Woman Seated on Rocking Chair with Puppy in Lap
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: 25.3 x 20.3 cm (9 15/16 x 8 in.)
Classification
Drawing
Department
CG-W
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Gift of The Mark Rothko Foundation, Inc.
Accession Number
1986.56.318
Art Historical Context
In the intimate drawing *Woman Seated on Rocking Chair with Puppy in Lap created by Mark Rothko between 190 and 1925, we glimpse the artist's early figurative style, long before his fame as a pioneer of abstract expressionism and color field. Born in 1903 in Russia and immigrating to the United States as a child, Rothko produced this tender domestic scene during his formative years capturing a moment of quiet companionship—a woman cradling a puppy in her lap while seated in a rocking chair. Such works reveal his initial focus on everyday life, contrasting sharply with the monumental, emotive a...
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...