Seated Female Nude Turned to the Right, Head Turned to the Left 

Mark Rothko made this ink drawing, "Seated Female Nude," on paper, offering us a glimpse into his early explorations of form. It's a work that invites us to consider the power dynamics inherent in the act of representation. Made in the United States, likely in the 1930s or 40s, this drawing shows Rothko grappling with the established artistic traditions of depicting the female nude, a subject heavily laden with cultural and art historical associations. How does Rothko negotiate this loaded subject? Is he reinforcing or challenging traditional gender roles? Historians often look to artists' early works and the social context in which they were made to reveal the formation of their ideas. By studying Rothko’s personal papers, exhibition records, and the broader artistic discourse of the time, we can understand how this drawing relates to his later, more abstract works and how it speaks to the social structures of its time. Art is always contingent on its social and institutional context.