2 JANUARY 1999, page 32

Why Was The Blind Pulled Down?

Ian Dunlop MARK ROTHKO by David Anfam Yale, £95, pp. 708 H ad Mark Rothko ended his life in 1949 as opposed to 1970 he might be remembered as a minor symbolist painter with......

A Great, Complicated Melody

C. D. C. Armstrong MEMOIR by Conor Cruise O'Brien Profile, £20, pp. 460 1' hat a prodigy is Conor Cruise O'Brien! Consider the offices and appoint- ments he has held: he has......