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Mark Rothko (Russian/American, 1903-1970), 'Black on Maroon,' 1958 mixed media on canvas from one of three series of canvases Rothko painted for the Four Seasons Restaurant in the Seagram Building, New York. Artwork was gifted by the artist and received by Tate Modern, London, in 1970. Image copyright Tate Modern. All rights reserved.

Rothko painting vandalized in London

Catherine Saunders-Watson
Catherine Saunders-Watson
Mark Rothko (Russian/American, 1903-1970), 'Black on Maroon,' 1958 mixed media on canvas from one of three series of canvases Rothko painted for the Four Seasons Restaurant in the Seagram Building, New York. Artwork was gifted by the artist and received by Tate Modern, London, in 1970. Image copyright Tate Modern. All rights reserved.
Mark Rothko (Russian/American, 1903-1970), ‘Black on Maroon,’ 1958 mixed media on canvas from one of three series of canvases Rothko painted for the Four Seasons Restaurant in the Seagram Building, New York. Artwork was gifted by the artist and received by Tate Modern, London, in 1970. Image copyright Tate Modern. All rights reserved.

LONDON – London’s Tate Modern was temporarily closed on Sunday after a mural by US modern artist Mark Rothko was defaced by black paint, the gallery said.

The gallery shut for a short time at around 3:25 p.m. (1425 GMT) after the damage was found on the corner of one of the Rothko’s Seagram murals.

“Tate can confirm that there was an incident in which a visitor defaced one of Rothko’s Seagram murals by applying a small area of black paint with a brush to the painting,” said a spokeswoman for the popular gallery.

The Seagram murals, commissioned by New York’s Four Seasons restaurant in 1958, arrived in London for display at Tate Modern’s sister gallery on February 25, 1970 — the day the artist committed suicide aged 66.

A large-scale painting by the artist fetched $86.9 million at a New York auction in May, setting a new record for any contemporary work of art.

The Russian-born expressionist painter became a giant of the modern art world through his simplified and colourful compositions inspired by mythology and primitive art.

Update: London’s Sun newspaper reports that a man identified as Vladimir Umanets has admitted he wrote the words “Vladimir Umanets, A Potential Piece of Yellowism” on the Rothko painting. He is quoted as saying, “Some people think I’m crazy or a vandal, but my intention was not to destroy or decrease the the value, or to go crazy. I am not a vandal.”

Umanets is one of the founders of “Yellowism,” a movement he describes as “neither art nor anti-art.”

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ADDITIONAL IMAGE OF NOTE

Mark Rothko (Russian/American, 1903-1970), 'Black on Maroon,' 1958 mixed media on canvas from one of three series of canvases Rothko painted for the Four Seasons Restaurant in the Seagram Building, New York. Artwork was gifted by the artist and received by Tate Modern, London, in 1970. Image copyright Tate Modern. All rights reserved.
Mark Rothko (Russian/American, 1903-1970), ‘Black on Maroon,’ 1958 mixed media on canvas from one of three series of canvases Rothko painted for the Four Seasons Restaurant in the Seagram Building, New York. Artwork was gifted by the artist and received by Tate Modern, London, in 1970. Image copyright Tate Modern. All rights reserved.