Standing Woman Wearing a Pleated Skirt 

Mark Rothko made this ink on paper artwork, "Standing Woman Wearing a Pleated Skirt," during a period when modern artists were grappling with new ways of representing the human figure. With heavy, dark lines, Rothko presents a lone woman, her gaze averted, almost lost in shadow. The pleated skirt, a signifier of femininity and perhaps domesticity, contrasts with the stark, almost brutal application of ink. The weight of the ink hints at the burdens women carried in society, balancing expectations with inner lives. Rothko, an immigrant himself, was acutely aware of the pressures and expectations placed on individuals in a rapidly changing world. The woman's averted gaze and isolated stance speak to a sense of alienation. She doesn't meet our eyes; she exists in her own space. Rothko captures a personal moment of contemplation, tinged with the broader anxieties of identity and belonging. The darkness in the image might be a shadow, or perhaps a symbol of emotional weight.