Standing Woman in a Bathing Suit 

Editor: So here we have Rothko's sketch "Standing Woman in a Bathing Suit." I’m immediately struck by how unglamorous it is. It feels like a quick observation, almost unflattering in its honesty. What are your initial thoughts looking at this piece? Curator: Oh, it's delightfully awkward, isn't it? Like stumbling upon a private moment, or catching a glimpse of someone lost in thought. Rothko, known for his vast color fields, here grapples with the very grounded reality of the human form. But isn't there a tender, almost vulnerable quality, in her stance and the slightly upturned gaze? Editor: I can see that, a vulnerability. Is it unusual for Rothko to focus on figuration? Curator: Very much so! Before his signature abstract expressionism, Rothko dabbled, explored – realism, surrealism. This drawing whispers of his earlier searching. And tell me, does that grid pattern on her… bathing suit?… strike you as hinting at something to come? Those proto- Rothko rectangles perhaps, jostling for position? Editor: Hmm, that's a great point! It definitely foreshadows his later works. It is a figure but it kind of isn't! So, a bridge of sorts. Curator: Precisely. Art is such a trickster, isn't it? What initially appears straightforward – a simple sketch – unfolds into a deeper narrative of an artist’s journey, like a quiet prologue to his better-known works. I now feel I’ve gained insight into how Rothko deconstructed forms to find color itself. How about you? Editor: It makes me think differently about even his most abstract work now, knowing he started here. There’s always a body behind every rectangle of colour, maybe.