Mark Rothko

Mark Rothko was one of the foremost members of the Abstract Expressionist movements. He was born Mark Rothkowitz in 1903 in Russia; his family emigrated to Portland, Oregon in 1913.  He studied at Yale from 1921-1923 and moved to New York in 1925. Rothko's first solo show was at the Contemporary Arts Gallery in 1933. The Rothko Chapel, founded by Houston philanthropists John and Dominique de Menil, is a tranquil meditative environment inspired by the mural canvases of Rothko and celebrated its fortieth anniversary in 2011.

Mark Rothko: The Decisive Decade: 1940-1950 was published by Rizzoli New York in September 2012. It is the first publication dedicated exclusively to this formative period in Rothko oeuvre. During which, he moved from expressive figurative and surrealist canvases to more abstract multiform subjects and finally to his signature style of luminous rectangles. It features contributions from various scholars and a forward by Rothko's son.

Photos courtesy of Hickey-Robertson.

www.rothkochapel.org

Mark Rothko is featured in Edition: Guest Editor, Price Latimer Agah and Edition: Rizzoli: Art

No. 8, (1949). Copyright 1998 Kate Rothko Prizel and Christopher Rothko / ARS NY. Image courtesy of NGA Washington DC
Untitled, (1949). Copyright 1998 Kate Rothko Prizel and Christopher Rothko / ARS NY. Image courtesy of NGA Washington DC
Untitled watercolor, (1949). Copyright 2003 Kate Rothko Prizel and Christopher Rothko / ARS NY. Image courtesy of NGA Washington DC
Untitled (1941-42). Copyright 1998 Kate Rothko Prizel and Christopher Rothko / ARS, New York. Image courtesy of NGA, Washington DC
Untitled (Man and Two Women in a Pastoral Setting), c.1940. copyright 1998 Kate Rothko Prizel and Christopher Rothko / ARS, New York. Image courtesy of NGA, Washington DC
Sea Fantasy, (1946). Copyright 1998 Kate Rothko Prizel and Christopher Rothko / ARS NY. Image courtesy of NGA Washington DC
Untitled, (1950). Copyright 1998 Kate Rothko Prizel and Christopher Rothko / ARS NY. Image courtesy of NGA Washington DC
Hierarchical Birds, (1944). Copyright Kate Rothko Prizel and Christopher Rothko / ARS NY, Image courtesy of NGA Washington DC
Barnett Newman's "Broken Obelisk" and the Rothko Chapel
Interior View of The Rothko Chapel
Interior View of The Rothko Chapel