Mark Rothko (1903-1970)

Aliases: Marcus Rothkowitz
Professions: Painter

About Mark Rothko

Rothko's Biography
Examples of Rothko's Work - 162
Literature on Rothko - 12
Artfact 1,000™: Abstract Expressionism
Related Artists: Abstract Expressionism
Related Artists: Color Field Painting
Related Artists: Abstract Art
Web Sources - 74

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Biography

(b. September 25, 1903, Dvinsk, Russia; d. February 25, 1970, New York, New York) American painter. Mark Rothko was one of the major figures of Abstract Expressionism and an important influence on the development of Color Field painting. Born in Russia as Marcus Rothkowitz, Rothko’s family immigrated to the U.S. in 1913 and settled in Portland, Oregon. Here, Rothko began school and in 1921, attended Yale University. In 1923, Rothko left Yale to move to New York City, where he took odd jobs and pursued art. He began to take classes at the Art Students League where he studied under Max Weber. In 1928, Rothko took part in his first group exhibition and was chosen by his instructor Bernard Karfiol to exhibit at the Opportunity Gallery in New York. He had his first solo exhibition in 1933 at the Portland Art Museum and another in New York that same year at the Contemporary Arts Gallery. Beginning in 1929, Rothko taught children at the Center Academy of the Brooklyn Jewish Center, and continued in this position for over twenty years. Working with children influenced Rothko to take a more emotional approach to his subjects. During the early 1930s, Rothko became friends with artist Milton Avery, whose treatment of color and simplified depictions had a strong influence on him; and Adolph Gottlieb, with whom he worked closely and wrote a manifesto during the early 1940s. Rothko was a part of the group of artists named “the Ten” and exhibited with the group eight times between 1935 and 1939. In the late 1940s, Rothko taught at the California School of Fine Arts in San Francisco and also founded a school in New York with some of his contemporaries called the Subjects of the Artist school. Rothko’s mature and most well known style began to develop in the late 1940s and early 1950s. During this period, previous elements of surrealism and mythical imagery disappeared in favor of non-objective compositions, including aligned floating rectangles of various colors. It was also during this time that Rothko became unwilling to explain his work because he wanted the viewer to use their imagination and he feared that his commentary would taint the viewer’s interpretation. In 1958, Rothko received his first commission, a mural for the Four Seasons Restaurant in New York, but questioned the setting of a restaurant for his work and the project was never completed. In 1961, The Museum of Modern Art in New York gave Rothko a solo exhibition. Rothko wished for the viewing of his paintings to be an intimate experience; viewed in the way that they were painted, and thus, dictated how they should be displayed in exhibitions. Though his paintings were large in scale, he wanted them to be first encountered close-up, “the pictures are intimate and intense, and are the opposite of what is decorative; and have been painted in a scale of normal living rather than an institutional scale…the first experience is to be within the picture” he said. Rothko was fortunate enough to see the success of his art and fruits of his labor during his lifetime, yet he remained melancholy and depressed. Rothko committed suicide in 1970 at age 67. (hide)

Upcoming Auction Lots for Rothko - 1

Art Contemporain: MARK ROTHKO (1903-1970) - BLUE

11/23/2008
Piasa

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Examples of Rothko's Work at Auction - 162 price results currently available

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Literature: Books and Other References on Rothko


'Mark Rothko: The Works on Canvas': by David Anfam


'Mark Rothko': by Jeffrey Weiss, Marjorie B. Cohn, Franz Meyer, Eliza E. Rathbone, Oliver Wick


'Mark Rothko: A Retrospective': by Diane Waldman


'Mark Rothko, 1903-1970': by Diane Waldman

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Auction Houses that have sold Rothko - 8

Catherine Charbonneaux
Christie's
Doyle New York
Ivey-Selkirk Auctioneers

Moore Allen & Innocent
Piasa
Sotheby's
Swann Galleries

Web Resources with information about Rothko - 74

Mark Rothko - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Rothko - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Geometry.Net - Artists Books: Rothko Mark
American Abstract Expressionism: Painting Action and Colorfields
Cleveland Museum of Art - Mark Rothko (American, 1903 - 1970)
Mark Rothko Oil Paintings starting @ $119.99, 5 Star Quality 50 ...
Alan Liu, Course Materials: Gallery Directory
Alan Liu, Course Materials: Gallery Directory
Mark Rothko
MoMA.org | The Collection | Mark Rothko. Slow Swirl at the Edge of ...
Tate Modern | Collection Displays
Tate Collection | Black on Maroon by Mark Rothko
Mark Rothko Quotes - Literary Quotes About Mark Rothko and ...
MoMA.org | The Collection | Mark Rothko. (American, born Latvia ...
Countrybookshop.co.uk - Mark Rothko, 1903-1970
Countrybookshop.co.uk - Mark Rothko, 1903-1970
Mark Rothko Quotes
Centre Triptych for the Rothko Chapel
Mark Rothko and Jackson Pollock
mark rothko - Buy at the best price on Kelkoo
National Gallery of Art | Press Office
National Gallery of Art - Mark Rothko-The Mural Project
Hong Kong Museum of Art - The Art of Mark Rothko: Selections from ...
Hong Kong Museum of Art - The Art of Mark Rothko: Selections from ...
Mark Rothko
Program in Religious Studies - University of Illinois at Urbana ...
Artifact: Full Record for Mark Rothko
Music for Mark Rothko (2001)
Geometry.Net - Artists: Rothko Mark
SFMOMA | Collections Access Online | Mark Rothko | No. 14, 1960
Cleveland Museum of Art - Red Maroons (Mark Rothko)
The Chrysler Museum of Art : Education & Events
Chrysler Museum of Art : Collections
Mark Rothko, 1903-1970
Mark Rothko : The Works on Canvas : Catalogue Raisonne
Russian Culture News
[e-Library OPAC] iLink at Pennsylvania College
MIT OpenCourseWare | Architecture | 4.651 20th Century Art, Fall ...
Art History: Artist Chronologies: American Modernism
Untitled
Mark Rothko - Wikipedia
Masters of Color and Light - Rothko
Mark Rothko
Chronologie - 1998 - Exposition. Mark ROTHKO. A Viewpoint of Modernism
The State Hermitage Museum: Exhibitions
The State Hermitage Museum: Hermitage News
Mark Rothko Posters & Prints, Biography, Information
Rothko - AMAM
Adolph Gottlieb - AMAM
Guggenheim Collection - Artist - Rothko - Biography
SFMOMA | Collections Access Online | Mark Rothko | Untitled
Collezione Peggy Guggenheim - Artisti - Mark Rothko (1903-1970)
Mark Rothko
Mark Rothko 100
Mark Rothko 100
Arts Unlimited | Arts critics | How Rothko's Seagram murals found ...
creativematch: Mark Rothko: A Painter's Progress
Online NewsHour: Mark Rothko-- August 13, 1998
Collection Search Results
The Metaphorical Self-Portrait
BiografÃa ROTHKO, Mark - Museum Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid, Spain
Contemporary Visual System: Ab-Ex, Pop, Minimal
The Latvian Institute
Rothko - What is definition of the term - Rothko ?
TVM Basement: 20thC NA Art after WW II: Overview (part 1)
Art/Architecture
AE160D Unit 4: Mark Rothko
Online NewsHour: The Career and Work of Mark Rothko -- August 5, 1998
Rothko, Mark
WPopac Â» Search: Rothko Mark 1903-1970
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Jackson Pollack and Mark Rothko, self-portraits
ROTHKO
Find in a Library: Mark Rothko, 1903-1970. | English Book | OCLC ...

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