Untitled [verso]
1901 to 1925
Image not available — this artwork is under copyright
View on museum website →Medium
pen and black ink 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
1986.56.638.b
Art Historical Context
**Untitled [verso], Mark Rothko (c. 1901–1925)** This delicate drawing, executed in pen and black ink on wove paper, offers a rare window into the early creative explorations of Mark Rothko, of the 20th century's most influential Abstract Expressionists. 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 untitled work on the verso (back) of the sheet reflects his initial forays into drawing before he gained fame for monumental color-field paintings in the mid-20th century. The modest medium of pen and i...
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...