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Rectangles in ash brown and ruby red float against a background of deep, eggplant purple in this vertical, abstract painting. One narrow, dark brown band runs parallel to the top edge of the painting. The rectangle below the band is the same width, and is nearly square. That shape takes up more than half the composition, and is mottled with bronze brown and murky green. A vivid red rectangle floating below is not as wide as the band and the large rectangle. The edges of the shapes are blended, giving it a blurry look. Some brushstrokes are visible and the paint has dripped in a few places. For instance, a couple drops of the eggplant purple drop into the largest brown form.

Mark Rothko

No. 1, 1961

East Building, Tower Level — Gallery 615-A

Medium

pigmented hide glue and oil on canvas

Dimensions

overall: 258.8 x 227.6 cm (101 7/8 x 89 5/8 in.)

Credit Line

Gift of The Mark Rothko Foundation, Inc.

Accession Number

1986.43.151

Artists / Makers

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

Image Use

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Copyright

Inscription

upper left reverse: MARK ROTHKO / 1961

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

1970: Mark Rothko, Museo d'Arte Moderna Ca'Pesaro, Venice, 1970, no. 22, repro.

1971: Mark Rothko, Kunsthaus Zurich; Staatliche Museen Preussischer Kulturbesitz, Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin; Städtische Kunsthalle Düsseldorf; Museum Roymans-van Beuningen, Rotterdam, 1971-1972, no. 50, repro.

1972: Mark Rothko, Hayward Gallery, London, 1972.

1972: Mark Rotkho, Musee National d'Art Moderne, Paris, 1972, no. 35, repro.

1978: Mark Rothko, 1903-1970: A Retrospective, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, 1978, no. 160, repro.

1981: Amerikanische Malerei 1930-1980, Haus der Kunst, Munich, 1981-1982, no. 19, repro.

1983: Mark Rothko: Seven Paintings from the 1960's, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, 1983, checklist no. 7, cover illustration.

1987: Mark Rothko 1903-1970, The Tate Gallery, London; Fundación Juan March, Madrid; Museum Ludwig, Cologne, 1987-1988, no. 74 (London catalogue), no. 36 (Madrid catalogue), no. 52 (Cologne catalogue), repros.

1992: Mito Annual '93: Another World, Art Tower Mito Contemporary Art Gallery, Mito, Japan, 1992-1993, no. 2, repro.

1994: Loan for display with permanent collection, Weatherspoon Gallery of Art, Greensboro, North Carolina, 1994.

1995: Mark Rothko, Kawamura Memorial Museum of Art, Chiba-ken; Marugame Genichiro-Inokuma Museum of Contemporary Art; Nagoya City Art Museum; Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo, 1995-1996, no. 41, repro.

2008: Ammi Phillips and Mark Rothko: Compositions in Pink, Green, and Red, American Folk Art Museum, New York, 2008-2009, no catalogue.

2013: Mark Rothko: Paintings from the National Gallery of Art in Washington, Muzeum Narodowe w Warszawie [National Museum], Warsaw, 2013, unnumbered catalogue, repro.

2014: Make it New: Abstract Paintings from the National Gallery of Art, 1950-1975, Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, 2014, no. 5, repro.

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

Bibliography

1979: Fujieda, Teruo. "Special Feature: Mark Rothko." Mizue 888 (March 1979): 33, repro.

1983: Ashton, Dore. About Rothko. New York, 1983: fig. 15.

1984: Clearwater, Bonnie. Mark Rothko: Works on Paper. New York, 1984: 41, repro.

1992: American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1992: 324, repro.

1993: Hiromoto, Nobuyuki. Mark Rothko. Tokyo, 1993: no. 56, repro.

1998: Anfam, David. Mark Rothko: The Works on Canvas: Catalogue Raisonné. New Haven and London, 1998: no. 691, repro.

2004: Hand, John Oliver. National Gallery of Art: Master Paintings from the Collection. Washington and New York, 2004: 451, no. 380, color repro.