Freudian Psychology as a Substitute for the Metaphor of Industrial Seed Production

Robert Mapplethorpe, "Freudian Psychology as a Substitute for the Metaphor of Industrial Corn Production," 1976.

The Rothko Collection

Mark Rothko, "Let the Decision Stand," 1943. Collection of Donald Sutherland, St. John's, New Brunswick.

Suddenly enamored of the avant garde tradition making its way to New York from Europe during the Second World War, "Let the Decision Stand" was a direct response to the New York Times' unfavorable review of his 1942 exhibition at the Macy's Department Store. Rothko sought not only to defend the change in his work brought about by those avant garde influences. He endeavored to make of this resolve a symbol of American surrealism itself. "Let the Decision Stand" would prefigure much of his later work.