Standing Man [recto] 

Curator: Standing before us is Mark Rothko's "Standing Man," a monochrome drawing utilizing ink and charcoal to capture a figure. It resonates with themes of figuration, tinged with an expressionistic sensibility. What's your immediate reaction? Editor: Stark, and maybe a bit lonely? He’s sort of floating there, tethered by the vague horizon line behind him, but overall, there’s a sense of isolation radiating off of him. Is that the point? Curator: Expressionism often grapples with internal states made visible. Figures like this serve as conduits for intense emotions. Look at the bold, almost brutal, strokes used to render him. It’s a departure from naturalistic depictions, focusing more on conveying feeling. Consider it in relation to German Expressionism, for example. Editor: You're right. Those thick lines defining his features—the way the ink bleeds into the paper, especially around his face. It almost looks like he’s dissolving, struggling to maintain his form, or like he just arose from water and all the water defined him while under the water, as we now witness its passing on the surface... that would also explain the solitude as now his former element, which has long formed who he is, disappears at an increasingly further distance away from him. There’s real vulnerability there, hidden under the confident strokes and dark suit. Curator: Clothing and attire always speak volumes. It seems like the "shell" that this man must wear every day, or feels obligated to, despite carrying so many more sensitive layers behind it. Rothko gives us hints but the viewers create the narrative themselves. Editor: Precisely. Rothko, before abandoning the figure, uses it here as a vessel for exploring human emotions, and how we choose to disguise those things, but more than all... the suffering within ourselves from time to time. It is quite masterful, really. He strips away the extraneous details, leaves just enough for us to project our own anxieties. Curator: It reminds us that we carry echoes of past emotional states and past ways to see ourselves or to act with certain obligations and in certain "uniforms". Editor: Absolutely. I appreciate how this seemingly simple sketch speaks volumes about human fragility and resilience. Curator: A profound intersection of artistry and the exploration of human experiences.