Standing Female 

This watercolor work entitled "Standing Female" was made by Mark Rothko at an unknown date. Rothko, like many early modern artists, was interested in the human figure, and particularly in using it to convey emotion. We can consider this painting in relation to the institutional history of art education. Throughout the 20th century, the nude was a standard subject of life-drawing classes, where artists hone their skills of observation and representation, but Rothko isn’t just copying what he sees. His loose brushwork and ambiguous forms suggest a sense of alienation from this institutional tradition. To learn more, we could examine Rothko’s biography to find out about his artistic training, and read exhibition reviews to discover how his work was received by critics and the public. Through this kind of research, we can come to understand more about the artist, and about the meaning of his art as something that is contingent on its social and institutional context.