Sketchbook
1901 to 1925
Image not available — this artwork is under copyright
View on museum website →Medium
sketchbook
Classification
Drawing
Department
CG-W
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Gift of The Mark Rothko Foundation, Inc.
Accession Number
1986.56.645.19
Art Historical Context
Step into the early creative world of Mark Rothko with this intimate *Sketchbook*, spanning 1901 to 1925. Born Marcus Rothkowitz in 1903 in what is now Latvia, Rothko immigrated to the United States as a child in 1913, and these pages capture the nascent talents of a young artist navigating his formative years. Housed in the National Gallery of Art's Department of Drawings (CG-W), this gift from The Mark Rothko Foundation, Inc., offers a rare glimpse into the roots of one of the 20th century's most influential abstract painters, long before his iconic color field masterpieces. As a medium of ...
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...