Woman Reclining, Hands Clasped on Stomach, Feet on Floor 

Mark Rothko made this pencil drawing, "Woman Reclining, Hands Clasped on Stomach, Feet on Floor," on paper. Rothko’s early figurative works provide a fascinating insight into the development of his artistic vision. This sketch is interesting for what it tells us about academic figure drawing at the time, its conventions and expectations. In the first half of the twentieth century, art academies promoted traditional techniques and subjects. We can think about the way that Rothko is either embracing or rejecting the conservative status quo and reflect on what this might tell us about the kind of career that he imagined for himself. Studying Rothko's early sketches alongside his later abstract works, we see how his focus shifted from depicting external reality to expressing inner emotions. Looking at drawings like this helps us to understand the politics of art and the relationship between the artist, the academy, and the wider social context.