Seated Female on Couch Knitting (?)
1901 to 1925
Image not available — this artwork is under copyright
View on museum website →Medium
pen and black ink on wove paper
Dimensions
overall: 27.7 x 21.4 cm (10 7/8 x 8 7/16 in.)
Classification
Drawing
Department
CG-W
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Gift of The Mark Rothko Foundation, Inc.
Accession Number
1986.56.350
Art Historical Context
In the National Gallery of Art's collection, *Seated Female on Couch Knitting)* stands as a rare early glimpse into Mark Rothko's formative years. Created between 1901 and 1925—spanning Rothko's childhood immigration from Russia to the United States his early artistic training—this pen and black ink drawing on wove paper captures a domestic moment. The modest dimensions (27.7 x 21.4 cm) suggest it was likely a sketch from his student days, before he became synonymous with the vast, emotive color fields of Abstract Expressionism in the 1940s and beyond. Rendered in precise black ink lines on s...
About the Artist
Mark Rothko
Mark Rothko (born Marcus Yakovlevich Rothkowitz, September 25, 1903 – February 25, 1970) stands as one of the most influential figures in twentieth-century American art and a central pioneer of Abstract Expressionism. Born into a Jewish family in Dvinsk (now Daugavpils, Latvia), then part of the Russian Empire, Rothko's early life was marked by the fear and persecution faced by Jews in Tsarist Rus...