Female Nude Standing Near a Window 

Editor: Here we have Mark Rothko’s “Female Nude Standing Near a Window,” an oil painting. The figure has very broad brushstrokes; the face is undefined but seems almost pensive, gazing out a window. What compositional elements stand out to you? Curator: The relationship between the figure and the surrounding space. The composition is constructed of the dynamic contrast between defined form and fluid abstraction. Consider the verticality of the window mirrored in the standing pose, set against a background of soft blues, browns, and whites. The application of paint – thin washes, quick daubs – draws our attention to its own materiality. Do you find the painting incomplete or just unfinished? Editor: That’s a really interesting question. I suppose the ambiguity is the point. I wonder what is happening in that implied space of the window that has the figure gazing outward. There appears to be an intentional relationship of the subject to its compositional space, but I cannot precisely decipher it. Curator: I suggest we turn our attention to the internal geometry. Follow the strong diagonal of the left leg. The horizontal emphasis of the window bisects the plane to suggest spatial depth while calling attention to the surface. Rothko constructs a tension, or, perhaps more appropriately, a visual fugue. Editor: That fugue has an unpolished appeal. Rothko seems to set up competing visual cues and relations, where incompleteness becomes an aesthetic choice. Curator: Indeed. The “unfinished” aspect focuses us on the fundamental structure of the painting, where brushstrokes articulate their own independent life. We are privy to its unfolding. Editor: So instead of seeing it as representational, it’s more about appreciating the properties of the painting itself. I never would have thought of that! Thanks for opening my eyes to it.