Rothko painting vandalised in Tate Modern
A vandal defaced a Mark Rothko painting worth tens of millions of pounds in the worst security breach ever to hit Tate Modern.
Mark Rothko's 'Black On Maroon' painting was defaced Photo: JANE MINGAY
Astonished witnesses saw the culprit, described as a man in his late 20s,
calmly walk up to Black On Maroon (1958) and scrawl a graffiti message in
black marker pen or paint.
Police were called but the man could not be located and last night no arrest
had been made. The Tate’s conservationists are currently assessing the
damage.
The painting was one of a series, known as the Seagram murals, gifted to the Tate by the artist in 1969. The last Rothko work to sell fetched £53.8 million at Christie’s in New York earlier this year, a new record for contemporary art.
The graffiti read: “Vladimir Umanets, A Potential Piece of Yellowism.”
It appears to be a reference to a website, www.thisisyellowism.com, run by two individuals called Vladimir Umanets and Marcin Lodyga and described as a “superficial blog” on conceptual art.
The website declares that it is a “Manifesto of Yellowism”, saying: “Yellowism
is not art or anti-art. Examples of Yellowism can look like works of art but
are not works of art.”
One of the witnesses to the attack, Tim Wright, posted a picture of the defaced painting on Twitter. He said: “This guy calmly walked up, took out a marker pen and tagged it. Surreal.
“We gave a description to the gallery. Very bizarre, he sat there for a while then just went for it and made a quick exit.”
Mr Wright, 23, described the culprit as a "trendy" man in his late 20s with facial hair and a tattoo on his neck.
Mr Wright, a marketing executive from Bath, said: “He was sitting down in the middle of the room and we were all looking at the paintings.
“It was quite strange, we kind of heard before we saw that sound of a pen scratching on canvas.
“We looked around and he was finishing a tag and was off like a shot.”
He and the other gallery-goers who had seen what had happened rushed to inform staff.
“They were shocked but I think the overwhelming feeling was disappointment because the damage had been done by that point,” he said.
Tate Modern is the world’s most-visited art gallery and was packed with visitors yesterday afternoon when the vandal struck in the ‘Rothko Room’.
The gallery is covered by CCTV and police are studying the footage. A Scotland Yard spokesman said: “We were alerted at 3.35pm to a report of criminal damage at Tate Modern.
“The suspect was a white male, believed to be in his late 20s. No arrest has been made at this time.”
The Tate said a visitor had defaced one of the Seagram murals “by applying a small area of black paint with a brush to the painting”.
Questions will be asked about security at the gallery, where the Rothkos are not protected by glass and are separated from visitors only be a low-level barrier that can easily be stepped over.
Typically, each room is monitored by a single gallery attendant.
It was Rothko himself who stipulated how his work should be displayed at the Tate.
The defaced painting was one of a series commissioned from Rothko in 1958 for the Four Seasons restaurant in New York’s Seagram Building, but never installed.
In 1969, the artist donated nine of the paintings to the Tate on the proviso that they be displayed “as an immersive environment”. He died the following year.
Last year, the National Gallery also fell victim to vandalism when two 17th century masterpieces were defaced. A man sprayed red paint from an aerosol can over Nicolas Poussin’s The Adoration of the Golden Calf and The Adoration of the Shepherds. On that occasion, the culprit was swiftly arrested.
One of the witnesses to the attack, Tim Wright, posted a picture of the defaced painting on Twitter. He said: “This guy calmly walked up, took out a marker pen and tagged it. Surreal.
“We gave a description to the gallery. Very bizarre, he sat there for a while then just went for it and made a quick exit.”
Mr Wright, 23, described the culprit as a "trendy" man in his late 20s with facial hair and a tattoo on his neck.
Mr Wright, a marketing executive from Bath, said: “He was sitting down in the middle of the room and we were all looking at the paintings.
“It was quite strange, we kind of heard before we saw that sound of a pen scratching on canvas.
“We looked around and he was finishing a tag and was off like a shot.”
He and the other gallery-goers who had seen what had happened rushed to inform staff.
“They were shocked but I think the overwhelming feeling was disappointment because the damage had been done by that point,” he said.
Tate Modern is the world’s most-visited art gallery and was packed with visitors yesterday afternoon when the vandal struck in the ‘Rothko Room’.
The gallery is covered by CCTV and police are studying the footage. A Scotland Yard spokesman said: “We were alerted at 3.35pm to a report of criminal damage at Tate Modern.
“The suspect was a white male, believed to be in his late 20s. No arrest has been made at this time.”
The Tate said a visitor had defaced one of the Seagram murals “by applying a small area of black paint with a brush to the painting”.
Questions will be asked about security at the gallery, where the Rothkos are not protected by glass and are separated from visitors only be a low-level barrier that can easily be stepped over.
Typically, each room is monitored by a single gallery attendant.
It was Rothko himself who stipulated how his work should be displayed at the Tate.
The defaced painting was one of a series commissioned from Rothko in 1958 for the Four Seasons restaurant in New York’s Seagram Building, but never installed.
In 1969, the artist donated nine of the paintings to the Tate on the proviso that they be displayed “as an immersive environment”. He died the following year.
Last year, the National Gallery also fell victim to vandalism when two 17th century masterpieces were defaced. A man sprayed red paint from an aerosol can over Nicolas Poussin’s The Adoration of the Golden Calf and The Adoration of the Shepherds. On that occasion, the culprit was swiftly arrested.
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