Frontal Nude Seated on a Fabric Draped Chair 

Mark Rothko made this pen and ink drawing of a nude, seated female figure, sometime during his early career in the United States. Rothko is better known for his later abstract paintings, and this classical approach is not as well known. We might ask what the nude means in the context of the American art world in the mid-20th century. Traditionally, this subject was a way for artists to display their technical skill, and to reference classical antiquity. Here the lines are stark, the approach unsentimental and direct. Rothko seems less interested in the academic display of skill and more invested in the immediate, unvarnished presence of the body. Art historians consult a wide range of archives, letters, and exhibition reviews to understand how an artist's work intervenes in the social and institutional landscape of its time. In this case, it's fascinating to see how even a traditional subject, like the nude, can be re-imagined with a modern sensibility.