Untitled (Portland, Oregon)

1933

Mark Rothko

Associated Names
Mark Rothko

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

This painting features an elevated view of a broad landscape. Much of the top half of the painting is filled with horizontal strokes of blue, black, and gray, suggesting a stormy sky, or perhaps tall mountains in the distance. The landscape below is painted with loose, abstract brushstrokes in green, tan, brown, and red, suggesting fields, hills, and buildings, with a flat lilac expanse that could be a river or road. Closest to us appears to be a hill, where the orange and brown earth at the bottom of the painting is covered with patches of light green, and tall brown, blue, black, and green trees rise up on the left and right sides. The brushstrokes in the painting are wide and visible, and different colors bleed into each other. In many places, the off-white paper is visible.
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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    watercolor on watercolor paper

  • Credit Line

    Gift of The Mark Rothko Foundation, Inc.

  • Dimensions

    sheet: 39.21 × 57.47 cm (15 7/16 × 22 5/8 in.)

  • Accession Number

    1986.43.204

  • Copyright

    Copyright © 2023 Kate Rothko Prizel and Christopher Rothko

Artwork history & notes

Exhibition History

1933

  • Drawings and Water Colors by M. Rothkowitz, The Museum of Art, Portland, OR, 1933.

  • Exhibition of Oils, Water-colors, Drawings by Marcus Rothkowitz, Contemporary Arts, New York, NY, 1933.

1984

  • Mark Rothko: Works on Paper, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; Museum of Art, Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh; Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; Milwaukee Art Museum; Portland Art Museum, OR; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; Saint Louis Art Museum; Fort Worth Art Museum, 1984-1986, no. 2.

2023

  • Mark Rothko: Paintings on Paper, National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC; The National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design, Oslo, 2023-2024, no. 13.

Bibliography

1984

  • Clearwater, Bonnie. Mark Rothko: Works on Paper. Exh. cat. American Federation of Arts touring exhibition. New York, 1984: cat.no.2.

2023

  • Greenhalgh, Adam.Mark Rothko: Paintings on Paper. Exh. cat. National Gallery of Art, Washington; National Museum of Art, Architecture, and Design, Oslo, 2024: unpaginated, pl. 13.

Inscriptions

Upper left in gray-green paint: Mark Rothko

Watermarks

Hayle Mill: LINEN 5

Wikidata ID

Q64595463

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