Standing Male Figure [verso] 

Mark Rothko made this ink drawing, titled "Standing Male Figure," on paper sometime in his lifetime. It's difficult to assign a precise date, but knowing Rothko's biography gives us some helpful context. He arrived in the United States as a child, an immigrant from what is now Latvia. He initially enrolled at Yale but dropped out and moved to New York, where he attended the Art Students League. Although he is best known for his color field paintings, this earlier sketch demonstrates his initial interest in representation. The figure's stance, with his hands in his pockets, exudes a casual confidence. The loose, rapid strokes suggest that Rothko made the drawing quickly. We might speculate that he did it while working from life in the studio or at the Art Students League. As historians, we can consult sketchbooks and student records to find similar examples of Rothko's work. By tracing his artistic development in relation to the institutions in which he learned, we can better understand his later, more famous works.