Graphic print 50x65 cm in a limited edition. Print no. 29/200. Blind embossing stamp SPADEM PARIS. Loose leaf. Arches paper. License: Spadem Paris
About the author:
Mark Rothko (1903–1970) was an American painter known for his abstract canvases with blocks of vibrant colours. The work Orange and Yellow from 1956 is a typical example of Rothko's method, in which he uses thin layers of oil paint to create luminosity. Mark Rothko said that for him art was an anecdote of the spirit and the only means to embody the purpose of its diverse speed and calm.
He was born Marcus Yakovlevich Rothkowitz on September 25, 1903, into a Jewish family in Latvia. He was raised in an Orthodox Jewish environment, attending a school where Hebrew was taught. Due to growing anti-Semitic sentiments, his father emigrated to Portland, USA, in 1910, and three years later, the entire family moved to join him. Rothko studied at Yale University on a scholarship for only one year before dropping out and moving to New York.
Here, he began studying drawing from a model at the Art Students League of New York and also attended anatomy and theatre studies courses. His teacher was the painter Max Weber, so Rothko's paintings from that period have a realistic basis and an expressive feel.
During this period, Rothko created a series of figurative paintings and interiors. In the late 1940s, he transitioned to non-figurative abstraction, creating masses of pure colours instead of figures in space.
