Seated Woman with Eyeglasses Turned to the Left, Hands on Lap
1901 to 1925
Image not available — this artwork is under copyright
View on museum website →Medium
graphite on wove paper
Classification
Drawing
Department
CG-W
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Gift of The Mark Rothko Foundation, Inc.
Accession Number
1986.56.88
Art Historical Context
In the quiet intimacy of graphite on wove paper, Rothko's *Seated Woman with Eylasses Turned to the Left, Hands on Lap* (ca. 1901–1925) captures a moment poised everyday life. Created during the artist's formative years—Rothko was born in 1903 in present-day Latvia and immigrated to the United States as a child—this drawing reflects his early exploration of representational art, long before his iconic abstract color fields of the mid-20th century. smooth texture of wove paper provided an ideal surface for the precise lines and subtle shading of graphite, allowing Rothko to render the woman's t...
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...