Page 317 - Uros Todorovic Byzantine Painting Contemporary Eyes

Chapter VI
particular hypothesis in the present chapter, that there is a tangible connection between the theological dimension in Rothko’s classic paintings and the aesthetics of Late Byzan- tine painting, has so far not been the subject of an extensive methodological enquiry, certainly not until 2012 when the content of the present book in its entirety became available as a PhD dissertation.25
On the Influence of Nietzsche
Given that Nietzsche’s writings significantly influenced Rothko (especially The Birth of Tragedy), in the following paragraphs we shall discuss that influence in Rothko’s works of the classic period. In his book The Birth of Tragedy (1872), Nietzsche argues that trag- edy is the synthesis of the Dionysian and Apollonian poles. Traditionally, Apollo is as- sociated with principles such as order, reason, structure, moderation and clarity, where- as Dionysus is associated with principles such as frenzy, intuition, passion, ritual, imag- ination, excess and feeling.
According to Nietzsche, the Dionysian-Apollonian dichotomy presupposes a complex kind of interdependence. On the one hand, Dionysus, the god of “the ineducable Art of music” (but also God of wine, ecstasy, fertility, theatre and intoxication) is associated with the flood of passion and the ecstatic primeval experience of ancient cults – phe- nomena which exceed man’s experience of individual existence; while on the other, Apol- lo, the god of the Art of the sculptor, is identified with a will to form, which comes to depict the otherwise amorphous Dionysian state. In spite of the seeming simplicity, this is not a mere case of phantasmagoric dialectics.
As it has been noted by experts of the field, throughout his life Nietzsche’s own un- derstanding of the Dionysian is characterised by ambiguous fluctuations – a phenome- non which, in our view, might have profoundly affected the very way in which the highly apperceptive Rothko was influenced by Nietzsche’s writings. We shall here cite a seg-
while so easily identified as ‘a Rothko,’ eschew all painterly narrative, even in their titles. They are simply called ‘No. 18’ or ‘Untitled (Violet, Black, Orange on Gray).’”
See: David E. Anderson, (2010) “Anecdotes of the Spirit,” accessed 11 March 2012 from: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/episodes/by-topic/art/anecdotes-of-the-spirit/6500/
25 Uros T. Τodorovic “The Diachronic Character of Late Byzantine Painting: The Hermeneutics of Vision from Mis-
tra to New York” (PhD diss., University of Sydney, 2012). Note: The photographic material in this book, including the authentic visual comparisons and visual demonstrations created by the author, is the same as in the doctoral disserta- tion defended in 2012. Also, the printed colour version of the doctoral dissertation has been available at university li- braries since 2012. Therefore, authentic visual comparisons and visual demonstrations included both in this book and in the doctoral dissertation entail author’s rights since 2012.
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