Perspective Rules Destroyed Color?

"Perspective displaced the use of the organic quality of colours, which had previously, in and of themselves, produced the tactile effect of recession and advancement."
-- Mark Rothko, "Objective Impressionism", c.1940-1^*

One of the responses I give to people wondering what the fuss is about Rothko's abstract paintings is that they need to be taken in context. While today we take color-field abstracts in our stride (leaving aside the issue of whether you like them or not), when he created them the concept of color(s) being the subject of the painting was very new.

In an attempt to learn more about what led Rothko to creating them I've been dipping into his writing. The quote above made me stop and dig out an art reference tome to see some very early, pre-Giotto paintings, to look anew at how color was used. Once again Rothko has led me to unexpected places.

^{*Quoted in Colour: Documents of Contemporary Art edited by David Batchelor, p93
Image: © Marion Boddy-Evans. Licensed to About.com, Inc}