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Three fluorescent-yellow faces sit atop a square form made of parallel stripes of muted brick red, navy blue, and taupe with a heap of pale pink feet lying below in this vertical, abstract painting. The three yellow, blocky faces make a single band near the top of the composition. Thin strokes of slate blue delineate the contours and shadows of the hair and faces, and a wavy silvery-blue line runs across the top of the heads. Two of the eyes are blank, and one has an iris that looks to our right. Two apricot-colored, backward comma shapes hang just off center below the faces, into the field of parallel lines. The lines are mostly diagonal, but one section, to our left, is topped with an area of nearly horizontal bands, creating a backward, sideways V shape. Under the frieze of stripes, a pale, pinkish-taupe, colonnade-like form has three arches of different sizes. The widest arch is to our right, and two teardrop-shaped columns separate narrower arches to the left. The area behind and around it is painted with fog and smoke-gray bands and forms. The pile of several feet at the bottom of the composition are outlined in black and light brown. The edges of the canvas around these forms are teal green. The artist signed the work in the lower right, “Mark Rothko.”

Mark Rothko

The Omen of the Eagle, 1942

Not on View

Medium

oil and graphite on canvas

Dimensions

overall: 65.4 × 45.1 cm (25 3/4 × 17 3/4 in.)

framed: 71.6 × 52.07 × 8.57 cm (28 3/16 × 20 1/2 × 3 3/8 in.)

Credit Line

Gift of The Mark Rothko Foundation, Inc.

Accession Number

1986.43.107

Artists / Makers

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

Image Use

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Copyright

Inscription

lower right: Mark Rothko; center left reverse: MARK ROTHKO

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

1943: New York Artists Painters: First Exhibition, 444 Madison Avenue, New York, 1943, checklist no. 38.

1944: Abstract and Surrealist Art in America, Mortimer Brandt Gallery, New York, 1944, no. 23.

1944: Abstract and Surrealist Art in the United States, Cincinnati Art Museum; Denver Art Museum; Seattle Art Museum; Santa Barbara Museum of Art; San Francisco Museum of Art, 1944, no. 39.

1978: Mark Rothko, 1903-1970: A Retrospective, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, 1978, no. 26.

1979: The Modern Art Society: The Center's Early Years 1939-1954, The Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati, 1979, unnumbered catalogue, repro.

1987: Mark Rothko 1903-1970, The Tate Gallery, London; Fundación Juan March, Madrid; Museum Ludwig, Cologne, 1987-1988, no. 9 (London catalogue), no. 8 (Cologne catalogue), repros. (shown only in London and Cologne).

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. 92.

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

1998: Mark Rothko: The Spirit of Myth, Early Paintings from the 1930s and 1940s (NGA National Lending Service exhibition), Arkansas Art Center, Little Rock, 1998.

2012: 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. 8, 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.

2015: Mark Rothko: A Retrospective, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, 2015-2016.

Bibliography

1944: Janis, Sidney. Abstract and Surrealist Art in America. New York, 1944: 118, repro.

1944: Riley, Maude. "Whither Goes Abstract and Surrealist Art?" Art Digest 19 (1944): 8, 31.

1983: Ashton, Dore. About Rothko. New York, 1983: 46, repro.

1983: Sandler, Irving. Mark Rothko: Paintings 1948-1969. Exh. cat. The Pace Gallery, 1983: 7, repro.

1983: Seitz, William C. Abstract Expressionist Painting in America. Rev. ed. of 1955 Ph.D. dissertation. Cambridge, Massachusetts, and London, 1983: no. 197, repro.

1988: Kolberg, Gerhard. "Mark Rothko: Meditationsbilder." Kolner Museums-Bulletin 1 (1988): 25, repro.

1988: Mark Rothko: The Seagram Mural Project. Exh. cat. The Tate Gallery, London, 1988: 9, repro.

1988: Polcari, Steven. "Mark Rothko: Heritage, Environment, and Tradition." Smithsonian Studies in American Art 2, no. 2 (1988): 40, repro.

1989: Chave, Anna C. Mark Rothko: Subjects in Abstraction. New Haven, 1989: pl. 2.

1989: Whiting, Cecile. Antifascism in American Art. New Haven and London, 1989: 181, repro.

1991: Glimcher, Marc. The Art of Mark Rothko: Into an Unknown World. New York, 1991: 84, repro.

1991: Mitsui, Ko. To Contemporary Art: From Abstract Expressionism. Tokyo, 1991: 133, repro.

1991: Painting a Place in America: Jewish Artists in New York 1900-1945; A Tribute to the Educational Alliance Art School. Ed. by Norman L. Kleeblatt and Susan Chevlowe. Exh. cat. The Jewish Museum, New York, 1991: 154, no. 92.

1991: Polcari, Stephen. Abstract Expressionism and the Modern Experience. Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1991: 60, repro.

1991: Wheeler, Daniel. Art Since Mid-Century: 1945 to the Present. New York, 1991: 48, repro.

1992: American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1992: 293, repro.

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

1993: Barnes, Lucinda. "A Proclamation of Moment..." Allen Memorial Art Museum Bulletin 47, no. 1 (1993): 2-13.

1993: Breslin, James E. Mark Rothko: A Biography. Chicago and London, 1993: no. 9, repro.

1993: Zanetti, Paolo Serra. "Rothko o la tragedia di un solitario." Arte 23 (1993): 54, repro.

1995: Anfam, David, Sumi Hayashi, Nobuyuki Hiromoto, Naoko Seki. Mark Rothko. Exh. cat. Exhibition organized by the International Sculpture Center, Washington, D.C., and Tokyo Shimbun, with tour of 4 venues in Japan. 1995: 25, repro.

1996: Engelhard, Gunther. "Abstraktion: Mark Rothko." Art: das Kunstmagazin 7 (1996): 16, repro.

1997: Baigell, Matthew. Jewish-American Artists and the Holocaust. New Brunswick, 1997.

1997: Founders and Heirs of the New York School. Exh. cat. Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo, 1997: 16, repro.

1998: Anfam, David. Mark Rothko: The Works on Canvas: Catalogue Raisonné. New Haven and London, 1998: no. 206, repro.