Seated Woman with Hat, Holding Purse in Lap 

Curator: The artwork we are looking at is a pen and ink drawing attributed to Mark Rothko. It is titled "Seated Woman with Hat, Holding Purse in Lap." Editor: My initial feeling is quiet solitude. The simplicity of the lines and the somewhat downcast gaze give it a sense of introversion. Curator: It is interesting to think of Rothko working in such a figurative style. While most people know him for his color field paintings, this drawing really centers on line work. I think it says so much about the influence of process. The materials – the very immediate act of pen on paper. It almost feels like one continuous line forming this woman’s posture. The act of making visible the constraints placed on women of that era, what’s made permissible through labor or social constructs, through something as simple as pen and ink, challenges our view. Editor: The purse is centrally positioned; I see it as a loaded object here, not just as an everyday accessory, but more as an external symbol of womanhood in the 1940s. A signifier for wealth and maybe status within a social milieu that carries powerful meaning. It gives her posture both stability and restraint. I almost feel this drawing becomes more universal about a sort of constrained presence. Curator: I think that tension speaks to the moment it was made. Consider the social context: the production during the war effort with materials both plentiful and restricted in complicated economic structures—so even the purse suggests production in wartime austerity. And how that then translates to a representation in art. I wonder about that purse too, thinking about its manufacture, from textile sourcing, to weaving or construction, to sale and ownership. All of that’s invisible, but its weight is visible here on her lap! Editor: Yes, the very lines defining her feel heavy. Almost etched with memory. I see that weight of those times. A sense of introspection, a story perhaps left untold. Curator: Thank you. Looking at the material reality adds to the symbolic charge. Editor: Yes, absolutely; I see something new each time I look.