Street Scene

c. 1937

Mark Rothko

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

Two or three people stand on a curving staircase next to what looks like a column base that is as tall as they are in this loosely painted, horizontal scene. The people and stairs are painted in tones of smoky mauve, ice blue, and pale gray. The structure to the left is painted with shell pink and pale peach, and the road or ground is bone white. The people take up the right third of the composition. One wears a knee-length swing coat and dress and a hat, and she puts her arm around the person standing next to her, who wears a knee-length trench coat, slacks, and a rounded hat. Their faces are painted with short dashes to represent eyes, noses, and narrow mouths. A figure behind them has a blunt-bottomed, long beard and blocky shoulders. It is more than two heads taller than the other people and looks out and smiles at us. The three stand on the top of four semicircular stairs, which fade into the fog-gray area along the right edge of the painting. A darker, coffee bean-brown area behind the trio is difficult to understand. The structure to the left has molding and inset paneling.
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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    oil on canvas

  • Credit Line

    Gift of The Mark Rothko Foundation, Inc.

  • Dimensions

    overall: 73.5 × 101.4 cm (28 15/16 × 39 15/16 in.)
    framed: 80.01 × 108.59 × 6.35 cm (31 1/2 × 42 3/4 × 2 1/2 in.)

  • Accession

    1986.43.21

  • Copyright

    Copyright © 1998 Kate Rothko Prizel and Christopher Rothko

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

1991

  • Painting a Place in America: Jewish Artists in New York, 1900-1945, organized by The Jewish Museum, shown at their temporary quarters at The New-York Historical Society, New York, 1991, no. 91, fig. 88.

1994

  • Against the Stream: Milton Avery, Adolph Gottlieb, and Mark Rothko in the 1930s, Katonah Museum of Art, New York, 1994, unnumbered checklist, fig. 21.

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. 4 (both cats.), repro.

2007

  • Mark Rothko, Palazzo delle Esposizioni, Rome; Kunsthalle der Hypo-Kulturstiftung, Munich; Hamburger Kunsthalle, 2007-2008, no. 9 (English and German cats.), repro.

2008

  • The Hidden Trace. Jewish Paths through Modernity, Kulturgeschichtliches Museum Osnabrück/Felix-Nussbaum-Haus, Osnabrück, 2008-2009, no. 67, repro.

Bibliography

1986

  • Breslin, James E.B. "The Trials of Mark Rothko." Representations 16 (1986): 13, repro.

1992

  • American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1992: 290, repro.

1993

  • Breslin, James E. B. Mark Rothko: A Biography. Chicago and London, 1993: pl. 1.

1994

  • Karp, Abraham J. The Jews in America: A Treasury of Art and Literature. New York, 1994: 305, repro.

1996

  • Engelhard, Gunther. "Abstraktion: Mark Rothko." Art: das Kunstmagazin 7 (1996): 24, repro.

1998

  • Anfam, David. Mark Rothko: The Works on Canvas: Catalogue Raisonné. New Haven and London, 1998: no. 113, repro.

Inscriptions

lower right reverse, sideways: 1936 MARK ROTHKO / Street Scene

Wikidata ID

Q20193101

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