Rothko to Richter: Mark-Making in Abstract Painting from the Collection of Preston H. Haskell

Mark Rothko, American, 1903–1970: Untitled, 1968. Oil on paper laid down on canvas, 100 x 63.5 cm. Collection of Preston H. Haskell, Class of 1960. © 1998 Kate Rothko Prizel & Christopher Rothko / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Rivaled only by the early years of the 1910s, when abstraction was pioneered in Europe and America, the forty-year period between 1950 and 1990 witnessed dramatic developments in abstract art. This exhibition features twenty-seven paintings by some of the era's most important artists, including Karel Appel, Helen Frankenthaler, Hans Hofmann, Franz Kline, Willem de Kooning, Morris Louis, Joan Mitchell, Robert Motherwell, Robert Rauschenberg, Gerhard Richter, and Mark Rothko.

Experimentation with various methods of producing an abstraction and applying paint to a surface was common during this time, alternately emphasizing or suppressing traces of the artist’s touch. Selected from the collection of Preston Haskell, Class of 1960, these works together offer a window into the evolution of process, mark-making, and abstraction in the second half of the twentieth century. The exhibition is accompanied by a fully illustrated catalogue.

Rothko to Richter: Mark-Making in Abstract Painting from the Collection of Preston H. Haskell has been made possible by generous support from the members of the Advisory Council of the Princeton University Art Museum: John Diekman, Class of 1965, and Susan Diekman; Allen R. Adler, Class of 1967, and Frances Beatty Adler; Diane W. Burke; Sarah Lee Elson, Class of 1984; Doris F. Fisher; Christopher Forbes, Class of 1972, and Astrid Forbes; Alice C. Frelinghuysen, Class of 1976, and George Frelinghuysen, Class of 1973; Stacey Roth Goergen, Class of 1990, and Robert Goergen; Heather Sturt Haaga and Paul G. Haaga Jr., Class of 1970; Nancy Lee; Thomas W. Lentz; Philip Maritz, Class of 1983, and Jennifer Maritz; Nancy A. Nasher, Class of 1976, and David J. Haemisegger, Class of 1976; Christy Eitner Neidig and William Neidig, Class of 1970; Christopher E. Olofson, Class of 1992; Mark W. Stevens, Class of 1973, and Annalyn Swan, Class of 1973; and Trevor D. Traina, Class of 1990, and Alexis S. Traina. Additional support has been provided by the Bagley Wright, Class of 1946, Contemporary Art Fund; the Virginia and Bagley Wright, Class of 1946, Program Fund for Modern and Contemporary Art; the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation; the Judith and Anthony B. Evnin, Class of 1962, Exhibitions Fund; and an anonymous donor, with further support from the Partners and Friends of the Princeton University Art Museum.