Untitled

1941/1942

Mark Rothko

Associated Names
Mark Rothko

Painter, American, born Russia (now Latvia), 1903 - 1970

This painting depicts various shapes inside overlapping rectangles against a dark orange background. These shapes resemble human limbs and body parts, each contained in their own section. Shapes resembling eyes peek from a cloud-like formation near the top left, and below it are two horizontal rectangles containing long arms ending in hands. Below that are more compartments with a hand, feet, and long legs. On the right is a large rectangle which seems to contain elongated torsos. The body parts and containers are painted in shades of white, gray, dark orange, and red, with dark outlines.
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On View

East Building Tower Level, Gallery E615

Artwork overview

  • Medium

    oil on canvas

  • Credit Line

    Gift of The Mark Rothko Foundation, Inc.

  • Dimensions

    overall: 76 x 91.3 cm (29 15/16 x 35 15/16 in.)
    framed: 81 x 95.9 x 5.2 cm (31 7/8 x 37 3/4 x 2 1/16 in.)

  • Accession Number

    1986.43.34

  • Copyright

    Copyright © 1998 Kate Rothko Prizel and Christopher Rothko

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

The artist [1903-1970]; his estate; consigned 1970 to (Marlborough Gallery, Inc., New York); transferred 1977 back to the artist's estate;[1] transferred 1979 to The Mark Rothko Foundation, Inc., New York; gift 1986 to NGA.
[1] For a detailed discussion of the transactions surrounding the Rothko estate see Lee Seldes, Legacy of Mark Rothko, New York, 1978.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1993

  • Variations Autour de la Crucifixion: Regards Contemporains sur Grünewald, Musée d'Unterlinden, Colmar, France, 1993, unnumbered catalogue, repro.

1996

  • JudenFragen. Jüdische Positionen von Assimilation bis Zionismus [Jewish Attitudes from Assimilation to Zionism], Jüdisches Museum der Stadt Wien, Vienna, 1996-1997, unnumbered catalogue, repro.

1998

  • Mark Rothko, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, 1998-1999, no. 12 (NGA/WMAA cat.) and no. 8 (Paris cat.), repro.

2007

  • Mark Rothko, Palazzo delle Esposizioni, Rome; Kunsthalle der Hypo-Kulturstiftung, Munich; Hamburger Kunsthalle, 2007-2008, no. 28 (English and German cats.), repro.

2012

  • Mark Rothko: The Decisive Decade, 1940-1950, Columbia Museum of Art, South Carolina; Columbus Museum of Art, Ohio; Denver Art Museum; The Arkansas Arts Center, Little Rock, 2012-2014, no. 7, repro.

Bibliography

1984

  • Clearwater, Bonnie. Mark Rothko: Works on Paper. New York, 1984: 26, repro.

1988

  • Polcari, Steven. "Mark Rothko: Heritage, Environment, and Tradition." Smithsonian Studies in American Art 2, no. 2 (1988): 39, repro.

1989

  • Chave, Anna C. Mark Rothko: Subjects in Abstraction. New Haven, 1989: 148, repro.

1991

  • Polcari, Stephen. Abstract Expressionism and the Modern Experience. Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1991: 122, repro.

1992

  • American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1992: 295, repro.

1993

  • Amishai-Maisels, Ziva. Depiction and Interpretation: The Influence of the Holocaust on the Visual Arts. Oxford, 1993: 69, repro.

1998

  • Anfam, David. Mark Rothko: The Works on Canvas: Catalogue Raisonné. New Haven and London, 1998: no. 190, repro.

Inscriptions

lower right: Rothko; lower left reverse, sideways: MARK ROTHKO

Wikidata ID

Q20193347

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