CHRISTIE'S TO SELL NEWLY DISCOVERED ROTHKO PAINTING

CHRISTIE'S ANNOUNCES THE AUCTION OF A PREVIOUSLY UNDOCUMENTED MASTERPIECE BY THE GREAT ABSTRACT EXPRESSIONIST MARK ROTHKO, TO BE OFFERED AS THE HIGHLIGHT OF THE POST-WAR AND CONTEMPORARY ART EVENING SALE AT CHRISTIE'S NEW YORK ON 11.MAY. THE BOLDLY COLOURED 1961 PAINTING UNTITLED #17 COMES TO AUCTION WITH AN ESTIMATE OF $18,000,000-$20,000,000. THE PRESENT OWNER OF UNTITLED #17 ACQUIRED THE WORK DIRECTLY FROM ROTHKO, AND THE WORK HAS REMAINED IN PRIVATE HANDS SINCE 1965. IT IS ONE OF ONLY 10 PAINTINGS THAT HAVE COME TO LIGHT SINCE THE ROTHKO CATALOGUE RAISONNE WAS PUBLISHED IN 1998. THE DISCOVERED WORK WILL BE INCLUDED IN THE SUPPLEMENT TO THE CATALOGUE RAINSONNE. DAVID ANFAM, AUTHOR OF THE CATALOGUE RAINSONNE, MARK ROTHKO THE WORKS ON CANVAS, HAS WRITTEN A TEXT ON THE PAINTING AND HAS NOTED: 'RECENTLY COME TO LIGHT AFTER AN EXTENDED PERIOD IN PRIVATE HANDS, UNTITLED #17 FITS SQUARELY AMONG THE 22 HITHERTO DOCUMENT OILS ON CANVAS FROM 1961. LARGE, CLASSIC CANVASES THAT MANAGED TO ELUDE MY CATALOGUE RAINSONNE ARE UNCOMMON, AND MOST WELCOME. AT ITS PUBLICATION IN 1998, I COMPARE THE CATALOGUE RAINSONNE PROJECT TO A SORT OF HOMECOMING, FOR A FAMILY OF WORKS THAT HAD BEEN SCATTERED AROUND THE WORLD BY TIME AND CIRCUMSTANCE INTO PUBLIC, PRIVATE AND EVEN FORGOTTEN PLACES. ABSENT FROM MY PAGES THEN, THE REDISCOVERY OF UNTITLED NO.17 ADDS ANOTHER INDELIBLE PRESENCE TO THE GREAT ROTHKO CANON.' ONE OF THE PRE-EMINENT ARTISTS IDENTIFIED WITH ABSTRACT EXPRESSIONISM, ROTHKO EVOLVED HIS CLASSIC STYLE AT THE END OF THE 1940s, CREATING LARGE-SCALE CANVASES IN WHICH FORM AND COLOUR ARE ONE. ALTHOUGH OTHERS HAVE DESCRIBED THESE WORKS IN PURELY FORMAL TERMS, ROTHKO SPOKE OF THEM AS 'INTIMATE AND INTENSE', AND SAID THEY WERE MEANT TO BE EXPERIENCED AT CLOSE QUARTERS, SO THAT THE VIEWER GETS THE FEELING OF BEING 'WITHIN THE PICTURE', PARTICIPATING IN ITS HUMAN 'POIGNANCY'. UNTITLED #17 WAS PAINTED AT THE END OF THE DECADE ROTHKO'S CLASSIC WORK, WHEN HE RECEIVED THE MAJOR COMMISSIONS FOR THE FOUR SEASONS RESTAURANT, THE HOLYOKE CENTER AT HARVARD AND THE DE MENIL CHAPEL IN HOUSTON THAT ALTERED THE DIRECTION OF HIS OF HIS ART.