Speeches

Statements by Senior

Embassy Officials

Opening of the Mark Rothko Exhibition

Tel Aviv Museum of Art

March 29, 2007

It is a great pleasure for me and my wife Joan to open this exhibit of the works of Mark Rothko.  Mark Rothko is one of the preeminent artists of his generation.  He is closely identified with the New York School, a circle of painters that emerged during the 1940s as a new collective voice in American art.  He created a new and impassioned form of abstract painting during a career that spanned five decades. 

We owe our thanks both to Professor Moti Omer who first envisioned this exhibit, and to Mark Rothko’s children, Christopher Rothko and Kate Rothko Prizel, who responded positively to Moti’s proposal.  

This exhibit is a celebration for aficionados of Rothko’s work, and an opportunity to introduce the works of this major American artist to a wider audience.  I am confident that Israelis who view these paintings will enjoy them every bit as much as do Americans.

We at the American Embassy continue to seek ways to strengthen and expand cultural interaction between our two countries.  This interaction is an important part of our special relationship – a relationship that goes well beyond the security and political/economic spheres. 

Artists from both countries have provided a wellspring of creativity in art, music, and literature. 

We read in the Bible about one of the greatest artists of all time – Betzalel.  His name literally means “in the shadow of God.”  That is an appropriate name for an artist.   Only God can create something from nothing (“ex nihilo”), but a true artist can come very close to that same type of creation.  An artist takes very simple materials – paint, brushes, chalk, clay, stone – and molds them into something that seems to come alive.  Truly great art also elevates the spirit of those who experience it.

The relationship between our two countries cannot help but be strengthened as we experience and appreciate together the creativity of great artists such as Mark Rothko.  The symposium on Rothko’s work that took place earlier today, and this exhibition of his work that will continue for the next three weeks, is one more strand in the complex web of shared cultural experiences that helps to bind us together.  

I congratulate the organizers of this exhibit, and wish you and the Tel Aviv Museum of Art continued success.