What is a Classic? How did the myths of ancient Greece and Rome come to represent 'Classical Myth'? How did Mark Rothko's paintings produced in the years 1951-1970 become 'the Classic years' of the artist's career? This talk attempts to bridge these seemingly differing conceptions of the Classical and the Classic by looking at the development of Rothko's work in the 'decisive decade' of the 1940s. The main claim of the talk is that even though Rothko's use of Classical Myth and Literature as themes in his work give way to the unique form of abstraction we come to know as the 'Classic' Rothko style, at the same time the artist maintained a critical and philosophical conception of myth throughout this transitional period that has an intriguing parallel to the fate of Classical myth in antiquity.
Artwork © 1998 Kate Rothko Prizel & Christopher Rothko / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. (Photos by Greg Miller)
Richard Fletcher is Associate Professor in the Department of Classics at The Ohio State University. His research focuses on the translation of Greek Philosophy into Roman Literature and Culture and his first book Apuleius' Platonism: the Impersonation of Philosophy is forthcoming from Cambridge University Press. In addition to being a regular teacher of the Classics Department's huge Classical Mythology course (Classics 2220), Prof. Fletcher is developing a research and teaching interest in the dynamic between Classical Myth, Literature and Philosophy and Modern and Contemporary Art. His interests in this field range from the works of Man Ray and Cy Twombly to Elliott Hundley and Josiah McElheny, and he is currently working on an exhibition of the work of photographer Donald Lokuta at the Urban Arts Space in August.
