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Mark Rothko

No. 17 [or] No. 15, 1949

Not on View

Medium

oil on canvas

Dimensions

overall: 139.7 × 81.6 × 11.11 cm (55 × 32 1/8 × 4 3/8 in.)

Credit Line

Gift of The Mark Rothko Foundation, Inc.

Accession Number

1986.43.142

Artists / Makers

Mark Rothko (painter) American, born Russia (now Latvia), 1903 - 1970

Image Use

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Copyright

Inscription

upper right reverse: MARK ROTHKO / 1949; on upper tacking margin: TOP; on former upper crossbar member, the numeral "9" overwritten with the "8": 15 - 1948

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

Rothko Foundation, Inc., Mark, The

Exhibition History

1950: Young Painters in the U.S. and France, Sidney Janis Gallery, New York, 1950, no cat.

1951: 40 American Painters, 1940-1950, University Gallery, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, 1951, no. 62.

1951: Nebraska Art Association: 61st Annual Exhibition, University Galleries, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, 1951, no. 143.

1961: Mark Rothko: A Retrospective Exhibition, Paintings 1945-1960, Whitechapel Art Gallery, London, October-November 1961, no. 8.

1961: Mark Rothko, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, November-December 1961, no. 8, repro.

1961: Mark Rothko, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, January-March 1961, unnumbered catalogue.

1962: Mark Rothko, Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Moderna, Rome, April-May 1962, no. 8.

1962: Mark Rothko, Kunsthalle Basel, 1962, no. 8.

1962: Mark Rothko, Musee d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, 1962, no. 5.

1962: Mark Rothko, Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels, January 1962, no. 8.

1971: Mark Rothko, Kunsthaus Zurich; Staatliche Museen Preussischer Kulturbesitz, Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin; Städtische Kunsthalle Düsseldorf; Museum Roymans-van Beuningen, Rotterdam, 1971-1972, no. 12, repro.

1972: Mark Rotkho, Musée National d'Art Moderne, Paris, 1972, no. 9.

1973: A Period of Exploration: San Francisco 1945-1950, Oakland Museum, 1973, no. 67, repro.

1978: Mark Rothko, 1903-1970: A Retrospective, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, 1978, no. 84.

1983: Mark Rothko: Subjects, High Museum of Art, Atlanta, 1983-1984, unnumbered catalogue, repro.

1987: Mark Rothko 1903-1970, The Tate Gallery, London; Fundación Juan March, Madrid; Museum Ludwig, Cologne, 1987-1988, no. 27 (London catalogue), no. 11 (Madrid catalogue), no. 23 (Cologne catalogue), repros.

1995: Mark Rothko, Kawamura Memorial Museum of Art, Chiba-ken; Marugame Genichiro-Inokuma Museum of Contemporary Art; Nagoya City Art Museum; Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo, 1995-1996, no. 26, repro. (published in error as Number 17).

1998: Mark Rothko, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, 1998-1999, no. 20 (Paris cat.), repro. (shown only in Paris).

2002: The Tiger's Eye: the Art of a Magazine, Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, 2002, unnumbered catalogue, repro.

2004: Rothko : A Painter's Progress : The Year 1949, PaceWildenstein, New York, 2004, unnumbered catalogue, repro.

2009: Extended loan for use by President Barack Obama, The White House, Washington, D.C., 2009-2017.

Bibliography

1949: "New Paintings: Mark Rothko." The Tiger's Eye 9 (1949): 112, repro.

1950: Krasne, Belle. "Youth: France vs. U.S." Art Digest 25 (1 May 1950): 17.

1951: Bauer, John I.H. "American Art After 25 Years: A Richer Diversity Than Ever Before." Art Digest 26 (1951): 19, repro.

1951: "Nebraska Shows Old and New." Art Digest 25 (15 March 1951): 11, repro.

1954: Turnbull, Murray. "Notes on a New Naturalism." College Art Journal 13 (1954): 112, repro.

1958: de Kooning, Elaine. "Two Americans in Action: Franz Kline, Mark Rothko." Art News Annual 27 (1958): 96, repro.

1970: Althaus, Peter F. "Begegnungen mit Mark Rothko." Kunst Nachrichten 7 (1970): N. 10, repro.

1977: Panicelli, Ida. [Introduction] in "Mark Rothko: Mostra Didattica." Exh. cat., Galleria Civica d'Arte Moderna, Palazzo Te, Mantua, 1977: 7.

1985: Albright, Thomas. Art in the San Francisco Bay Area 1945-1980. Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1985: 29, repro.

1987: Smith, Alistair. "Mark Rothko in Retrospect." The Antique Collector 58 (1987): 53, repro.

1988: Bode, Ursula. "Bilder wie offene Tore." Die Ziet (1988): 44, repro.

1989: Chave, Anna C. Mark Rothko: Subjects in Abstraction. New Haven, 1989: pl. 8, 112.

1992: American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1992: 313, repro.

1993: Thistlewood, David. American Abstract Expressionism. Liverpool, 1993: 140, repro.

1993: Zanetti, Paolo Serra. "Rothko o la tragedia di un solitario." Arte 23 (1993): 55, repro.

1997: Gibson, Edith Ann. Abstract Expressionism: Other Politics. New Haven, 1997: 21, repro.

1998: Anfam, David. Mark Rothko: The Works on Canvas: Catalogue Raisonné. New Haven and London, 1998: no. 401, repro.

2015: Langley, Allison, and Suzanne Quillen Lomax. "Mark Rothko's Multiforms, 1946-1950: Transforming the Painted Surface." Facture 2 (2015): 111-137, Table 1 no. 13.