Mark Rothko: The Artist’s Reality: Philosophies of Art (2004)

“One of the most important artists of the twentieth century, Mark Rothko (1903–1970) created a new and impassioned form of abstract painting over the course of his career. Rothko also wrote a number of essays and critical reviews during his lifetime. Although the artist never published a book of his views, his heirs indicate that he occasionally spoke of the existence of such a manuscript to friends and colleagues. Stored in a New York City warehouse since the artist’s death more than thirty years ago, this manuscript, titled The Artist’s Reality, is now being published for the first time.

Probably written around 1940–41, this book discusses Rothko’s ideas on the modern art world, art history, myth, beauty, the challenges of being an artist in society, the true nature of “American art,” and much more. The Artist’s Reality also includes an introduction by Christopher Rothko, the artist’s son, who describes the discovery of the manuscript and the process of bringing it to publication. The introduction is illustrated with a small selection of relevant examples of the artist’s own work as well as with reproductions of pages from the actual manuscript.”

Edited and with an Introduction by Christopher Rothko
Publisher Yale University Press, 2004
ISBN 0300115857, 9780300115857
136 pages

Publisher
WorldCat

PDF, PDF

Max Neuhaus: Evocare l’udibile / Évoquer l’auditif (1995) [IT/FR, EN]

Catalogue for the exhibition held at Villa Arson, Nice (FR), and Castello di Rivoli, Turin (IT), in 1995. With texts by Stuart Morgan, Yehuda Safran, a.o.

“The Drawing After

After finishing a sound work, if time allows, I wait several months before listening to it again. This is the first time I can stand outside the work and see what it is that I have made. It is only at this point after experiencing the work with distance that I make its circumscription drawing.

This drawing, two panels, a visual image and a handwritten text, integrates two traditional forms of communication to circumscribe something both invisible and indescribable. The image is not the drawing nor is the text: the drawing is what they synthesize together. When read in parallel, they evoke a central idea of the sound work, a point of departure and a reference, for reflection.” (Max Neuhaus, source [includes also an English version of a text by Yehuda Safran included in the catalogue])

Publisher Charta, Milan, 1995
ISBN 8881580462, 9788881580460
129 pages
via Charles

WorldCat

PDF (41 MB)
Transcriptions of descriptions of the featured works (in English, TXT)
Web version of the exhibition (at Max-Neuhaus.info)

See also Max Neuhaus, Sound Works, 3 vols., 1994.

Georges Perec: Species of Spaces and Other Pieces (1974–) [FR, DE, EN, ES, GR, CR, RU]

Georges Perec produced some of the most entertaining essays of the age. His literary output was deliberately varied in form and style and this selection of Perec’s non-fictional work also demonstrates his characteristic lightness of touch, wry humour and accessibility.

Publisher Galilée, Paris, 1974
125 pages

English edition
Edited with an Introduction and Translated by John Sturrock
Publisher Penguin, 1998
ISBN 0140189866, 9780140189865
96 pages
via thecryingroom

WorldCat (EN)

Espèces d’espaces (French, DJVU, 1974/1985, updated on 2019-10-11)
Träume von Räumen (German, trans. Eugen Helmlé, 1994, 14 MB, Scribd, updated on 2019-10-11)
Species of Spaces and Other Pieces (English, trans. John Sturrock, 1998)
Especies de espacios (Spanish, trans. Jesús Camarero, 1999/2001)
Χορείες χώρων (Greek, trans. Αχιλλέας Κυριακίδης, 2000)
Vrste prostora (Croatian, trans. Petra Matić, 2005, 43 MB, Scribd)
Prosto prostranstva: Dnevnik polzovatelya (Russian, trans. Valeriy Kislov, 2012, updated on 2019-10-11)