Marcus Rothkowitz was born in Dvinsk, Russia on September 25, 1903. His father immigrated to the United States in 1910 and in 1913 Marcus joined his family and settled in Portland, Oregon. During high school he took art classes at a nearby art school. In 1921, he accepted a scholarship to Yale University although he did not complete his studies. He sketched frequently during his college years, but had not yet decided to pursue painting. In 1923, Rothkowitz left college and moved to New York City. In 1925, he returned to school to study painting with Max Weber. His classes with Weber in 1925 and 1926 constituted his only formal art training. His early paintings of landscapes, still lifes, and nudes strongly showed Weber's influence.
In the late 1930s Rothkowitz became part of a group of artists know as "The Ten." These artists rebelled against contemporary American art and admired the work of Milton Avery and the European modernists. In 1938, Rotkowitz became an American citizen. Although he did not legally change his name to Mark Rothko until 1959, he began signing paintings with Mark Rothko in 1940. In 1944, his interest shifted to surrealism followed by a pure abstract style in 1947. By 1948, he had become an abstract expressionist and all trace of the human figure disappeared from his painting; his art consisted of floating, brightly colored rectangles. By 1950, Rothko was painting consistently in this style; he created the desired mood by manipulating color, light, and proportion.
During the rest of his career he continued to experiment with color and shape. He was very demanding in the placement and setting of his paintings; each painting must be displayed in what he felt was its best advantage. During his later years his color selection changed from bright colors to somber shades of blacks, olives, grays, and maroons.
He suffered from depression for many years. Depression combined with a slow recovery from an aortic aneurysm led to Rothko's suicide on February 25, 1970 in his New York studio.
Web Sites
Catalog
Search the library's catalog for Mark Rothko.
Databases
Enter Mark Rothko in these databases: