of faith. University of Texas, Austin
Fraser G. (2005). Modernism and the minimal god: On the empty spirituality of the god of the philosophers. In: Harris, H.A. and Insole, C.J. (eds) Faith and the philosophical analysis: The impact of analytical philosophy on the philosophy of religion, pp 148–157. Aldershot, Ashgate
Gottlieb, A., & Rothko, M. (2005a). Rothko’s and Gottlieb’s letter to the editor, 1943. In M. López-Remiro (Ed.), M. Rothko, Writings on art (pp. 35–36). New Haven and London: Yale University Press.
Gottlieb A. and Rothko M. (2005b). The portrait and the modern artist’ by Rothko and Gotlieb, 1943. In: López-Remiro, M. (eds) Writings on art, pp 37–40. Yale University Press, New Haven and London
Kierkegaard S. (1983). Repetition; fear and trembling, stages on life’s way. In: Hong, H.V. and Hong, E.H. (eds) Kierkegaard’s Writings VI. Princeton University Press, Princeton
Lyotard J.-F. (1997). The postmodern condition: A report on knowledge. University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis
Milbank J. (2004). Sublimity: The modern transcendent. In: Schwartz, R. (eds) Transcendence: Philosophy, literature and theology approach the beyond, pp 211–234. New York and London, Routledge
Minnema L. (2003). Bildlose Bildhaftigkeit: “Mythisierung” im Werk Mark Rothkos. In: Oberhammer, G. (eds) Mythisierung der Transzendenz als Entwurf ihrer Erfahrung, pp 203–231. Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Vienna
Nodelman S. (1997). The Rothko Chapel paintings: Origins, structure, meaning. University of Texas Press, Austin
O’Doherty B. (1973). American masters : The voice and the myth. Random House, New York
Polcari S. (1991). Abstract expressionism and the modern experience. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
Rodman S. (1957). Conversations with artists. Devin-Adair, New York
Rosenblum R. (1969). The sublime. In: Geldzahler, H. (eds) New York painting and sculpture:1940–1970, pp 350–359. E.D.Dutton & Co., New York
Rosenblum R. (1975). Modern painting and the Northern romantic tradition: Friedrich to Rothko. Harper & Row, New York
Rothko M. (2004). The artist’s reality: Philosophies of art. Yale University Press, New Haven and London
Rothko, M. (2005a). Comments on The Omen of the Eagle, 1943. In M. López-Remiro (Ed.), Writings on art (p. 40). New Haven and London: Yale University Press.
Rothko M. (2005b). Letter to Barnett Newman, July 31, 1945. In: López-Remiro, M. (eds) Writings on art, p. 47. Yale University Press, New Haven and London
Rothko M. (2005c). The Romantics were prompted, 1947. In: López-Remiro, M. (eds) Writings on art, pp 58–59. Yale University Press, New Haven and London
Rothko M. (2005d). Statement on his attitude in painting, 1949. In: López-Remiro, M. (eds) Writings on art, p. 65. Yale University Press, New Haven and London
Rothko M. (2005e). Notes from an interview by W. Seitz, 1952. In: López-Remiro, M. (eds) Writings on art, pp 75–79. Yale University Press, New Haven and London
Rothko M. (2005f). Address to pratt institute, 1958. In: López-Remiro, M. (eds) Writings on art, pp 125–128. Yale University Press, New Haven and London
Shaw P. (2006). The sublime. London and New York, Routledge
Stoker W. (2000). Are human beings religious by nature? Schleiermacher’s generic view of religion and the contemporary pluralistic secular culture. Bijdragen, International Journal in Philosophy and Theology, 61: 51–75
Stoker W. (2006). Is faith rational? A hermeneutical-phenomenological accounting for faith. Louvain, Peeters
Stoker, W. (2008) Beauty as a theological concept: A critical examination of the aesthetics of Hans Urs von Balthasar and Gerardus van der Leeuw. In H. Zock (Ed.), Art and religion, Leuven: Peeters (forthcoming).
Theunissen, M., & Hühn, H. (2004). Wiederholung. In J. Ritter (Ed.), Historisches Wörterbuch der Philosophie (Vol. 12, pp. 738–746). Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft.
Tuchman M. (1986). Hidden meanings in abstract art. In: Tuchman, M. (eds) The spiritual in art: Abstract painting 1890–1985, pp 17–61. Abbeville Press, New York
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Open Access
This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial License which permits any noncommercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited.
Rights and permissions
Open Access This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0), which permits any noncommercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited.
About this article
Cite this article
Stoker, W. The Rothko Chapel Paintings and the ‘urgency of the transcendent experience’. Int J Philos Relig 64, 89–102 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11153-008-9165-x
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11153-008-9165-x
Keywords
- Concept of God
- Theological aesthetics
- Rothko
- Religious Transcendent
- Religious art
- Sublime