Born in Latvia as Markus Yakovlevich Rothkowitz, American painter Mark Rothko is widely recognized for developing now-iconic large-scale Color Field paintings, in which layered rectangles manage to both recede into and emerge out of vast fields of contrasting colors. To create an immersive experience for the viewer, Rothko applied paint with broad but thinly layered brushstrokes, making his large canvases feel expansive and evocative, luminous and sensual. The artist strove to engage certain universal tensions in his work, including tragedy, irony, and wit. In Glenstone’s collection is the monumental No. 9 (White and Black on Wine), 1958, a painting whose size belies its intimate intent.

–Peter Ibenana, from the Glenstone Field Guide