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Rothko's appetite suppressant sauced up | 25 comments (25 topical, editorial, 0 hidden)
Re: Rothko's appetite suppressant sauced up (none / 1)
The defacing graffiti:

One of the panels:

Another narrative:

THE ART SYN: ROTHKO@Tate Modern ... a MUST SEE

The legend has it that Rothko first thought his paintings were going to be hung in the workers' canteen. When he realised they were going to be in a very posh and elitist restaurant instead, he withdrew from the assigned work and gave seven of them to the Tate Modern. The donated paintings arrived the day he died.
by afew (afew(a in a circle)eurotrib_dot_com) on Tue Oct 9th, 2012 at 02:08:44 AM EST
Re: Rothko's appetite suppressant sauced up (none / 0)
This seems like a case of "print the legend" - this version wouldn't fit with his comment to the publisher of Harpers.

But anyway I don't think the workers would have welcomed them, though some might have been intimidated by the fact that art commissars had declared them virtually sacred. Abstract Expressionism wasn't really popular even with the very small Art set:

"" 'Considering the degree to which  is publicized and feted', Rosenberg said 'vanguard painting is hardly bought at all.' "

Tom Wolfe, The Painted Word, p. 67

Maybe it's because I'm a Londoner - that I moved to Nice.

by Ted Welch (tedwelch-at-mac-dot-com) on Tue Oct 9th, 2012 at 03:52:57 PM EST
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Re: Rothko's appetite suppressant sauced up (none / 0)
I find the workers' canteen story pretty hard to believe.
by afew (afew(a in a circle)eurotrib_dot_com) on Tue Oct 9th, 2012 at 04:00:52 PM EST
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Re: Rothko's appetite suppressant sauced up (none / 0)
Even that didn't impress a prisoner at Riker's Island who threw a cup of coffee at the Dali Crucifixion hanging in the canteen.
by gk (gk (gk quattro due due sette @gmail.com)) on Wed Oct 10th, 2012 at 01:57:20 AM EST
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Re: Rothko's appetite suppressant sauced up (none / 0)
And then it was moved.

Surreal theft as Dali sketch escapes jail | World news | The Guardian

For 16 years, the sketch hung in a corner of the inmates' dining room until a prisoner threw a cup of coffee at it. It was then re-hung where only prison officers and their guests were able to see it.

And in 2003 it was stolen, but apparently no one can figure out how.

Sweden's finest (and perhaps only) collaborative, leftist e-newspaper Synapze.se

by A swedish kind of death on Wed Oct 10th, 2012 at 06:56:09 AM EST
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Rothko's appetite suppressant sauced up | 25 comments (25 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)
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