Antigone

c. 1941

Mark Rothko

Painter, American, born Russia (now Latvia), 1903 - 1970

Against a background of mottled pale gray and ivory white, a row of four faces floats above at least two nude torsos that sit on a rectangular frieze in this surreal, abstracted, horizontal painting. Lined up and overlapping in a row the upper right quadrant, two faces face our left in profile while two face the opposite direction. The faces are sketchily drawn so their exact orientation is unclear. The eyes and mouths of all four faces are outlined in black. The pair to our left are ruddy, tinged with clay red. The face to our far left has curly black hair and the face next to it has a curly black beard. The pair of faces in profile to the right are outlined in black against the off-white canvas. A streak of lemon-yellow pigment runs from the eye of the rightmost face, down along an arm immediately below the chin. The upper arm extends across the canvas under the face and then turns ninety degrees at the elbow to point downward. Another arm extends from the leftmost face, pointing rigidly off the edge of the canvas. Below that a hand points straight down. In the zone below, intersecting, V-shaped patterns to our left are overlapped by breast-like curves. Next to these are two nude torsos with narrow waists seen from the back. The torso on the left, near the center of the composition, is shaded with slashes of crimson red. Next to it to our left, and under the V-shaped forms, is a field of smoky purple. The rectangular form on which the torsos sit has a cobalt-blue background with a white sphere shaded with charcoal gray at the center, with trios of dog-like paws or feet to either side. The artist signed the work in the lower right with bright white paint against the cream-white background: “Rothko.”
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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    oil and charcoal on canvas

  • Credit Line

    Gift of The Mark Rothko Foundation, Inc.

  • Dimensions

    overall: 86.4 × 116.2 cm (34 × 45 3/4 in.)
    framed: 93.66 × 123.98 × 7.78 cm (36 7/8 × 48 13/16 × 3 1/16 in.)

  • Accession

    1986.43.119

  • Copyright

    Copyright © 1998 Kate Rothko Prizel and Christopher Rothko

More About this Artwork

Article:  Artists Who Inspired Mark Rothko

Learn about some of the artists the modern painter was in dialogue with throughout his career.

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

The artist [1903-1970]; his estate; consigned 1970 to (Marlborough Gallery, Inc., New York); transferred 1977 back to the artist's estate;[1] transferred 1979 to The Mark Rothko Foundation, Inc., New York; gift 1986 to NGA.
[1] For a detailed discussion of the transactions surrounding the Rothko estate see Lee Seldes, Legacy of Mark Rothko, New York, 1978.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1942

  • [Group Exhibition], R.H. Macy Department Store, New York, 1942, no cat.

1978

  • Mark Rothko, 1903-1970: A Retrospective, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, 1978, no. 23.

1987

  • Mark Rothko 1903-1970, The Tate Gallery, London; Fundación Juan March, Madrid; Museum Ludwig, Cologne, 1987-1988, no. 8 (London catalogue), no. 7 (Cologne catalogue), repros. (shown only in London and Cologne).

1992

  • Images of World War II, Stephen F. Austin Gallery, Nacogdoches, Texas, 1992, unnumbered exhibition list.

2007

  • Mark Rothko, Palazzo delle Esposizioni, Rome; Kunsthalle der Hypo-Kulturstiftung, Munich; Hamburger Kunsthalle, 2007-2008, no. 22 (English cat.), no. 18 (German cat.), repro.

2012

  • Mark Rothko, Portland Art Museum, Oregon, 2012, no catalogue.

  • Mark Rothko: The Decisive Decade, 1940-1950, Columbia Museum of Art, South Carolina; Columbus Museum of Art, Ohio; Denver Art Museum; The Arkansas Arts Center, Little Rock, 2012-2014, no. 6, repro.

2014

  • Mark Rothko: Works from the Collection of the National Gallery of Art, Washington, Gemeentemuseum Den Haag, The Hague; Hangaram Art Museum, Seoul Arts Center, South Korea, 2014-2015, unnumbered catalogue, repro.

2015

  • Mark Rothko: A Retrospective, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, 2015-2016, no. 6, repro.

Bibliography

1973

  • Ashton, Dore. The New York School: A Cultural Reckoning. New York, 1973: 145-146 (published 1972 as The Life and Times of the New York School).

1979

  • Ashton, Dore. "Rothko's Passion." Art International 22 (1979): 6-13, repro.

  • Fujieda, Teruo. "Special Feature: Mark Rothko." Mizue 888 (1979): 47, repro.

1983

  • Ashton, Dore. About Rothko. New York, 1983: 60, repro.

1984

  • Clearwater, Bonnie. Mark Rothko: Works on Paper. New York, 1984: 23, repro.

1987

  • Bothner, Roland. "Mark Rothko's Modulationen." Pantheon 45 (1987): 173, repro.

1988

  • Harris, Jonathan. "Mark Rothko and the Development of American Modernism." The Oxford Art Journal 11 (1988): 44, repro.

1989

  • Chave, Anna C. Mark Rothko: Subjects in Abstraction. New Haven, 1989: 23, repro.

  • Whiting, Cecile. Antifascism in American Art. New Haven and London, 1989: 178, repro.

1991

  • Mitsui, Ko. To Contemporary Art: From Abstract Expressionism. Tokyo, 1991: 131, repro.

1992

  • American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1992: 292, repro.

1993

  • Wood, Paul. Modernism in Dispute: Art Since the Forties. New Haven, 1993: 36, repro.

1994

  • Waldman, Diane. Mark Rothko in New York. New York, 1994: 18, repro.

1995

  • Fineberg, Jonathan. Art Since 1940: Strategies of Being. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, 1995: 109, repro.

  • Sanders, Lisa. "A Rembrandt that is not a Rembrandt." Forbes 156 (1995): 307, repro.

1996

  • Anfam, David. "New York and Little Rock: Adolph Gottlieb." The Burlington Magazine 138 (1996): 57-58.

1997

  • Tesch, Jurgen. Icons of Art: The 20th Century. Munich, 1997: 126, repro.

1998

  • Anfam, David. Mark Rothko: The Works on Canvas: Catalogue Raisonné. New Haven and London, 1998: no. 178, repro.

Inscriptions

lower right: Rothko; upper center reverse: Mark Rothko; on original upper stretcher member: Mark Rothko - Antigone

Wikidata ID

Q20193305

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