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Geometric forms, mostly rectangles with blurred edges, in tones of ivory and muted orange, red, and blue fit loosely together in this vertical abstract painting. The paint is blended and the forms have soft, blurred edges. Near the center, two vertical, narrow rectangles are painted in slate and ocean blue. A streak of the slate blue continues in a broken line down to the bottom edge of the canvas. Along the left edge of the canvas, several shapes are stacked, starting at the top with a pale shell-pink, horizontal rectangle above a rose-pink square. Then there is an ivory-white square and a vertical, ivory rectangle that continues off the bottom edge of the canvas. In the lower right quadrant, the largest form is a marigold-orange, horizontal rectangle with a few smudges and blocks of ruby red above it. A taller, crimson-red rectangle in the upper right is streaked with six vertical, white lines that seem to drip down from a white rectangle above. The shapes are surrounded by a pale, apricot-orange field.

Mark Rothko

No. 9, 1948

East Building, Tower Level — Gallery 615-A

Medium

oil and mixed media on canvas

Dimensions

overall: 134.7 x 118.4 cm (53 1/16 x 46 5/8 in.)

Credit Line

Gift of The Mark Rothko Foundation, Inc.

Accession Number

1986.43.143

Artists / Makers

Mark Rothko (painter) American, born Russia (now Latvia), 1903 - 1970

Image Use

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Copyright

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

Rothko Foundation, Inc., Mark, The

Exhibition History

1948: Mark Rothko: Recent Paintings, Betty Parsons Gallery, New York, 1948.

1971: Mark Rothko, Kunsthaus Zurich; Staatliche Museen Preussischer Kulturbesitz, Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin; Städtische Kunsthalle Düsseldorf; Museum Roymans-van Beuningen, Rotterdam, 1971-1972, no. 11, repro.

1972: MarK Rothko, Hayward Gallery, London, 1972, no cat.

1972: Mark Rothko, Musee d'Art Moderne, Paris, 1972, no. 8.

1978: Mark Rothko, 1903-1970: A Retrospective, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, 1978, no. 83.

1990: Mark Rothko: The Spirit of Myth, Early Paintings from the 1930s and 1940s (NGA National Lending Service exhibition), Cedar Rapids Museum of Art, 1990-1991.

1991: Mark Rothko: The Spirit of Myth, Early Paintings from the 1930s and 1940s (NGA National Lending Service exhibition), Nassau County Museum of Art, Roslyn, New York, 1991.

1992: Mark Rothko: The Spirit of Myth, Early Paintings from the 1930s and 1940s (NGA National Lending Service exhibition), Telfair Academy of Arts and Sciences, Savannah, 1992.

1993: Mark Rothko: The Spirit of Myth, Early Paintings from the 1930s and 1940s (NGA National Lending Service exhibition), Art Musuem of South Texas, Corpus Christi, 1993.

1993: Mark Rothko: The Spirit of Myth, Early Paintings from the 1930s and 1940s (NGA National Lending Service exhibition), Payne Gallery, Moravian College, Bethlehem, PA, 1993.

1993: Mark Rothko: The Spirit of Myth, Early Paintings from the 1930s and 1940s (NGA National Lending Service exhibition), Salina Art Center, Kansas, 1993.

1994: Mark Rothko: The Spirit of Myth, Early Paintings from the 1930s and 1940s (NGA National Lending Service exhibition), Ball State University Museum of Art, Muncie, Indiana, 1994.

1994: Mark Rothko: The Spirit of Myth, Early Paintings from the 1930s and 1940s (NGA National Lending Service exhibition), Marsh Gallery, University of Richmond, Virginia, 1994.

1994: Mark Rothko: The Spirit of Myth, Early Paintings from the 1930s and 1940s (NGA National Lending Service exhibition), Wallach Art Gallery, New York, NY, 1994.

1994: Mark Rothko: The Spirit of Myth, Early Paintings from the 1930s and 1940s (NGA National Lending Service exhibition), West Bend Gallery of Fine Arts, Wisconsin, 1994.

1995: Mark Rothko: The Spirit of Myth, Early Paintings from the 1930s and 1940s (NGA National Lending Service exhibition), San Diego Musuem of Art, 1995.

1995: Mark Rothko: The Spirit of Myth, Early Paintings from the 1930s and 1940s (NGA National Lending Service exhibition), University of Arizona Museum of Art, Tucson, 1995.

1996: Mark Rothko: The Spirit of Myth, Early Paintings from the 1930s and 1940s (NGA National Lending Service exhibition), Lore Degenstein Gallery, Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania, 1996.

1996: Mark Rothko: The Spirit of Myth, Early Paintings from the 1930s and 1940s (NGA National Lending Service exhibition), Palm Springs Desert Museum, California, 1996-1997.

1996: Mark Rothko: The Spirit of Myth, Early Paintings from the 1930s and 1940s (NGA National Lending Service exhibition), St. John's Museum of Art, Wilmington, North Carolina, 1996.

1996: Mark Rothko: The Spirit of Myth, Early Paintings from the 1930s and 1940s (NGA National Lending Service exhibition), The Smart Museum of Art, The University of Chicago, 1996.

1997: Mark Rothko: The Spirit of Myth, Early Paintings from the 1930s and 1940s (NGA National Lending Service exhibition), Hearst Art Gallery, Saint Mary's College of California, Moraga, 1997.

1997: Mark Rothko: The Spirit of Myth, Early Paintings from the 1930s and 1940s (NGA National Lending Service exhibition), Midland Center for the Arts, Michigan, 1997.

1997: Mark Rothko: The Spirit of Myth, Early Paintings from the 1930s and 1940s (NGA National Lending Service exhibition), Orange County Museum of Art, Newport Beach, California, 1997.

1997: Mark Rothko: The Spirit of Myth, Early Paintings from the 1930s and 1940s (NGA National Lending Service exhibition), Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, 1997.

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. 38 (NGA/WMAA cat.), repro. (shown only in Washington and New York).

1998: The Mythmakers: Mark Rothko and Adolph Gottlieb, Newcomb Art Gallery Tulane University, New Orleans, 1998.

2000: Mark Rothko, 'A consummated experience between picture and onlooker', Fundació Joan Miró, Barcelona; Fondation Beyeler, Basel, 2000-2001, no. 12, repro.

2002: The Tiger's Eye: the Art of a Magazine, Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, 2002, unnumbered catalogue, repro.

2005: The Art of Mark Rothko: Selections from the National Gallery of Art, Washington, Museo de Arte Moderna, Mexico City; Hong Kong Museum of Art; Leeum, Samsung Museum of Art, Seoul, 2005-2006, brochures, no. 14, repro.

2009: Ils on regardé Matisse, Musée Matisse, Le Cateau-Cambrésis, 2009, no. 10, 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. 40, repro.

2014: Mark Rothko: Works from the Collection of the National Gallery of Art, Washington, Gemeentemuseum Den Haag, The Hague; Hangaram Art Museum, Seoul Arts Center, South Korea, 2014-2015, unnumbered catalogue, repro.

2015: Mark Rothko: A Retrospective, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, 2015-2016, no. 18, repro.

2017: Loan for display with permanent collection, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 2017-2018.

Bibliography

1949: "New Paintings: Mark Rothko." The Tiger's Eye 9 (1949): 113, repro.

1950: Hess, Thomas B.. "Introduction to Abstract." Art News Annual 49 (1950): part II, 154, repro.

1958: Brion, Marcel, and Sam Hunter. Art Since 1945. New York, 1958: 164, repro.

1972: Lacoste, Michel Conil. "La transcendance de Rothko." Le Monde (1972): 13.

1979: Fujieda, Teruo. "Special Feature: Mark Rothko." Mizue 888 (1979): 25, repro.

1983: Seitz, William C. Abstract Expressionist Painting in America. Rev. ed. of 1955 Ph.D. dissertation. Cambridge, Massachusetts, and London, 1983: no. 220, repro.

1988: Harris, Jonathan. "Mark Rothko and the Development of American Modernism." The Oxford Art Journal 11 (1988): 41, repro.

1989: Chave, Anna C. Mark Rothko: Subjects in Abstraction. New Haven, 1989: 166, repro.

1990: Anfam, David. Abstract Expressionism. London, 1990: 142, repro.

1992: American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1992: 313, repro.

1992: Kimiko, Mochida. The Thought of Painting. Tokyo, 1992: 173, repro.

1998: Anfam, David. Mark Rothko: The Works on Canvas: Catalogue Raisonné. New Haven and London, 1998: no. 394, repro.